Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIProgressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships Round 1 S: Illinois State FEiirgrounds (Left) Carr (center) celebrates atop the podium as Hacker (IefQ and King (right) look on. The youngster Is Carr's oldest son, Cale. (Above) Carr (out of view) had five pursuers when the f1ve-lap board was shown. surprised us when he went down on the bottom. I'm happy with third. It seems like the top two guys do some whipping there at the end, and it's hard to figure out which one to grab. But everything was great today.' Except for that love tap against the concrete, Lawwill-Dodge/Saddlemen Racing's Kevin Atherton looked like his old self at Springfield today. SiQce returning to racing, the former factory Harley-Davidson and TCR star has was taking it easy. but maybe we tractionized it just a little too much before the main event. It was great for 15 laps, but the last 10 sucked, " BRIEFLY••• Cards and letters of encouragement for the injured Dan Butler can be sent to the follOWing address: Dan Butler, 7677 Vamoco Dr., Waterford, MI 48327. Butler can also be reached at the fol· lowing e·mail address: bailbuster@butler22.com Great as it was, it simply wasn't Nicky Hayden's w_kend at Springfield. After being robbed of the win by a iapped rider at the short track on Friday night. finishing 17th with a broken motorcycle during Saturday's Hall of Fame main event and then blowing up another motor while leading his heat race on Sunday, the best Hayden could muster was a 12th.place finish in the Fed Ex Springfield Mile. 'That's just how it goes," Hayden said. "I got off to a pretty good start and got off with those guys, but we went downhill from there. I kind of hooked wheels with someone early, and that sent me to the back. " After mechanical gremlins ate up his own bikes, .Iason Tyer was forced to lease an XR750 from none other than legendary builder Skip Eaken, who was already enlisting the services of Dan Stanley for the weekend. "We blew up both of our bikes yesterday," Tyer said. "Our friends at the LBRT [Low Buck Racing Teaml helped us to get the money together for this deal. We can'tthank them enough,' Tyer did put the bike to good use, making the main event and finishing 14th after bumping into Johnny Murphree and losing the draft. "That Skip Eaken bike really hauls ass. though" Tyer said. "I want to thank Skip and his crew for letting me ride it.' It's just talk: "You know what7" Rich King said before the start of the action at the Springfield Mile. "I've thought about it, and I really should have protested Springsteen after yesterday's race.' When asked why he thought so. King responded: "Well. after I ran into the back of him, he was weaving all over the place and I couldn't pass him. " Not to be outdone, .lay Springst_n responded to King's comment. "He hit me so hard that I popped a damned wheelie," Springer said. "But I wish that he had hit me a little harder. 'cause it wasn't quite enough to shove me past Carr.' Gardner Racing/Lancaster H·D's Bryan Bigelow was sporting a grin on his face Sunday morning, his Fed Ex Short Track Shootout win still sinking in. "All weekend, I've been riding on the confidence that I gained from Friday night,' Bigelow said prior to the Fed Ex Springfield Mile. "That's what got me up to the front yesterday in that SuperTracker and in the lead draft in the Hall of Fame race, I have the motorcycle to win today, I just have to go out and play my cards right. Once you win one of these things, you know you can do it. and it takes you to a whole different level of confidence. It's just too bad that it had to happen this far into the year." Bigelow dropped off the pace in the middle stages of the main event, finishing 17th after his bike blew up, "This was still a pretty clean weekend for us," Bigelow said, "We won a race. and the SuperTracker championship is looking pretty good. It wasn't all bad." On the flip side, Bigelow's Gardner Racing teammate, Steve Beattie enjoyed his best day of the weekend at Sprimngfield. After failing to make the two previous mains, Beattie not only won his heat race on Sunday, but he drafted With the leaders early, running competitively until falling off the lead draft late in the run and finishing 11th. At least they knew his name today, "Finally," Beattie said. "It felt good to be back out front on one of these big tracks. We just ran into tire dilemmas. I thought I 24 SEPTEMBER 12. 