Mees buys rights to Lima Half-Mile

This is such a great story. Two of the highest profile riders in flat track have bought the rights to one of the favourite races, the Lima Half-Mile. It's great to see riders like Jared and Nichole (both pictured above) moving into running and promoting races, while still being in their prime (though Nichole has recently retired from the GNC).

This from the website - Lima Half-Mile

2015 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Champion Jared Mees and wife Nichole entered the race promotion business for the first time today, buying rights to the historic Lima, Ohio Half-mile. Lima, which runs on the last Saturday in June each year, is one of the most highly attended and historic races on the AMA Pro Flat Track circuit, dating back to 1984. The venue has sentimental value to Mees, who won his first AMA Pro Flat Track GNC1 race at Lima in 2005. Mees also won Lima in 2007 and again in 2014, on the way to his 3rd Grand National Championship. 

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy rights to Lima,” said twenty-nine year old Mees who lives in Clio, Michigan. “It’s an old school fairgrounds cushion half-mile with a passionate, loyal fan base just a few hours from our house. Nichole and I couldn’t be more excited to take this on. Nichole is retiring from racing after this season and I don’t plan on racing forever. Promoting Lima is a business venture that will keep us involved in flat track for many years.”

“Lima is such a great event, I wanted to make sure I found the right people to hand the torch to now that I’m retiring,” said longtime Lima promoter Dean Gallup. “Jared and Nichole Mees are the perfect people to take over. They’re hard working and have a vested interest in the sport. I can now retire knowing the event is in good hands."

The next Lima Half-Mile is 25 June.

Thanks to Roger F for the lead.

Nichole Cheza #15

I interviewed Nichole Cheza for my day job the other day. She is pretty incredible. She's 21, weighs about the same as a sausage roll, is just over 5ft tall, yet, we understand, she's the only woman to hold a National number (on an XR750) for a generation at least. And to explain, you only get a national number (so a number without a letter behind it) in the US if you qualify for a main event, a final. There are between 50 and 100 of the world's very best riders trying to be one of the 18 in the main. It takes some effort. Keep an eye out for her when the season starts this year.

Nichole Cheza - National number 15

Full Name: Nichole Marie Cheza
Birthday: June 11, 1987
Location: Clio, MI
Height/Weight: 5’1”/115lbs.
Marital Status: Too young to think about it
Likes: Motorcycle Racing,lifting weights,gymnastics,playing with little kids, and hanging out with my friends
Favorite Phrase/motto: I'm on a mission and it's sort of like a mystery and I ain't stoppin till I go down in History
Favorite Spot to Ride/race: Lima or all the cushions in Ohio there my favorite
Goals: Finish in the top 20 and someday be the first female grand national champion
Where do you see yourself in 3, 5 and 10 years: In 3 years I see myself still dirt tracking and being inside the top 15. In 5 years, I see myself being inside the top 10 dirt tracking, and living in my own house. In ten years, I see myself winning a grand national championship, getting married and being happy.
My bikes: I have 2 2006 CRF 450 Hondas, 2 XR 750 Harley Davidson’s, a 2002 CR 125 to practice with on my motocross track and an XR100 just to play ride on.

Photo: AMA Flat Track

OhOh2 Cheza Art

From Adam at OhOh2 blog. Beautiful, eh? Thanks Adam.

Here you go, lads, a tribute to both yourselves and Nichole Cheza...
Thanks again for the daily inspiration!
Have a good one,
Adam

Springfield Mile: This Weekend

After what seems like six months since the season opener at the Daytona double-header in March, the AMA Grand National Championship gets back under way at Springfield, Illinois this weekend. Here are some of the keys changes for 2015:

• Former #1 Jake Johnson has moved from Ramspur Lloyd Brothers to Hart Racing Kawasaki.
• Troy Bayliss and Johnny Lewis are on the Lloyd Brothers Ducati Scrambler 1000.
• Mikey Martin has moved from Triumph to Weirbach Kawasaki.
• Brandon Robinson is on the Bonneville Performance Castrol Triumph.
• 2013 Rookie of the Year Jake Shoemaker on the Bonneville Performance Triumph.
• Cory Texter is racing the new Yamaha USA 'factory' FZ-07-powered parallel twin.
• Two-time Daytona 200 winner (and winner of the 2015 race) Danny Eslick is racing an XR750 at Springfield.
• Nichole Mees (nee Cheza) has announced this will be her last full twins season.
• Sammy Halbert has teamed up with legendary tuner Johnny Goad. 
• Henry Wiles is with Zanotti (Coolbeth's teammate).
• Top contenders Mees, Coolbeth, Brad Baker and Smith all stay with the same teams.

Plus the AMA will still work with Fanschoice.tv to deliver live feeds of all the races and now they have Chris Carr giving expert analysis. The presenting team have back-up from Dani Medin, a former snowmobile racer with FHM-cover-friendly looks. At first I thought, come on, really? Then she started asking questions from a complete novice's perspective that made Chris Carr explain just why things happen the way they happen. Even if I knew some (not all) of the answers, Carr puts so much meat on the bones of what could be simple answers, it made it a great section in what could easily have been a boring wait for the racing to start. 

