Congrats to Stevie Bonsey for Winning the Opening Rounds of the Gene Romero West Coast Flat Track Series in Vegas!

Round 12 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season saw the guys and gals of The Rolling Thunder Show hit the track at the Multipurpose Arena at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in what would be the final National short track at the Springfield facility for the foreseeable future.

One of those stars on-hand from his home in Salinas, CA. was Stevie Bonsey on his #80 Confused Clothing/Alpinestars/Arai/Mack Daddy Racing-sponsored Honda CRF450R.  The fine young man that hails from the same area as past legends Doug Chandler, Ricky Graham and a handful of other greats in the greatest racing series on wheels in the world, had a tough night and just missed the field after working his way through his semi race.

Missing the field was not part of the program this last weekend as Bonsey took his Honda mount and magic to Las Vegas for the opening doubleheader rounds of the Gene Romero West Coast Flat Track Series, and promptly cleaned house in winning both nights over a host of National caliber riders including Brad Baker, Jake Johnson, Kayl Kolkman and Jethro Halbert, just to name a few.

This is the Californian's second year in-a-row to leave Vegas with some winning hardware after winning one of the opening rounds last year while riding for Dave Zanotti of Zanotti Racing fame.  This year, Bonsey took his Confused Clothing-backed CRF450R along for the ride and came out on top for both nights.  

Great job and a big congratulations to Steve Bonsey for putting on a winning clinic this past weekend.  Great to hear it for you man, and can't wait to see you tearing 'em up some more this season!

Sideburn Magazine has a couple of pics and a race report here.

AMA Pro Flat Track Releases 2013 Technical Rules

Round 13 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Springfield Mile II saw teams, riders and fans alike converge on the cathedral of speed, albeit a couple of weeks later than normal after the remnants of Hurricane Isaac caused the original Labor Day Weekend gathering to be canceled and rescheduled for the middle of September.  But once things got under way at the Illinois State Fairgrounds everyone was ready to go in what would be another great weekend of speed.

Just after the first round of practice, riders can be seen after pulling off of the track as they roll to a stop for the usual AMA Pro Flat Track inspection process to insure all is well under the tank.  Getting fuel samples tested by one of the AMA Pro Flat Track Blue Crew are Stevie Bonsey on the #80 Werner-Springsteen Racing/Alpinestars/Wossner Pistons/Cometic Gaskets-sponsored Kawasaki 650R and Willie McCoy on his #59 Harley-Davidson of Wausau/Independence H-D/Tucker Rocky/Arai-backed XR750.  JD Beach #95 and Kayl Kolkman #98 can be seen just behind Bonsey and McCoy while Will Fulford from The Fast and Dirty.com swaps out one of his GoPro cameras on McCoy's mount.

AMA Pro Flat Track released the new technical rules package for the upcoming 2013 season last night in an early move from what we have seen in the past few years.  This will surely help the teams to get a little bit of a jump on getting their set-ups ready for the new season ahead.  Some of the big changes anticipated and expected include a new minimum weight rule for the Twins Series (310 lbs. for ALL machines), and the addition of another millimeter in restrictor size (32mm to 33mm) for the H-D XR750s on the mile ovals.

Both of these should help keep all of the screaming at a dull roar in terms of equaling the competition across the board from the XR750 camps after the Kawasaki camp with rider Bryan Smith won the Sacto and Springfield II miles this last season.

Thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track for the newly released package, which you can view below.

2013 AMA Pro Flat Track Technical Rules

To: AMA Pro Flat Track Community
From: AMA Pro Competition
Date: December 13, 2012

Subject: 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track Technical Rules

The 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track Technical Rules have been released and are now available in the Competitor Information section of AMAProRacing.com. A direct link to the file follows:

• 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track Technical Rules

AMA Pro Racing

AMA Flat Track: Brandon Robinson #44 to Ride for USC Racing Kawasaki Team in 2013

Brandon Robinson relaxes in the pit area at round 10 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on August 18.  Riding for the Werner-Springsteen Monster Energy Kawasaki team for the 2012 Twins Series events, BRob44 had the best finish of his young career in his fourth season as an Expert-ranked rider by finishing 11th in the overall standings at the end of the season.

