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.DI:RTTRACK. '. ,.... .' ..W Grand National, ChampiOn.ship series . Round 15: Rocky Mountain Speedway urn finish, Morehead kicked himself afterward. "Second place is just first loser," Morehead said. "I knew that the only place he could pass me was in three and four, so I started thinking about going through there, and I made a mistake in one and two. I just screwed up." Another new name graced the podium at Denver as Mica, Washington's Joe Kopp slid his Donnally Logging/Donahue Harley-Davidson/ Arai/Thor/ Plunkett's/ Alpine/Motion Pro/O'Brien-supported Harley-Davidson XR750 to· his best-ever Grand National finish. Kopp mixed it up with Eaken Racing's Davey Camlin and Loral Lake Racings Ronnie Jones during the main event, sitting in fourth and then inheriting third place after Camlin . pulled off the track with a mechanical failure on lap six. Kopp then had to hold off a hard-charging Jones for the rest of the distance in order to earn the thirdplace money. He was up to the task. "This my first podium finish on a 750, and I'm really jacked," Kopp said. . "I saw Camlin break and I thought, 'Here we go - a podium finish. I know that I was holding some of those guys up, but I never looked back. This is great. It collicin't be better." Jones shadowed Kopp across the finish line, the Oklahoman piloting his Loral Lake Racing/ Arai/Fox/Tsubaki/Motion Pro/Red Line Oil-sponsored Honda RS750 to fourth place aft~r challenging Morehead for the lead off the start and then falling off the narrow groove in turn two on the opening lap and drifting back. Jones was one of the By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Track Fotos DENVER, CO, AUG. 12 fter giving chase to fellow veteran Steve Morehead for 12..laps, you have to wonder what Waterloo, Iowa's Rich King was thinking as he . stuffed his way past fellow veteran Steve Morehead on lap 17 to take the lead in the Chris Agajanian-promoted Valvoline/Checker Auto Parts Denver Half Mile. Maybe the quiet 32-year-old was wondering if, after over 10 years of trying to win a Grand National main event, this one would finally be his. Or maybe he was thinking that it damn well better be. King, the man most deserving of the title "Mr. Consistency" during the 1995 AMA Grand National Championship Series, had seemingly been in position to win at several stops on this year's championship tour only to see victory slip through his fingers. Yet here he ~as again. He'd made the pass on Morehead after the two riders had run away from the field to settle the rna Her between themselves, and with three laps to go in a 20-lap final that had been threatened by both rain and a pot~ntial rider boycott (see box), he was putting distance on the Findlay Flyer. Would fate step in once again to shield King from a Grand National victory he had worked so hard for? Not today. There was no sudden fall, no mechanical failure, no red flag. Nothing kept the Garvis Honda/Shoei/Missile Engineering/MC Stuff/Hickman Racing/Sidi Boots/Motion Pro-sponsored King from earning his first Grand A (Above) Rich King (center) tekes a champagne shower In celebration of his first-ever Grand National victory at the Denver Half Mile. Steve Morehead (right) finished second, and Joe Kopp (left) made his first podium appearance with a third place finish. (Right) The Hondamounted King was dialed in to the narrow groove, passing Morehead off turn two on lap 17 of the 2G-lap main event. National win in front of the 6500 fans who packed Rocky Mountain Speedway during round 15 of the AMA Grand National Championship Series. After sneaking by Morehead on the rough, narrow-grooved clay track, King pulled away just enough to become the 10th different winner - as well as the fourth first-time winner - in the series' 15 rounds to date. "All year we've always just wanted to make the National and see how high we could run," King said: "But I've been seeing all these other guys win some of these Nationals, and they haven't been doing this as long as I have. I thought, 'Man, one of these has got to be mine: It happened tonight." Morehead would have more than enough juice for the rest of the field bringing his KK Supply /F&S HarleyDavidson/John Dragoo/Bell/Wilson/Motion Pro/Pro Plates/Storz/ Supertrapp / Zoom/Denver Buffalo Company-backed XR750 home in the runner-up spot in only his second race back from injuries he suffe.red at the Lake Odessa Regional Half Mile on July 7. Morehead had set fast heat earlier in the night and was looking just as strong in the main event as as he appeared to be dialed in to the bumps that riddled the track, leading 17 of the 20 laps, but a miscue by Morehead in turn one allowed King the one opportunity needed to make the pass. Despite the podi- few riders able to pass at will on the one-line oval, but despite several attempts, he was unable to get by the stubborn Kopp. Nonetheless, Jones was pleased with the finish, and he appears to be getting back on the road to consistent results after struggling in recent weeks during what may be his final season on the Grand National circuit. "He (Kopp) was holding us up," Jones said. "I couldn't get a run on him going into the corner, because he was just slow enough that he held me up, but he could jump off the comers and put three or four lengths on me. He had a fast motorcycle and he did a good job. "But we needed this (a solid finish)," Jones SiUd. "I told AI that after these last