Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

., Round 7: Cal Expo State Fairgrounds AMAISUPERTRAPP SUPERTRACKER SERIES S e • s .I By Scott Rousseau Photos by Fla t Trak Fotos SACRAMENTO, CA, SEPT. 18 h e th e r or not the SuperTrapp Supertracker Series is achieving its potentia l has been the su bject of much heated deba te recently. Ther e has been no sim ilar debate as to whet her or not joe Kopp is livin g up to his. . Kopp took his fifth win of the seaso n aboard his Da ve Burks Mot or sports / Dick ' s Suz u ki / HoD o f Sa cr am ento Suz uki TLlOOO in the 12-lap main eve nt on the Sacra me nto Mile, and wer e it not for the fact that F&S Suz uki /KK Mot orcy cle Supp ly / Sh e p h er d & Dr a g oo ' s Steve Morehead has finished seco nd to Kopp at most of the rounds, this champion sh ip might well have been decided by Sacra mento as well. Instead , it will be d etermined at Del Mar. Kop p certainly added to his poin ts tally, however, as he ran third, behind the Suzu kis of Moreh ead a n d Team Powell / Su noco' s j .R. Schna bel for the fi rs t tw o laps bef o re wicki ng up h is Den nis Town- built machine and takin g the lead at the sta rt of lap three. On ce Kopp was ou t front, it was clear that he ha d th e p ow er to s tay th ere. Desp ite repeated atte m pts, Morehead could not pull ou t of the d ra ft and ge t by Kopp. Schna be l was s tu ck in a si mila r sit u ation, and he wound up third. Kopp now lea ds the series stand ings by 17 poin ts ov er Mor eh ead , 146-129. Sch nabel is third , wi th 119. Morehead and Schna bel got the jump off the line in the 'l l-rider, 12-lap main, wit h Kopp ru nn in g third, followe d by the Rogers / Lake Racing Suzuki of Gary Rog e rs a n d th e Mitch e ll' s Mod est o Harl ey-Davidson of Michelle DiSalvo. As the three front -runners p u lle d away, Roger s d id the sa me to DiSalvo, who lat er fell victim to the White's Harl eyDavidson/ M&S Suzuki TL of Roy Miller. Sole Yama ha stando u t Scott Deubl er finished seven th aboa rd his Tot al Perfo rma nce Racers / Topeka H arl ey-Da vidson /TOM -b a se d parall el tw in . Suzu ki-mounted Du va ll Raci ng rid er joey Duvall was eighth, followed by the Harley of Donald Paul , and the Honda of Brett Landes. Mike Hacker never started the main even t on his Ha rlev-Davidson , and was cred ited with 11th place, But Kopp sim ply is carrying the most horsepower o n the track and in the points. "I've reall y got to thank De n nis Town on that dea l," Kopp said. "He fiddl es with it wee k in and week out, and it ' s sho wi ng e very w ee ke nd - on the miles mor e tha n an ything . I had more horsepower than Steve and j.R. d id for su re, so I wasn' t too worried abou t it whe n they did ge t by me. I passed them the first time, and then it seemed like I coul d draft them pretty easily. My goal was to try and get ou t of their d raft, bu t I ne ve r co u ld break it, w h ich kind of amazed me. They we re getting th rou gh the tu rn s a lit tle bit better than I was, but I had mo re power tha n they d id on the straightaways. Tha t was abou t it." Mor eh ead felt good abo u t the race, eve n thou gh he figured that he was a bit overmatched going into it. "I can't do nothing, following him ," W en en en ~ m ~ E. CI> en 20 (Above) Same old Suzuki song: Joe Kopp (43) battles with fell ow TL riders Steve Morehead (42) and J.R. Schnabel (33) during the AMAlSuperTrapp SuperTrac ker main ev ent. The trio fi ni shed in that order during the main event. (Below) Schnabel (ieft), Kopp (center) and Morehead (right) pose with the Bud girls on the podium . It was kind of a bad d eal. The bike hand les real good , but I had a ha rd tim e draftin g 'em." Like Moreh e a d , Sc h n a bel is co n cern ed with the prospect of the series turning into an all-Suz uki show, thou gh he says that he can certainly