Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127262
eDIRT IRACK Rolling Thunder Honda Dr Spring Championships m During Sunday's 250cc race, Kenny Coolbeth (32) slips by Richard Shipley (27L) for the victory. Shipley came back and won the 500cc contest over Paul MOrga}l. Reigning Amateur Din Track Champion. New Jersey's Georgie Price topped both the 250 and 750cc Pro classes at Kingsport Motor Speedway Din Track. Robert Lewis Jr. (88) dives underneath Robert Sweeten (82) in the 600cc Pro class. Lewis ended up winning the bout. with Sweeten dropping back to third. Price, Scott steal Rolling Thunder , By Barbara and Loren Williams KINGSPORT,TN, MAY 6 iders from 12 states, as far-flung as Oklahoma and Alabama, converged on Kingsport Motor Speedway for th e two-day Rollin g Thunder H on da Dirt T rack Spring Ch ampionshi ps. KMS is perhaps more widely known as a stock car track and is famous R 22 as NASCA R dr iver H arry Can t's home track. Sic klervi lle , N]'s "Jammin'" Georgie Price found KMX muc h to his liking, as he ow ned the Saturday night 250 and 750cc Pro classes, com ing to the flagstand wi th all ones in both qualifiers and mai ns. Price is the reignin g Amateur Dirt ' T ra ck Ch ampi on , a nd in 1989 was nam ed the AMA Athlete o f th e Year. He has pi loted h is Pop Sweeten WoodsRo tax machines to 31 AMA Na tional wins, ai ded by tuners J err y La cey. H arold Dorsey and Bob Bowker, and sponsored in h is efforts by Shoei, Valvoline , Dorsey Bu ilders, D&S Cycles and Kenny Coolbeth Jr. Pr ice dominated the 250cc qual ifier , leading 1988 Ch am p ion Kir k H a yes by as muc h as th ree len gths a t times . Keith Miller 's near-vintage Ka wasa ki hung in th ere fo r th ird , while Rob ert Lewis J r. a nd J.J. McD ow ell experi en ced mechan ical problems a nd .were forced to retire for th e evening. T he 250cc main finishes were a carbo n copy of the qualifier. In post-race co n versa tio n, Keith Mi ll er a llowed th at he would retire h is Kawasa ki after his crew returned home. " I' Il probably park it in the living room and make a co ffee table o ut of it , or a lamp or so me thing." Lew is G rocery-spons ored Rob en Lewi s too k th e win in hi s 600cc qualifier, coming from a third-place start to pa ss James Hart coming out of turn two on lap two, then running down Oklahoma's Scott Adams, who had jumped to an early lead. During that particu lar move , the front four, including Robert Swee ten 's WoodRo ta x, got close enough to trade handlebars, and for the rest of the race ' things pretty much stayed that way. O n the penultimate lap, Lewis and Adams put some distance on H art and Sweeten. and Adams tho ug h t abo u t a pass until th e front wheel of his H arl ey bobbled j ust enough to change his m ind, and he a llowed Lewis to take the win. Coming ou t of the last turn , Sweeten went low , whi le Hart drifted wide, and at the checke rs Sweeten had third by a wheel over H art, wh o led Keith Mill er and George Galloway . The second 600cc qual ifier was a Price show, with most of th e dicing go ing on behind hi s rear fender between H aro ld Dorsey Jr. , Kirk Hayes. Ri chard Shi pley and Tony Burnett J r. H ayes and Dorsey p rovided close raci ng for th e enti re heat , while Sh ipley's H on da was nipped a t the stripe by Burnett at the end of lap four. As they crossed the finis h lin e, it was Price, Dorsey, Hayes, Burn ett, Ship ley and Ricky Farley. Robert Sweeten got th e jump on everyone for the 600cc main, wi th first heat winner Lewis and second heat victor Price hot on his rear compound. Lewis go t by on lap two a nd flew in front for the entire 15 laps on hi s stro ngrunning H arley. In sp ite of mak ing the pass on Sweeten on la p five. Price was not able to cap ita lize on hi s pos ition to put the same move on Lewis. and when they streaked across the chalk, it was Lewis, Price, Sweeten, Ada ms, H ar t and Hayes, who was aboard the same H on da ridde n by Bubba Shobert for the introduc tion of th e 600cc class to Nation al competitio n. . Hayes was first orr th e line for the first 750cc q uali fier, hold in g orr Price for a lap a nd a quarter, wi th Dorsey a nd Shipley close beh ind waiting to pou nce if either should make a mistake. Arter Price slipped by Hayes in tum one, his Pop Sweeten Woods-Rotaz growler began to pull away from the field, leaving Hayes to duel with Dorsey. On the last lap, Dorsey surprised H ayes on the outside, a nd Kirk hadn't time to recover. At the ' finish it was Price, Dorsey, Hayes and Shipley. J ames Hart led his 750cc qualifier . from start to finish , leadin g Robert Sweeten , Scott Adams and Robert Lewis the whole way. Adams was ab le to take the same outside line tha t Dorsey had used to sting H a yes in the earlier qual ifier, to secure second position from Sweeten on lap three. Lewis was pulled alo ng in th e actio n and was able to zap Sweeten on the last lap, relegating him to fourth. H art took the win followed by Ada m s, Lewis a nd Sweeten. Ri chard Sh ipley leaped to the front a t the start of the 750cc main, but was quickly engulfed in a pack of bari tone wolves in full song. led by Adam s then Dorsey, H art, H a yes a nd Sweeten. Riding in his first 750cc race, Hayes was . looking good until th e spin ner nut on his sprocket came off during lap three, forcing h im to retire. Meanwh il e. Dorsey had po wered hi s Harley to the fore, puttin g Adam s in the unenviable po sition of holding o rr Hart and the ra p id ly adva nci ng Price, who had gotten a so-so start o n a machine borrowed from Robert Sweeten when