Robinson took the #44 Werner-Springsteen Racing/Sponseller/Penske/Motion Pro-sponsored Kawasaki 650R-based parallel twin to a superior finish of 2nd-place later in the evening at Indy for what was his best-ever finish in the Grand National Championship.  Leading laps and almost pulling off the upset win over veteran Sammy Halbert, Robinson backed up his 4th-place finish earlier in the season at the Sacramento Mile with another top-5 performance for the season in his first year with the team.

As was announced a few days ago thanks to the always entertaining, energetic and informative Tyler Porter from Fight For Dirt Track.com, Robinson will be taking his skills in the saddle to the USC Racing Kawasaki team for the upcoming 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track season. 

Brandon will join part-time team mate JD Beach (who will be returning to the Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Daytona SportBike Championship for his full-time job in the '13 season) on the 650R-based team.  Rob Pearson, 2012 Rookie of the Year Briar Bauman and Jethro Halbert are among a few other riders who have ridden for the team in the last two seasons.

Also seen in the shot above are two of the other machines in the Werner-Springsteen stable.  In the middle sits Stevie Bonsey's #80 Werner-Springsteen/Alpinestars/Wossner Pistons/Cometic Gasket-sponsored mount, with Robinson's back-up machine sitting in the background. 

The back-up mount is the same bike taken to the Indy and Springfield Mile wins during the 2010 season under the tutelage of team owners 13-Time AMA Grand National Championship-winning master wrench Bill Werner and 3-Time AMA Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen, with Bryan Smith at the controls.  Sammy Halbert ended up practicing the bike in the first session at Indy under an agreement he had worked out with team captain Werner, but according to the multi-time championship-winning tuner there wasn't enough time to get it dialed in to Sammy's liking in order for him to try to run the National on, and obviously that worked out to Halbert's advantage with him ultimately winning his first-ever mile event later that evening.

The podium celebrations get under way at round 10 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on August 18.  Jared Mees #9 and Brandon Robinson #44 flank first-time mile event winner Sammy Halbert after he had beaten Robinson to the line in the National main by just .027 seconds on his #7 South East Harley/The South Ass/Mo Vaughn Transport/LZ Racing-sponsored XR750.

Robinson was celebrating his best-ever finish of his four year career as an Expert-ranked rider after taking the Werner-Springsteen Kawasaki to a 2nd-place finish, and how ironic that must have been for the Pennsylvana resident after being hurled out of the park during the Lucas Oil Indy Mile in 2009 and fighting back from injuries and surgeries to ulitmately have the best finish of his Grand National career at Indy and at the end of the season overall.

With BRob44's experience on the Kawi twin gaining ground as the year went on, his move to the USC Racing Kawasaki team for the 2013 season should bring in some added knowledge and set-up experience to one of the other great teams now campaigning the parallel twin on the AMA Pro Flat Track circuit.

We wish both USC and Brandon the best of luck for the 2013 season and are looking forward to seeing some strong results out of them in the coming year!


You can follow BRob44 here via his Twitter account:

http://twitter.com/BRob44

...and here via his official website:

http://brandonrobinson44.com/

And again a thanks goes out to Tyler Porter at Fight For Dirt Track.com for making the announcement in his Inslide Line column from late Thanksgiving Thursday.  You can check out TP's most recent columns on FFDT.com here to keep up on the 'inslide line' from one of AMA Pro Flat Track's more amusing and most informative sources:

http://www.fightfordt.com/new_site/inslide_line.php

AMA Flat Track: Tucson Half-Mile 2012 Penultimate Round 15 Review as Stevie Bonsey & Shayna Texter Take the Wins

Stevie Bonsey on the #80 Dodge Bros/Alpinestars/Saddlemen/A&A Racing-sponsored XR750 leads Dan Ingram on the #31J TCR/Indy Southside H-D/Zanna Racing/Tucker Rocky-backed XR and Jeffrey Carver, Jr. (beside and partially hidden by Ingram) on the #23 Kiesow Racing/Hall's Cycles/Eddie Adkins/Sponseller-backed XR during round 4 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Springfield Mile I on May 27.

