Jared Mees and Jarod Vanderkooi were the Expert Twins and Pro Singles winners at the inaugural Grays Harbor Raceway half-mile AMA Pro Flat Track event Sunday afternoon in Elma, Wash. This was the makeup date for the prior evenings rainout. The track, billed as a half-mile but clearly much shorter, was in the best shape of the weekend though still bumpy. Several riders were seen to catch their left foot going into turn one, which caused some big moments. But the track did provide some line choices and there were exciting passes throughout the day. Northwest racer Sammy Halbert was the favorite to win the Expert main, after taking the top spot in his heat race and again in the dash for cash. In the main, Halbert led from the start and held the point for several laps before dropping back. The fight then went to Mees and Bryan Smith, who battled closely until the end. Jake Johnson finished out the top three, and Halbert landed in fourth, one spot off the podium. “The motor hiccuped on me a couple of times and then lost power”, Halbert said afterward. Northwest racer and current series champ Brad Baker was also a threat to win the main event, after winning his heat race and finishing second to Halbert in the dash. Baker wound up in sixth place in the main event, right behind Kenny Coolbeth Jr. The season points chase sees Mees, Smith and Johnson standing in the same order as this races results. Halbert holds the fifth spot behind Coolbeth, and Baker lies way back in ninth overall for the season. There were several other Northwest racers in the Expert class. Wyatt Maguire earned a direct transfer to the main event with his sixth place heat race finish. In the main, Maguire nearly cracked the top ten list, ending his day in eleventh position. Scooter Vernon led most of the sole Expert semi before dropping to third at the end. Vernon ran to seventeenth in the main event. Brady Mueller was a DNF in his heat race, came back for the semi, but did not qualify for the main event. Davis Fisher was the top Northwest Pro Singles racer, taking second place in the sixteen-lap main event behind Vanderkooi, with Ryan Kearns completing the podium lineup. Fisher ran in the front half of the pack for most of the race and then turned up the heat to move forward near the end. Fisher is now tied for first place in season points with Kyle Johnson, who was the fourth place finisher in Elma. Johnson has three race wins, Fisher has yet to win a main event. Northwest racer Cole Frederickson took a dominant win in his heat race, beating Vanderkooi to the line by over a second. In the main event , he ran up front briefly before moving back to finish out the race in fifth place. “I guess I got too excited and over-rode the bike”, Frederickson said. Like some of the other Northwest racers, Frederickson plans to contest more of the west coast rounds of the AMA series, including next weekends Sacramento Mile. Northwest racers Jacob Lehmann and Austin Helmholz also earned top ten finishes in the Pro Singles main event with an eighth and a ninth, respectively. Wyatt Anderson and Jake Burton finished out the day further back in the field.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 15:38:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015