2001 • cue • • been forced to go at it with a volunteer crew, and the team has yet to gel, but Atherton more than took up the slack by leading the first five laps of the main event. When the pack kicked it up a notch at the five-lap sign, Atherton was right with them, but he came up short, running fourth at the checkered flag after whacking the outside wall. "It was just a mistake on my part today, that's part of racing," Atherton said. "We were going good yesterday too, but we broke a shock. It was something internal, and it just turned into a big spring. You can't ride them fast when they're like that. It felt good today, though. The motors ran good, but maybe we should have run a little different gear. That's just part of being with a new crew. I was on the phone with T.e. today, though. I know that I can get back up to speed, but it's just that my timing is off. Uke one time, I got into Springer out there. It was no big deal, but I wouldn't normally do that. But it was fun. I was smiling.· n __ • .I.R. Schnabel was hopeful that he would be able to improve upon his dismal 15th·place Hall of Fame race finish at the Fed Ex Mile, According to his team owner Bill Powell, the reason for that finish was not the rider's fault. "The intake valves started leaking on it. and it knocked out our drive coming off the comer,' Powell said. "We spent all night last night fixing it. You've got to give your rider 150 percent before you can expect 110 percent out of him," Unfortunately, Sunday was worse than Saturday for Schnabel, as he failed to make the main event. Reigning AMA Grand National Champion .Joe Kopp was clearly bummed out over not being able to contest the Springfield tripleheader. FollOWing the Sedalia crash, Kopp has casts on both hands. a hurt left shoulder and a damaged ear drum, making his return to even the season finale Du Quoin Mile a real question mark. "I've missed three days of great racing," Kopp said, "If I could choose just one of them to race, it would be that short track. We're dropping to third [in the standingsl. We saw that coming. We did the rain dance, but it just didn't work.' Kopp said that regardless of whether or not he returns this season, he fully expects to be back with the Corbin/Harley·Davidson of Missouri team for the 2002 campaign. "It's not a done deal, but we've been talking. and everyone seems happy,' Kopp said. Dan Stanley's retum to Springfield was nothing short of impressive, as the Washington rider hopped aboard one Skip Eaken's motorcycles and holeshot the field going into tum one to start the main event. Stanley's run at the front was brief, though, as his bike dropped to one cylinder, forcing him to drop out. "It iooks like we broke a wire on the ignition coil. bad deal,' Stanley said, "We thought it was fixed and we could just cruise around, but then it died again. so here we are. The strides that we made from me just getting back on the bike yesterday to today are incredible. Skip is so easy to work with. and his bikes run awesome, We led the Springfield Mile a couple times today." It may have just been bad luck. but Eaken accepted full responsibility for the failure and offered high praise for Stanley. "That's my job - I'm supposed to tune the wires, too," Eaken said. "I was really impressed with Dan. He really came along, I knew he could race a motorcycle. He's proved that. He just needs someone to work with him. He'll make a great racer for somebocly." "That Guy" Chris Hart did it again on Sunday. quietly slipping into the main' event aboard his Eddie Adkins-tuned Performance Harley·Davidson of Syracuse entry, thus gaining entry to his first Grand National Mile, "That was awesome," said Hart, who finished 15th. "We're still ieaming, but we're starting to pick it up a little bit at a time, Eddie did a lot of work on the motorcycle, and he got it really good for today. I just dropped back too early. It's really hard to get back up there once you lose it. Timing is everything out there. " Nicky Hayden wasn't the only road race refugee taking part in the Springfield Mile, Competition Accessories Ducat;'s Larry Pegram was also on hand to try his luck this weekend aboard a Butch Donahue Harley-Davidson. "You can't miss this," Pegram said. "It's too much fun.' Pegram missed the main event at the short track, but rebounded to finish 12th in the Hall of Fame mile. He then missed the show again on Sunday. Gao Roeder II was on the sidelines at Springfield, as he is nursing the broken left arrr that he suffered in the Sedalia crash. "It's all right." Roeder said. "Just a little bruised. broken and battered. It's nothing that won't heal over time. I'd like to make Du Quoin and Del Mar. We'lI see. The doctor said that I can ride as long as I can stand the pain. "

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