Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Mickey Fay Presents Outlaw Short Track National Puyallup Fairgrounds Livestock Pavilion (Le ft) Ru nner-up Dan Stanley pettI and Randy Bereman (right) flank winner Joe Kopp on the podium for the Northwest Outlaw Short Track National at the Puyallup Fa irgrounds In Puyallup, Washington. (Below ) AMA Grand National Champion Joe Kopp swept the Open Motorcycle portion of the Mickey Fay Presents event, n etting $1800 t otal f or h is qualifying, Dash For Ca s h and 20-lap m ain-ev ent victorie s. o nly Amateur rider in th e fi eld of 23 riders to net an invit ati on from Fay p ersevered under pres sure from a large pac k of former and current AMA National number holder s to win the plaudits from the crowd aft er his stirring performance . " H e [Ragsdale] i s a heck of a r id er ," Kopp said . " He is someone that's going somewhere. He has a good head and a real knack for the sport.- S T O RY BY C LA Y LI GHT P HOT OS BY K A RIN L A N G/ DI RT T RA CK PH OTO GRAP HY PUYALLUP, W A,APR. 14 MA Grand Nationa l C h a m p i o n Joe Kopp came out s m o k i n ' fro m the start of the inaugural Mickey F a y Pre se n t s Outlaw Short T rack N at io n al on the one-sixte enth- mile oval at the Puya ll up F airgrounds in Pu ya llup , Wa s hi ngton , a nd h e remained that way to th e co mpletion. T he r ider fr om M i c a , W a shing to n , post ed a cl ean sweep of th e eve ni ng 's fest iviti es. This ev ent was sponso red by Bo b Lanphere Ent erpri ses, Rento n Honda Autom o b i l e s , B e a v e rt on Honda / Yamaha , Hi att Pon t i ac /GMC , W i d e Open .c om and Budweiser. In fron t of a crowd of nea rly 2000 sp e c t a t or s , Kopp di splayed h is exceptional dirt tra ck prowess and won his heat race during q ualifying, and then backed up that performance with a win in the four -r ider Dash For C a s h . Kopp then capped off his evening w ith a runaway w in in the 20 -lap Open Pro ma in event, aboard the Denny Lopp/C orbin /Dick 's Suzu k i/Screwy Designs-ba ck ed Rotax. Kopp's sweep earn ed the lo ngti m e Northwest favo rit e $ 18 0 0 for his efforts in a fiel d of 23 riders fr o m Washington , Oregon and California . A f t e r qu a li f y i n g , the fie ld w a s t ri mme d t o 12 r i d e r s for th e eli te ma in even t, wi t h each vyi ng f or a pi ece of th e $8 500 purse. T rail ing Kop p in th e Open Pro fin al was W ashi ngton ian D an Stanley , the Nati on al n umbe r - l 0 pl ate hol d e r . Stanl ey w o rke d h is way up f ro m a fourth -p lac e sta rt on th e open ing lap , but he couldn 't slice into Kopp 's larg e le ad and the GNC rider from Belli ng - (Bottom) Joe Kopp (1) leads Ell Price (35) and the rest of the field at the start of the 20-lap Open Motorcycle main event In s id e the Puyallup Livestock Pavilion. Kopp led from start to finish. ha m was l eft strand ed with second place at the completion . Ro unding ou t the podium positions was Cali fo rn ian Ran dy Berem an. T he veteran West Coast rider stayed in the thick of thi ngs to post wh at was most likely his best perfo rm ance thus far in the young dirt-track seas on. T he ev en ing's surp r ise, tho ugh , ca me from th e fo urth -p lac e fin isher, Kyle Rags dal e. The 15-year-old from nea rb y Sh e l ton , W ash ing t o n - the The fifth-place finisher was Ronn ie Brown , last year 's W est Coast F lat Track Series Champion , who fared second best of the contingent of Ca li fornia ns on hand . Possibly the most famous of the Californians, Rick Hock ing , wasn 't as fort unate as hi s com rades, n a rrow l y missing o u t o n a transfer in the LCQ after encountering prob lem s in his q ual ifier. Was hington's Don Wilson, a veteran of AMA Nation al competition, topped the LCQ. cu e I e Kopp , Wash ingtonian Eli Price , Berem an and Jeff Hiatt were vic to rious in the four heat races, and all o f them netted a ticket to the Dash For Ca sh . It was Kopp , however, who pulled the trigger faste st - just as he wo u ld all evening - to outgun the co m petiti o n and take the top payoff, ahead of Price , Hiatt and Bereman . The only downsid e t o Kopp' s ev eni ng was at th e st ag ing of th e 12 rider, 20 -lap Open final. Kopp's heat ra ce was red-flagged du e to a crash and was thus reg arded as th e slowest of the four preliminaries. This allowed Pr ice to nab the pol e position , although Kopp bolted t o the head of the field at the unleash ing . E arly on , Kopp had things goin g his way. He put la rge ground on the fie ld , as Price, Bereman, Stanley and Rag sdal e staged a battle fo r second laurels. Price stalled his motorcycle and, unable to refire his machine, d id not finish; he was credited with 12th. St an l ey w as on a mission . Afte r starting fourth , Stanley clicked off a successive st ring of impressive laps to settle into second , but that would be as fa r as the BBRP/ C i r c l e F backed r ider would g et , as b y th i s point K opp had fla t ou t d isappeared fro m t he co m petition, m ainta in ing a large lead to the fi ni sh . "I got a great st art, " Ko p p sai d) " T ha t [th e st art] w a s t h e k e y t he whole n ig ht . T he track su rf ac e rea sui te d m e. I could see th em [P r i.ce and Sta nley ] battl ing behind m e, and I think that really help ed me to break away , and then just t o keep pull ing away from them ." Kopp sco red a crowd -pleasin g victory in what was a rare local appearance for the Washingtonia n, who soon will be busy defending hi s 600cc Hot Shoe, Super Tracker an d GNC titles. Stan ley nabbed second at th e finish , follow ed by the impressive Be reman and then Ragsdale , who pu lled off th e ride of his life by grasping fourth at the finish, ahead o f seasoned veterans Brown and Oregon 's Rex Fisher, who were fi ft h and sixth . Washington riders f illed ou t th e remainder of the positions in the 12 rider field , as Eric Rickma n , Hia t t, Don W i l son , J e r r y S outhwo rth , L o n n y K opp and Pr i c e co m p le t ed the fie ld. eN lib Puyaiiup Uvestuc:ll Pavilion Puyaiiup, Washington Resuh3: April 14, ZO Ol OPEN FINAL: 1. J oe Kopp ; 2. Dan Stanley ; 3. Randy Berernan : 4. Ky le Ragsdale; 5. Ronnie Brown; 6. Rex Fisher; 7. Eric Rickman; 8. Jeff Hiett: 9. Don Wilson : 10. Jerry Sou th worth; I t. Lonny Kopp ; 12. Eli Price. n e _ S • MAY 9 , 2001 57

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