Santa Rosa Mile now on Fanschoice

Last month's Santa Rosa Mile was unforgettable for a number of reasons, good and bad. We've covered the bad, now the good. This race was something special. 25 miles of incredible skill, tension and groundbreaking performance.
It marks the beginning of Indian era.
Click Santa Rosa Mile 2016 to watch it, and you really should. G

Indian FTR750 x Kopp at the Santa Rosa Mile

Big news from AMA Pro Racing. This is taken from the press release, but I cut out some of the over the top marketing hyperbole. This is going to be exciting. Sideburn is going to be there...

Indian... today confirmed that its all-new Indian Scout FTR750 race bike will make its racing debut on Sunday, September 25 at the Ramspur Winery Santa Rosa Mile AMA Pro Flat Track race in Santa Rosa, California. The race takes place at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds at 1350 Bennett Valley Rd. in Santa Rosa, with gates opening at 11 am PDT. The Indian Motorcycle FTR750 will be piloted in its debut by AMA Pro Flat Track racing legend Joe Kopp. Joe is one of 15 riders to complete the Dirt Track "Grand Slam," with victories on short track, TT, half-mile, and mile courses. In addition to his 2000 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship, he took the 1999 and 2000 AMA 600 Hotshot and Supertracker Championships. The Indian Scout FTR750 will feature Kopps' #3 for the weekend.

The Indian Scout FTR750 is a clean-sheet design racing machine developed by the Indian Motorcycle Racing engineering and design teams. The bike is powered by a purpose-developed, high performance 750cc V-Twin engine and features a unique, ultra-light steel frame, large centrally located airbox and sleek lightweight carbon fiber body.  Much like the design philosophy behind Indian Motorcycle's family of production bikes, the design and engineering teams built the FTR750 to artfully combine state-of-the-art technologies with design elements from legendary Indian racing models from history.

Leading up to the AMA Pro Flat Track event, Indian Motorcycle will sponsor the Pro/Am Hooligan and RSD SuperHooligan races in Santa Rosa on September 24. Saturday's action kicks off at 4:30 pm PDT at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in the Chris Beck Arena. Participating in the SuperHooligan race class will be Roland Sands as well as various special guests. Roland Sands and his team from Roland Sands Design (RSD) will be racing their custom Indian Scout Sixty dirt track racers in the SuperHooligan class in what is sure to be an epic day of dirt track racing.

GNC Flat Track Finale Online

Finally, the finale. A real fistfight in a phone booth. Make time to watch the heat races.
It's over a week since the flat track finale took place in Las Vegas and fanschoice.tv have, at last, put the footage online to watch at your leisure.
We've specifically avoided spoilers on the site. I used to do event reports, but think it's better to watch it. Leave comments if you want to discuss the racing.
Background: Jared Mees went into this round leading from Bryan Smith with Kenny Coolbeth having an outside chance if the night went badly wrong for the other two and perfectly for him.
Click www.fanschoice.tv/ama-pro to watch.

Hopefully the Superprestigio of America and Superhooligan will follow soon. G

Joe Kopp raced this striking Husqvarna with carbon-fibre BST wheels.

Photos: Courtesty of AMA Pro Racing

JL10 to ride KTM Twin in 2014

Exciting news in this press release...

With a new year and a new season just around the corner, the Waters Autobody/Project K Racing team supported by KTM & GE Capital announces their partnership with National #10 Johnny Lewis. 
Lewis, a former Factory KTM Supermoto racer with 8 career podiums and a win in the AMA Pro Supermoto Unlimited class, has joined the Leo Vince supported team on the KTM powered 990 V-twin for the AMA Pro Flat Track Twins Championship in 2014. 

Lewis has opted to not re-sign with the Latus Motors Racing Triumph program for a second season, where the season’s best result came at Virgina’s Colonial Downs Mega Mile with a second place Dash for Cash finish and an 8th place finish in the main event after coasting to the finish line with engine issues. The 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Daytona winner is excited to help Project K Racing owner Dave Waters further develop the KTM 990 and hopes to bring it to the next step with a first-ever podium finish in the AMA Pro Flat Track Twins Championship next season.

