By ROBERT WALDEN

Special to The Plain Talk

 

BULLS GAP-Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson & Buell of East Tennessee, with locations in Maryville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, along with the new Wildcat Harley-Davidson in London, Ky., presented the AMA Pro Grand National Flat Track Series motorcycles for an exciting racing program at Volunteer Speedway on Saturday, June 20.

With over 70 combined Grand National Twins and Singles motorcycles in the paddock, top riders from all across the country, representing 22 states and two Canadian provinces, thrilled the huge crowd at "The Gap" with two-wheeled action on the high banks.

Sammy Halbert of Graham, Wash., riding hurt following a wreck last weekend at the Montgomery County Fair in Dayton, Ohio that severely injured his brother, Jethro Halbert and Nicholas Cummings, held off Jared Mees and defending three-time AMA Flat Track national champion Kenny Coolbeth for victory in the 25-lap AMA Pro Grand National Twins Championship main event.

Winning the three respective Grand National Twins heat races were Halbert, Matthew Weidman of Westerlo, N.Y., and Clio, Mich.'s Mees. Steve Murray of Grand Blanc, Mich., along with Jake Mataya of Brooklyn Center, Minn., each won Semi-Finals.

In the four-lap Dash for Cash among the top-two finishing riders from the three heats, Halbert outran Coolbeth, Mees, Weidman, Smith and Kopp to win $1,000.

Halbert grabbed the lead on first lap over Coolbeth, Mees, Bryan Smith and Joe Kopp. With Coolbeth slipping between turns one and two on lap 2, both Mees and Smith passed him to move into second and third, dropping Coolbeth back to the fourth spot.

Mees worked around Halbert for the lead on lap 5, and before one more circuit was completed the red flag was displayed when A.J. Eslick went down between turns one and two. Following the staggered restart on the front straightaway, back under green Mees led Halbert, Coolbeth, Smith and Copp.

Coolbeth passed Smith to move into third in the running order on the sixth circuit. Mees showed the way out front until being overtaken for the lead by Halbert on lap 12, which would prove to be a lead he would never relinquish.

While Halbert had a clear track ahead of him, during the event's second half he had both Mees and Coolbeth breathing down his neck, just waiting for him to make a mistake. With the lead trio turning blistering laps, they began to put several bike-lengths between themselves and their closest challengers as the laps wound down.

Halbert, aboard the Halbert Family/Kings Kustoms Harley-Davidson would not be denied the opportunity to capture the victory, as he beat Mees by .565 and Coolbeth by .702 to record his first win in 2009. Finishing in fourth and fifth, respectively, were Smith and Weidman.

Completing the top 10 finishers were Chris Carr (seven-time AMA national champion who was looking to record his 200th podium finish), Jacob Johnson (who took a nasty spill during the second heat that brought out the red flag, and used a provisional starting berth for the main event), Mataya, Shaun Russell and Brandon Robinson.

"Oh, man, this is awesome, I can't believe we won," said a smiling Halbert after stepping down from the victory podium. "You know, what's wild is we didn't even make the field for the main at the race here in 2007. This place is definitely unlike anywhere else we'll race all season long, but I really like rim-riding around these high banks. It's a blast to turn laps around here, I'm telling you.

"Fast, you'd better believe it's a fast ride around here. When you're running 16-second laps it doesn't take very long to run the 25-lap main event, that's for sure. You're really hanging on for all you've got. Once we got around Jared (Mees) for the lead, I really had to focus and not make any mistakes, because he would've gotten right back around me. Thankfully we ran mistake-free the remaining distance to get the win. After the deal last weekend in Ohio where both my brother and I got injured, winning tonight is definitely good medicine for this Halbert Family race team. I'm really looking forward to getting back here to race at 'The Gap' next year."

Brad Baker of Chehalis, Wash., was the fastest qualifier in AMA Pro Singles Championship practice, and he backed his quick time up by easily winning the first of two heats, with the second heat race going to female rider Shayna Texter of Willow Street, Pa., which brought a loud cheer from the large crowd. The Last Chance Qualifier was won by Jeffrey Carver of Alton, Ill.

Baker got the hole-shot to take the lead over Lucas Scherb, J.D. Beach, Texter and James Rispoli. Beach passed Scherb on the second lap to move into the runner-up position. Texter brought the crowd to their feet when she passed Scherb for third on lap 6.

Setting her sights ahead on Beach and leader Baker, Texter never got the opportunity to challenge for the point as rain began to fall and AMA officials called the race complete after only eight laps.

Earning podium finishes besides winner Baker were Beach and Texter, with Rispoli and Scherb rounding out the top-five. Completing the top 10 finishers were Zach Palmer, Michael Toon, Carver, Colton Chebultz and Jacob Shoemaker.