Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

the n goes a w ay . Oh, w ell , if you're go nna run second here, it might as well be to the Prince of Peori a." Perh aps every bit as po pular as Peoria po diu m fixtures Carr and Parker was Ga rd ner Racin g /BBRP/ Circle F Racin g Frames' Dan Stan ley - maybe eve n more so, thanks to the drunken row dies who invaded the podium award ceremonies, cha nting "Sta nley! St anley ! Sta n ley! " But it was arguably deserv ed ad u lation fdr the Peoria a rea's newest adopted "local boy, " who charged all th e w ay fro m th e p e n alt y lin e an d fla t to r e through the pack to finish third, and all th is at the exp ens e of his Wa shingtonarea rival and defending even t cham pion Joe Kopp. It was a dream come tru e for the 26-year-old kid from Bellingh am, w ho insiders sa y has sho wn flashes of tal ent th a t ha ve been somew h a t temp ered by a question ab le w ork e thic . Ap paren tly, Stanley wanted it b ad ly enough tod ay. " It a ll came tog et her for us today," Stanley said . "It really did, and it had to - all the way from the fourth row. I was ban zai that whole first lap. This is reall y cool, seeing as how the team (Ga rd ne r Racing) is local and everything. Honestly, I d on't know if I cou ld ha ve done any better if I had started on the front row. But it wou ld have bee n interesting." For Kopp, who had hig h hopes coming into the race, fourth place wa s a bit of a downer. O utmotored on his J&M RilCin g /KTM factory entry, Kopp rod e the wheels off the mac hin e to run third in th e ea rly goi ng before tu ss ling with both Stanley and u ltimate fifth -place finisher Rich King . Kopp fell behind the bla zing Sta nley o n lap nine but kept King at ba y to the finish after the trio flip-flopped positions a couple of times . , "I just could n' t get down the stra ighta'ray with them," a visibly frus trated Kopp said . "Danny and Rich had a betterIine than me off four , and they were mo toring me. I'm pissed . The bike ha ndled awesome. It wo rked really good ." For h is p art , the fif th- p la ced King may have been glad to see this edi tion of the Peo ria TT come to a close. Like Stanley,. .the. Corbin Racing zSuper'Tra ppbacke d Iowa n rode th rough fro m th e pena lty lin e, btit thi s ma in even t had alrea dy come at a trem endou s expense , as King had used up two engi nes just to ge t int o the G rand Na tiona l. Had it not been for a very ge nerous loan from Skip Eaken o f the Team Sadd lem en / I -800, FASTHOG team, King migh t have been watching from the sidelines. "I don 't get it,'.' King sai d of his second straight year of bad luck at Peoria. "O u r first motor cycl e, th e clutch was slip ping, so w e pu lled a cl u tch out of our spare mot or an d put that in. Then the thing d rop s an exha us t valve in the (Beer Nuts ) da sh . Ski p Eake n buil ds a hell of a motorcycle, and I was fortunate to be able to rid e it, but it wasn' t set up for me . I'm d isappoin ted . It ' s been a long da y." With TCR /Michigan Harl ey-Davidso n Dea lers' Will Davis ge tting seventh, behind Ca lifornian Joh n H lebo III, a ll th e principals in th e tit le chase ca me away with valuable points as the series rea ch ed th e h a lf w a y m ark . Parke r gain ed fi ve points on Kin g a nd no w lea d s th e series, 154-143. Ca rr is no w third wit h 137. Davis has 125, and Steve Morehead , who actua lly made the Peoria TT main even t and fini shed 14th, is now fifth - wit h 83 points . HEATS Heat-o ne pol e-sitter Stanley ran int o problems right off the start as his team was forced to change a rear tire just as the race came to the line. Wh en the light w ent green, Jaime Ag uilar cra nked off turn tw o to take th e cle a r lead a t th e ' start of the firs t of four 10-lapper s, but the race was immediately red -flagged due to a horrib le mult ir id er tumb le behind Aguilar in the firs t turn. Da ve Hebb , Dan Butle r, St ev e Beattie a n d Dal e Je nn em a n we re invo lv ed , with Beattie appearing to get the wor st of it. The Canadia n rider wa s airlifted to St. Francis Hospital, where he was treated for a severe concussion and soren ess in h is back. He was kep t overni ght for observation. On th e restart, Sta nley got a better run a t the firs t corner and took the lead, followed by Ag uila r, King, Jeff Annen an d Ronni e Jones, w ho go t by Annen over the jum p in turn two and 'cla imed fourth pl ace . King go t und er Ag u ila r off tu rn fo ur o n la p fo u r. T he tw o bu mped, a n d be fore Ag u ilar cou ld recover, both King and Jone s w er e by an d int o seco n d a n d thi rd w h ile Ag u ilar d ropped to fift h. Th en Ste ve Gill crashed over the jump, brin gi n g out a n ot h er red flag . Wh en the race was fin ally in the books, Sta nley just beat King to the wi re , as bot h rid ers qualified . Annen out motored Ag u ilar for the final tra nsfe r spo t. "I. blew u p the hu b on a br and-new wheel w he n 1 w e n t o v er th e jump," Stanl ey sai d o f the pre-race fire d rill. "We time d it, and it took my crew one minute and 20 seco nd s to take a wh eel off my other bike, take the bad wheel off and put the good w heel back on. N ow that' s a team . We still hav e to m ak e so me changes, th ou gh. 'I can't ge t off three an d four to sa ve my life righ t now . If I can do it in the .m ain even t, we'll be righ t in the gam e." Kenny Co olb eth p in ch ed off the en tire field to take th e lea d into turn one, w hile pr e-ra ce fav or ite Brett Landes stalled and cou ld not get his Team Undo A TK r efi re d. Coo lb eth too k co ntro l, w hil e Te am Saddl emen /1 -800 FASTHO G ' s Mike H a ck er and Dirt Bikes Onl y /Hancock Racing 's Marc Gifford battled in second a nd th ird , w it h Paul Morgan 1II fou rth, just ou t of the tran sfer spot . Coolb eth conti nued to run h is H -D of Mis so uri /Burk s Motor sports /W .E. LePage Wood-Rotax out front, a good 15 bik e lengths ah ead of Gi ffo rd , a nd stayed ther e as the fie ld stru ng a u t. Tha t lead was almost half a ' st r ai ghtawa y wh en C o o lb eth ra ced u nder AMA starter Steve Faraci 's checkere d flag to ta ke the win. Gifford and Ha cker remai ned in a tig ht battle the whole way, with Gifford taking second and Ha cker han gi ng in the re for third and the direct tran sfer. "I' rn not u sed to run ni ng up fro nt here ," Coo lb eth s aid. "I jus t go t the ho leshot , my bike is set up p retty good , and I'm getting 'used to the jump more a nd mo re eac h time that I go ov er it. We' ve got fron t row, so I just want to ge t a good start. A lot of guys art! faster (Above left ) How they were: Rich King (80) leads Dan Stanle y (10) and Joe Kopp (43) in their battle for th e fina l podium spot. (Above right) How they finish ed : Stanle y beat bot h Kopp and King . than me over th e jum p, so I guess I' m goi ng to hav e to be a roadblock." . Heat three may well have bee n a preview of the ma in eve nt, as it pitted Ca rr a nd hi s H-D o f Sac ramen to entry agai ns t Kop p, the tw o starti ng rig ht alongside each ot he r on the insid e o f r ow o ne . Bu t Cha r l ie Orr go t th e holeshot on both Carr and Kopp, while Davis ra n fourth at the co m p le tio n of lap one . H owever, Ca rr quickly dived in to the lead and beg an to che ck out, w h ile Orr, Kopp a n d Davis freig h ttrain ed around beh ind th e n ine - time Peoria w inner. Bo th Kop p a nd Davis overtoo k Orr at the start"of lap five, bu t th er e w ould be n o ca tch in g Ca r r, the Prince of Peoria stre tch in g his lead at every turn . To hi s cre d it, Davis kept Kopp clos e en route to fin ishi n g thi rd and ea rni ng a straigh t s ho t in to the Gra nd National. But Carr was the fas test ma n on the track - or so the stopwatch said - his pole-wi nning time check ing in a t fou r minutes, 35.334 seconds, a full th ree seconds fas ter than Parker's would be. " It feels good," Carr said . "What else is the re to say? I don 't believe [ was three seconds faster than Scotty - I don' t care wha t the clocks say. Scotty ran ou t front in his heat and th en he cruised . I know what' s go ing on ou t there. I still have to race the main even t to prove it." Parke r h a d the lo w po le fo r t h e four th heat race, and the fron t row go t a lit tle thinner w hen both Johnny Mu rph ree and Josh Butler ju mped the sta rt and were sent to the pen alty line; they we re soon joined by second-ro w refugee Kevin Va rnes. TT specialist Mickey Fay gr a b bed t h e ho le s h ot on his D ick' s Suzuki!Ami-backed Rota x, wi th Parker ru nn ing out on to the lawn in tu rn four before making a front-straight pass for th e lead . Parker le ft the fie ld behind quickly as he poured th e coa ls to hi s Har ley-Davidson XR600 an d attem pted 00 0\ 0\ ,..... C'J' ,..... ..... u: ;:l CO ;:l --< 25

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