If you want to read to more about the Project K KTM V-twin there is a big feature in Sideburn 12 (that we've sold out, but some of our loyal dealers might have. If you want to find one, leave a comment telling where you are).
Johnny Lewis, one of the most erudite and amusing riders in the GNC, is interviewed in Sideburn 9.

And this all means talk that Shayna Texter will ride the Latus Triumph twin, a team managed by former champion Joe Kopp, is more than a rumour. Though, I'm unsure if this in in the top Experts class or the 'support' Basic twins class. The Inslide Line stated Joe Kopp is going to ride the Triumph twin at some rounds, too. This is likely to help the young rider with set-up. G

Mees wins at the Mega Mile

Reigning champion Jared Mees made hay while the sun shined at the Colonial Downs, 1.25-mile Mega Mile - the first time the GNC has visited the Virginia oval. Mees broke his leg earlier in the year, but the rain-offs played into his hands and he's right in the hunt, especially as... 

Mile specialist Bryan Smith had mechanical problems while leading the Main, pulled to the side of the track, then fought back to 12th. And...

Series leader Brad Baker broke down too... This was the first time, out of nine GNC starts this season, Baker finished outside the to 5. All these back to back races are obviously hard on the machinery.

Jake Johnson found his mojo with the Lloyd Brothers Ducati. He was 7th in the main on the 749cc framer.

 Johnson's teammate, Henry Wiles, came second in the Main and took a chunk of points out of Brad Baker's lead. He's looking good with four races to go.

 

Kenny Coolbeth, #2, is having a quiet year, by his very high standards. He came 5th, between up and comers #14 Briar Bauman and #95 JD Beach.

 Matt Wiedman on the Scott Kawasaki, 10th in the main, and, in those leathers, styling like it's 1995.

Johnny Lewis finally showed the potential of the Latus Triumph. Here is being pushed off by his team boss, Joe Kopp (in sunglasses) - who is interviewed in Sideburn 14. Lewis was top Triumph, coming 8th. Mikey Martin also made the main, coming in 16th in the 19-man main.

There were only 7 XR750s in the main. There were more 650 Kawasakis, a total of 8. Plus two Ducatis and two Triumphs.
The Harley still came out on top this time.

#44 Brandon Robinson in the hunt.

 Trying hard and looking like a Troy Lee cartoon,  Jake Constantine.

Smith, #42, won the six-rider Dash for Cash, from #10 Lewis. JD Beach, Nicole Cheza, Jake Johnson and Jared Mees also made the four-lapper for the top qualifiers.

Cody Johncox won the 10-lap Pro Singles race, beating Shayna Texter by EIGHT THOUSANDS of a second.

1. Mees, 2. Wiles, 3. Robinson
1. H-D, 2. Ducati, 3. Kawasaki

Next AMA GNC Flat Track is the Springfield double-header this weekend.
All photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing.

Sammy is King at Castle Rock

Another solid finish from the first (full) year Expert, Briar Baumann - 10th in the Main. He was on one of the two Kawasakis to make the main. There were three Yamahas (including the winners) and the remaining 11 Expert finalists rode Honda CRF450s.

 Joe Kopp made a comeback, came 7th in the main.

Sammy and Brad Baker (who came 9th in the Main). One's running a low-pipe, the other high.

The front view of that battle. I really like Baker's Troy Lee kit (and the fact he's not running a mudguard).

JD Beach, a great fifth in the main.

Sammy's TT set-up, Pyjamas and petal discs.

Pro Singles winner, Jacob Lehmann.

Sammy led from beginning to end. This is the Halberts home race, they're from Graham, Washington. Sammy won the Dash for Cash, Jethro (#69) was second, and Sammy led the most laps. Clean sweep. He won here last year too.

