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Henry Wiles Earns His Fourth Win at the Springfield TT

Written by Brendan Brehm May 28, 2012 0Add

Henry Wiles at the Spingfield TT

Sports Info

After missing last year’s Springfield TT due to an injury, Henry Wiles (Don’s Kawasaki) returned to the Illinois State Fairgrounds to resume his winning streak on the track.

Wiles picked up his fourth win at Springfield Saturday, as well as his 21st Grand National Championship victory. In the Pro Singles class, Gerit Callies led every lap on the way to his second win of the season.

GNC Expert Singles

Wiles got a great start in the 25-lap main race, picking up the holeshot and securing the lead early on. He was closely followed by defending champ Jake Johnson (Zanotti Racing Honda) and Jared Mees (Montgomery Cycle/National Cycle Honda) in the early laps, but was able to gradually pull away, leaving the two to battle it out for second.

Once Wiles was comfortably in the lead, Johnson had his hands full with Mees trying to make a pass on the champ. However, Mees couldn’t quite find his way around the No.1 plate holder and remained in third throughout the race.

As the race entered into the final laps, Wiles was slowed down slightly by some lappers and it appeared as though Johnson might finally have a chance to take the lead. Skillfully working his was through the lapped traffic, Wiles managed to keep Johnson at bay and take the checkers 3.693 seconds ahead of him.

Over six seconds behind Mees, Sammy Halbert (Fredericktown Yamaha) came in fourth just ahead of a tightly packed group made up of Jeffrey Carver (Yamaha), Brad Baker (Kawasaki), and point’s leader Matt Weidman (Honda).

After round three, Weidman and Mees are tied at the top of the standings with 60 points each. Weidman takes the official lead on account of his one win.

GNC Pro Singles

The 16-lap Pro Singles race saw a number of restarts, but Gerit Callies managed to officially lead every lap. Eric Stump (Markbilt Race Bikes) scored some holeshots, but continued to lose the lead to Callies.

Stump never fell back by much and kept close on Callies’ heel, finishing less than half a second behind him. In fact, the top six all finished within two seconds of each other.

After Stump, Dominic Colindres (Morris Racing) was able to pass and fend off Jason Isennock (Highs Dairy Store) for third place. Just behind Isennock, Ryan Foster (Motion Pro) and Jake Shoemaker (Montgomery Cycle Center) came in fifth and sixth place respectively.