Sammy at Willow Springs

More from Sammy Halbert, yeah I wonder why Jared Mees try to take him out...

Willow Springs - Eddie Mulders WCVDTS
Round 1 4/25/10

We came down a day early for the practice day at Willow Springs Raceways Flat Track and unloaded our new Harley that our good friend Vinny bought for us from one of our sponsors; Scott Powersports. I felt really fast on it first time on the track. That put a big smile on my face, there is not many things that I enjoy more than riding my Harley around this banked 3/8 Flat Track.
We put Jethro on our very fast J&M Framed Honda 450 as this is one of those tracks that is just small enough that a single cylinder 450cc based motorcycle like most the guys ride is competitive with the big V Twin Harley that I would be racing. The Harley weighs about 100 pounds more so it takes a lot more strength and endurance to go fast for the entire 20 lap main event but I have been training so hard I felt confident I could do it.
I was able to win my heat race going away and was really enjoying myself. Jethro finished 2nd in his heat race so we made a couple adjustments to his ride and he was ready to step it up for the main event.
A big thanks to Rod Lake, Eddie Mulder, Digger Helm and everyone else who contributed to the $2500 five lap Dash for Cash. I started on the inside pole with J. Mees and J. Wood to my right among others. They were both riding singles and looked pretty good winning their heat races so now it was time to see who had the most speed for five laps. I got a decent start but so did Mees and for some reason he tried to pinch me off by swerving left at me right away but I wasn't gonna let that slow me down so I charged the little space he left me on the bottom, drifted in front of him sideways and wide open shooting a huge rooster tail at them and took off. I rode as hard as I possibly could and had one scary moment as the front end washed out and my legs were flailing off the pegs but luckily I still had the gas on and pulled through to take the win.
Next up for us was the 20 lap pro main event. When they threw the green flag I dropped the clutch and got a little cross rutted and off balance so I was about the last one off the front row and someone from the back row even showed me a wheel, so I went into turn one banzai style from the bottom and drifted up almost into Mees who had the lead, I somehow came out of the first turn in second place, followed Mees into turn three and got to watch as he went in extremely hot right thru the bumps and up the racetrack right out of my way handing me the lead. From there I put in some really fast laps and started to pull away. Mees ended up breaking so I had a huge lead that I managed to the finish. Jethro was running the best he had been all weekend but unfortunately the bike quit for some reason while he was in a battle for fourth.
I couldn't be happier to win four in a row now at Willow Springs, it took me a few years to figure out how to win here, but now I really have it dialed and can't wait to come back. I have now officialy won a big race on all four of our Harley Davidsons and have won at Willow on three of them.
Thanks for the support! Talk to you next week.
#7 Sammy
(Janice Blunt Photos)