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",; DIRT TRACK Round 7: Peoria Speedway AMAHOTSHOE NAT IONALSERIES " By Dave Hoenig Phot os by Flat Trak Foto s PEORIA, IL, JULY31 s a preliminary to th e Peoria Motorcycle Club' s 50th anniver.£. sary Grand National, Gr ayboy Racin g br ou ght th e AMA's Hot Sh oe National Series to the high-b anked qu arter -mile of the Peoria Spe edway. Norm ally th e fast speed wa y is th e sig h t of multilined ra cing, but th e 50 Exp erts a nd 24 Pro Sp ort rid er s w ere confronted with a tigh t groove on a dry" slick surface that required precise throttle control and grea t starts. A ny ventures off the groove were u sually disastrous. Miller Racin g's Josh Butler took full advan tage of a grea t start and led th e Expe rt main from the flash of the gree n light to th e chec ke re d flag to ea rn his first ma in-event victory as an Expert. "I kn ew I had to get a good sta rt," Butler said. "Then I just wan ted to rid e my own pace. I knew someone was back there. I kn ew I didn't want toget off that groove;" Rod Lake Racing' s Paul Iw ana ga closed on Miller late in the race, and the last two laps featured a four-rider battl e, as Kevin Varnes and Brett Landes joined the lead duo. Landes was able to make a last-lap pass on Varnes to ca ptu re th e last p od ium spo t. The Pro Sport ma in was domina ted by forme r Nat ion al-number Expert Greg Tysor , who put his tw o-stro ke Ho nd a out front early, then held off the charg e of Tom McGrane Jr. McGrane had spent most of th e ra ce trying to ge t around Da le Jon es and, once past, he made a spiri ted charge after Tysor. The Pro Spo rt program was set up to t a ke fou r riders ou t of th e tw o h eat s d irectly in to the main. The remaining 16 rid er s rode one semi, from which fou r mor e wou ld advance. Continental Tirebacked Tysor rocketed into the lead in th e first h e a t, but Jon e s, Brand on Cartwright and Randy Smith were right ..... b eh ind him . Sm ith wo r ke d h is way in aro und Ca rtw rig ht , and th e first three ;:l b.O pulled away . Ca rt wright had to hold off ;:l . fas t qu alifi er James Dean Faulkner for fourth and the last d irect transfer. Moroney' s Harley-Da vidson / Indian Mo torcycle Supply-backed McGrane ran -< 32 away with the second heat. An excellent rac e for second wen t to Hart Ra cin g' s Brian Shirley, over Californi a's Toby Jorgensen . Greg Boyle made the lon g trip from Florida worthwhile by ca p tu ring th e last transfer from Ben Knigh t and Marcus Bauer in a tight race. Jeff Land ru m led the eno rmo us Pro Sport semi into turn o ne a hea d o f Knight and Faulkner, the latt er quickly mov ing into second and unsuccessfull y pressu ring Landru m the rest of the way . Kn igh t top ped a three-way battle for third that saw Bauer passin g Gary Boyle la te in th e race . Th e pa ss kept Boyle from joining his bro the r in the main. Tysor, Jones, McG rane a nd Shirley hit tu rn on e together in the Pro Sport ma in, Tysor pulled away as everyone bunched up beh in d him. At the halfway point of th e 12-lap race, Tysor held a _com manding lead over Jones, McGrane, Shi r ley , C artwright , Boyle an d Jo rgensen. . McGr an e' s pa ss of Jones came with only two laps remaining, and d espite rapidly closing on Tysor , he w as destin ed for seco nd . To by Jor gen sen was the only other rid er able to w ork hi s way forw ard on the narrow groove. Jorgensen ended up fourth over Shirley, Cartwright and Boyle. After 10 qu alifyin g h eat s, th e 50 Experts we re pla ced int o six heat races, with only the top two moving on to a 17-rid er main. Three semis were then run to adva nce the top two from the two fa st est , but on ly th e wi nner fro m th e slowest. For Some rea son, two rid ers were to be eliminated from the night's program from the heats. In the first heat, this bit 1997 GNC Rook ie of th e Yea r John ny Mu rph ree, w h o go t ta n gl ed up in a tu rn -on e melee and fell. Gary Maloney slid into the fallen Murphree, and the red flag came ou t. Murphree suffered a fla t tire in th e inci den t and cou ld n' t 'make repairs in time for the restart. Paul Iwanaga go t the res tar t and led fast qua lifier Mike ,Hacker, Ken Coolbeth and Dave Hebb into the first turn. The lead trio pulled wa y ahead, and on the white-flag lap defending 600cc Ho t Shoe Champio n Coolbe th wedged his way pass ed Ha cker for the last tra nsfer. . Kevin Varnes ran away with the second heat o n hi s Ros e Ra ci n g Rota x. Equa lly domi nating in second was Lonnie Kop p . John Nickens, Charlie Orr, Mike McKee, Donnie Steward and Dan Stanley were .locked in a battle well off the pace. Th e th ird heat w a s a sc ra m ble the whole w ay. Nick Daniels led a large cluster th a t consi st ed of St eve Morehead , Steve Ma yfield , Wade Carnlin, Davey Carnlin, Shaun Russell and Steve Jacks on. With two lap s to go , Daniels left jus t eno ugh room and Mayfield and Da vey Ca mlin go t by . Mor eh ead also go t by on the last lap, bu t it wo u ld only give him a better s ta r ting s p ot in h is sem i. Hea t four found shor t-track specialist Pat Behrl e get ting the ho les hot ov er Brett Landes and po le sitter J.P. Simon sen . The y were joined by J.R. Schnabel late in the race , and Schnabel' s pass of Simo nsen on the white-flag lap was the onl y change. Josh But ler easily ran away with heat five. Jeff Annen had early pressure from Ch ri s Boo ne, bu t ju s t after midra ce, Boone fe ll vict im to Jos e A gu ila r's charge . Agu ilar topped Boone and Gary Rogers for third in a thr ee-rid er battle. Dan Butler was ru nnin g away with the last heat over John Hlebo III, Victor McAn all y a nd Joe Kopp w hh the red flag came out for Ma rc Gifford ' s tu rnfo ur cras h. The always tri ck y restart , found Bu tler 're ta in in g h is le a d , bu t McAnally, Kopp and Jason Tyer got by Hlebo . O n th e la st la p , in tu rn fo u r, McAn ally slip ped a little high and Kopp w as there to fill the void. Donnie Stewa rd , ma kin g his first ride , as an Expe rt, got the ho leshot in the first semi and led till jus t past the halfway mark. Hacker set the roo kie back to second, w here he held off O rr and Stanley to the en d . Unfortu na tely for Stewar d, , this was the slowest semi, and he was od d ma n out. Morehead mad e sure he wou ld not have to pa ss anyone to make the main as he led Agu ilar and Boon e in to turn o ne of the se co n d s em i. Boone and Wade Ca rnlin quic kly dropped Agu ilar back, w it h Boone h olding on fo r the transfer. . Sim on sen used the sa me strategy to take the last semi. McAn ally easily took s e cond ove r Br et Be yer. G iffo r d, Schnabel and Tyer battl ed over fourth. Before the Exp ert main rolled to the line, a little w at er was ap p lied to the track, but the race len gth was then-cut to 10 laps. Butler read the light perfectly and led the 17-rid er main in to the first turn . Iwa naga, Behrle and Varn es were the first to give chas e. Little passing cou ld be a ccom plished unl ess so meo ne s lipped from t h e groove. Behrle was the first to slip, and his trip off the groo ve dropped him all the w ay from third to sixth in one lap . The only other major cha nge came w hen Landes powered aro und the ou tside off Varnes for third on the last lap . Davey Camlin led a pa ck con sisting of Behrle, Butl er, Ha cker , Kopp, Mayfield and Coolbeth . Also on the last lap , Dan Butler s li p ped , an d H acker and C oolbeth m o v ed in to seve nth a nd eig hth: Dan Butler an d Mayfield rounded ou t the top 1O. l'~ Peoria Speedway Peoria, Illinoi s Results: Augu st 1, 1998 (Roun d 7 of 13) 600 EX: 1. Josh Butler (Rtx); 2. Pau l lwanaga (Rtx); 3. Brett Lan des (ATK); 4. Kev in Va rnes (Rrx): 5. Da ve Ca m lin (Rtx ): 6. Pat Behrl e (Rtx): 7. Mike Ha cker (W-R); 8. Ke n Coo lbe th (W-R); 9. Da n Butle r (Rtx); to. Stew Mayfiel d (W· R); 11. Joe Kop p (KTM); 12. Jef f An nen (WR); 13. Lon ny Ko pp (Rtx ): .1 ~ . Victor McAnall y (Rtx): 15. J.P. Simonse n (Rtx): 16. Ch ris Boo ne (Rtx): 17. Stev e Mor eh ead (Rtx ). PRO-SPT: 1. Greg Tysor (Han ); 2. To m McGrn ne ' (KTM ); 3 . Dale Jon L.S (Ho n): 4. Tob y jo rgensen (e CM); 5. Brinn Shirley (Rtx): 6. Bra nd on C artw righ t (Rtx): 7. Greg Bo y le (Rtx ): 8. Ra nd y Sm ith (He n): 9. Ja mes Dean Fau lkn er (H-D); 10. Jeff Lan d ru m (Rtx); 11. Mar cus Baue r IRtx): 12. Ben Kn ig ht (Rrx). (Top ) Josh But ler (95) got the holeshot and led all 10 laps of the abb rev iated 600cc Expert main event to collect his first Expert vict ory at Peoria Speedway's AMA . Hot Shoe Nationa l. (Left) Greg Tysor (47C) piloted a Honda CR500 to victory in the 600cc Pro -Sport cla ss. Tom McGrane Jr. (98A) was second and Dale Jo nes (1OL) third.