Photography by Larry Lawrence
DELMAR, DE (Sept. 19, 2015) – Jake Johnson continued his solid run as factory Harley-Davidson fill-in rider as his topped timed qualifying at Delaware International Speedway’s Half-Mile Saturday afternoon. Johnson clocked a 23.769-second lap on his No. 5 Harley-Davidson XR750 to top the charts. A close second was Dominic Colindres on the Babe DeMay Yamaha FZ07. Nichole Mess was also a mild surprise in third on her Black Hill’s Harley Davidson XR750.
Johnson said the Delaware track was tricky.
“It’s a little slick, but yet you can find traction,” Johnson said of the banked clay oval. “A lot of what happens tonight depends on how they maintenance the track before tonight’s program. One and two are pretty bumpy and one line, so you just have to bide your time there. I think three and four is where a lot of the racing’s going to happen tonight. It’s going to be a tough track to pass on.”
Running second, Colindres continues to show good speed on the only Yamaha in the field. And Nichole Mees, in her last full season of competition, continues to show amazing pace, running third on her Harley-Davidson, this after winning a Heat race at Springfield a couple of weeks ago.
All eyes will be on points leader Jared Mees, riding the No. 1 Las Vegas Harley-Davidson, and Bryan Smith, pilot of the No. 42 Crosley Radio Kawasaki, as Smith finds himself trailing Mees by a single point in the premier Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines standings with just three rounds to go. Both struggled a bit in qualifying.
Mees was seventh, but only 3-10ths of a second behind Johnson’s time in an extremely tight session where the top 34 riders where within a second of one another’s time.
Smith got sideways through turns one and two in his try at a fast lap and said he nearly highsided. He ended up tenth fastest.
Opening ceremonies start at 7:00pm eastern. The race can be viewed on Fanschoice.tv.
AMA Pro Flat Track Timed Qualifying from Delaware Intl. Speedway
1 5 Jake Johnson Harley-Davidson 750 23.435
2 66Y Dominic Colindres Yamaha FZ07 23.501
3 15 Nichole Mees Harley-Davidson 23.539
4 2 Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. Harley-Davidson 23.551
5 49 Chad Cose Kawasaki EX650 23.559 23.889
6 69 Sammy Halbert Harley-Davidson 23.591
7 1 Jared Mees Harley-Davidson 23.650 24.100
8 23 Jeffrey Carver Jr. Kawasaki EX650 23.710
9 65 Cory Texter Kawasaki EX650 23.714
10 42 Bryan Smith Kawasaki EX650 23.761