Bonsey scored the second win of his career last Saturday night in Tucson by taking the win on the Goodwin Racing XR (and the first win in the series for Goodwin Racing) over a stacked field fighting it out for all the gold in the penultimate round of the season with the series heading into tomorrow's season-finale at Pomona.

 Racing for the fourth team this season, the Salinas, California resident showed those on-hand that when he's coupled with the right equipment and conditions that he can duke it out with the best of the best in The Rolling Thunder Show by leading Bryan Smith and championship contender Sammy Halbert home in the 25-lap National main.  Bonsey has prepared and run his own equipment this season with the help of Mack Daddy Racing in the Singles Series, while riding the Dodge Brothers XR, Werner-Springsteen Kawasaki and now the Goodwin XR in the Twins Series events he has campaigned this year.

Stevie's run to the top of the podium at Tucson must surely have started at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile back in August, where in his first ride for the Werner-Springsteen team he was able to take the semi win to make the main event at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.  Several weeks later in the rain-delayed Springfield Mile II event, he was right back on the podium again after winning yet another semi in order to make the National main.  Although those results didn't end with him taking the top step on the box, they surely set the scene for his great win last weekend which doubled his win total in the series after winning the Calistoga Half-Mile round back in July '10.

Shayna Texter is shown getting ready for the final round of qualifying at round 10 of the 2012 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Championship Series season at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on August 18.  The rider of the #25A DFW Honda/RLT Racing/McElroy Packaging/Herr's-sponsored Honda CRF450R added to her win total last weekend in taking the third win of her Pro Singles career and second of the season at the Tucson Half-Mile.  One of the most competitive and popular riders on the circuit, the Pennsylvania resident pulled off the big win in front of a packed house at the Tucson International Raceway by just .132 seconds over runner-up Rodney Spencer, Jr.

Texter is locked into a tight fight for the 4th-place position heading into the final round of the season tomorrow in Pomona with Weirbach Racing's Dominic Collindres, with Collindres holding the nod, 144-140 points, making tomorrow's season-finale a sure bet to be one to watch as the season closes on the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Championship Series for the 2012 year.

A big congrats go out to Stevie and Shayna for their great wins and performances last weekend in Tucson.  Great job to the both of you!

While you're getting ready for tomorrow's action at Pomona, you can check out the press release below on the Tucson round thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track.

AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil Race Recap: Tucson Half-Mile

