Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Dirt Track Round 16: Lone Star Park AMA GRAND NATlONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fot os GRA\lD PRAIRIE, IX, SEIT. II t would see m to have been the perfect scena rio for the AMA's p re mier d irt track series: a beau tiful new facility, a packed hou se, and a cushion-style mile race track that was expected to deliver plenty of thrill s. Instead , the Dallas Mile at Lone Star Park, ro und 16 of th e 19race series, will likely go down in history as another footno te in a millenniu mendi ng Gran d Nation al dirt track tour that has been pla gu ed by bizarre wea ther, injury and traged y. For the record , Harl ey-D a vid son of Missouri /Da ve Burks Motorsp orts / Carl Patrick Racin g' s Joe Kopp earned the first 750cc Gra nd Na tional victory of his caree r befo re 15,117 race fans in a main event that was short ened from 25 laps to 18 laps, an d the n called official after just 10 la ps w he n Toby Jorgensen cra s hed through the outer gu ardrail on the back straightaway. The 17-yea r-o ld Jorgens e n from Mod esto, California, wa s running near the ba ck of the 18- rider field a n d a ttem p ti ng a pa ss o n Bartels HarleyDa v id son 's Sh aun Russell when the accident occu rred . The impact comp leteIv tore awav some 40 feet of the met al guardrail tha t is supposed to protect horses by shu nting them onto the racing su rface during the thoroughbred races for wh ich the t ra c k wa s d e sign ed . Although he was conscious immed iately I (Above) Joe Kopp (center) earned his first career 750cc Grand National win in a cras hshortened Dallas Mile at Lone Star Park. Scott Parker (left) was cred ited with second place. while Geo Roeder II (right) was third. (Left) Kopp (43) got the holeshot in the 18-lap final, while Parker (1) streaked for the high line. The rest , including Geo Roeder II (66) and Jay Springsteen (9) merely sought re lief from the sandy roost. The race was halted when Toby Jorgensen crashed through the guardrail at the halfway point. 14 after the crash, Jorgensen was ru shed by a mbula nce to Parkland Memori al Hospital in Dallas, where he was dia gn osed with laceration s and trauma to several in te rna l o rga ns a s w ell as a crushe d p el v is, multipl e fractu res and o t he r injuri es. Jor gensen underwent thr ee lifesaving surgical procedures between the tim e that he was ad mitted and 5 p.m . Sunday even ing , a nd was reportedly clingin g to life while on a respirator in the in te ns ive ca re un it a t Parkla nd Memorial. As of Monday morning, he was still listed as critical. In light of th e accid en t, a nd af te r det ermining that the fence could not be sufficien tly rep aired to provid e safe racing , AMA officials called the race com plete, and Kopp, who had led the main even t since the start, was awarded the win. It isn 't like he might not have won o the r w ise, as the 30-yea r-o ld from Mica, Wa sh ingt on , seeme d to have little troubl e findin g a good pla ce to ru n in the pocked -up corners and slithe ry st raights. After ge tlin g a fantastic drive off the line, he sim p ly ran roost-free at th e head of th e p a ck , s tretc hi ng hi s lead ou t to abo u t 20 len gths over th e co u rse o f th e first five laps, a nd th en ma int a inin g th at same ad va ntage over runner-up Scott Parker and his fac tory Harl ey-Da vidson until the red flag was flow n. "I knew the start was go ing to be real important on th is type o f race track," Kopp sa id . "I was lucky eno ug h to ge t the hol eshot. I pr etty mu ch ro de w it h mv head o ff fo r the fir st fo u r or fi ve laps. Then [ looked back and see n that I had a little bit of a lead on Scotty. Then the bo ttom start ed going away on me a littl e bit, and I thou ght , 'Okay, I need to s ta r t m ovin g up top w he re it ' s smoo ther." "T h en that cras h happened ba ck there ," Kopp continued, unaware of Jor ge nse n's condi tion. "I'm glad that Toby mad e it through that , and hop efully he's a ll fine . It' s a pretty fast track, and it's p re t ty hard ridin g . A n d w it h th e gua rd rail back there like tha t... We don't wan t to kill a nybod y ou t here. We' ve had so me accid ent s this year, and we're in this spo rt for the long lime." Th e Harley -David son /HOG / Fick Excavating-sponsored Parker, who finished sec ond, felt th at he wou ld hav e had Kopp handled if the race had progressed. "I th ought I w a s rollin g o n him," Parker sa id . "He spray ed me d ow n on the first lap, but as the track started getting gnarlier, I could see him struggling where he was running, and I was starting to find bett er lines." Like most riders in a ttenda nce, Parker was very critical of the track's cond ition. "W e s ho u ld nev er be in th is p ositi on ," th e nin e-tim e and d efendin g AMA Grand Nationa l Champion sa id . "This is mo torcycle racing not at its best. It is a beautiful facility, but we don 't need to be sendi ng people to the hosp ital. This is what happens wh en you 're at thi s type of tr ack. Th e fu n ny th in g is that Chris (Carr) called it earlier w hen he said. 'Look a t wha t we 've go t down th e ba ck s traig h taway . We' ve go t a bunch of poles sitting there.' You com e off the corn er and the bike is bucking arou nd or yo u ge t a black out (from the roost)... I don't think that we need to be at this typ e of race track. The fans wer e great, and we ga ve ' em a shitty sho w . Actually, w e didn't give ' em a s hil ty sho w, the AMA ga ve 'em a shitty show . If thi s is goi ng to be motocross racing, the n I g uess w e n eed to ch a n ge o u r motorcycles." Geo Roeder II was also very mu ch in con ten tion for the win aboard h is KK Motorcycle Supply / Schaeffer's HarleyDavidson /Las Vegas Ha rley-David sonbacked en try . He had found the racin g surface to his liking, and ther e was no question that he wa s moving forward when the red flag came out, spoiling a d rive that was ge tting him within striking distance of Parker. "I wanted to run, bu t it wa sn 't safe ou t there with the fen ce being down," Ro ed er sa id . " I go t a g rea t s ta r t - I wheelied - I d on 't kn ow why . Once I got go ing, I w a n ted to go 25 laps. I was th inking tha t I co u ld win this thing .

• Cover