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Formula USAlSFX National Dirt Track Series Round 1 1 : Del Mar Fairgrounds Rogers confirmed Bigelow's suspicions, and admitted to being disappointed with his ninth-place finish, behind McCoy. "I should have done better than that on that restart," Rogers said. "Coming off the line, I missed a shift, and you can't do anything from last. I got a few guys, but nowhere near where I was at. That bike of Willie's [McCoy] was the fastest 600 I've ever seen. Normally, the 600s are just struggling to stay in the draft, but I was struggling just to draft him. Those guys should be damned proud of that thing. It's really strong." After running up front early, McCoy had hoped for a podium finish aboard the "Yellow Banana," his rocket-fast Karl Klement-owned Rotax single. It wasn't to be. "Yeah, it was fast," McCoy said of his motorcycle. "Phil Darcy builds a great engine. In the first lO laps it was doing good, so I thought I might have something for them after the restart, but the track started slicking off. I'm just glad that everybody had a good, safe race, and I hope that we put on a good show." Part-timer Paul Bergstrom made the most of his day at Del Mar, bringing his Loral Lake Racing HarleyDavidson home lOth after crashing earlier in the day and then being forced to transfer through a semi. The former Grand National and 883 competitor from Northern California took it all in stride. "We had to come the hard way, falling off in the heat and third row in the semi," Bergtstrom said. "Tenth on a track like this? No complaints. It was pretty rough out there, but better than in years past. Motocrossing really helps you out on track like this, and that's what I was doing, just riding the berms at 120 mph. Now, I'm just going to go back to doing my !Below) Nicky Hayden put In another solid ride on his factory Honda CRF450, backing up his short·track runner-up finish with a fifth-place finish on the mile. 30 OCTOBER 24. 2001 • G U G thing, working on my house, spending time with my wife and my family... It's called 'the off season.'" PRO SINGLES What many had anticipated would be a shootout between Harley-Davidson-mounted Rich King and Suzukimounted Davey Durelle in the lO-lap Pro Singles main event turned out to be a Durelle vs. Steve Murray battle instead. King figured into things early in the race, running with Durelle and Murray in a three-rider pack that quickly moved away from fourth-placed Willie McCoy, who was Yamaha-mounted. That changed just three laps into the race, when King's factory HarleyDavidson 500R "blasted" a load of smoke out the exhaust pipe. King dropped out of the race, leaving Murray and Durelle to settle the score. The two continued on, drafting back and forth, with Murray in control more than a couple of times down the back straightaway, only to relinquish the lead to Durelle in turns three and four and up the front chute. McCoy •• n __ s had dropped about seven lengths off the pace by lap eight, and was assured of a third-place finish, barring any mechanical failures. He had none. Murray chose to follow Durelle on the last lap, setting the former AMA Grand National veteran up for the draft pass at the line. The trouble was, Murray never swung out to make it. "I didn't want to screw up and pull out early like I did at Sacramento," Murray said. "I got around Rich [King], and then he dropped out. I made a few mistakes and dropped behind Davey [Durelle] a bit. I just didn't really have what it took to pass him down the straightaway. I'm still happy, though. I got on the podium at Del Mar and wound up fourth in the points." It was just Durelle's day, as he landed his first Formula USA Pro Singles win of the season aboard what was effectively an untested combination. "Our Suzuki was way fast today," Durelle said. "I'm really impressed with this motor combination, which we put together for this event. It's a restricted 450, and it is way better than the 400. It kicks me in the butt that we didn't try this earlier in the year. We thought that it would be slower, but it's way faster." Durelle said that he had his strategy all planned out, regardless of who was with him at the finish. "I wasn't going to let Rich outfox me again," Durelle said. "He did that to me in the heat race. I just don't ride enough of these miles to remember all the tricks. It takes a few times racing with these guys to go, 'Oh yeah, I remember that one.' But I'm 38 now. I'm not too serious about it. If I can come to a few of these races and have a good time, that's all I want to do. It was just kind of a goal to get the Suzuki going well, and I want to thank Suzuki and Wildcat Motorsports for being involved with it." Finishing a creditable fifth, behind McCoy and TLC Racing/F&S Racing's Bryan Smith, was none other than Nicky Hayden, who once again put in a solid showing on his factorybacked, White Brothers-modified Honda CR450F - a machine that was basically a stock motocross bike with dirt track wheels and lowered suspension. "It was a little loose, but it was really fast," Hayden said. "I'm really surprised how good it was, considering that the track brushed off. If it had broke up like it normally did, then I think we could have done better, but it was slick, and that got us all sideways. But I can't believe how fast that bike is for just a basically stock bike. I didn't get with Durelle, but anybody else I got with, I had motor on 'em." 1:11 Del Mer Fairgnunds Del Mar, Califemia Results: lIctDber 7, ZOOl [Round 11 IIf 11) PRO SINGLES I'\ILE NATIONAL (10 laps; 18 riders): 1. Oeve Durelle (Suz); 2. Steve Murray (ATK); 3. Willie I'\cCoy (Yam); 4. Bryan Smith (ATK); 5. Nicky Hayden (Hon); 6. Brett Landes (CCI'l); 7. Eli Price (Rtx); 8. Nate Wait (Rtx); 9. Tony Souza Jr. (CCI'l); 10. Beau Brown (Rtx); 11. Steve Uberty (ATK); 12. Kyle Ragsdale (Rtx); 13. Scocter Vernon (ATK): 14. Jaime Aguilar (Rtx); 15. Kevin Bricker (Rtx); 16.l'Iork Gruber (VOR); 17. Rich King (H-D); 18. Terry Poovey (Rtx). SUPER SINGLES & TWINS I'\ILE NATIONAL (20 lap.; 18 ride..); I. Rich King (H-D); 2. Kenny Coolbeth (H-D); 3. Chris Carr (H-D); 4. Kevin Atherton (H-D); 5. Bryan Bigelow (H-D); 6. Shaun Russell (H-D); 7. Nicky Hayden (H-D); 8. Willie I'\cCoy (ATK); 9. Gary Roge.. (H-D); 10. Paul Bergstrom (H-D); 11. Brett Landes (CCI'\); 12. Terry Poovey (Rtx); 13. Steve Liberty (H-D); 14. Yuhiko Hirao (Suz); 15. Roger Lee Hayden (H-D); 16. Jaime Aguilar (H·D); 17. Jay Springsteen (H·D); 18. I'Iork Co",elli (W·R). FORI'\ULA USA NATIONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (Alter 11 01 11 round.): 1. Terry Poovey (336/3 wins); 2. Bryan Smith (278); 3. Willie I'\cCoy (272); 4. Steve Murray (228): 5. Dave Durelle (216/1); 6. Jennifer Snyder (208/1); 7. Brett Landes (194); 8. Rich King (176/1); 9. Dan Stanley (160/1); 10. (TIE) Mike Hacker (150/1)/Ste.e Liberty (150): 12. Scooter Vernon (126); 13. Kyle Ragsdale (78); 14. Tim Eades (74); 15. (TIE) Eli Price (64)/Nicky Hayden (64); 17. Will Davi. (46/1); 18. (TIE) Paul Nomnandin (38)/Nate Wa~ (38); 19. Beau A. Brown (36); 20. (TIE) Jaime Aguilar (32)IBryan Bigelow (32)/Rex Fisher (32)/Tony Souza Jr. (32).