Bonsey Roars to Top of Podium in AMA Pro Flat Track's Return to Tucson International Raceway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (October 10, 2012) - The AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil ventured to Arizona for the first time since 2010.  The high banked, clay 3/8 mile oval of the Tucson International Raceway, the penultimate round of the 2012 season. The quick little track had last hosted a Grand National race in 2007 and proved to be quite a challenge for the AMA Pro stars.   Even with all the hype over a very tight, three rider, points battle going on it was Stevie Bonsey who stole the show with a near perfect night. Goodwin Racing backed, Bonsey posted the fastest heat race time, edged Sammy Halbert in the Dash and led all 25-laps of the Grand National Main.  "It is weekends like this that I come out and have fun and relax and it falls together for me," said Bonsey. "I think it is good for me to win one late in the season. That gives me something to look forward to next year knowing that I still have it. I just need a good program and some wheels under me to make it happen for next year."   The 25-lap National saw Defending Grand National Champion Jake Johnson (Zanotti Racing / Schaeffer's Harley-Davidson) lead the field into turn one, but it was short lived. "I got the hole shot and got out front," said Johnson. "I led about a half a lap and hit a hole and about came off the side of it. That was about it."  Bonsey was right there to take advantage as he, Bryan Smith (Moroney's Harley-Davidson /Fasthog.com) and Sammy Halbert (South East Harley-Davidson) all blasted by.                             Stevie Bonsey #80, Brad Baker #12, Sammy Halbert #7 and the rest of the field roar off the line at the start of the 25-lap National main event at the Tucson International Raceway on October 6.  Bonsey took the second win of his career at round 15 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the penultimate round of the year with the series heading to Pomona for the season-finale on Saturday, October 13.  AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.     Smith and Bonsey battled over the lead with Bonsey glued to the bottom and Smith rolling the top. Smith hooked a hole entering turn one and his focus quickly changed. "I decided I better back her down a notch," said Smith. "I caught my foot and I ran wide. I just about went down and decided I better back it down. It is hard when you are that close to a lead to just back it down."  Halbert lost contact with the leaders and slipped into the clutches of Jared Mees (Rogers Racing / Blue Springs Harley-Davidson). "I was giving it my all. Earlier in the race when I was really trying I spun my tire up a bit and hooked a bump," said Halbert. "It about knocked me off my seat. I almost crashed about three times, I had to just do what I could to try to keep it on two wheels. I don't think, that maybe, I quite nailed the setup or whatever. It was just a tough track to ride."   Bonsey cruised as the laps wore on, riding a near flawless race, stretching his lead to 1.172 seconds over Smith.  The win was the second of Bonsey's short career. "It wasn't a fluke. From practice on, I was running on the bottom," said Bonsey. "In the heat race I went really low and found something down there to win my heat race. I stuck down there for the Dash for Cash and won that too. I watched the semis and I was watching Henry (Wiles) and a couple guys run up higher. It was working pretty well and it was making me nervous. I was hoping that my line was not going away down there. I had been gearing up for that all day. In the main event I just got the hole shot and stayed down there. It worked. I put every lap together and hit my markers and stayed smooth."   In the final laps, Smith's second place finish was put into jeopardy by another late race charge by Halbert, much like he had done for the win last week. "It was almost like déjà vu reeling in Bryan," said Halbert. "I was pretty confident that I was going to get him because I caught him from a good ways back. I was passing there going into the final turn and should have held a tighter line. He just got me at the line. I thought I had second and he just got me at the line."  Jared Mees was content to keep his title rival (Halbert) in sight, finishing a lonely fourth two seconds back. With all the Championship contenders clamoring for the all important points, Johnson's slip was the most painful. Johnson slipped to sixth, just a thousandth of a second behind Brad Baker (Dodge Brothers Racing).  Fast qualifier, Rob Pearson (Memphis Shades / Bumpus Harley-Davidson) topped a great race for seventh over Henry Wiles (Foremost Insurance / ENI / Lloyd Brothers Motorsports), Doug Lawrence (R&J Racing / CVC Communications), Matt Weidman (Scott Powersports), Kenny Coolbeth (Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson Motor Company), Brandon Robinson (Werner-Springsteen Racing / Kawasaki), Mikey Martin (Bonneville Powersports) and Jethro Halbert (USC Racing / Hart Racing) as all finish within a two second window.   Bryan Smith earned the night's MotoBatt "Hard Charger Award" by improving his position the most throughout the main event.   Tucson Half-Mile Race Results   1 Steven Bonsey Goodwin Racing, Alpinestars 25 Laps 2 Bryan Smith Moroney's FastHog.com H-D 1.172 3 Sammy Halbert South East Harley 1.203 4 Jared Mees Rogers Racing ·Blue Springs H-D 3.482 5 Brad Baker Dodge Bros Racing, Perry's H-D 9.544 6 Jake Johnson Zanotti Racing, Schaeffer's H-D 9.545 7 Robert Pearson Memphis Shades, Bumpus H-D 11.718 8 Henry Wiles Foremost Insurance, ENI 12.212 9 Doug Lawrence R&J Racing, CVC Communications Agency 12.633 10 Matt Weidman Scotts Powersports, Saddlemen 13.191 11 Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. Screaming Eagle Harley Davidson Motor Company 13.299 12 Brandon Robinson Werner, Springsteen 13.421 13 Michael Martin Bonneville Performance, Triumph 13.818 14 Jethro Halbert USC Racing, Hart Racing 13.998 15 Kayl Kolkman Wieblers H-D, Roy's Taco House 15.795 16 Kevin Anderson Goodwin Racing, Anderson Bros. Motorsports 24 Laps 17 Chad Cose C.R.C. Racing, Bell, Arlenness 0.424 18 Duke Erickson Prairie Technology, CustomDaycab.com 17 Laps AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance GNC Points Standings   1 Jared Mees 280 2 Sammy Halbert 268 3 Jake Johnson 260 4 Bryan Smith 212 5 Brad Baker 172 6 Henry Wiles 167 7 Jeffrey Carver Jr. 136 8 Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. 132 9 Matt Weidman 124 10 Robert Pearson 115   Sunoco "Go the Distance" Award Update   1. Jared Mees - 448.8 mi. 2. Jake Johnson - 432.64 mi. 3. Jeffrey Carver Jr. - 430.08 mi. 4. Bryan Smith - 428.89 mi.   Saddlemen "Rookie of the Year" Update   Briar Bauman - 103 Mikey Martin - 36 Mikey Avila - 21

