DIRT TRACK.
AMA Grand National Championship Series
Round 5: La Salle Speedway
By Dave Hoenig ' Photos by Flat Trak Fotos
LA SALLE, IL, JUNE2
otal Cont rol Raci n g' s Will Da vis
backed up his Daytona short track
win with a hard-fou ght vi cto ry
over H ar ley-D avidson o f Sacramento
ride r Joe Kopp during the Starved Rock
Grand National at La Salle Speedway.
"This is great, man," Davis said. " I
just found a line down there in one and
two that nob od y else caught on to. I w as
able to motor right on by him (Kopp),
then I just had to stay out of trouble the
rest of the wa y."
"He's on a roll, isn't he?" sai d TCR
T
14
team mana ger Tom Cummings after his
"new" rider posted hi s seco nd w in o f
the year to go alo ng with a sec ond at
Pomona and a take of the winn er' s share
of the purse at the rained-ou t Harrington Half Mile.
Although he finished a distant second after leading the first 11 laps, Kopp
was very happy.
"Th a t's my be st fi ni sh eve r at a
GNC, " Kopp sai d . " I kn ew Will was
back there, and then he jus t rode right
on by. He's a master on a short tr ack,
and I could n' t hold him off."
Finishin g a s tro ng th ir d was Pop
Swee ten /Team Sa d d le me n's Georg ie
Price.
"First po d ium at a GNC ," Price said.
"I w as look ing fo r a w ay a ro u n d Joe
(Kopp), but wh en you have a bunch of
guys right behind you that are just as
fas t or mayb e faster, yo u can't tr y too
much."
Mothe r Na ture was once again up to
her di rty tricks as the American Motorcyclist Association's Grand Na tional Dirt
Track Series sloshe d its wa y to the La
Sall e Sp eedway. Mi ke Farley' s Magi c
Racing Group had two big d ays of racing p lann ed for the high-banked quarter
mile, but in th e e n d on ly th e Gra nd
National riders were abl e to get on the
tr ack. A h eavy, all-day rai n soa ked the
La Salle area on Saturday (th e original
race day), pu shing everything back until"
Sunday. The weat herman had promi sed
clearing skies by eve ning with a warm,
su nny day to follow. However, rain settled in for most of the nigh t. Sunday did
d awn clear, but mu ch of the damage was
already done and the optimistic 10 a m.
p ractice time soon went by the wayside.
