Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Steven Bonsey (5) battled with Bobby Fong (iN) in the aGec Exhibition class. The race ended spectacularly when the two accidentally collided off the last tum, flipping Fong to the ground. Bonsey stayed upright for the win. (Above) The 43-year-old Poovey (center) not only landed his third Pro Singles win of the year, but he also clinched the Fonnula USA National Dirt Track title. Latus Motors Harley-Davidson/Hot Heads' Steve Liberty was the final rider to make the main event, inheriting the lead after Johnny Murphree slid out the Rod Lake Racing/Brown's Cycles Yamaha while running away with the race. Landes lined up on the inside of the front row for the start of the main, with King, Bigelow, Poovey and McCoy stacked toward the wall. Bigelow got the holeshot and tried to get away quickly, but it was all for nothing when Smith crashed in the first turn, causing a red flag. Landes then took control on the restart, he led the first three laps before things started to get hairy. First, King slid under Landes in turn one and tried to stand him up. The move slowed both riders just enough to allow Poovey to shoot into the lead down the back straight. "I knew what I had to do, and I knew that I could ride around the inside faster than anybody, so that worked good for me," Poovey said. Landes was still third when Bigelow came along and did the same thing to him on lap five, hitting the Californian just enough to stand him up, slowing both riders. Like Poovey, King, who was fourth, seized the opportunity to jump up a spot, thus dropping Bigelow to fifth, where he would remain till the end of the race. "That was pretty tight racing," Bigelow said. "It felt like everyone was ganging up on me, but I guess everyone was ganging up on everyone out there. I got the lead on that first start, but then there was a wreck. That was my break to win right there. But then, after that, when you get these chain-reaction deals because people start getting on the brakes in front of you on a twelve-and-a-halfsecond track, it's going to mess your timing up, and that shit [bumping] is gonna happen. I was just shooting to win this thing." Hayden, meanwhile, had come from the second row to run fourth by lap six. In front of him, Landes was trying to pry Poovey off the pole, while King worked the outside line. Then another red flag came out for a downed Steve Murray on lap 11. After the restart, Hayden got under King in turn one and the trio went at each other, with Hayden attempting to get to Poovey from the outside while King tried to hold him back to third from the inside. Hayden finally made the move stick on lap 13. Hayden then continued to attack, and on lap 19, made his move, skidding past the Texan in turn three and attempting to square it off and block the inside line off the corner. Poovey was more than ready for him. "I looked around and saw who it was, and I knew what he was going to try to do," Poovey said. "Tliat dog wouldn't hunt. I've still got a few more laps than he does, and I know what to do in that situation." Poovey nearly put Hayden into the wall en route to victory, but even though he failed to pull it off, Hayden had a smile on his face afterward. "That was fun," Hayden said. "On the last lap, I thought that I had him, but he felt me there and moved up. Terry is so smart on these little short tracks, and he knows to block you. But I'll tell you, when I came here and found out that they were only taking 12 guys to the main event, I was kind of nervous because it would be embarrassing to show up here on a factory bike and not make the main event. But I did better than I thought I would do, and I really loved the track. I love these little short tracks. I wish we had 10 of these. I just want to thank Honda for giving me this opportunity and White Brothers for doing the suspension. I think it was really neat, and it was good for the sport. It was cool." King shadowed them across the "Actually, the on'ly one that I had problems with was Landes. Guys were aggressive because it's a short track, but a couple times Landes just hit me cheap. He smashed one of my fingers, and that really pissed me off. There was a lot of that going-in-Iowand-pushing-guys-off-the-pole stuff. That's short track racing, and 'you have to get in there, but there were a couple guys who were being too aggressive. That stuff only comes back to haunt them. Once me and Terry and Nicky started racing at the end, then it was a lot of fun because we were all trying different lines and the race cleaned up a lot. The best line was to go in on the high side and come across the middle, but if you did that, you were opening yourself up to get slammed. When Nicky and Terry got into one another at the end there, I thought I was going to win one. What's that old saying? If I'd a had one more lap... " Poovey didn't need one more lap, though it wouldn't have mattered to him, especially since he was only hoping for eighth place. Somewhere along the way, however, that plan quickly changed. "When they dropped that flag, I just went for it," Poovey said. "My adrenaline started flowing, and it's still flowing. I'm 43 years old now. That's as old as 'Bugs' [Dick Mann] was when he got number one the second time. I still dig these short tracks. I wish we raced one of them a week." eN line. Landes and Bigelow gave chase, but the real fireworks between those two were yet to begin, as they collided in turn one and a brawl ensued. It was over quickly, and Landes was later found laughing about it in his pit stall. "He's got his day coming," Landes said. "I'm tired of watching him do that to people and nobody does anything to him. To be honest with you, I don't know what the hell ... I mean, I passed him. He passed me early, but it was a lot rougher than when I passed him back later on. Then, after the checkered flag, he just ran it in underneath me and knocked my bars out from underneath me. I'm just tired of that shit. It was definitely uncalled for after the race. During the race, I wouldn't have had a problem, I would have just been pissed, but after the race that is just ridiculous. He's just a punk. But I guess I had people pissed off at me, too. Rich passed me one time out there, and I guess I got frustrated and run it underneath him a little hard, but that's just short track racing. He would have done the same thing to me. I had a great time. I had a blast." Bigelow naturally had his own take on things. "He [Landes] crosses the checkered flag, shuts off the gas and comes right to the inside of the track and then looks over at me," Bigelow said. "I didn't know if we were still in a big pack or not, so all I did was run it in on the gas until we crossed the checkered flag. He shuts off the gas, looks over at me, and I'm like, 'Oh shit.' I just laid it down and slid into him. It's not like we tangled and then I took him down. Then he gets up and tries to be a badass about it. If he wants to play that way, fine. I can play that way. He only made himself look like an ass. If that's the way these California boys want to race, that's fine, but I race to the finish. All in all, it was still a good night for me." King, however, was quick to point a rather battered looking finger at Landes. "That was a slugfest," King said. e U c • e Del Mar Fairvrounds Del Mar, California Results: October 6, 2DDI (Round lD of 111 NATIONAL (20 laps: 12 riders): 1. Terry Poovey (ATK); 2. Nicky Hayden (Hon); 3. Rich King (H-D): 4. Brett Landes (CCM); 5. Bryan Bigelow (ATK); 6. Willi~ McCoy (Yem); 7. Davey Durelle (Suz); B. Bryan Smith (ATK); 9. Kyle Ragsdale (Rtx); 10. Steve Liberty (ATK); II. Randy Bereman (Rtx); 12. Steve Murray (ATK). Time: None, due to red flag. FORMULA USA NATIONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 10 of 11 rounds); 1. Terry Poovey (334/3 wins); 2. Bryan Smith (248/1 win); 3. Willie McCoy (240); 4. Jennirer Snyder (208/1 win); 5. Steve Murray (190); 6. Davey Durelle (174); 7. Rich King (170/1 win); 8. Bretl Landes (168): 9. Dan Stanley (160/1 win); 10. Mike Hacker (150/1 win); II. Steve Liberty (134); 12. Scooter Vernon (114); 13. Tim Eades (74): 14. Kyle Ragsdale (64); 15. Wil1 Davis (46/1 win); 16. (TIE) Paul Normandin (40)/Eli Price (40): 18. Christian Vernon (38); Ig. Nicky Hayden (36): 20. Rex FISher (32). n __ S • OCTOBER 24,2001 33

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