Photos from Tucson Half-Mile       Flat Track Finals October 13, 2012 Event Info | Tickets

Texter Brings Tucson Half-Mile Crowd to Their Feet With Last Lap Victory

AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles   The 16 lap Motorcycle-Superstore.com main roared into turn one with DFW Honda / RLT Racing's Shayna Texter leading the pack with first Dominic Colindres (Weirbach Racing) then Stephen Vanderkuur (Parkinson Brothers Racing) giving chase.   While it appeared the Motorcycle-Superstore.com main might be the race that would never end it developed into one of the best races of the night.  Four laps into the race, a red flag came out as Sam Knox (Stockton Moto) bailed. Once again Texter held her position, but fast qualifier Wyatt Maguire (Kirkland Racing) made the most of the restart and was heading a tight pack of riders now in pursuit.  Texter was greeted by the red flag again on lap 10 as Cole Anderson (Diesel Minnesota) had fallen exiting turn two. The restart saw Rodney Spencer Jr. emerge from the pack and close on Texter, who appeared to be struggling off the turns. Lap 12 saw Spencer shoot into the lead, but the red lights were on once again a lap later.                             Shayna Texter took the #25A DFW Honda CRF450R to the win at the Tucson Half-Mile round of the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Championship Series on October 6, 2012 for her second win of the season and the third of her career.  AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.     Wyatt Anderson (Colbert Power Sports) and Cody Johncox (Weirbach Racing) tangled on the back straight, ending their night. This prompted a five lap dash to the finish.   Spencer got a great restart, but Texter was not giving up. On the last lap Texter thrilled the large crowd with an outside pass in turns three and four as she charged to a .132 second win.   Pro Singles Race Results    1 Shayna Texter DFW Honda, RLT Racing Honda 17 Laps 2 Rodney Spencer Jr. 831 Pinnit, GP Sports Honda 0.131 3 Wyatt Maguire Kirkland Racing, Pro 1 Racing Heads Yamaha 0.784 4 Stephen Vanderkuur Parkinson Brothers Racing, Performance Cycle Honda 1.204 5 Ryan Kearns SM Racing, Spy Honda 1.473 6 Jake Shoemaker Montgomeryville Cycle Center, Roy Miller Engines Honda 1.608 7 Dominic Colindres Weirbach Racing, KDM Forestry Honda 2.223 8 Jason Isennock Highs Dairy Stores, Foard Racing Honda 2.884 9 Dustin Cassidy Cassidy Racing, WKR Kawasaki 3.684 10 James Monaco Mack Daddy Racing, Rogers Racing Honda 4.403 11 Ryan Foster Baywide Glass, Hacienda Pools Honda 4.538 12 Nick Armstrong Southland Racing, Fontana Radiator Suzuki 4.697 13 Cole Anderson Diesel Minnesota, Anderson Bros Motorsports Honda 6.167 14 Aaron Colton Speed & Strength, Tucker Rockey Honda 9.529 15 Austin Scaggs RGR, DC-10 Honda 13 Laps 16 Wyatt Anderson Colbert Power Sports, Motorcycle-Superstore Suzuki 12 Laps 17 Cody Johncox Weirbach Race Team, Sunnyside Cycle Honda 0.575 18 Sam Knox Stockton Moto, Stockton Honda Yamaha Honda 4 Laps 19 Zachery Lenhof APF Motorcycle Salvage, Cap's Powder Coating Honda DNS   AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Points Standings 1 Stephen Vanderkuur 190 2 Jake Shoemaker 177 3 Jason Isennock 162 4 Dominic Colindres 144 5 Shayna Texter 140 6 Ryan Wells 132 7 Wyatt Maguire 127 8 Gerit Callies 107 9 Jake Cunningham 95 10 Zakk Palmer 78 Sunoco "Go the Distance" Award Update   1. Jake Shoemaker - 298.47 mi. 2. Wyatt Maguire - 288.56 mi. 3. Jason Isennock - 287.14 mi. Next Up   The stars of AMA Pro Flat Track head to the LA County Fairplex on October 13, 2012. For tickets and information, please visit flattrackfinals.com

