Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Dirt Track By Dave Hoen ig Phot os by Flat Trak Fotos HAGERSTOWN, MD, AUG. 2] igh teen-year-old Nicky Ha yd en fulfilled his lifelon g d ream and the p rophecy of most who hav e see n the youngs ter race over the last 10 to 12 years by win nin g the crash-ma rred Ha ge rstown Half Mil e during the seco nd s to p o f th e seaso n for th e AMA G ra n d Na tiona l Dirt Tr ac k Se ri es a t Hager st own Sp ee d wa y. The race was red -flagged three times, as half of th e 18-rid er field was on the ground at on e time, or an ot her during the race. T keeping wit h the tra dition of th e n 1999 edition of the .series, rou nd 13 was hamper ed by rai n . An early aftern oon s to rm m o ved t hrou gh th e droug h tplag ued a re a , tu rni n g wha t h a d ap peared to be a smooth tra ck into an inconsistent, rutted oval. Ironically, it was the series vetera ns w ho had the most tr ou ble. Three laps int o the 25-1ap ma in, Dan Butler, while runnin g sev ent h, slid down in turn two . Mike Hacker co u ld not avoid Bu tler, and series points lead er Chris Carr was also involved . Butler suffered the most severe injuri es of the night: a compo und frac tu re of the tibi a and a lso a broken fem u r, both on the left leg . Both Carr and Ha cker w ou ld return fo r t h e restart. O n the restart , Rich King spun d own in turn one, and the race wa s once again stop ped . The third try was not a charm , either. After running one lap, Will Davis lost the fron t end in tu rn thr ee. Davis, wh o had just moved into third, collected Kevi n Va rnes, Steve Mo reh ead, Brya n Bigelo w a nd Jay Sp rin gs teen . Varn es, who }Vas hit by Morehead , retired to his pit for the night. Davis' bike was hit by alm ost eve ryo ne else, and rep airs could not be made in time for him to continue . T hro u g h a ll th is , t h e BF /LFA / Mi chi gan Ha rl ey -Da vid s on Dea le rs Associa tion -backed Hayd en rem ained foc used a nd u n fazed . It was obvious fro m th e first turn th a t Havden was determi ned to turn his recen t bad luck a ro u nd, as he ove rcame all th e cha l- E . '" '" '" ~ ~ j: E .l!! go en 18 Round 13: Hagerstown Speedway (Above) Nicky Hayden realized a life-long dream when he eamed his firstcareer Grand National victory at the Hagerstown Half Mile. The 18-year-old Kentucky native led every lap of the race. (Right) Although Hayden (69) led every lap, the race was no cakewalk. Jo e Kopp.(1l3) pressured Hayden for much of the race before uttimately finis hing second to the young phenom. len ges placed before him to sco re h is firs t caree r Grand Na tion al victory. " I' ve n ev e r go t a holesh ot, and tonight I got five," the excited Hayd en said . "Th is is th e biggest wi n of my life right here, and I'v e won so me pretty bi g road races . This is it . righ t her e. We've had a lot of problems this year, just a lot of sma ll stu ff, that's been draggin g us d own. I' ve rea lly go t to than k To m Cumm in g s and Da vey Wat ts, they've been behind me since I was like 15 yea rs old . They' ve put a lot o f time an d effo rt into me. a nd I just appreciate it. I thank everyon e wh o has been behind me, especially my mom an d dad and all my family and friends. The Hart family, m y w ho le crew - th ey've mad e it wo rth whi le." Alth ou gh Ha yd en woul d officially lea d e ve ry la p, he was und er h ea v y pressu re from Dave Burks Motorsports / H arl e y- Da vid s on of Mi s s o uri / Carl Pa tr ick Racin g' s Joe Kopp for most of the race. "Du ring those long wa its, the moisture came u p and the track go t grea sier," Hayden sai d . "The fir st couple of laps , Joe was all over me. He wa s going above me. un d er m e, a n d I wa s ju st d oing all I could to hold him off. I kept movin g arou nd, trying a bunch of d ifferen tlines. Finally I foun d a few." For Kopp, the night's race turned out to be a lot of wo rk, only to be d eni ed w ha t wou ld ha ve been a second career Grand Na tional wi n, and his first on a 750", "I go t off the line with Nicky on the last restart, but he got away from me the firs t lap o r tw o," Kop p sa id. "I had a good high line going in, bo th turns one an d th ree. It wa s nice and high , and I was really making up time in the mid dle of the corn er. He was stru ggling righ t there, and I was just waiting for the bobble that would let me get past." Whil e the lead ers w ere putting on th e ir s how, C orbin Racin g /Harl e yDavi dson Cycle Ce nter of Wa te rloo / SuperTrapp 's Rich King go t up off the ground and was charging from the rear of the field to take third. "I jus t go t a little aggress ive in turn one on th e first res tart," King sa id . "I came charging in there and Varnes got on the bind ers, and I had to lay it down to miss him . Comin g from last to third isn' t too bad , I gu ess. Once we started running laps, the track started coming aro und a little bit (and) you knew your line. It was just so slippery there to start with, I think the moisture was coming up." Gee Roeder ran third for most of the race, bu t ga ve it up to King on lap 23. Roeder brough t his Schaeffer's Harl eyDavid son / Las Veg a s Har ley -Da vid so n / KK M ot o rcy cl e Su p p ly -b ac ke d Harley hom e in fourt h. "I g uess w e ou tlas te d e ve ry body else," Roed er sai d . "1 just kept ge tting better starting position s on the restart s. We we re running good. 1 wo uld liked to ha ve go tte n th a t th ird, but we'll tak e fourth."

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