Johnson sweeps Daytona Short Track

From Daytona International Speedway
with files from John Hopkins and Frank Wood

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Jake Johnson became the first rider to sweep both nights of the AMA Grand National Singles Championship doubleheader at Municipal Stadium on Thursday.

Johnson, the 2006 Grand National Singles champ, got the holeshot on his factory Suzuki RM-Z450-based short track machine and never looked back. The Franklinville, NJ-based rider went on to a convincing 5.394-second margin of victory over fellow Suzuki rider JR Schnabel just as rain began to fall.

Bryan Smith, riding a Bill Werner-prepped Kawasaki, held off a determined charge by defending series champ Kenny Coolbeth for third.

“Coming out of here with a pair of wins is better than I could have hoped for,” Johnson said. “Everything just fell into place so well. I want to keep this momentum going and get this championship back from Kenny. I had to hang with him this winter to find out his secrets.”

With the victory Johnson opens an 11-point lead over Schnabel in the standings after two rounds. Coolbeth is in third, a single point behind Schnabel.

Welland, ON's Donald Taylor made the main for the second straight night, this time with a win in his heat race. That put him on the front row for the feature but he was unable to run at the front and slipped back to 13th at the finish.

Results
1. Jake Johnson, Suzuki; 2. JR Schnabel, Suzuki; 3. Bryan Smith, Kawasaki; 4. Ken Coolbeth, Honda; 5. Henry Wiles, Kawasaki; 6. Brandan Bergen, Honda; 7. Joe Kopp, Honda; 8. John Raun Wood, Honda; 9. Matt Burton, Yamaha; 10. Nick Cummings, Honda; 11. Brock Schwarzenbacher, Honda; 12. Bryan Bigelow, Suzuki; 13. Don Taylor, Honda; 14. Brandon Lee Robinson, Honda; 15. A.J. Eslick, Suzuki; 16. Mike Rush, Kawasaki