The Fan's Choice coverage is still not what you'd call high budget, but this year is a massive leap forward. It's stripped down and informative and the best blanket coverage the sport has ever had.

And because it's America you can hardly notice the subliminal advertising they have Chris Carr doing in some of the links (see above). But this is a buyer's market and flat track needs the coverage, so if Chris comes on dressed as Colonel Sanders and talks about a finger-lickin' move Stevie Bonsey put on Chad Cose, I'll still lap it up. G

UPDATE: Chris Carr will be selling Sideburn current and back issues in the pits at Peoria's All Star race and the All-Star race at Springfield on Sunday. Go buy a few.

Shayna Texter wins Knoxville Half-Mile

25A, Shayna Texter in attack mode. 10z is Briar Bauman.
She ain't no heavyweight. Look at the size differential.
Shayna Texter, who we featured back in Sideburn 5, won the Pro Singles class (the support class) at the Knoxville half-mile on Saturday night. That is something special. The champs of this class tend to make an instant impression when they move up to Expert. The other top female racer, who also featured in SB5, Nichole Cheza, came 7th in the expert main, I think her best result of the season. Good going. G
Photos: AMA Pro Racing

Indy Mile Round-Up

Bryan Smith (42) and Shayna Texter (25A) backed up their Sacramento Mile class wins by triumphing at last weekend's Indy Mile.

Brad Baker continued his fantastic run of results with a third, though Smith chewed into his points lead. It now stands at Baker 155, Smith 122.

Mikey Martin qualified for the main on the Bonneville Performance Triumph (featured in Sideburn 11).
Of the 19 bikes that made the main (one rider must have used their Provisional) only 10 were Harley XR750s. Six were Kawasaki 650s. Two were Triumphs and one was Jake Johnson's Ducati.
Kawasaki were first and second.

After a great result at Peoria, Shaun Russell, #28, failed to make the main.

 Pro Singles racer Zakk Palmer styling.

JD Beach, fifth in the Main on a Kawasaki.

Nichole Cheza, 14th in the main.

Henry Wiles came in 7th on the Lloyd Brothers XR750. His new team-mate, Jake Johnson was 11th on the team's Ducati. Stevie Bonsey came in 8th for the Zanotti Harley team that Jake Johnson had recently walked away from.

 Baker and Mees.

1. Smith. 2. Brandon Robinson. 3. Baker.

Next race is the 1.25-mile race at Colonial Downs, Virginia, this weekend.

All photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing.

AMA Season Starts Today!

The season kicks off in Daytona tonight. With the second night of the double-header tomorrow. You can watch live on fanschoice.tv

Moving in line with the MotoGP world, the Expert class is now called GNC1 and the Pro (support) class is GNC2. Here's all the info from the AMA... (ET is Eastern time (New York time) if you're trying to work it out from anywhere else in the world)

On-track action begins both days with practice sessions at 3:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. PT). The pre-race show is slated for 6:15 p.m. ET (3:15 p.m PT) to 7:15 p.m. ET (4:15 p.m. PT) and opening ceremonies are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT). The GNC2 main is set for a 9:40 p.m. ET (6:40 p.m. PT) start with the Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Harley-Davidson GNC1 main slated to see the green flag at 10:10 p.m. ET (7:10 p.m. PT).

Every session from the "World Center of Racing" will be streamed live for fans around the world at FansChoice.tv. 

Jared Mees will begin his GNC1 title defense, sporting the No. 1 plate for the third time in his career, but he'll be facing off against the likes of Bryan Smith - last year's runner-up for the GNC1 title - Brad Baker, Kenny Coolbeth, Jr., Jake Johnson and the rest of the star-studded field. 

In 2014, Briar Bauman and Coolbeth kicked their seasons off on the right note. Bauman took the first checkered flag on opening night with Coolbeth putting on a clinic in Round 2 to earn the victory. 

In the GNC2 class, Ryan Wells and Brandon Wilhelm left Daytona Beach with victories to start the season. 

Kyle Johnson, the 2014 GNC2 champion, and Jarod Vanderkooi, winner of four GNC2 races last year, highlight a rookie class moving up the elite ranks to challenge Mees, Smith, Johnson and the others. 

The GNC1 lineup is full of potential winners. Sammy Halbert, Johnny Lewis, Mikey Rush and Brandon Robinson have all won main events at DAYTONA Flat Track since the new circuit debuted in 2010, and none can be counted out in 2015. 

DAYTONA Flat Track will also play host to, for the first time in AMA Pro Flat Track in history, a brother and sister racing with National Numbers. Shayna Texter will debut her new No. 52 and join her brother, Cory Texter, owner of No. 65. 

Baker, the 2013 Grand National Champion, will be back in the saddle after suffering a shoulder injury at the Superprestigio exhibition race in Barcelona, Spain, in December. His status has been the subject of speculation recently, but the Factory Harley-Davidson rider has confirmed he'll be in the field Thursday. 

