Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Wrecking Crew rider Kenny Coolbeth Jr. dominated the field and a difficult Delaware Speedway race track to score his second win of the season in the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines flat track series. On a night when Coolbeth needed a win to keep his 2015 season championship hopes alive, the veteran racer crushed the competition on a Zanotti Racing Harley-Davidson XR750 motorcycle, winning the Dash for Cash bonus sprint before leading every lap of the 25-lap main. Jake Johnson brought the Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Factory Team XR750 home in third place.
“A fast Harley-Davidson and a great Zanotti team put me out front tonight,” said Coolbeth, a three-time AMA Grand National champion who now has 35 career victories. “We gained a lot of ground in the standings tonight. We just have to keep winning races.”
Coolbeth earned maxim points at the race dubbed “The Roar on the Shore” and is 20 points behind the series leader, Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Wrecking Crew rider Jared Mees, with two races left on the 2015 schedule. Mees finished eighth at Delmar after being sent to the back-row penalty line when he jumped the start from his front-row qualifying position. Mees lined up next to Bryan Smith, who was just one point behind Mees at the beginning of the evening. Smith was forced to start at the back after switching to a back-up motorcycle and finished in 14th place in the main.
Mees, who finished eighth at Delmar, now leads the GNC1 2015 series with 188 points. Smith is second with 181 points, followed by Coolbeth with 168 points.
A very narrow racing groove made it difficult to pass on the Delmar half-mile track, and Coolbeth used an outstanding start to grab the lead on the opening lap of the main, opening a gap of 0.378 seconds on the field before the race was stopped on lap 13 when rider Sammy Halbert crashed. Coolbeth immediately reasserted his dominance on the restart, opening a gap on the field that grew to 1.66 seconds by the end of the race. Jeffery Carver finished second, followed by Johnson on the Harley-Davidson Factory Team bike. Johnson has now finished on the podium twice in three races filling in for injured Factory Team rider Brad Baker.
