Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

, - - • .. " AMAIPr o g r e s s iv e Insurance U . S . F lat Track Cham"pionships Round 6 : Joplin 66 Speeaway STORY AN D P HOT OS BY D A VE H O EING/F LAT TR AK F OT OS JOPUN, MO, JUNE 2 he AMA's Progressive Insurance U. S . Flat T rack Championship Series came to the Joplin 66 Speed way for the first ti m e, and the high banked half mile had most teams try ing to solve setup problems . When all wa s said and done, th e Corbin Racing/Dave Burks Motorsports/Harl ey Davidson of Missouri backed team of J oe Kopp and Kenny Coolbeth ha d set th e p a c e . D ef ending G r an d National Champ ion a n d current po in ts leader Kopp took the lead on lap 19 and went on unchallenged fo r the win . "Th is one is better than any of my other wins: said Kopp of hi s fou rt h ca reer vict ory . "This one feels legit ." Kenn y Cool b eth had b e en f ast q u al if ier and o p te d to start on t he outsid e , b ut C h r i s Ca rr pu t h is Ha r ley - D av idson of Sa c r a m e n t o / Phoen ix Ra cing Ha rley right on the b ottom . At t h e f lash of the green light, Carr rock eted into turn one first, with Coolbeth, Kopp and Rich King rig ht beh ind him. " S t a rti n g on the bottom was a gift: said Carr. "I saw some guys get good starts off the gro ove , but I saw a lo t of guy s d own low get holeshot s. T 16 JUNE 13.2001 • cu e • Wh en they p ick ed up t here on the ru bber , I thought I had a go od sp ot down on th e bottom. I t ook ad van tage of i t fo r a while any ho w, but those guys were hooked up and th ey were going better than I was ." Cool b eth h ad oth er i deas, and based on his qualifying perform an ce . wa s po i sed to w in h is f ir st G rand Nati ona l. " I w as really fo c u si ng in o n th e sta rt s, because the trac k was really ha rd to pass on: said Coo lb eth. n u "", s Hard t o pass or not , C oo lbe th stormed into the lea d on lap t en, wh en Car r slipped high in turn tw o. " I thought Chris would be back after me, " sa id Coolbeth . " I looked back a couple of times and saw it was J oe [Kopp) ." " I go t a good start, about third off t h e li ne , then it took me about six lap s t o fin d my rh ythm " sai d Kopp . "Th ey [Ch ris and Kenny] were kind of getting away. I could tell Kenny was faste r than Chris right off the get-go. I k new I had t o ge t u p th ere and run with t hem . I w as afrai d Ke nny wa s going to get by and j ust split. " Ko p p went to school on the lead ers as he closed in on them . "I was abl e to watc h a lot of things t hey w er e doing like g etting on the throttle a litt le co m ing out of four and two," he said . Kopp was f ina ll y ab l e to ge t by Carr on lap 15 and set his sights on his t eammat e. "We were run n ing up high: Kopp said . "It looked a little dry up top, but there wa s moisture there . Chris was really g etting sideways, an d K en ny was starting t o buc k arou nd. E very ti me I' d see th em get side ways , I' d force m yself to roll ou t of it. I knew I'd gain on the m if I kept it strai ght where th ey were struggli ng. Th at t aught m e a lot, for the four or five laps I chased th em , t h en I coul d see th a t I wa s catching them . When I caugh t Chris it was like, 'Ok ay, no w wh at do I do?' We were all three up high , and I j ust decided to go low and j ust shorten the comer as much as I co uld. " Carr's ear ly advantage wilted as he fell to Kopp's ch arg e. "After Kenny got by m e, I tried to be more aggressive : Carr said . " A t ti mes it hel ped , and at times it cos t me . I kind of changed m y angle going into t he turns and that let me get through a little smoothe r, and I was able t o stay with hi m for a wh ile. Then the track changed just enough. I ma de a couple of bo bb les , and Joe got up underneath me and got by . I tr ied some different things, and they gapped me . I was ab le to stay pretty even after that, but once they got that gap. I wasn 't able to close back up. "

• Cover