Harley-Davidson/Goodwin Racing’s Stevie Bonsey won the penultimate round of the AMA Grand National Championship last night in the Tucson Half Mile held at Tucson International Raceway as the championship tightened up behind him.
Bonsey’s second career Grand National victory was a rather easy one, the Californian taking the lead in turn four on the opening lap and never looking back. He won by just a tick over a second.
Behind him the race for second place and the 2012 AMA Grand National Championship raged on with Crosley Radio Harley-Davidson’s Bryan Smith managing to hold off South East Harley’s Sammy Halbert by .031 of a second on the run to the flag.
Halbert, however, did gain points on championship leader Jared Mees with Mees finishing one spot and over two seconds behind the Washingtonian in the National. With just next weekend’s race in Pomona, California, remaining in the championship, Mees leads Halbert by 12 points.
“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 also won the points-paying Dash For Cash over Halbert and Mees.
Brad Baker finished fifth on his Harley-Davidson, one spot better than Jake Johnson. Robert Pearson, Henry Wiles Doug Lawrence and Matt Weidman rounded out the top 10.
In the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles class it was Shayna Texter winning her third race of the season, the DFW Honda rider beating Rodney Spencer Jr. by .131 of a second.
“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 Spencer 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 snatch the win.
Tucson Half Mile
1. Stevie Bonsey (H-D)
2. Bryan Smith (H-D)
3. Sammy Halbert (H-D)
4. Jared Mees (H-D)
5. Brad Baker (H-D)
6. Jake Johnson (H-D)
7. Robert Pearson (H-D)
8. Henry Wiles (Ducati)
9. Doug Lawrence (H-D)
10. Matt Weidmann (Kawasaki)
