SPRINGFIELD, IL, MAY 29 – Henry Wiles continued his domination of the Springfield TT Saturday night, earning his third straight victory in the National, tying the record of three-consecutive Springfield TT wins by JR Schnabel. Wiles, racing the Kawasaki USA/Don’s Kawasaki/Shift Kawasaki KX450F, raced patiently behind early leader Jared Mess several laps before passing Mees on the jump and pulling away to a 5.429 second victory.
Joe Kopp overcame getting delayed in a first-lap pileup and moved through the field, getting Mees late, to nail down second on his Latus Harley-Davidson/Moto Concepts/ Jones Powersports Honda CRF450. Kopp’s runner-up finish was good enough to preserve his lead in the AMA Pro K&N Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com.
After a great beginning, Mees had to settle for third on his
Rockysonline/Montgomeryville Cycle Center/ Lucas Oil/Rogers Lake Racing Honda CRF450.
Shaun Russell and Bryan Smith rounded out the top-five finishers.
“The final was almost easy after the tough day I had,” said Wiles, who moved up to fourth in the standings with his win. “I crashed a couple of times in practice and then nailed a hay bale in the Dash. I was thinking, ‘What in the world is going on?’ Fortunately I relaxed in the final and once I got by Jared my bike was so strong that was able to pull away. It feels great to win three in a row and match JR’s [Schnabel] record here. It’s too bad JR wasn’t here. Things might have been different if he’d been here.”
Schnabel was not at Springfield. Reports at the track said that the Wisconsin veteran had knee surgery earlier this week.
J.D. Beach won the Pro Singles class for the second straight year. Beach led from flag to flag on his Red Bull/Top 1 Oil/Rockwall Performance Honda. Jeffrey Carver Jr. made a spectacular last-lap charge to move from fourth to second on his Vans/Yamaha Motor Corp./GYTR Yamaha. Carver was 3.2-seconds behind Beach. Michael Martin rounded out the podium finishers on his Weirbach Racing/General Engineering Honda.
