Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128107
AMAIProgres siv e Insuran ce U . S . Fla t Track C h ampionsh ips Round 3 : Illinoi s State Fairg rounds (Left) Carr (4) pl ayed a patient w aiti ng game, not ti pping his hand until the last few laps once the rIVe-rider pack had broken cle ar of the rest of the field. Still a crowd fa vorite , Springsteen ha d his fa ns exci te d as it appear ed he was rig ht where he wa nte d to be on the last la p. "I thought I ha d something for him [Carr] ," lamented Springer. "Ea rly in the race , Chris an d I went back and forth . I had a couple of different lines going into one a nd three, but it just got really cr owded th e last few laps. That last lap I was right on Chris, but 1 just got on it to o ha rd , too soon . It just bu sted loose for a little bit , and he was a ble to inc h a way: Ric h was right on me, and he had to back off a little , but he got by me right at the S pring ste e n (Bartels' Harley -David s o n /C o rb in / PJ 1 ) to take a hard fought win. "I made a m ove to the front on la p 23 and we were able to pull it out at the end , " s a id Ca rr. "T h e last lap , King d u ck ed low down the bac k straight. I ha d let him get a gap, trying to set it up where I'd be th e o nly one to get a draft off him . With h im going low, I had a good angle go ing through the corner. I g uess Spring er c a me with me . He th ought he had me set up, but he lit it up c omi ng off fou r. King h ad to che ck up , a n d I wa s home free . The last two laps went jus t th e wa y I wan ted ." Heartbreak of th e da y went to Will Davis , who had won th e thi rd faste st heat of th e day and sat on the front row for the Gra nd National. Sitting on the line is where it a ll came apart for the t itle contende r. "We had a brake fitting break off the master cylinder, " sa id the Morone y ' s Harl ey -D a vidson / Fasthog.com/Gould erectors-backed Davis. "It got a crack in it and was leaking brake fluid. We saw it lea king, then wh en we t rie d to fix it, it jus t broke right off. There just wasn't any wa y to fix it. It's about a 10-minute job. At lea st it didn 't happen during the race, where you might run it into the turn and hit someone - that's my worst n ightm a re . Somebody mig ht sa y you could run with no bra kes, but not me . No." Through m ost of th e ra c e it wa s typica l Spring field , a 12- to 15 -ride r draft for th e lea d . After Willie McCoy led th e first lap , J oe Kop p, Car r, King a nd Sp rin gsteen to o k turns pi c king up the lap mone y. "I thought I had it, , wa s just c ruising around, but the las t la p didn ' t play the way I wanted ," said King. "I drafted by Carr, and I reall y fig ure d someon e would come with m e and draft m e too. I ended up le ading off turn two , but I didn 't want to . I wa nted to be s e c o n d off t wo a n d ta k e the (Above ) Kevin At herton (2 3) chose to race th e Sp ringfield Mile and made the main event, but fork troubles forc e d a premature end to his day. Atherton finished 15th. (Left) Spr ing ste en was the defending cha m pion of this partic ular event, having claimed a huge w in at Springfield a year ago. This time, he finished third, proving th at he's still got it. lead into three a nd le a d off fou r. It didn 't happen, I went dow n th e ba c k stra ight ins id e the groove , I figured one wou ld get me , b ut I didn't want tw o to g o by . Wh en Ca rr came by me , h e came d own , wh ich was t h e line , but I had to get out of it for just a second to set him up . J a y blasted it into three and got in fron t of m e too and that took me by surprise. Then he got rea l s ideways comi ng off four, then it was all fo r no th in g . I ha d nowhere to go. That pre tty well han d e d it to Chr is. Th at' s the m ile. It all com es down to the last lap , last turn , that' s where all th e moves a re made. I ha ve ha lf my tir e left. I didn 't start push ing unt il five laps we re left.. Everyth ing went by p lan , we just c a me up s ho rt. It wa s a fun c lean race." 36 JUNE 6. 200 1 • cue • e neVU's finish line." Defending Grand National Champion Joe Kopp had a different set of problems . '" fe lt real good," said the Corbin Ra cin g /Dav e Bu r k s Moto rsp orts / Harl e y -Davids on of Missouri-backed Champion . "I got to th e front a few times, by pu s hing hard . I was rea lly wa iting fo r t he five - [Iaps ]-to-go board. Thi s is o ne of the few race s where I look for that. It wa s n 't re a l hard to get to the front, but once I got there , it was real hard to keep it . I d idn 't figure there was any reason to c oo k m y t ire , I'd just wait around for the finish." Kopp a ppeared to be able to go to the front whenever he chose. "To wa rd the end I was t h ink ing , 'Jeez, these guys are pus hing it pretty hard with a lot of race left.' We hadn't e v en se e n th e five-to-go b oard . I cam e ou t of turn four a nd th ere was the wh ite flag , I g uess I m us t h a ve been d ra fting somebody on the outs ide when the boar d c a me out, and I d idn 't see it. I had a cla p to do so me m ag ic , and it didn 't happen . I tried to ru n it in really ha rd on Springer. I thoug ht maybe I cou ld hold it on a Iit-