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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128102
Schnabel took co ntrol early In the 25lap main event, quickly mastering the Houston surface, whic h seemed to get wetter · and slicker· as the night went on. He do m inated the race, scratching out a margin of victory that was just under three seconds at th e fi ni sh. together some good laps and get a lead, I could relax ." After a ragged start. defending Gra nd National Champion Joe Kopp worked his way from fifth to a secon d -p lace finish. "S pringe r and I both started down low, I re all y wa nted the top, but there was no thi ng left where I wanted to be : t he Co rb in Ra c ing/D a ve Burks Moto rsports /H a rle y-Da vids on of Missouri- backed Kopp said. "I didn 't get tha t good a start. Springer and I both had the p ro b le m of going from th e we t to the dry . When we pitched it into one, both of us went right to the locks . I dropped to fifth or sixth." Kop p 's teammate , Kenny Cool beth , was a lso forging h is wa y to the front. "S ho c k broke - I worke d m y butt off then , on t h e last la p, it j u s t snapped, " sa id t h e d isappointed Kenny Cool beth. "I was in fourth , but I don 't think I would have got Jay ." The other half of the team would fare much better. "Will [Davis] reall y d rove it into three, and I think he spooked himself, but I could see tha t I was going to have to really run it in there . if I was go ing to keep up," Kopp said. "It was one of those tracks where, I guess a lot of the gu ys who normally do good did n't like it. You h ad to be on the edge to night, because there was that moistu re on the outs ide that would re ally push the front end bad . It seemed like I was catching J .R. but, when that guy [Chris Hart] fell , that messed me up , and then I started having trouble with lapped riders too. I thought I could move up on J .R., but I made a couple of bobbles, and J.R. was just flat out going. " Springsteen thought he had a good night. "I thought things went pretty good. We m a d e a few changes, but didn 't have to do much " Springsteen said . "J im [Kelly] built some good motors over th e wi nter, a n d we' ve more equi p ment this year. I th ink the boys are g oi ng to ha ve to hang to ug h to k e e p t h e o ld m a n ba ck . I d ropped back of J o e , then we started goi ng through some back markers and I caught ba c k up . I got tangled up with [Pau l] Lynch a little. I looked back and saw no one was close , so I just put it on cruise. It was just like riding the ice races at home - with bad screws." Kevin Varnes had led the field into turn one from the o utside , but could not get the door shut and finished the first lap in fourth . After Kopp powered by him , Varnes seemed to find his rhythm . "I got a good start, but I couldn't get anything to work early and dropped back , " Varnes said. "T e n laps in , I was still struggling , but I guess we got some heat into the tires, and it started to come back. I battled with Carr a little bit a nd go t by h im , then he got m e back . I was runni ng fourt h for a wh ile , th en Kenny [Coo lbeth] got unde r m e a nd sta rted get ting away . I started to ree l h im back in a nd he just shot up the track when his shock b roke. I wa s all a lo ne in fourth, then . O n the last lap, coming off turn two, I felt the back end sta rt to come around. G o in g down the back stra ight the tire went completely flat. I was just hanging on. That was a cue I e new b ike , Babe [DeMay] ju st got it together. It bel ongs to Buc k , one of ou r sponsors." Harley -Davidson o f Sa c ramento/ Phoen ix Racing 's Ch ris Ca rr wa s just a tic k off the lead pa ce fo r th e night. "It s eemed like I s pent most of the ni g h t watch in g p e o p le go by me ," Carr sa id of his fift h - pl a c e fin is h . "Unlike Da yton a . we got good starts to night, I just c ou ldn 't hold my positio n . We 've been tr ying a fe w things wi t h th e bi k e , a n d le ar n ed a lot t on igh t. I' m gl ad we le a rn ed them tonight and not later in th e year. We had pretty mu ch a fifth -pl a c e [bike] and that's what we got. We 'll regrou p for the next one , wh ich is identical to this one. I've never s een a track go from dry to wet without a water truck. That's what this pla c e did . It was pretty amazing ." Another of the pre -race favorites who struggled was Daytona winner Will Davis. Davis had to win a semi just to get into the National , and the Moroney's Harley-Davidson/Fasthog . com / Gould Erectors -backed ri d er started the National from row three. "I put myself back the re on the back row," Da vis said . "T h e trac k caught everybody off guard. The moisture rose and the track got greasy , slick. We all lost about two seco nds a lap when the moistu re started rising . I don 't know if we' d have had anything for those fro nt guys, e ven if we 'd have been on the front. We were close, we just weren't ready for that moisture . It was ju s t like rid ing on ice, b ut we'll tak e it. Everybody else was on th e same stuff we wer e on." Befor e runn ing into trouble, Davis made a charge to the front on th e first lap . "I got a dece nt sta rt an d we n t Chris Carr 14) got the holeshot, with fellow Pe nnsyl va nia n Kevin Varnes 189) in tow. Schnabel 133), Joe Kop p 11) and Jay Springsteen (9) eventually muscled their way into the top three. n e _ s • MAY 2 , 2001 29