understand why it has wo rked ou t that way. "We'v e go t an all-Ha rley sho w now, and if we wer e to ru n 'these next vear, yo u coul d bet that it wo u ld be 90: percent Su zu ki s ou t th e re be ca u se guys wan t to wi n the cham p ions hip," Schnabel sa id . "I th ink tha t We need to get more bikes ou t the re . I th ink th at we need to ge t mor e Hondas and Du catis ou t th ere . If w e had a good ri der o n th e m , th en they co u ld co m pe te . Th e problem is that people ha ve seen th e Su zukis win, a n d th a t' s w hy th ey 're building them . We've got a yea r's wo rth of technology into them , with thr ee riders rid in g them and putting it in. No w the Hon das a nd Ducatis are just sit ting th e re . Th e Su zu ki m oto r was be t ter to start with . It's just ·superior. It's better." eN Cal Expo State Fairgrounds Sacramento , Californ ia Results: September 18, 1999 (Round 8 of 9) More head said of Kopp. "You wait for him, he gets a little sideways and then he ge ts hoo ked up and just out accele rates us an d goes. We were running fast lap times out there - 36.9s. That's faster than the semi laps were for the 7505. I don' t know what we were turning in the (750) main event. Those things are rockets, and his is really a rock et." Despite having given his approval of the series ma ny times alrea d y, Mo rehead is conce rn ed, like man y rid ers, that t he s how is not yet s ho w ing it s tru e po tenti al. "Not w hen it's jus t three Suzukis ou t fron t, not a t a ll," h e said . "We need everybody else involved in the ga me to make this wo rk. Otherwise, why change anything? We're alrea dy all ridi ng one bran d - Ha rleys - now. Why make so meb od y buy a not h er (si ng le b ra nd of) m o torcycl e, wh en h e ha v e exis t ing bikes?" Sch na bel su ffe re d th e sa me fa te as M o r eh ead in t h e ma in eve n t, th e pro mi sing yo u ngster fro m Wiscon sin chargin g the turns, o nly to la ck the ponies of Kopp on the straights. '~We were eating Kopp up coming off the corners, I thou ght," Sch nabe l said. "Steve go t right up by him a bunch of tim es, bu t a s soon as h e hooked th at thin g- up: we were sc rewed . He ju s t dragged u s aro u nd the t rack. The first cou ple laps, Steve and I wer e drafting back and for th, and th en Kopp go t in fro nt. It was follow- the-Ieader after that. AliI could do was just get pulled along. HEAT 1 (six lars; five riders, to p five tra nsfer): 1. Joe Kop p (Suz); 2. Mike Hacker (H-D); 3. JR Schnabel (Suz); 4. Bre tt Landes (H on): 5. Scu tt Deu bler (Yam ). Time: 3 mi ns., 47.870 M'CS. HEAT 2 (six l..p s; six rid ers , top six tran sfer ): J. Steve Morehead (Su z); 2. Ga ry Roger s (Su z): 3. Roy Miller (Su a): 4, Michelle DiSah:o (H-Ol; 5. Joe Duva ll (Suz): 6. Donald Paul (H ~ D) . T im e: 3 .mins., 49.421 sees . SUPER TRAP P SUPERTRA CKE R MAIN 11 laps; 2 11 rid ers): 1, JOt: Kopp (Suz ): 2. Sieve Morehead (Suz ); 3. JR Schna be l (Suz): 4. Gary Roge rs (Suz); 5. Roy Miller (Suz ); 6. Michelle DiS.~l vo (H-D); 7. Scott De uble r (V.1m); 8. Joe Du vall (Suz) : 9. Dona ld Paul (H ·D ); 10. Brett Landes (Han); 11. Mik e Hacker (H-D). T ime: 7 m ins ., 30.809 sees . A M A/SU PE RT RA PP S UPER TRA CK ER SERIES PO INT S STANDI N GS (After 8 o f 9 ro unds): 1. Jo e Kopp (146/ 5 win s); 2. Steve Morehead 0 29/ 1); 3. JR Schnabe l 01Q / 2); 4. Mik e Hacker (75); 5. Brett Land es (73); 6; Brian Kromroy (65); 7. Roy Miller (64); 8. Rober t Miller (62); 9. Robert Buffin gt o n (56); to. Gary Rogers (53); 11. Scott Deubler (48); 12. Joey Brock (42); 13. Mich elle DiSa lvo (37); 14 Rich King (26); 15. Bret Beyer (14); 16. Jer ry Vande rkooi (12); 17. Joe Duvall (11); 18 (TIE) Donald Paul /I van Carl / Scott Stum p (10l. Upcoming Round: Round 9 - Del Mar, Califomia, October 10

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