Stevie Bonsey racing at the Springfield Mile earlier this summer. Bonsey broke through at the Calistoga Half-Mile to win his first Grand National last night. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Stevie Bonsey, the former AMA Flat Track Horizon Award winner who went on to road race the World Championships in the 125cc GP class, broke through to win his first AMA Grand National last night on the Calistoga (Calif.) Half Mile.

In my mind the victory by the 20-year-old Bonsey is the surprise of the season so far in the AMA Pro K&N GNC presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com Championship. While Bonsey has shown great promise, in his previous three Grand National appearances this year he’s finished no better than 10th.

I remember quite a few years ago when I was doing media work for the AMA Superbike race prior to Infineon, the locals raving about this young kid out of Salinas named Bonsey. They claimed his was going to be the next big star out of Northern California. They may just have been right.

Bonsey, a Kenny Roberts Sr. protégé, is truly an amazing and versatile talent. It will be great to watch how his career progresses.