Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Kopp dropped to fourth , worked his way around Davis and set out after Roeder. "I didn't get that bad of a start, but Will and Roeder got out in front of me," Kopp said . "Chris was just flat out fast . I didn 't have anyth ing for him. In practice he was tu rning abo ut a sec ond and a half qu icker lap times until the last session, and we got it down to a half second. It was just going to be one of those deals - hope to get out fro nt, hold him up and get my own line going. He got the holeshot and pulled away right a way . I made it a point that I had to get second . After running with Will for a few laps , I knew I could get by , but I knew George was going to be really tou gh. Lap after lap we were swapp ing spots ," The Roeder -Kopp war raged on until late in the race. " Finally I got by him , but I still couldn 't settle down," Kopp said . "I knew he was coming back. The last few la ps he started going low and was mak in g up some time on me. I could see he was gett ing a pretty good bite down there, but I was having a harder time getting down there. One lap I'd h it it, the next lap I wouldn't," Roeder then hu nted for a new li ne in an effort to get second place back. "Joe c a ug h t m e , and I started p ush ing hard er a gain an d m ak ing m istakes ag a i n , " Ro e d e r sa i d . "I seemed to get going whe n I dropped down to the bottom. I st arted p icking Joe up , but it was too little, too late. I ha d a good shot on the fi rst lap, but a couple of guys got t o g eth er, and I (Below) Kopp battled with Roeder for much of the race be fore taking over the second spo t and thus m inim iz ing Carr's po ints advantage. He n ow trails Carr by Just three po ints. (Be low ri ght) Roeder, sh ow n h ere fighting the front e nd, admitted t hat, had he dropped low on the track early In the main event, he could have caugh t Kopp. The Oh io cushion master was disappointed with th ird. I r I I I , had to back off or I think I would have got a good run off two . Too many m istakes. I was trying to catch Carr , and I just should have run m y race. Third , it's all right, but it k inda sucks." Fourth fell to HarleyDavidson's Rich King . The Iowa rider had to work his wa y to the front from the second row . "I got a pretty good jump off the second row ," King said . "Th ere were so ma ny different lines there to start with, everyone was j ust all over. I finally found a li ne that I felt comfort able on , and I started working that line pretty hard. I caught up to Will pretty quick, and he was the pace. My line wasn 't the best line. I was going backwards to start with . I kind of fl attened out, then started going forward . The factory Harley-Davidson was working really good at the end of the race. I st arted making up a lot of gro und the last five or 10 laps, running a completely different line , so it took a co uple of laps to get by him [Da vi s]. Once I got by Will, I caught Chris Evans prett y quick and raced with him abo ut a lap before I got by ," Fifth went to the fl y ing Canad ian , Chris Evans. Fo llowing a violent getoff three weeks ago in Dayton, it was day to day as to whether Evan s would even be able to ride . " I broke fo ur ribs and m y nose - it makes it pretty h a rd to get my breath ," Evans had sai d after his heat race win . In the ma in event, Evans said that he couldn 't do what he wanted to toward the end of the race. "The bik e was starting to take m e instead of m y putting the bike where I wanted : I started going all over the place ," said the American Harley - Davidson/KK Supply -b ac k ed Ev ans . "I wanted second out of the dea l, and I started closing on them, then I started m ak in g mistakes. King snuck by me with a lap to go , the dirty bugger. Oh well, what are you going to do? " Undoubted ly the most disappointed pe rson in Lima was Will Dav is . After setting fast time in his heat and getting a b rief ho leshot in the main, the snake-bit Dav is sli p pe d to a sixth pla ce finish. "W e go t a good start an d C h r i s [Carr ] went up to th e top and I went the re with him,' Dav is said . "T he sec ond lap, I was t r ying to find fourth gear, I was thinking 'Th ere' s no way I'm in fourth g ear , not t he way th is th ing is screaming.' It felt li k e it was in t h i r d . It was wo und out at t h e st art/fi nish line. With the lu ck we 've had , I think we' re trying too hard, try in g to come up w it h an idea that' s go ing to be perfect. Rather than per fect, we ' ve got to keep p lugg i ng away . We did good all night an d th en bit ourselves during th e ma in." Bartel's Ha r ley -D a v i d son /C o rb in Racing/PJ l 's Jay Springsteen and Ithaca Motorcycle Works /Cayuga (Above) Davis (21), Kopp (1) and Geo Roeder II (6 6) ba ttled f or the se cond spot e arly. Da vls would slip back to sizth be fore the race was over. Tool [, D i e' s Sh awn Clark en d ed a rac e-l ong battle, with Clark in a solid seventh place. In the rel atively sho rt p eri o d of time Clark h as been on 750 s he is ada pting quickly on th e cus hi on half-m iles. A short di stance back, M ike Hac k er ( S a d dlem en/La n c a st er Harl ey D av ids on /Dodge Brothers ) , Steve Beattie ( Ga rdn er Ra cing /W alters Brothers Harley -Davidson) and Willie Mc Coy (KK Supp ly / F f- S Harley David son ) were grouped in a fight over n inth . That i s t h e way they would finish . Th e heat and semi action provided some of the best raci ng of the night. Even wh en the leader p ulled away , there was always tight racing somewhere on the trac k . Dav is was the easy winn er o f th e first and fast est heat. J o e Ko pp ran away with th e second heat, but veterans Rich Ki ng and Jay Springsteen entertained the

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