Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Jay Springsteen (91 held on tight and bounced through the holes and ruts to a solid runner-up finish. Springsteen said the race felt like a 50-lapper. Kevin Atherton (231 finished fifth. its fluid, and I was left to just cruise around." Carr cruised to a 15th-place finish, four laps down. KK/Las Vegas H-D/Schaeffer's H-D's Geo Roeder, Atherton, Hacker and Varnes were the top five at the end of the first lap, but Hacker blasted his way into the lead the next time around. Atherton took the point for one lap before Hacker took over for good. Hacker then just ran off and hid. "The track was deceiving. I peeked a couple of times coming off turn two," said Hacker. "I thought they were right on me, but they said I was seven seconds ahead." Atherton held second until Springsteen worked his way by on lap nine. "Me and Roeder went at it for a while, then somebody else for a little while," said Springsteen. "Then, Kevin [Atherton]. Once I got by him, I was by myself pretty much the rest of the race." The soft "horse track" was quite a challenge. "The fastest part of the track was the roughest, going into three and just past the start/finish line and going into one," said Springsteen. "You could come off the corner, tuck in and go one-handed, but halfway down the straight, you'd have to reach back up and grab the handlebar. It was a tough race. I thought it was a 50-mile race. It took forever for the halfway flags to come out. I thought 1 might have missed them. Then, after that, it went fast." All the while, Kenny Coolbeth was working his way forward. Coolbeth's day had turned sour during qualifying. Just one tum short of setting fast time, his Harley broke, and although he still finished second to Spring- went to work. 1 think I was like ninth going into the first corner. It was kind of hard to pass. Vision was the real problem. With the sun going down, it was hard to see the holes going into tum one. I didn't know where everything was, and then I ran out of tearoffs. " By the halfway mark, Hacker was pulling away, but the race for second was still tight, with Springsteen, Atherton, Coziahr H-D/Country Motors' Johnny Murphree and Coolbeth contending for the spot. A couple of laps later, Springsteen slipped away and Coolbeth ripped into third. Cool beth closed on Springsteen and it appeared as though he was going to make a run at second. "I tried to follow him [Springsteen] one time actually," said Cool beth. "He was going into turn three way harder than I was. 1 went in there one time and 1 told myself I wasn't going to let off until he did. I just couldn't hold it down like he could. I ran off the groove and just played it cool after that. There were like five laps to go or so." Springsteen said he didn't think there was anyway he could catch Hacker before the finish. "I just tried to keep my pace going," said Springsteen. "I had to keep talking to myself out there. The way the track was, when you went into the corner, you had to hurry and steen, he was forced to his back-up bike and a day of coming from behind. "It worked out pretty good," said Coolbeth. "Both bikes were pretty fresh, so it didn't make that much difference. 1 think, 1 was just kind of mad. I just put my head down and Kenny Coolbeth, now the lone Corbin Racing rider, finished third aboard his back-up machine cue' • n e _ S • APRIL 24, 2002 31