Photos from Tucson Half-Mile     Flat Track Finals October 13, 2012 Event Info | Tickets

AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.    For additional information contact: AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com

AMA Flat Track: Stevie Bonsey Takes the #80 Goodwin Racing XR750 to the Win at Tucson Half-Mile in Penultimate Round of the 2012 Season

Racing for his fourth team this season, Stevie Bonsey took the #80 Goodwin Racing XR750 to the win last night at the Tucson Half-Mile, round 15 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season.  The Salinas, California resident set the fast heat time win while winning heat one to establish himself as the man to beat at the Arizona venue, and proceeded to control the evening's events by winning the Dash for Cash and leading all 25 laps in the National main event.

Bonsey, who campaigns his own equipment in the Singles Series races with the help of George Mack of Mack Daddy Racing, also has run a couple of events this season on the Dodge Brothers XR team, a handful of events for the Werner-Springsteen Kawasaki/Monster Energy/Alpinestars/Arai-sponsored 650R-based mount (shown above after winning semi race #2 at the Springfield Mile II on September 16) and now with the Goodwin Racing effort.  This guy must have his bagged packed all year long with all the great teams and efforts he has campaigned this season, and other then Brad Baker must be the most-traveled of riders in The Rolling Thunder Show this year. 

This is a great win for the young man once promoted as Kenny Roberts' protege.  After winning the 2009 AMA Pro Flat Track Rookie of the Year Award, Bonsey won his first-ever Grand National at the Calistoga Half-Mile in late July '10, and now doubles his win total in the greatest racing series on wheels in the world.

Runner-up last night saw Bryan Smith campaigning his #42 Moroney's FastHog.com XR, and Sammy Halbert rounded out the podium on his #7 South East H-D-backed XR to gain a couple of points on series points leader Jared Mees, who finished in the 4th-place spot last night to still hold the lead in the standings 280-268 over Sammy.  2-Time and defending AMA Grand National Champion fell to 20 points behind series' leader Mees with a 6th-place finish on the #1 Zanotti Racing XR, with Brad Baker rounding out the top-5 on the #12 Dodge Brothers Racing XR.

A big congrats go out to Stevie Bonsey for his superb win last night, this fine young man has been forced to curtail his season's efforts this season due to lack of funds, but the one's he has been running he has been making some big statements, with last night's big win sealing the deal for the wayward team traveler.  Not yet on the pre-entry list for Saturday's final round in Pomona, here's hoping he can hook-up another great ride to close the season out with.  Great job man, we knew you could and would do it again.  Bravo!

The Goodwin Racing XR sits in the pits during round 4 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Springfield Mile I on May 27.  Jethro Halbert was running the #69 Goodwin Racing/Drew Massa Trans/SHR/Arai-sponsored XR this particular weekend, and brought the machine home to a 7th-place finish.

