Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA 600cc National Champioll1ihip Series Round 3: Converse Fairgrounds ehead's sneaker (Left) Steve Morehead (42) showed up at the Converse Fairgrounds and held off Chris Carr (4) lor the win at round three 01 the AMA 600cc National Champions hlp Series. (Left) Georgie Price IV (71) staved off the advances 01 Rich -KIng (SO) for third place In the main event (Above) Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (31) and Joe Kopp (43) survived many close calls such as this one to finish third and lourth, respectively: By Dave Hoenig Photos by Bert Shepard CONVERSE, IN, AUG. 20 fter finishing third at the Indy Mile just one night earlier, Steve Morehead once again proved his oval mastery as he made a cameo apearance at round three of the AMA 600cc National Championship Series at the Converse Fairgrounds and led the main event wire-to-wire over several of the heavy hitters from the Grand National Series who made the short trip north from the previous night's race. The Taylor White/F&S HarleyDavidson-backed Morehead became the third different winner in the condensed four-race series. "Get out front and stay there, that's all it was," Morehead said. "Track positioning was everything on the start. It was a test of patience, we were going so slow through the comers. You would want to go but you couldn't. It was 'No, no, no, settle down.'" Finishing a solid second was former 600cc National Champion Chris Carr on his factory Harley-Davidson XR600. '1 would have liked to make the fans hold their breath a little bit, but I just couldn't get close to him," said Carr. Third place fell to the Moroney's HD/Spectro KTM of Georgie Price, despite the charge of Rich King on the Dave Hams/Motion Pro/Shoei/SIDI/ Wessly Eng/Zanotti Armour Rotax. '1 just wasn't moving off the groove, I knew he was there," said Price. "If he was going to pass, he was going around me, definitely not under me on the groove." said Price. A g< 0\ ..... ~ J .~ ~ 56 HEATS The intense.hea"t and humidity that has plagued most of the 1995 dirt track schedule was again present at the Fast Track Racing Inc.-promoted limestone half mile. Despite all the watering and dragging, the track got slower and slower all day. Rich King had the quickest four-lap qualifying heat - by over two seconds - in the first race of the day. King then' came back and ran away with the first heat as he used the cushion for an easy win. "It's a lot of fun to ride right now," said King as the cushion still remained. . Brent Armbruster looked to have second locked up until mechanical prob- lerns sent him to the pits on lap seven of the 10-lap hea t. Price, who also was using the high line, took over the spot. Youngster Tommy Hayden moved up and kept Price on his toes, but could not garner that last direct transfer spot. Morehead showed a glimpse of things to come in heat two. Lopko Racing's Joe Kopp led into turn one, but Morehead blasted by to lead lap one. Morehead continued on his merry way to win the fastest heat as Kopp tried to hold off R&I Manufacturing's Kenny Coolbeth Jr., who tried inside then outside before pulling a classic move at the start of lap six, bringing his Rotax into turn one high, then squaring it off and powering under Kopp for second. Kopp stayed a solid third over Danny Koelsch, with both riders semi bound. Adams Racing's Charlie Orr led heat three off the line with Dave Hebb, Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson's Jim Sumner and Kevin Atherton giving chase. Sumner was on the move after passing Hebb on lap two, then sliding past Orr on lap six. 'We were running up top, but then I found some traction down low," said Sumner. "I was shocked when I took-the lead." Orr held on to a solid second with 'Ian Segedy moving past Hebb for third. Atherton dropped to sixth behind Mike Hacker. The last heat of the day was the best as Kevin Varnes led into turn one with James Hart, Chris Carr and Dan Butler sliding in behind him. Varnes led lap one, but was set back on lap two by Carr. Varnes continued to hold second and pressure Carr before Butler inched his TCR Ltd./Cummings Harley-Davidson-team Rotax up behind Varnes and blasted into second on the last lap. Carr led to the finish. "1 struggled early on, but found a line to get me through," Carr said. "I hope we can get a good start in the National and win this thing." SEMIS Mike Hacker got the holeshot in the first eight-lap semi on his SpectroMoroney's H-D/J&M/KTM-sponsored KTM, and by lap six he held a halfstraightaway lead over a war' between Kopp and Marine Transport's Greg Sims. Kopp came home in front of Sims with both riders transferring to the main event. Hayden ran away with the second semi on his Earl's Racing/Hart Racing Wood-Rotax. Danny Koelsch held his Tex Peel/Koelsch Farms Rotax in second over the Canton Automotive/Trone Const Rotax of Dave Hebb. The last semi belonged to the Penn State Cycles/Cycle Shack-backed Varnes. TLC Racing's Ian Segedy pulled to a solid second early as all eyes turned to the battle for the last transfer. Jerry Vanderkooi, Gordon Schopieray, Andy Tresser and Don Holeman were all gunning for it, and the race boiled down to a 'battle between Vanderkooi and Schopieray with Schopieray pushing his Fort Wayne Harley-Davidson-backed entry into the National on the last lap. NATIONAL Because of the heat and track conditions the 25-lap National was reduced to 20 laps. At the flash of the green light. Morehead got the start he.wanted and stormed into tum one in the lead. King, Orr and Carr were right behind him. Morehead quickly pulled out a lead while Carr had his hands full trying to hold off Orr. . Then the red flag came out on lap four as Hacker hit the dirt in turn three. "I was trying to go under Kenny (Coolbeth) and Joe (Kopp) in turn three, the front end just turned under and put me in the hay bales," said Hacker. "On the restart the bike started running real rough and I didn't want to blow it up, so I pulled off." On the restart, Georgie Price made the biggest gain, charging from fifth to third off the start. "There's a berm on the very top of the turn, and actually I shifted into third on that berm and it just shot me. It just shot me by guys," Price said. '1 never let off the first corner, just all the way around them to the locks. It was pretty awesome." The top three positions were set, even though Price would get late-race pressure from King. "My tire went away completely the last five laps," said Price. "Going into the comers it was just skating. I had to go into the comers real low and get on it a little bit at a time." Kopp was the center of a lot of action back in the pack. "I got a really good start, from the third row I couldn't believe it," said Kopp. "Then I had a real bad bobble down in three and King got by about the halfway mark. That slowed me down. It was working perfect till then. After that I started riding like crap, just putting through the comers." Kopp's next challenge came from Coolbeth as the two tangled on lap 13. "That was scary," said Coolbeth. "We weren't going to give up, either one of us. He (Kopp) got a little sideways, and our handlebars got tangled, my throttle got pulled open, then he came off and I went, Whoa!' I couldn't do anything out there, it was so slick you just had to find all the black.," Orr's early-race success started to unwind on the restart as he came off in fifth and within two laps was headed down the standings.

• Cover