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" I tri ed to tu rn a nd jus t tucked th e
fron t end ," Davis said . " I hate it, it was
me. It was g reasy, an d I tried t o turn too
quic k, I guess. All I re member was try ing to turn it. The next thing I remember
was my face hi tting the gr ou nd. It wasn ' t
like it s tarted to slid e. I turned and hit
th e g ro u nd . That line I was using was
defini tely working, I jus t got too excited .
It was d efinite ly working. I thi n k we
co u ld ha ve raced wit h th em . When I
cra s he d , I think th e bike wou ld ha ve
been all right. Unfo rtu na tely, eve ryo ne
ran in to it an d tore it all to pieces."
Kevin Va rnes, Mo rehead , Bige low
an d Spri ngsteen were all collected.
"When somebod y falls in front of you
like that, ther e's not mu ch vou can do,"
Bigelow said. "We we re ju~t luc ky that
the guys we re able to ge t everythi ng all
cha nge d around ."
Springsteen offered his own obse rva tion of the incident.
:'1 was d od ging bo dies and m ot orcycles out ther e," Springe r said . " I go t
about three feet from the hay bales, and
it felt like I was still goi ng ab out 30 mph"
so I jus t kic ke d loose. Let the bik e ea t
th ose bales , I ai n ' t ea ting the m . I' ve
crashe d eno ug h tim es to know how to
get off them . There was just bodies and
motorcycl es e ve rywhere . You' re ju s t
going so fast. It' s like you fall here and
every thing keeps going high er and higher. I kep t try ing t o go h igher to g o
ar oun d it, but I jus t go t gathered up in
it."
_
Only 15 rid ers re tu rned after th e 10m inute repair break. Varnes wa s too sore
after being collected by Mo rehead, and
Davis could not make rep airs in time to
res tart.
Before the fourth rest art, AMA offi ci al s Bru ce Bober a n d Ste ve Faraci
admonished th e rid er s not to tr y and
win the race on the first lap and, hopefully, ru n the remaini ng 21 laps wit hou t
incid ent.
"It wasn ' t so much that the track was
slick as it was incons isten t," Carr said.
"You cou ld be all hooked up and then all
of a su dden yo u'd hit a hard spot th at
didn't ha ve any tack, and it was jus t like
hitting oil. You would jus t go sideways ,
You had to mem ori ze w he re those were.
Th ey had w hee l-pac ke d th e track, and
ea rly o n , yo u co u ld n ' t tell w ha t wa s
grea s y a nd w hat w asn ' t. As th e ra ce
wore on , th e lin es defined themselves,
a nd yo u kn ew w he re it was slic k and
w her e it was ta ck y . The tack y par ts
wo uld peel up, and you cou ld seeit. The
p rob lem s w ere all ea rly in th e ra ce.
We're ra ce rs , w e ha ve in mind to go
hard u nd er all conditions, The track just
caught so me peopl e off gua rd ."
Hayden had one more goo d start left
in him, an d he led Kopp an d Roed er into
th e fifth lap . Hayden's determin a tio n
wa s ev ide n t, as h e th w ar ted a ll of
Kopp's advances.
"Joe passed me a cou p le of tim es,"
Ha yd en said . "I was havinga little bit of
tro uble wit h the thro ttle. I think all the
m o ist ure in th e air, th e y're (t hrottle
cables) han ging up a little bit. Goinginto
the corners, the thi ng was idli ng rea lly
hi gh, and I was ca tc hi ng so me ruts. I
knew this was my chance, and w hen he
wen t by -rne, I had my m ind m ad e up
that pret ty much I'd do w ha teve r it took
to ge t back around him . I was definitely
goin g for broke. Up top seemed to be a
little bit smoother, and I coul d keep my
mom entum up and roll the corne r a little
bit better.
"E verybod y said y o u r fi r st win
CD
..a would be your easiest," Hayden said . "It
E
CD
wa sn't easy, but in practice I was going
Ci. fast, I won my hea t and 1 was getting
"l good starts . With about seven laps to go,
20 I looked back, and I couldn't believe it. I
~
you had to watch, bu t I was happy wi th
it."
eN
Hagerstown Speedway
Hagerstown , Maryland
Results: August 12, 1999 (Round 13 of 19)
H EAT 1 (10 la ps; 11 ri de rs, top th ree tram-f e r): 1.
Kevin Varn es (H· D); 2. Chris Ca rr (H · D); 3. Da n Butler
(H- D); 4. Dan Stanl ey (H-D ); 5. Terry Poovey IHo n): 6.
