Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 1: Hagerstown Speedway SUPERTRAPP SUPER TRACKER SERIES By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Fotos HAGERSTOWN, MD, MAY 8 he long-awaited SuperTrapp Super Tracker Series has finally.hit the track. Overnight rains left the half mile rough and tacky, and the pilots for the new class were tentative at best, but nine of the new creations were on hand and drew a great deal of att~tion. J.R. Schnabel rode his Powell Racing/Hall's Motorsports-backed Suzuki to the first win in the infant series. Schna bel's Suzuki proved to be the strongest of the new breed, as he cruised to an easy win in the 1D-Iap main event . after the early leader, Suzuki-mounted Joe Kopp, was black-flagged for an oil leak. The two were actually having a pretty good race until Kopp's leak became too much on lap four. "The clear-glass oil-level thing is leaking around it," Kopp said. "It was doing it all night. We tried to silicone it but just couldn't get it to stop. We needed a lathe to make a plug. We don't have one in the truck." Schnabel, on the other hand, looked very smooth on his Suzuki, and both riders felt that the new machines were dirt track worthy. ''I'm real happy with the Suzuki," Schnabel said. "It worked better than we thought. I was surprised. I was expecting it to not be quite as good as it was." "1 don't think I feel any less comfortable on the Suzuki than I did the 750 here," Kopp said. "The power is just totally different. You couldn't use all the power here tonight. It's fun to ride, a lot of fun to ride." Kopp and Schnabel each won their respective six-lap heats. Kopp won the first after a racelong battle with Rich Lt , Kopp (43) do battle during the inaugural SuperTrapp Super Trackers event at Hagerstown Speedway. Schnabel won after Kopp was black-flagged. (Left) Winner Schnabel (right) and third-placed Steve Morehead (left) smile for the camera, Both were positive about the future 01 the series. King, who was aboard a Team Undo Honda, while Team Undo rider Brett Landes cruised home in third on a Ducati. "It was better than I thought," Landes said. "I was a little leery with this III . race track (how tacky it was), but it felt ~ pretty good. I was able to get it off into ~ the turns, bu t I didn't really push it too much. I was just· kind of riding it Q around, trying to get the feel for it. I wasn't going to go out there and try and prove anything. It was pretty good, but we needed to make some changes that we couldn't do tonight. The forks were too short, so we couldn't raise the fron t end, but for what we had, it was pretty 22 good." II iii! :iii Two Harleys battled it out early with Landes but fell off the pace. Brian Kromroy and Joey Brock seemed to be underpowered on their Harleys. The second hea t belonged to Schnabel, whose six-lap time was almo t four seconds faster than Kopp's. Schnabel moved around early leaders RobertMiller and Mike Hacker. Steve Morehead also got by the Harleys, giving Suzuki a sweep. The main event came to the line with Schnabel on the pole, but Hacker got the holeshot over Schnabel and Kopp. Then Kopp was up front at the end of lap one. "I think they'll be good," Kopp said of the new equipment. "It was even a pretty slick track, and they still hooked up better than I thought they would. It's just bigger than a 750, but I like the power curve. It seems good for dirt track." Hacker was riding hard to hold second, but Morehead pushed his Suzuki into that spot. "I had a good time," Hacker said. '1t was probably a little underhorsepowered, but the bike handled great and didn't do anything stupid. It felt like I was on a race bike. It actually helped me on the 750. I was able to go out and find some lines that I was able to use later." Morehead has more time than anyone else in the saddle of a Super Tracker, and the veteran said that he feels his F&S Suzuki is getting better with more development. "It was hard to ride tonight because of the track conditions," Morehead said. "When you point these things and screw the throttle on, they go! There was a couple of individuals here from the Suzuki Motor Company tonight. Suzuki is really taking notice. It's really something. Suzuki has come up with this contingency program: They send two of their people to watch the races and see what's going on. If we can get the other manufacturers involved and get their g at. I commend Suzuki for getting behind this thing. They've tried to give us some advice and technical support. Until we get some time on them, the racing will be tentative. You don't want to just stick into the corner under somebody, because I don't know where I'm going and I don'tJmow where they're going to go. We start to get on the miles and things like that, it'll be a lot different. It's hard enough to race with somebody when you know what your bike is going to do, let alone brand-new machinery, but it'll come around." Winner Schnabel obviously had the most fun. "It didn't do anything stupid at all," Schnabel said. "I felt real comfortable on it right away. Tonight is the first time I've even sat on the bike. I hope the rest of the year goes that well. I think everyone was just experimenting tonight. I think it went good." CIII Hagerstown Speedway Hagerstown. Maryland Results: May 8. 1999 (Rouncl1 of 10) HEAT 1 (6 laps; 5 riders): 1. Joe Kopp (Suz); 2. Rich King (Hon); 3. Brett Landes (Dud; 4. Brian Kromroy (H- D); 5. Joey Brock (H-D). Time: 2 min., 32.597 sec. HEAT 2 (6 laps; 4 rid",,), 1. J.R. Schnabel (S02); 2. Steve Morehead (Suz); 3. Mike Hacker (H-D); 4: Robert Miller (}i-D). Time: 2 min., 28.6.19 sec. SUPERTRAPP SUPER TRACKER NATIONAL (10 laps; 9 riders): 1. J.R. Schnnbel (5uz); 2. Steve Morehead (Suz); 3. Mike Hacker (H-D); 4. Robert Miller (H-O); 5. Brett Landes (Ouc); 6. Brian Kromroy (H-D); 7. Rich King (Hon); 8. Joe,Kopp (Suz); 9. Joey Brock (H-D). Time: 4 min., 10.326 SL"C. SUPERTRAPP SUPER TRACKER SERlES POINTS STANDINGS (Aft« 1 oj 10 rounds), 1. J.R. Schnabel (23/1 win); 2. Stove Morehead (19); 3. Mike Hacker (16); 4. Robert Miller (15); 5. Brett Landes ('\4); 6. Brian Kromroy (13); 7. Rich King (2); 8. Joe Kopp (11); 9. Joey Brock (0). Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Springfield, Illinois, May 30 Round 3 - lima, Ohio, June 26

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