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/128108
Coolbeth (31 ) was the fi rs t to ove rtake Carr (31) passing him early In the race. Coolbeth would then surrender the lead to Kopp on lap 19. Kopp was steadily setting himself a new agenda . " A ft er , got by Chris I rea lized we ha d a shot at a Corbin one and two : Kopp said. " W h en I was catching Ken ny I was thinking that at least w e wer e go ing to do tha t , maybe he wou ld win and I' d finish seco nd . Then I started c at c hin g him a n d it wa s , ' Hey, let 's reverse this deal, bu t st ill k eep it o ne and two:" O n l ap 19 , the ch am p m ad e hi s m ov e . "It was rea l slick going in low, but I was abl e to slide up and block him, " Kopp sai d . " O n c e I got the lead it was , ' D o n' t slo w d ow n now bud d y , just put it down .' Wi th abo u t three laps t o go , looked back , and I had no idea I had that big a l ead already . I started to ride ca utious , about the last lap . , still had a p retty good lead. It's hard to tell - you want to get cautious when you've got the lead , but yo u don 't w ant to ge t too cautious. It's hard to find that in between . I'm kind of learn in g as I go. " Cool beth d id se cure the Co r b in sweep with his runner -up finish. " I was ma k ing a bunch of m is takes , the track was br eak ing up, and I was getting up into th e dust coming off the t urns , " Co o l b eth sa id . " I couldn 't c alm m yse lf down , I was j ust so excited. I wa s try in g to ti p toe on the t h ro ttle . Whe n J o e got b y , he pu ll ed awa y prett y q uick . I thou ght it w as g o ing t o b e m y firs t N atio na l. That last lap ' was kind of bummed , bu t not reall y . I wo rked my butt off . I don 't know , ma yb e next we ek . " Coziah r Harley -D avid son / Memphis Sh ades' J ohnny Murphree ro de every l ap in f o u r t h pl ac e , m ost of them alone, but his ra ce reall y wasn 't that un ev entful. " I fel t like I didn't even belong on th e t rac k - a ll day long , I j ust f elt un c om fortabl e, " said Murphree. " W e h ad a p r obl em w ith t h e ha lf -m il e b ik e, and' had t o ride t h e miler. It had som e really e rr at i c power a n d couldn 't get it to hoo k up, we were screaming th e heck out of th e thing to ge t it to work . I won m y sc ra tc h heat and did n't fee l good d oin g tha t , fi nished second in m y heat race , felt uncomforta b le doing t hat . , didn 't rea lly feel th at good in the fi nal. "I did wh at I had t o do," Murphr ee added . "I cha rged th roug h on the fi rst l ap and made all my passes in o ne lap . I got from the se c o n d row t o fourth and sta yed there the rest of th e race. T hose guys never caught me, so I gu ess we were go ing fast enough to st ay o ut of tr ou ble." B r y a n B ig el o w ha d h is b es t rid e aboard the Gardner Racin g/ Lancast er Harl e y -D av id so n /Walte rs Bro th er s Harl e y -D a v ids on-ba ck ed H a r l e y . Big elow w as clo si n g on Murphr ee wh en th e checkered flag fle w . " W h e n I ca m e in , I w as m ad because I got fi ft h , th en I wond ered wh y , because we haven 't run an y where near fifth all year , " B igelow said . "I thought we ha d a sh ot at win ning , jus t came up a littl e sh o r t. I needed a front -row start and to be a little fa ster. I don 't think w e were as fast as the leader s, but we were cl ose . I c hased Rich [King] about 20 lap s. He was getting a littl e sideways, but I know h is stuff rea ll y wasn 't working that good . I co u l d n ' t g et b y h im cl ean. and I did n't wan t to stu ff hi m . F ina ll y , he left enough room tha t I c o ul d get by him rea l cl ean. Onc e I got by King, I ca ug ht Murphree, but it Johnny Murphree put In another solid ride , finish ing fourth. Still just lacking In consistency, M urphree is nonetheless a bona fi de fast guy . was too late. It was a tra ck wh ere yo u had to be patien t , and us ually tha t's wh ere I don 't pre vail t oo good." H a r l e y Fa cto r y r i d e r Ri ch K i n g bo u n c ed ar o und fifth and sixth th e whole race , w it h B i gel o w d ropping th e vet eran t o sixth on lap 22 . "I st arted out pretty good - I think' w as th ird or fourth : King said. " I just had a ha rd time getting a hold of th e rac e track. I was just sp inning the tir e and c o ul d n' t g o fo rw a rd. The t rack wa s pol ishing off and I was c hasing around , tr y in g to find m o istu re. Late in th e rac e, the part of the track I w as running on wa s g ett i ng d r i e r and d r i e r. He [ B i gelow j w a s gett ing around good , he c ou ld g o wh ere it was shiny and still hook up. I didn 't have tha t lux ury , I had to be where it w as w et , and that g ot to be too far around . It was a tracti on d eal ton ight, and the gu ys that beat m e were better than I was. , thought I would go faster in the m ain , but I went slower." Fr esh off h is strong Springfi eld sh owing , Nicky Hayden brought th e Co rb i n/ Sa m so n Ha rley hom e sev enth . Hayden charged t o t he fro n t ea rly , but his charge seemed to run out of ste am by lap five, and the partti me dirt tr acker slipped back . "I' m rea ll y disappointed," Hayden said . " A ll night, I never fe lt that great. T he first few laps, we headed t o the fron t , the n , th ink I sta rted t o ove r ri de and tried too hard." Never sa ti sfied , Hay d en t ried to fi gh t his wa y back . " I h a d a f ew mo me n ts in t h e Natio na l , down in turns three an d four, then I tr ied to settl e back down: Hayden said . "I got on the g roove and felt ok ay , b u t I was n ' t go ing a ny where . When I wou ld try and pick up t he pa ce an d b e ag gressive, it j u st d id n 't wo rk . I j ust didn't feel comfortab le on th e b ik e. I k now m y te amm at es ran first an d second , so t hat may be a hard wa y out, bu t I was j ust fighting th e b ik e all n ight. I thi n k I was trying too hard. We just need to get the bike set up better fo r me, a lit tl e bit more comfort able. W e got a littl e bit of a break , sev enth pl ace , the first tim e I've r idden th is b ike on a half-mile. " Misfo rt une con ti n ued to dog W ill Davis at Joplin . After se t ting fas t qual ifying tim e , his Moroney 's Harley-Davidson/Fasthog .com/Gould Erectors ' Harl ey ca me apart in the first heat, and he was forced onto his back-up b ike. Desp ite coming from th e third row , Davis fought his way int o the top 10 , ul timatel y fi ni sh ing eighth . "I just stuc k to the bottom , fo und some mo isture down there i n the semi: Da vis said. " I was ab le to pass t he gu y s in the back , r id in g down the re, but ' wa s go ing slower than the guys up front, and the y split. You 've go t to run into the c om er so hard , you do stuff that heats up your rear tire. I k ne w abo ut halfwa y in , had m y ti re too hot. B y the t ime I was tr ying to pa ss Poovey , I co uldn' t hook up to the g roo ve . Once you reach tha t po int, yo u' re j ust hanging on , searching fo r anythi ng you ca n get a hold of ." USC Rac ing /l stlega l.com 's Terry Poo vey had a solid race with a ninth Hard-luc k award: That one would go to Will Davis (2 1). The pre-season fav orite for the title con tinued to struggle with Irri tati ng misfortune at Jop lin . Davis gathered It together to finish eighth. c u e I c n e _ s • JUNE 13,2001 17