Flat Track News

History was made on the fabled Indiana State Fairgrounds mile oval as Kawasaki / Monster Energy / Werner-Springsteen Racing's #42 Bryan Smith captured the first AMA Pro K&N Filters Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com Twins Main event in a hard fought, 25 lap battle.

Lancaster Harley-Davidson / Dallas Fort Worth Honda's Chris Carr grabbed the early lead from series points leader #3 Joe Kopp on his Latus Harley-Davidson / ENI USA R&M backed Ducati, then repeated the feat as the race was red flagged on lap three, when Stevie Bonsey fell in turn three.

Carr picked up where he left off, but now Smith and Zanotti Racing's #5 Jake Johnson were right behind. On lap six Smith took control, but White's Harley-Davidson / SNIP's Matt Weidman was up high on the cushion and flying to the front. Unfortunately for Weidman, when the high line went away, he backed up as fast as he had come forward.

As the race reached the mid-point it became a two rider race. Smith and Carr went back and forth several times, but as the laps wound down Smith took control. The race would end with Carr just over a tenth of a second out. "I've been dreaming about this all year," said Smith. "And it wasn't a nightmare either. I was sure, as soon as we got to these tracks with long straight-aways, the Kawasaki's power was let us finally win one."

Chris Carr says: "I just couldn't draft him (Smith). I could get close, but he just had too much power."

Harley-Davidson Motor Company's Kenny Coolbeth brought his #2 Harley-Davidson home third over two seconds off the lead.

Johnson took control of fourth and rode home a lonely three seconds off the pace. King's Kustoms / KK Motorcycle Supply's Sammy Halbert finished an uneventful fifth as Joe Kopp made a late race pass of Rookie of the Year front runner, Moroney's 1-800fasthog.com's #99B PJ Jacobsen.

Defending Series Champion # 1 Jared Mees work his way up to fourth before sliding back to an eighth place finish. It was another eight seconds back to Matt Weidman.

The K&N Filter's dash for Cash saw Chris Carr dominate as points leader Joe Kopp suffered a blow to his points total when he couldn't get his Ducati to fire and he received no points. Sammy Halbert and Bryan Smith rounded out the podium as all three received "Special Edition, Nicky Hayden watches."

When JD Beach announced he was moving up to the Expert ranks for the Labor Day races in Springfield he said he wanted to win the Peoria, IL TT and the Indianapolis, IN Mile before taking on the challenge.

Impressively Beach accomplished just that as he led the last eleven laps of the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Grand National Championship main on his #95C Red Bull / Top 1 Oil backed Honda. Price Truck Line / Kennedy Wheels' #22L Michael Toon and Van's Yamaha / Woody Kyle Racing's #24P Jeffery Carver finished a very close second and third.

Carver's points lead continues to grow in the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Grand National Championship. Carver now leads defending Champion Brad Baker by 31 points with James Rispoli another thirty six points back.

The K&N Filters Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com points standing are still being le by Joe Kopp, but Sammy Halbert and Jake Johnson are closing in, just twelve and fourteen points back respectively.