American Racing News Vol 1, Issue 2 Issue 7 | Page 21

Bryan Smith wins the Black Hills Half-Mile
during the 76th Sturgis Rally
Bryan Smith powered into victory on Tuesday, August 9 at the Black
Hills Half-Mile, held in conjunction with the 76th running of the Sturgis Rally. Jared Mees raged a hard-fought battle for second on his No.
1 Harley-Davidson XR750 and Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. followed close behind to secure a third place finish aboard his No. 2 Harley-Davidson
XR750.
Smith and Mees did not disappoint the crowd, with several dozen
lead changes over the race’s 25 laps. At the end, Smith earned his
first Half-Mile circuit win of the 2016 season with a 0.207 second
margin of victory over Mees.
"It feels great," Smith said. "It's crazy when you think about it that I
just stepped off of the podium. Last year, Jared won here and had
bad luck at Charlotte, and this year I had bad luck at Charlotte and
won here, so it's kind of like roles reversed. Hopefully the roles will
continue to be reversed and I'll be the number one guy at the end of
this year.
“I'm pumped to finally run with these Harleys on the Half-Miles,”
Smith continued. “We had a little bit of success before but we felt
like the Kawasaki was the bike to have today. My team just did their
homework in the last week and got me a bike that was completely
dialed and the best bike out there. I'm just pumped to let Jared know
that we're there to win this Championship."