Jared Mees' wife, Nichole Mees, will not be in the field at Daytona, but plans to run other races in 2015, which she said will be her final season. 

The entry list also has plenty of international flair with Doug Lawrence and Michael LaBella representing Canada in the GNC1 ranks and Italian Vittorio Marzotto and England's [the DTRA's!] Alan Birtwistle racing in GNC2.

Texter and Coolbeth win in Iowa

 Shayna Texter won the Knoxville half-mile Pro Singles class for the second year running.

While, after missing a chunk of the season, H-D's factory rider, Kenny Coolbeth won the Knoxville Expert Twins half-mile, lapping a number of riders in the final.

 Nichole Cheza came in a very impressive 8th in the 18-rider main.

Always in the hunt on the halves and miles, Bryan Smith was 5th.

 Sammy Halbert scored the last spot on the podium. New lid colours too, I think.

Matt Weidman in his lairy new leathers.

Robert Pearson was the first Kawasaki and first non-Harley, in 4th

 Back on it, Jake Johnson came in second.

Mees won the six-man dash for cash, but seemed to have a mechanical in the Main and failed to finish. That DNF closed the title race right up.

Brandon Robinson is dwarfing his Kawasaki Ninja. He came 7th in the main.

Mikey Martin made another main on the Bonneville Performance Triumph twin, coming home in 11th. Read about man and machine in Sideburn 11.

Photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing

Smith and Kawasaki win at Springfield

Better late than never for this short report. So, Brian Smith has won the Springfield Mile again. On a Kawasaki-powered bike again! This time the Crossley Howerton-framed, big-bore Ninja 650 (ER-6 in Europe). 

The shutter speed used to take this shot has frozen the wheels, but you know they're hauling here. That Kawasaki's pipes look good.

The Jake and Jared Show rumbled on. Mees came out on top this weekend, making third, Johnson was fifth, but title contender Sammy Halbert was second.

Shaun Russell (I always thought it was Shawn). Been with Bartels a long time. Came 11th in the main.

Shawn Baer on the Baer Racing Kawasaki.

Robert Pearson squeezing every last tenth out of  another Kawasaki. Eight of the Japanese bikes made the main. There were nine XR750s and Henry Wiles' Ducati, but he was black flagged.

Mikey Martin didn't make the main on his Triumph.

Nichole Cheza (15) had an eventful weekend. She failed to make the main, but her fella, Jared Mees, proposed to her on the podium.

Jake Johnson leads heat 3 (though Smith will win it). 59 is McCoy, 81 is Justin Hittle, 23 is Jeffrey Carver Jr.

Sammy's turn to look pee'd off. He lost the 25-mile race by four-hundredths of a second. G

All photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing

Ass Kickers

Gash. When the word is used in a derogatory manner towards a woman, it's probably one of the most vulgar. But if it's simply referring to a gruesome knee scar belonging to a Lady that is about kick your ass on a dusty oval, the steel shoe is right royally on the other foot. You better be afraid, and sorry that when you saw her hanging around in the pits you assumed she was 'just someone's girlfriend'.

Flat track racing is one of the only professional sports that doesn't segregate the sexes. Nichole Cheza and Shayna Texter, realise they are a pair of cats in amongst the dogs, but they ain't no pussies. Full feature SB#5. Photos Adam Wright and Tim White. BP

Sammy wins Stockton Half-Mile

After missing the first two races at Daytona after an off-season knee operation, Sideburn favourite Sammy Halbert, #7, had a hell of a comeback by winning the Stockton half-mile after a race-long battle with Brad Baker, #12, Halbert hadn't ridden a bike for months, before a quick spin around his garden, without a helmet, the day before setting off for California. 

It was the first GNC twins race of the year and the first time to get the big bikes out in a National race this year.

Another Sideburn fave, Johnny Lewis made the main on his brand new Latus Triumph Bonneville. He came 13 in the main, and was the second Triumph, behind Mikey Martin on the Bonneville Performance Triumph (the bike we featured in Sideburn 11).

Sammy Halbert and Jake Johnson in practice. Jake was on the Harley, not the Kawasaki twin the Zanotti team has been developing.

Brandon Robinson, 44 Kawasaki, showed his class after his debut win at Daytona by coming in sixth. Jeffrey Carver Jr, 23, recently stepped up from the Pro Single Class, came 9th.

Pro Singles action. The class is known for close racing, but Wyatt Mguire rode away from the field to win by 4.6secs over the length of the 16-lap race, from Shayna Texter (who we featured in Sideburn 5).

The fine details of Jake's XR750 are described by team owner Dave Zanotti in depth in Sideburn 11.

Kenny Coolbeth and Kayl Kolkman, 7th and 14th respectively

Bryan Smith, 42, was uncharacteristically outside the top ten, in 12th.

Nichole Cheza failed to make the main.

Jake Johnson rides the rear brake to keep the bike settled keeping the throttle open further than some of the other riders. Technique.

Number one plate this year? Sammy's traditional adversaries Jake Johnson and Jared Mees, came fourth and 16th... G

All photos: AMA Pro Racing.