QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 28 LEADERBOARD 108 AMA NATIONAL ENDURO BAYLOR BROTHERS GET THE LEAD OUT
VOL. 54 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 BARBER MOTOAMERICA FINAL HAYDEN, SCHOLTZ WIND IT DOWN WORLD S FASTEST Indian? A SALTY TRIBUTE FIRST TEST ZERO SR TALKIN TORQUE ALSO Portugal WorldSBK Bol d Or FIM Endurance World Championship Charlotte NHRA: Countdown Begins MXGP French Final Ohio Hot Shoe National FIRST LOOK: 2018 MV Agusta Turismo Veloce RC ARCHIVES: 1987 Unadilla Motocross des Nations
IN THE WIND HALBERT, COSE DOMINATE OHIO STEEL SHOE The fledgling Steel Shoe National/Flat Track Series came to the Trumbull County Fairgrounds in Northeast Ohio for round three of the 2017 season, September 16. While the Pro 450cc DTX class has failed to have a repeat winner yet, Sammy Halbert and Chad Cose have been undefeated in the Pro Super Twins and 450cc-505cc Framer classes. All of Halbert s Pro Super Twins wins have been highly contested and today would be no different. I just wanted to get a good start, get away and have an easy race, said Halbert (Harley-Davidson). It wasn t to be. Halbert got the holeshot in the 20-ap main, as Kawasakimounted Jarod Vanderkooi and JR Addison fought over the narrow groove. Vanderkooi won that tussle, and he closed on Halbert quickly. Halbert was able to maintain about a 10-foot margin as Vanderkooi matched the leader s pace. The rest of the field was scrambling looking for mistakes to take advantage of, as any slip off the narrow rubber was costly. Don Taylor pushed his Kawasaki into third, as Addison was also being challenged by Cory Texter (Harley-Davidson). Four laps in, Texter broke as the lead duo opened a large gap over Taylor, Davis Fisher (Kawasaki), Henry Wiles (Kawasaki) and Jake Shoemaker (Kawasaki). Halbert was able to hold Vanderkooi off, but it got very close at the end. I made a few mistakes when we got into lapped traffic, said Halbert. I looked back and saw he was right there. I knew I just had to hit my marks and stay on the groove. Halbert won by just.085 of a second, while a great battle for the last podium spot was going on almost 12 seconds back. Wiles came out on top over P54 Shoemaker, Fisher and Taylor. Chad Cose has been just as dominant in the Framer class, posting three wins, but his wins have all been a little easier. This time he had to overcome a slow start and work his way into the lead from fourth. Don Taylor (Honda) got a great start with Cory Texter (Honda) and Davis Fisher (Honda) right behind. Cose was forced to use a high line that didn t really work most of the time, but his high-power Honda was up to the task and he
VOL. 54 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 P55 Sammy Halbert enjoys the spoils of victory at the Hot Shoe National in Ohio. PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE HOENIG quickly moved to the front. Taylor was able to hang close as both opened a good lead over Texter. Fisher, Jay Maloney (Honda) and Sammy Halbert (Yamaha) had a close race for fourth. The Pro 450cc DTX class has featured three different winners, this week it was Kurtis Lee (Honda) overcoming a restart at the halfway point to take the win. Lee led the field into the first turn over Jeremy Orr (Honda) and Oliver Brindley (Kawasaki). Lee s small lead shrunk even more on the restart. Brindley had been in second, lost it briefly to Orr, then regained it. He closed dramatically on Lee and as they fought over first Jayson Bloss (Kawasaki) joined in. The three-way battle went down to the wire where it was Lee, Brindley and Bloss in that order. Orr was able to hold off Jordan Harris (Honda) for fourth. Halbert holds a 27 point lead over Henry Wiles in the Twins class (75 to 48). Jarod Vanderkooi and Davis Fisher are just back with 47 and 41 points, respectively. In the Framer class Chad Cose also has 75 points with Davis Fisher 23 back with 52. Sammy Halbert and Cory Texter have 43 and 29. The DTX class is wide open as Kurtis Lee leads with 45. Jeremy Orr (42), Shane O Banion (41), Jayson Bloss (39) and Oliver Brindley (37) are all within eight points of the lead. Dave Hoenig The Pro Super Twins action gets underway in Ohio.