S hawn Cl ark ( H-D ): i. Ken Yo d e r Jr. (H -D); 8. OJ-Ie
[ennc rna n (J'I-D ); 9. Rob Mill er (H· D ); 10 . Pau l
Bergs tro m (H ~D); 11. Roy .M iller (H-D),
Tim e: 4 m in.• 01.150 !'Ot.'C.
H EAT 2 U O laps; 11 ri ders, top th re e tra ns fe r): 1.
Rich Kin g (H ·D); 2. Jay Sp rin gst een (H· D); 3. St e ve
Beat tie (H ·D ); 4. jai me Aguilar {l-i-D): 5. Mike Ha cker
(H- D); 6. Joh n Nickens 111 (H-D); 7. Dave Rayb u rn Hi -D);
8. Billy Martin (H -D); 9. Rand y Sh an k II IH-D); 10. wuuMcCoy 0-' -0>; 11. Ga rth Bastian (H- D).
'
T im e: 11 min ., 09.014 sec .
.
HEAT 3
laps; 10 rid e rs, top three tra nsf er): 1.
Joe Kopp (H·D) ; 2. Will Do
wis (H- D); 3. Steve Morehead
(H -Dl; 4, P.\Ul Lynch (H-D); 5. Brent Armbruster (H · D);
6. Sha un Rus.'>C1I (H ·D); 7. Jason Fle tcher (I'I-D); 8. Joey
Brock (H~ D); 9. Jason Sentell (H-D ); 10. Chris Evan s (H-
no
r».
Chris Carr (4) and Dan Butler (22) both
crash ed during the carnage-filled main
event. Car r managed to get up and finish
seventh, while Butler wasn' not as lucky,
s uffering a broken leg that is su re to finis h
him for the season.
though t he was still righ t on me. I had a
pretty good gap and a gri n on my face. I
knew I had to ke ep it o n tw o w heels
from ther e. I've been training really ha rd
for this. I'm glad it all worked out. "
Kopp had to settle for second .
" I felt tha t if I cou ld ge t in fro n t of
him, I could p ro babl y ge t away o r at
least stay in fron t of him ," Kopp said . " 1
go t in front of him a couple of times, but
nev er eno u gh to se tt le in to th e lead .
Once, he really screwed up down there
in one and two. Then he clicked it into
anothe r gear (and ) it was like, ' Hey, I
know another line!' I was ab le to get by
on the insi de goi ng into turn three, then
w e were li ke ha nd lebar to h andlebar
d own th e fron t straight, and he go t me
ba ck goi ng in to th e n ext turn . I ju s t
wanted to lead for a full s traig htaway
and se tt le d o wn . Eve ry time I go t by
him, I was too far to the insid e or too far
outside. I never had th e lead w here I
was able to get back to m y lin e. I was
ab le to make so me time on the ou tside,
bu t he pi cked up o n that d eal. I never
saw him look back.I though t, 'He's not
. looking back, he's not going to see these
lines: "
King was method ically working h is
way to th e fro nt.
"Be tween bein g slic k and th e ruts,
you d idn't know when you' d ha ve traction and w hen you wou ld n' t," King said .
"You co uld n' t rely on th e front end a t
all. I cou ld catch people quick, but I had
a little problem passin g th em. My lin e
was quite a bit d ifferent, an d it crossed
paths with th em , especially comi ng off
turn four. They we re squaring it off and
I was drifting, so I had to be careful not
to g e t in to anybody th ere . That w as
killing my d riv e ther e, but once we go t
by, I felt more com fortable:'
Schnabel had a good start go bad .
" We were running ok ay, and af te r
eve rybod y was faIling off, we w er e in
sixth on the restart," Schn abe l said . "The
fi r st lap, I w en t in to turn three and
almost got into Beattie, and then I had to
pu ll up so I didn't hit him . Then I we nt
way high and d ropped back to 12th or
so. We wo rked our way back up a little
b it. The re wer e a fe w s lick s po ts
T im e: 4 min ., 00.9!:S2 SC'C
.
H EAT 4 (l O la ps; 10 riders, to p thre e tran sf er ): 1.
Nic ky Hayd en (H-D); 2. Ceo Roeder II (H-D); 3. Brvan
Bigelow (H - D); 4 . Mike Varnes (H · D ); 5 . j .R .
Schnabel (H-D) ; 6. Larry Peg ra m (H- D); 7. [es s Roeder
(H-D) ; 8. Robert Lew is Jr. (H- D); 9. Brian Shir ley Jr . (HD); 10. Mark M iller (H- D), ,
Tim e: 4 mi n., 00.119 sec.
S EM I 1 (S lap s; 10 riders, top tw o tra ns fer): 1. Terry
Po o v ey (He n): 2. Brent Arm b ru st e r ( H~ D); 3. M ike
Va rnes