Jared Mees keeps the AMA Grand National Championship number one plate for 2016, Briar Bauman earns GNC1 win at Las Vegas finale.
The finale was anticlimactic since Mees’ two closest rivals faltered earlier in the evening, but Mees wasn’t worried about how he won, he was just glad that he took back home to Clio, Michigan, the prestigious AMA Pro Grand National number one plate, his third in the last four years.
The championship was decided even before the main event when second-ranked Bryan Smith crashed out of his Semi. Third in series Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. could only manage to make it to the B Main, so that meant no matter where Mees finished in the final he had enough points in hand to claim the title.
“It awesome,” Mees said when asked how it felt to win the championship. “I said last year that that one meant the most to me then, but this one feels like it means the most to me now. It just gets sweeter and sweeter. The was pressure coming in of course, just because it’s a short track and what happened to Bryan (Smith), that was my biggest fear, kind of like beating yourself. I’ve done a lot of these indoor races and I know that sometimes the fastest guy can end up sitting on the bumper of his truck watching the race.”
The championship battle between Mees and Smith was intense all season and at times became contentious, but Mees went on to say how bad he felt about Smith’s crash earlier in the program.
“Bryan’s a good competitor and deep down a good friend,” Mees said. “There’s a rivalry there of course, because we’re all going for the same thing. We live about 25 minutes from each other, so we have a lot of the same friends and we meet up sometimes at functions or to go riding. Definitely this season there was some animosity there, but at the end of the day when the dust settles I hope that we can all get that friendship back tight again and bring it on again next year. I enjoy racing with Bryan.”
In the end Mees won the title by 23 points over Smith (204-181). Sammy Halbert, who finished fourth tonight, moved past Coolbeth for third in the final standings with 172 points.
Almost overlooked in the big story of Mees winning the title was the victory by Bauman, the 20-year-old from Salinas, California. Bauman looked flawless early in the race on his Honda, but said when he looked back and realized his had a big lead he started making riding errors.
“I did some of the best laps I’ve done all night and kind of felt like I had some breathing room,” Bauman explained. “I took a glance at one point as I was going into (turn) one and I just saw blue and yellow (Kopp’s colors) going through four. I thought I was OK and couldn’t do anything wrong, well then you start doing a lot of things wrong. I was hitting holes and hanging off the side of the thing and just making a lot of mistakes. Eventually I slowed down. It was one of those racetracks where whoever could make the least amount of mistakes was going to win.”
The victory, Bauman’s first of the season, punched his ticket into Saturday night’s Superprestigio of the Americas. Bauman was the seventh winner this season in the 13-race AMA Pro Flat Track Championship.
Kopp, 46, came out of retirement for this race. His goal was to try to win so he could race in the Superprestigio, but he realized it was a next to impossible task. Still he ran a remarkable race for a retired guy, taking second on his Husqvarna.
“I kind of wanted to run the Prestigio tomorrow night,” said Kopp, the 2000 AMA Grand National Champion. “I knew you had to win it to move on, so it was
kind of my goal, but realistically I knew it was a long, long shot. The best thing about racing now is I come here to have fun.”
Dan Bromley won the GNC2 support race final on his KTM over Ben Lowe and Bronson Bauman.
Racing continues Saturday at the Orleans Arena with the first ever Superprestigio of the Americas, which pits motorcycle racers from various disciplines against one another in a unique event. Opening ceremonies are at 7:30 p.m. Pacific.
2015 AMA Grand National Championship
Orleans Arena
Results: September 20, 2015 (Round 13 of 13)
GNC 1 Main Event
1. Briar Bauman-Hon
2. Joe Kopp-Hus
3. Jared Mees-Hon
4. Sammy Halbert-Yam
5. Jake Johnson-Hon
6. Dominic Colindres-Yam
7. Mike Rush-Hon
8. Jake Mataya-Hon
9. Kayl Kolkman-Suz
10. Henry Wiles-Hon
11. Danny Eslick-Hon
12. Brandon Robinson-Hon
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