DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 17, 2015) – There are plenty of things to love about AMA Pro Flat Track and the best dirt track motorcycle racers in the world coming to Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, Md., on Saturday for the Hagerstown Half-Mile.

But one small nuance about the race, tied particularly to one rider, has become a popular spectacle at the banked clay circuit - Kenny Coolbeth Jr.’s glowing orange/red rotors. (pictured above at Hagerstown in 2013).

With the high speeds at Hagerstown and a typically slick track surface, riding the brake while exiting corners has become a favorite technique for select riders. While a handful of the top Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines competitors use the technique, few light up the rotors as bright as Coolbeth.

“It slows the wheels down,” Coolbeth said. “Hagerstown, everybody knows it’s pretty slick. We’re fighting for traction. Riding the brake just pushes the bike into the ground and slows everything down.”

The high power-to-weight ratio of GNC1 machines makes traction a valuable commodity at every track. Hagerstown’s shape and surface, combined with the setup of the lighting, make the technique and resulting rotor glow much more apparent than at any other stop on the AMA Pro Flat Track schedule.

Coolbeth, who has won more races than any other active rider in the series, said dragging the brake and lighting up the rotors isn’t an old-school flat track secret, either.

“It’s a new technique that’s come to our sport,” Coolbeth said. “There’s only a handful, not even, that use it to their advantage. Jake Johnson is probably the biggest brake dragger, besides me.”

Johnson isn’t scheduled to be in the field Saturday, so fans looking for the uniquely Hagerstown glowing rotors will have to keep their eyes affixed to the No. 2 Zanotti Racing Harley-Davidson of Coolbeth.

One might think riding the brakes so hard that they glow bright would eventually lead to some kind of malfunction, especially over a 25-lap main event. But Coolbeth said his team takes that into consideration.

“We’ve done a lot of testing, testing on the brake pads,” Coolbeth said. “We have it figured out, we never lose our brakes. Dave Zanotti thrives on making the brakes better.”

There’s no better way to check out Coolbeth and the rest of the stars of AMA Pro Flat Track at Hagerstown than in person, but those who can’t make it to the track can watch the event live online, in high definition and free of charge at www.FansChoice.tv.

For more information on the Hagerstown Half-Mile, Round 5 of the AMA Pro Flat Track season, please visit: www.hagerstownspeedway.com.