ROUND 10 / SEPTEMBER 15-17, 2017 BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK / LEEDS, ALABAMA ROAD RACE P66 MOTOAMERICA AMA FIM NORTH AMERICA ROAD RACE CHAMP My Own Race: 4 JOSH HAYES DNS-3 SUPERBIKE One of the things we always talk about is how lucky we are to have a track like Barber on our schedule, said Josh Hayes. The conditions were tricky, but, I did feel that the track was raceable, and that turned out to be the case. When we were finally able to race, it turned out to be a really good show. Experience helped me in the beginning of the race because I ve done a lot of laps on this track, and I know where the (slippery) seams are. So, I pulled a pretty good gap in the beginning of the race. After things settled down, the guys behind me were building confidence, and they were able to try some different lines, which worked to their advantage and helped them get closer. And then, when a couple of riders passed me, I focused on staying in the hunt. 53 VALENTIN DEBISE 3-3 SUPERSPORT My speed was better today in race two, but I wasn t quite as consistent, said Valentin Debise. I made some mistakes and lost the leading group. So I just managed my gap back to fourth and pushed to the end to get my 14th podium of the year. 95 JD BEACH 1-2 SUPERSPORT It was a really good race, and everybody was riding really strong today, said JD Beach after Sunday s race. The gap to Garrett was close until the end when we got into some backmarkers, and he was able to make his way through the pack better than me. It s been a great season, and I ve enjoyed racing with Garrett all year. Jake Gagne (32) was on track for his best result of the season in second place when he crashed on the final lap of race two. history-making victory. On the final lap, I looked back and saw that Jake was maybe one second back and I was just trying to hold tight lines, said Scholtz. I had no idea that Jake had actually crashed and thought that he was right on me the entire time. I was focusing on getting a good drive that last lap and nearly tossed it away twice. I couldn t be happier taking the overall win today since this means so much to the Westby Yamaha guys and I think they re over the moon with what we accomplished. Elias took second with veteran Hayes in third, 4.3 seconds back. For Hayes, his podium came after he settled for third, comfortable at the pace he was run-
ROUND 10 / SEPTEMBER 15-17, 2017 BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK / LEEDS, ALABAMA ROAD RACE MOTOAMERICA P70 hard-fought battle today, everyone up front was riding amazing. I had to do everything I could on that last lap to try and get the win. Ventura had earlier put himself in the title box seat after taking the first race win with Ungvarski second and Smith in third, but it wasn t to be for the young Californian. His crash handed the title to Smith with JP43 Junior Team s Alex Dumas taking third in the championship after failing to finish in race one and taking sixth in race two. The KTM RC Cup now wraps up after three years, to be replaced by the new Junior Cup, a series open to all manufacturers who produce 500cc and under machines with the age limit set from 14 years to 25. CN SUPERBIKE Race One 1. Roger Hayden (Suz) 2. Josh Herrin (Yam) 3. Mathew Scholtz (Yam) 4. Jake Gagne (Hon) 5. Danny Eslick (Yam) Race Two 1. Mathew Scholtz (Yam) 2. Toni Elias (Suz) 3. Josh Hayes (Yam) 4. Hayden Gillim (Suz) 5. Jason DiSalvo (BMW) SUPERSPORT Race One 1. JD Beach (Yam) 2. Valentin Debise (Suz) 3. Garrett Gerloff (Yam) 4. Benny Solis (Hon) 5. Jason Aguilar (Yam) Race Two 1. Garrett Gerloff (Yam) 2. JD Beach (Yam) 3. Valentin Debise (Suz) 4. Benny Solis (Hon) 5. Jason Aguilar (Yam) KTM RC CUP Race One 1. Cory Ventura (KTM) 2. Sean Ungvarsky (KTM) 3. Benjamin Smith (KTM) 4. Draik Beauchamp (KTM) 5. Gavin Anthony (KTM) Race Two 1. Benjamin Smith (KTM) 2. Gavin Anthony (KTM) 3. Sean Ungvarsky (KTM) 4. Dylan Deutschlander (KTM) 5. Draik Beauchamp (KTM) Benjamin Smith (118) beat Gavin Anthony (176) and Sean Ungvarsky to win the KTM RC Cup and the 2017 championship.