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Formula USA National Dirt Track Series Round 4: Rochester Fairgrounds STORY AND PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS ROCHESTER, NH,JONE 14 T he schedule said half-mile, but the track said motocross. There were ruts and bumps and holes and jumps and enough spray to paint the QE2 and blind all the passengers. Success on this surface would require a different skill set than that of your average dirt tracker. Enter J.R. Schnabel. The strapping Wisconsinite put all of his motocross training to use in muscling his Team WE/West Bend H-D/ Fieldsheer Leathers' CCM to victory on the Rochester Fairgrounds HalfMile, officially titled the 10th Annual Ben Campanale Laconia 1/2 Mile, round four of the Formula USA National Dirt Track Series presented by Drag Specialties. As the track got worse, he got faster, and a crucial gearing change he made before the main paid olf. "You had to hang on the whole way tonight," Schnabel said after his dominant win. "It was a little rough." The roughness was a result of the weather, which also caused a change in the program. Under the threat of impending showers, FUSA officials accelerated the program, starting half an hour early, cutting out the lastchance qualifier, and shortening the main event from 25 to 18 laps. As it was, the leaders were well into lapped traffic by the end of the race. Schnabel's weapon of choice was his CCM, over the Honda he rode last week at Plymouth. It would cost him $4000 in contingency money, but he knew that he couldn't have won the race on the Honda. "This is only my second National win," he said. "I've been doing it for six years now. They're few and far between." Schnabel took the lead from Harley-Davidson's Rich King, the fast qualifier and fast heat winner, on the fourth of 18 laps and held on, literally, as King came back at him. But there were problems with King's H-D and he began to slow as early as the second or third lap, fmally pulling off on the eighth with a suspected burnt piston. King's exit turned the race into a single-file affair, with defending FUSA Dirt Track Champion Terry Poovey fighting Visibility problems to take second on the 1stLegal.com/ Hap Jones ATK. "I couldn't see a thing out there,' said Poovey, who maintained the championship lead. 36 JULY 3, 2002' cue • • After four of 12 rounds, Poovey has 142 points, 18 more than Schnabel and KTM's Joe Kopp, who was fourth today with arm-pump problems. Kopp's KTM teammate Kenny Coolbeth got off to a bad start, then fought his way up to third after pass- (Top) Wisconsin's J.R. Schnabel became the first rieler In 17 yean to win in a motorcycle serles that combines both dirt track and road racing when he won the Fonnula USA Ben Campanale Laconia Half Mile at the Aochener Fairgrounds. Schnabel won the main event pulling away. (Right) Kenny Coolbeth (31) finished third In the main event aboard his factory-backed, production-framed KTM. n eVIl'. ing Kopp late in the race. By then, Poovey was too far gone for Coolbeth to threaten him. Behind Kopp came the first of the local riders, Aaron Creamer of Leominster, Massachusetts. He'd been in with Cory Mcdermitt and Roger Durkee, another Mass- achusetts rider, finishing in front of the pair. This being the first of the Grand National Championship events, it drew a few road racers. Suzuki's Larry Pegram was eighth, after a strong semi win, with Synergy Honda's Cory West ninth. His teammate Matt Wait was 13th. The trio had practiced at New Hampshire International Speedway during the day before making their way to the fairgrounds in the evening. FUSA dirt track manager Mike Kidd had one eye on the weather radar and another on the track. Knowing what might be coming, Kidd hurried up the program, starting the three six-lap heats at 7 p.m., half an hour early. If Kidd was in a hurry, so was HD's King. He'd qualified fastest, with a time of 26.958 seconds, the only rider in the 26s, and off the start of the first heat he was gone. The track was already rough, which made for single-file racing and riders covered in mud. "The track's getting chewed up," King said of the pea-gravel half-mile. "They're doing the best they can with the weather situation. With the weather situation, there's not much time to work on the track between races.' Creamer and his A TK were second, with Youngstown H-D's Brian Vincent third on his Honda. The second heat was the best of the three, and the only one with a lead change. KTM's Kopp got the