Sammy wins, Jake Johnson second and Jared Mees third. These three are a class above this season. Jake even remembered to smile. He doesn't normally when he isn't in the middle. 

But what are the trophy girls looking and smiling at? Has Sammy dropped his pants? G

Joe Kopp's Pike's Peak Triple

Joe Kopp has been busy since retiring from the full-time GNC racing. We knew he'd been competing in the US XR1200 race series, but his assault on Pike's Peak passed us by. This is the bike he did it on. He had the record-breaking time, till the Ducati Multistrada of Carlin Dunne beat it later that day (though the lap record was always going to get beaten as the track has a higher proportion of tarmac every year, and this year, we're told by friends who race there, it's going to be 100% tarmac, no dirt).
The bike looks a bit too 'German streetfighter' to me, with that aggressively chopped rear, but it's still good to see a name like Latus getting involved.

Sideburn heroes Eddie Mulder and Dimitri Coste also appear in this slick (corporate) video.

I wonder how Guy Martin would do at Pike's Peak. Suzuki US could have quite a story on their hands, if they sorted a bike for him.

Photos from Asphalt & Rubber. Thanks to Simon for the tip. G

Sammy Halbert Road Racing!

This weekend at Infineon (Sears Point, right?) in the AMA XR1200 series. This, from a press release:

To prepare for his XR1200 class debut, the Graham, WA, rider has attended several racing schools and track days to acquaint himself with the techniques of motorcycle road racing. “I know I’ll have some catching up to do, but I’m hoping once it’s race time, my competitive instincts will kick in and I’ll be able to keep up,” Halbert said.

When his competitive instincts kick in? Holy cow, we'd love to see this. Joe Kopp is doing a full season, we think. He came third at Daytona. G

UPDATE: As BBC said, Sammy's been having speedway lessons. We didn't know he was thinking of coming over here, though. I'm emailing him now! Watch this video. He gets the hang of it... We spotted it at Poppawheelie. G

Lloyd Brother's Ducati

Lloyd Brothers Motorsports 2010 Video from David Lloyd on Vimeo.

Second Ducati video of the day. Thanks to Roger Falesco for telling us about this.

Nice little 5:42 video on Ducati's race team. Now that Kopp's retired, Henry Wiles will be back with the Lloyd Brothers team in 2011. Recall that he rode the Aprilia for this team before they switched to Ducati, and would've won the Lima half mile a couple of years back had Eslick heeded the move over flag. If he had won, then Aprilia would've got all the kudos for beating H-D that Ducati did this year... Roger

We featured the first Lloyd Brothers' Ducati (in a different chassis to Kopp's), in Sideburn 4. G

Coolbeth wins Minnesota Mile

With Sammy Halbert banned for one weekend's racing (more about that later), his rivals had the opportunity to gain some ground on him. Kenny Coolbeth won the Mile from reigning champion Jared Mees (on the cover of SB3) and Jake Johnson (on the cover of SB5).
Coolbeth styling.
The Dash for cash. Weidman, Coolbeth, Johnson, Pearson, Carr, Mees.
Three from three. Chris Carr continued his great Dash for Cash run, by winning from Jersey Jake.
Making cash. Kicking ass. Class act.
Johnson, Kopp, Mees, Lewis, Cose in qualifying.
Pro Singles action. Kurtis Lee (22J), Chaz Springsteen (29J - Jay's nephew), William Cato (35c).
Bryan Smith came sixth in the Main (after two back to back wins) and was part of the the most diverse Main for years. The nights's final was made up of 11 x XR750, 2 x Kawasaki, 2 x Suzuki, 1 x Triumph, 1 x KTM, 1 x Ducati.
Aussie Luke Gough (62) and Johnny Lewis (on a Kawasaki, I think)
Jared Mees.
Pro Singles Main winner Jeffrey Carver Jr.
Kopp main the main but came an uncharacteristic 16th.
Weidman seem to be one of the few riders who runs traditional bar clamps. Look at the bikes guys in the photo above.

Photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing.