Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMANATIONAL HOT S SER HOE IES Round 14: E erald_ m Downs ab sen ce o f 600cc Ex pe r t Hot Sh oe poi n ts .lea de r Kenn y Coo lbet h, bu t Kopp, like Sta n ley, wo u ld drop ou t wi t h m ech a n ica l p ro bl em s; Ko p p 's came one lap late r than Sta nley's while running fou rth. Stanley, tho ugh, did esca pe Seattle with a scant three-point lead ov er Cool beth a fter bei ng cre d ited with 14th pl ace, o ne p os it io n behind th e 13thpl ace finisher, Kopp. "We lost a clutch," said a somberlo oking St an ley, who sa t slumped in his cha ir while longtime sponsor Brian Billings surveyed the situ ation. "At leas t Joe broke, too," added th e Ga rd ner Racing / Circle F/ BBRP-backed Stanley. "He d id n' t ge t ahea d of us in points. Th is wasn't th e way we en visio ned it. I'm really bummed . No w it comes down to wh oever wins Vegas ." "It jus t blubbere d the w ho le tim e," Kopp s ai d of h is mou n t, "a n d th en ' boom, it jus t we n t d e ad . We h a d it goin g good , a nd w he n I saw Danny ou t of the race, I th ou gh t, 'O h, man, this is gr eat: But a lap lat er it was our turn. I bet Kenny is prett y happy righ t of By Clay Ligh t AUBURN, WA,SEPT. 19 he inaugural running of the Sea ttle Mil e on th e Emerald Downs . Rac e Track had all of th e g litz and glamour of an AMA Grand Na tional, with both close racing and close calls on the deep-cushioned track, but in the end, Rich King, aboa rd a Honda RS750, not ched his nam e in the AMA's record books with th e first 750cc win her e at th e 14th round of the AMA Na tio na l Hot Shoe Series . King' s 750cc wi n at the penultima te round of the series, in fro nt of a sta nding-room-only crowd of 13,000, ca me af ter IS closely con tested laps, as King led Co rbin Ra cin g t eammate Ga ry Ro ge r s and eigh t- time AMA G ran d National Champio n Scott Parker to the finish . T n ow." (Above) Rich King s cored his first caree r Hot Shoe National mile win in the 750C Expert class on the firstlnile to be held at the Emerald Downs race track, the Seattle M ile. King bested teammate Gary Rogers and Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker in the final. (l eft) Tony Souza (22Y) bagged the 600Cc Pro Sport win. Rob Peiphoto (15Y) was secon d and Kurt Hawk (26M) third. (Right) lonnie Pauley rode his Billy Fagundes-tuned Bullet Racing entry to the win in the 600cc Expert class. 00 0\ 0\ ,..-< t--.,' ;... Q) .o o ..... u o 34 Bu llet Racing's Lonnie Pauley scored a win in the 600cc Expert final - his secon d of the season - coming in another "draft-fest," in which he top ped Steve Mayfield a nd Washing ton's Eli Pr ice, who wa s fresh off a win a t th e Cas tle Rock, Washington, round of the series. Promoter Chris Agajanian an d his crew' s hopes of a Gra nd National here cam e one step closer to reality, as they pulled off a first-rate show in Auburn (near Seattle), but the rider consensus , led by the majori ty of the GNC riders , was this: However glamorous the su rrou nd ings, the track, in its current condition, wo uld be too rough for a Grand ational race. But the hope wa s that by either scraping it down to th e base or resurfacing it, th e 1999 edition of the event would provide all the action tha t Gra nd Nationa l fans are used to. Su rvival beca me th e o rder of th e night on the track, w hich go t progressively rougher as the program co nt inued, despite continua l efforts by Aga janian's crew . "This is the roug hes t mile I've ridden since Ne w Orleans an d Alb uquerque," Ha rley-Davidson of Sacra mento's Chris Carr said. "It' s a beautiful facility, but they'll need to really w heel-pack it or bring in so me clay in or der to make the next one work." St ev e Morehead led Kin g , Rogers and Parker on the open ing lap of th e 750cc final , bu t the Findlav, Oh io, rid er' s lead was one of short dura tion : a lap later, King was o u t. front o f the Big Show, spending mu ch of the 15-lapper in a draft with Rogers, altho ugh la te in the final, after being p elt ed b y the incredibl e roost spra y ed b y King ' s Honda, Rogers backed off to aid King's eight-bike-length win. Parker ran third from the get-go and · finis hed there a s he took the wa ve o f AMA starter Scott Zimmerman 's checkered flag. Carr, the fourth-place finish er, slas hed into Parker's d eficit to join his former teammate in a third-place battle for the final spot on the rostrum, but he had to d uck the hea vy pelting fro m Parker on the fi na l lap and dro pped back to finish ahead of Shaun Russell . "Surv ival - that' s what it's all abo ut out there," Kin g said . "You've go t the rough cond itions and the hea vy roost to deal with . The track was so rough tha t I did n' t know where th e fro n t end was half of the time . "I was jus t tryi n' to make it to the finish," added King, who thi s season has recorded two half-mile victories in GNC actio n. "I had to find the right line and keep ahead of Gary since the spray was so bad, then just hang on and hope to stay on the bike." With his ch a nces of a ni nth G ra nd Na tiona l title on the line, Parker understandably did n't wa nt torisk an injury - nor did title contender Carr, who also played th e "survival". game to the hilt. "I was kind a s leepin ' at the line," Pa rker said. "They jumped out in front of me pretty good off of the line, and their roo st was so bad I had to back off the throttle a bit . Then I tried to hustle a nd get back in to it, but by th at time th ose guys (King and Rogers ) were go ne. I'rrr sure they did the best they could to ma ke th e track raceable, bu t man, it was a hop-fest, jus t jumping fro m rut to rut ou t there." . Dan Stanley's re tu rn home to th e Everg reen Sta te after a lon g, successful GNC cam paig n this season saw th e 'Bellingham rider jum pi ng ahead 'of the field with all of the thrust o f fo rmer Kentucky Derb y wi nner Seattle Slew in th e 600cc Expert fina l, bu t Stan ley's impres s ive p a rad e wou ld la s t o n ly se ve n laps, as lie suffered o ne of s ix mec hanical-re lated DNFs in the 12-lap fina l. Thi s move d u p Mayfie ld a n d Pauley. The duo then d rafted for most of the race u ntil May field backed off the throttle afte r nearly crashing, 'a nd Pauley cru ised on to victory. Both Stanley an d Joe Kopp we re in high an ticipation of capitalizing on the "Those guys p retty mu ch ha nded it to me," Pauley said . "I found the right lin e a nd go t ahead of Steve for good . We h a d thi ngs going righ t for u s tonigh t." In the Har le y-Davidson Spo rtster Performance Final, pole sitter Sha un Russell pu t his Bartels H-D-spo nso red 883 out in" front of th e eight-lap, fiverider fina l, foll owed by Seattle's Donald Paul and Corbin Ra cin g's Gary Rog ers, but Rogers' utilization of the outside line sa w th e San Jos e rider effect ively mov e int o sole possession of the lead , although Russell did sh ar e a draft with Ro g ers durin g th e ea rly moments. W hil e b oth Ro g e rs and Ru s se ll foug ht to keep upright in th e d eep loam , Sean Lollar, Fit zh ugh and Pau l traded positions behi nd the duo . Lollar was in po sition to mov e up a spot w he n Russell's mac hine quit, allowing Rogers an easy win - one that wou ld cli nc h th e class cha m p io ns h ip in th e series af ter Russell' s dem ise, which was attributed to a broken ba tte ry cable . Ch ris Fitz hug h s tay ed in co nte n tion with his third-place finis h aboard th e Down town Harley-Davi dson en try . "We found some smooth lines out ther e and e v e ry t h in g jus t k ind of clicked," Roge rs said . "I didn't really th ink the track was as bad as everybody said tha t it wa s:' Ton y Souza sc o r e d a win in t he 600cc Pro Sport final - his first-ever win on a mile - beating fellow Californian Rob Peiphoto and Washington' s Kurt Hawk to the line to finalize the posil~ tions on the podium in the class. Emerald Downs Auburn, Washington Results: September19,1998 (Round 14 of 15) 750 EX: 1. Rich King (Hen): 2. Cary Rogers (H-D); 3. Sco tt Parker (H-D); 4 . C hris Ca rr (H- D); 5. Sha u n Rus sell (H- D); 6. Lonny Kopp (H· D); 7. John Paul Simonsen (H· D); 8. Jaime Agu ilar (H -D); 9. Jay Springs teen (H·D); 10. Steve U be rty (H·D); 11. Steve Moreh ead (H . D). 600 EX: 1. Lonn ie Pau ley (Rtx); 2. Steve Ma yfield (Rtx): 3, Eli Price (W-R); 4. Mickey Fay (W-R); 5. Toby Jorgensen (CCM ); b. John Gra nt (H bg ); 7. Todd So mers (W· R); 8. Pau l Iwenaga (Rtx); 9. Don Wilson (W·R); 10. Beau A. Brown (W-R); 11. C hris Fitzhugh (Rtx): 12. Eric Rickman (A TK); 13. Joe Kopp (KTM) ; 14. Dan Sta nley (Rtx); 15. Jeff An nen (W-R); 16. Rob Dameron (Hbg); 17. Pau l Polhemus IRtx): 18. Ryan Anderson (W- R). H-D SPORTSTER: 1. Ga ry Rogers; 2. Sean Lollar, 3. C hris Fitzhugh ; 4. Sh au n Rus.o;cll; 5. Dona ld Pau l. bOO rRO- SPT: 1. Tony So u za (Rtx): 2. Rub Pelphoto (Rtx): 3. Kurt Ha wk (W-R); 4. Jim Monagcn (Rtx): 5. Eric Beers (w-R); 6. Todd Hagmann (Rtx): 7. Beau Z. Brown (Rtx) : 8. Frank Mark er (H an ); 9. Aa ron Wes ton (Hon): 10. Brian Schilt (Rtx); 11. Bria n McGoni gal (Rtx); 12. Bob G r an t (H en) . Upcoming Round: Round 15 · Las Vegas . Nevada, October 2

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