Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

----~ ><,. ..... -'I _ .. _-. ~_~c" AMAlProgressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships ._ j , Round 8: Superior SpeedWay ~track Murphree bolted to third place, displacing Roeder from that position, while Beattie went from ninth to eighth. Either way, the Canadian National Champion was happy with another top 10 when all was said and done. "It's a lot easier to start at the front and work your way back," Beattie said. "I learned some things at Hagerstown, and I haven't been paying attention to my starts lately, but I did all night. On those restarts, I kept gaining a position. It's easier to gain a position on the restart than it is when you're up to speed. Eighth is good, but a top-five was my goal. I know I can achieve that next weekend [in Lima]." Beattie's teammate, Bigelow, came out of the midpack tumbler to finish one spot ahead of him, in seventh. "Seventh is not where I wanted to be." Bigelow said. "I feel like I'm one of the best half-mjlers out here, but I just flat-ass screwed up today. There's no excuse. I just could not get rollin'. Last weekend I rode easy and got third and won the SuperTracker race. Tonight, I rode 10 times harder and got fourth on the SuperTracker and seventh on this. We'll just keep on plugging away. Tl:le same guys are beating me week in and week out, and that's getting a little old." Others started a backward slide Schnabel had been eighth, but suddenly found hjmself 12th. Before the race was over, the Houston Half Mile winner would find himself down in 13th. Kopp continued to chase Carr and was moving in for the kill when the lights suddenly went out on the front straightaway, causing another red flag, on lap 12. By this time, Davis was still stuck way down in 16th, and King in 15th, with a struggling Saddlemen Racing/Lancaster Harleybacked Mike Hacker just ahead of them in 14th, while Shaun Russell fought to keep his Bartels' H-D/XIR entry in the 13th spot. Though Hack· er would ultimately make his way to 12th via a late-race pass on Schnabel, it was not the kind of result he had wanted. "So, I guess this is a slump," Hacker said. "I just can't seem to get my stuff together, and by the time I do it's too late. Maybe Will Davis and I can get a support group together and talk about it. The bikes are fine. Everything's fine. I just can't seem to get a rhythm. One minute I'm fast, the next I'm not. I just wasn't riding the motorcycle like I'm supposed to until the last five laps, but you ·can't race like that. You've got to race all 25 laps." Russell, meanwhile, posted another solid main-event appearance, albeit 17th place, as he continues to 16 JULY 4, 2001 • cue I • work his way back into shape from his crash at last year's Formula USA Indy Mile. Kopp really put the pressure on Carr after the third start, and he finally showed his hand on lap 15. He dived under Carr in turns one and two, and then engaged him in a duel down the back straightaway before completing the pass with another low move off turn four. "When I went by him in turns three and four, then he started dropping low," Kopp said, "in the back of my mind I just kept trying to figure out where he was going to try and go. But it was a sweet pass that I put on him. That was fun." Now it was Carr's turn to be the pursuer. He wasn't surprised to be. "The first two starts, I was able to establish a pretty good rhythm and cut some good laps," Carr said. "On the third start, I rode a little more defensive and couldn't get that rhythm going again. He was able to dog me and put a good pass on me. Then it was just a matter of figuring out how to get back by him. On the last lap, I just melted off in there and turned on a dime and got a great drive. And he made a mistake. The combination of the two got the win for us." Coolbeth and Murphree mirrored the lead battle, with the two side by side on lap 19. Coolbeth finally tried Murphree low in turn three, and had control of the third spot for good when the starter ga.ve the five-lap sign. "I'm happy," Coolbeth said. "As soon as , got around Roeder, I was able to take off. He was screwing me up in the mjddle of the corner, but hey, that's racing. You just gotta get n e _ s around 'em. I started catching the leaders, but I just ran out of time. I don't think that I could have done that much with them anyway. I just kept trying to find the moisture. The bike was awesome, and I could just focus on my lines pretty much. Hey, I'm pumped." Murphree had no answer for Coolbeth, and eventually trailed him to the line in fourth. "Kenny [Coolbeth] outsmarted me there," Murphree said. "He followed me through one and two, and then dropped low through three and four. When my line dried out, he got me in three and four, and I went down.there and realized that it was faster. But by then I was used to going in real hard, and I kept overshooting the corner. I think that's been the story of my season: too anxious and too throttle-happy. We're working on mellowing out." But the best race was the one for the lead, as Kopp and Carr were pouring it on when the white flag came out. Kopp clung tight to a low line in turn one and then moved up the racetrack off turn two, thwarting Carr's attempt to retake the lead with an outside pass down the back straight. Then came turns three and four, and that instant where it all came good for Carr and went wrong for Kopp. On the other end of the spectrum were riders like Davis and Nicky Hayden, who were both Visibly upset with their performances - Davis finishing 14th and Hayden 15th. "When the lights went out, everybody sa id it freaked them out, but it didn't surprise me one bit because that's about the only thing that hasn't happened to me yet," Davis said. "I The SuiperTrapp SuperTracker race went to Greg Teague (581. shown here starting with Willie McCoy (591• .Joe Kopp (1). Mike Hacker (67) and Gary Rogers (531. mean, I've had bad luck before, but God almighty ... I don't know, man. It's the wildest stuff, and it's something different every race. That shock that broke in the heat race was two races old. Mike Wheeler works harder than anyone in the world, and there is nothing that anyone would change on any of our motorcycles - and then the shock just broke. As far as the main event goes, I've just never been one to come through the traffic when everyone is on the same line. I just can't do that. I don't want to take anyone out." Hayden felt the same for different reasons. "I sucked, pretty much," the factory Honda road-race star said. "I don't know if it's me or the bike, but I just feel like a squirrel on these bikes. I'm riding like a girl, and I'm pretty frustrated. It's hard to stop in here on an off weekend and beat these guys who are doing it every weekend. I'm pretty bummed out right now. I'm here to come and have fun, but it's no fun when you're way back in the pack." About the only rider who was able to take the night in stride was none other than the legend himself, Springsteen, whose 11 th-place run just about split the field in half. While he would have liked to be more competitive at Superior, Springer said that 11 th wasn't so bad. "' felt like I was fighting for the lead out there, but I was just trying to

• Cover