Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

to . Nick pas sed m e there toward the end , and I was struggli ng a little. A s th e track was drying up , I was wan ti ng those lap s t o go dow n . The lap pers were pre tty good . Most of them got o ut of the way prett y q uick." Ni cky Ha yd en ad mit t e d that Tommy really put him t o the test. "T hat was a go od race," he said . "I was able to get around h im [T om my] a coup le of tim es, but he was ab le to pass m e ba ck . He passed me pretty agg ress ive on e time, but it wa s a fun rac e. I w anted to wi n , he w anted to win , we were both pushing real hard. I was ac tua ll y riding ov er my head a few t imes , trying to stay wi th h im early , th en he started getting away in th e m iddle of the race . When tu rns three and four started drying out , I moved up in th e cushion and started reeling him back in. I passed him on e time on the brak es, bu t co uld n't hold it. His bi k e had so me advantages , m ine had some ad vantages ." Carr said that he simply survived the ra ce. "T h is was a d iffi cult track for us , I th ink for eve rybod y ," Carr said. " Flat trackers are made to keep momen tum going, and th is track was pretty st op and go. These b ik es aren't made to run like that , so I'd sa y we d id pre tty g ood . Know ing the po ints leader [Kopp] w a s sta rting o n t h e third row, it wa s better t o ri de a c onservative ra ce ." Ri ch K in g wa s able t o keep h i s factory -b acked Harley o ut of trouble, and after sh ak ing off Sha wn Cla r k , K in g was ab le to ride to an uneventful fourth. Fifth place w ent to defending Grand Nationa l Champion J oe Kopp . Th e Corbin Racing / Dave Bur ks Mot orsports/H arley -Davids on o f Misso uri - b acke d r ide r wa s fo rce d to overcom e a third -r ow start aft er fi n ishing fo urt h in hi s heat , befo re w in ning hi s semi. " T he f irst l ap , I w as fiftee n t h , I gu ess ," K opp said . "We j ust slowly work ed ou r way up. "I sat in 10th for qu ite a while, but there was a bunch of r iders r ight in front of me . The right -hander after the jump was so critic a l, it was so slow there it was rea l easy to lo o se you r front end o r st all there. That's whe re Will los t his fr o nt end wit h a few laps left. The way t h ings were g o ing, I'm rea l ha p p y wi th a fift h. " Moroney's H arl e y -D a v id son / F asth o g .c om/G ou ld E recto r s' D av is cu e I ... (Above) Will Davis (21 ) grabbed the holeshot, leading the lS-rider pa ck into to tum one. (Below leftl The Haydens quickly pu lled away tram the rest of the field. Before the main event was over, they would la p up to e ighth place. hel d sixt h most of the rac e, but he stalled in the righ t -h ander lat e in the race . He rest arted bu t finish ed o ne lap down in eig hth plac e. J .R. Schn abel wo rked hi s int o six t h o n his Powell Rac ing /Wes t Be n d Har ley -D avid son backed Rotax . "They said Kopp was fifth and I was sixth ," Schnabel said . " I' m going with that. We got spread out. I stuck behi nd a coup le of guys. I was fa st in' the tight stuff , but in the sweeper I shou ld have moved u p sooner , but there were a couple of guys beh ind me and I had to protect the bot t om. Later in the race, I did m o ve up , and it really wo rked for me. Maybe if I'd tried it earlier, I might have m oved up a little m o re. I don't k now how th os e Haydens were going so fast. T om m y had a different bi k e fr om the rest of us, but Ni cky w as rid in g a Rotax , like everybody else. They just sm oked us. They a lm os t put a l ap on m e . We were s ixth a nd t h ey we re c o m in g around to get me." N ick y' s t e a m m a te and the yo ungest Hayden brother , Rog er Lee, made the fi rst Grand Nat iona l of his c areer, finishing seventh in the main eve nt. "It feels good ," Roger Lee Ha yd en said . " T h e bike fe lt good all d ay . I reall y have to thank Marli n and Roy Ha rt. T h ey 'v e been worki ng o n my st uff for abo ut t wo months , ge ttin g ready f or th is race. E ve ryth in g ju st n e _ S • JUNE 6 ,200 1 33

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