I believe this is Goodwin's first-ever win in The Rolling Thunder Show, as I am not that familiar with their effort, but a big congrats also goes out to this team for putting one of the best in the business in Stevie Bonsey on their mount and taking the big win last night in Tucson to beat the rest of the best.  Great job guys!

Here is the link to the complete results for round 15 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at Tucson International Raceway:

http://results.amaproracing.com/live/results/pdfresults/ft/2012/F1275/default.aspx

And a big thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track for not only the link to the results above, but for this gallery of shots from Tucson yesterday by AMA Pro Flat Track photographer Dave Hoenig:

http://www.amaproracing.com/ft/multimedia/gallery.cfm?gid=7669

Check out AMA Pro Flat Track's official press release on the penulitmate round of the 2012 season at the Tucson Half-Mile from yesterday!

Stevie Bonsey Captures AMA Pro Flat Track Win at Tucson Half-Mile

 

TUCSON, Ariz. (October 6, 2012) - The desert heat had no effect on Stevie Bonsey (Harley-Davidson/Goodwin Racing) as he shredded the competition during Saturday night's AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil main event at the Tucson International Raceway. Bonsey took the checkered flag by over a full second and recorded his best performance of the season. It's been five years since AMA Pro Flat Track has held an event in Tucson, Arizona but the high-octane racing action made it worth the wait.

 

 

Stevie Bonsey on the #80 Goodwin Racing XR750 took the lead towards the end of the first lap and went on to win the Tucson Half-Mile by over 1.1 seconds over runner-up Bryan Smith on the #42 Moroney's FastHog.com XR.  Sammy Halbert rounded out the podium on his #7 South East H-D XR750 at last night's round 15 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season.  The series heads to the final round in Pomona this Saturday, October 13.  AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.

"I came out and did it in front of the Arizona fans here tonight," said Bonsey. "My first victory was in California and luckily my second one came here in front of you guys. From start to finish, I felt good the whole race and I have to thank my guys for giving me this great opportunity."

Bonsey was the pole sitter and clearly had the fastest bike of the night. Sixth-place finisher and defending Grand National Champion Jake Johnson (Harley-Davidson/ Zanotti Racing) got the holeshot out of the gate but that lead lasted less than a full lap as Bonsey went a little lower on the groove off turn four and reclaimed the lead...and never looked back.

Bryan Smith (Harley-Davidson/Crosley Radio) was alone in second place for the majority of the race but saw his comfortable 1.56-second lead over Sammy Halbert (Harley-Davidson/South East Harley) diminish on the final lap. Fortunately for Smith, he was able to hold off Halbert on the final run up the front-stretch to claim an impressive second-place finish.

The bright side for Halbert is that he edged fourth place finisher and current GNC combined points leader Jared Mees to close the gap between them with one final race remaining.

 

AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles

All season long, the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles have excelled under the shadows cast by the twin-cylinder engines, and this week was no exception. Shayna Texter (DFW Honda) won her third race of the season and was sharp right from the get-go.

"I have a lot of fans here and I want to give a shout out to them," said Texter. "I also want to thank my team and sponsors; this was a big win for us."

Texter started from pole and when she surrendered the lead to Rodney Spencer Jr. (Honda/831 Pinnit) on lap 12, it looked as if she was going to fall short of the victory. However, on the last turn of the final lap, justice was served as the young phenom ripped the lead right back from Spencer Jr. just in time to capture the checkered flag by a slim .131 second margin. 

Spencer Jr. continued to stay hot as this race made for his second consecutive runner-up finish. Jason Isennock (Honda/Highs Dairy Stores) also impressed as he closed out the podium in what proved to be an intense battle for the third spot. AMA Pro Singles points leader Stephen Vanderkuur (Honda/Parkinson Brothers Racing) and Ryan Kearns (Honda/SM Racing) rounded out the top five riders, respectively.

Next Up

 

AMA Pro Flat Track heads to Pomona, Calif. for the The Law Tigers AMA Pro Flat Track Finals presented locally by Harley-Davidson of Pomona Valley and Glendale Harley-Davidson, scheduled for October 13, 2012 at the LA County Fairplex.

 

AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.  For additional information contact: AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com