Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128165
AMA Grand National Championship Series Round 8: Thunder Ridge Raceway Team Harley-Davidson's Rich King (80) limped aboard his factory XR and pulled off a sixth-place finish despite stili feeling the effects of his Lima, Ohio, crash. "Oh man a long day, it was so damned hot. I just told Dominic [Beaulac], 'I'm glad you fell, otherwise I'd have been fourth instead of second.' Now he's wanting some parts. I think I've got some used ones for him." Bigelow was almost bewildered by his podium finish. "Unbelievable'" he said. "When the red flag came out, I was hoping they would call the race. I was real happy with where we were at - fifth. Fifth from the third row, I was pumped. It was almost as good as a win tonight. From where I started the day, to get third, I just keep surprising myself. "It was one of those deals. Springer was holding me back a little bit. He was protecting his line, which is the smart thing to do. So Roeder was up high, and I can only go as fast as I can. For me to go on the cushion is stupid, because there is no way I can ride on the cushion Uke that. I could only go as fast as Jay, so I was figuring fourth. Then George messed up and we were able to get by, and I pinched him off coming off four. "That was unbelievable," Bigelow added. "I will give him [Roeder] credit. That was unbelievable. Nobody can ride the cushion like he can. He was just railing up there. I got into third and thought, 'Alright this is good.' Then I heard someone buzzing around up top and it was George - no 34 JULv31, 2002' cue •• surprise. I didn't know what to think, I don't think anybody did." Johnny Murphree was the only rider to maintain the position he was running when the red came out. "I was in sixth at the red flag, but moved up to fifth after Jake had his misfortune," Murphree said. "Then Roeder bonzaied around us on the outside, which was heroic, and we ended up back where we started, in sixth. I thought I'd pick up a couple of positions on the restart. I lined up behind Bigs, and I thought for sure I was going to get around him. I almost got around him going into one right off the start. If I could have got around him, I know those guys were making mistakes right and left, I think I could have kept picking them off. "I was just struggling all night," Murphree said. "To come out of here with a sixth, we're just dancing, we're happy over here. To get sixth after what was going on earlier. I was really struggling, it seems the last few weeks we've been doing that, struggling early on, then when it's time to race we do our job, but not quite good enough. That number-one guy [Carr] keeps stretching it out. The track got a nice little groove, but there wasn't a lot of traction in the middle of the comers." J.R. Schnabel chased King home in eighth place. n • _ s "I was seventh at the red flag, but then Jake didn't restart so I was sixth," Schnabel said. "I ended up getting beat by two guys going into the first turn, but I just have so much trouble getting off the line, it's one of my weak areas that I have to work on. The bike was working so good. On the restart, we were hoping to get up in the top five. I thought we had a good shot at it, but then we end up eighth. A couple of times, I got a good run on King after he got by me on the restart. I thought I had something for him, but I just couldn't stuff it in there. It got a little bit one line at the end and I couldn't make a clean pass. "I just really appreciate Johnny and Sarah [Goad] letting me ride their bike. One of these times, we're going to get into the top five," Schnabel said. "Johnny was watching the track, and he made the right calls. The bike worked perfect. I'd make a mistake and then reel them back in, then make a mistake again - it was kind of an accordion effect. If I just could have my good laps, I'd have been there. The lines I was taking just weren't perfect, and I was struggling in the middle of the turns. You'd be hooking up real good going into the corners, then you'd hit these spots, and it would just send you off and you just didn't know how far. There was so much traction coming off the turns, you could get good drives. It was just a little goofy going in." After winning his heat over fast qualifier, Springsteen Carl Patrick/ Cayuga Tool £, Die's Shawn Clark's night went downhill quickly. "I lost my brake pads on the warm-up lap," Clark said. "I didn't know it until the light was about to go green. I tried to put the brake on to keep from going over the line and there wasn't anything there. I just did the best I could, the restart kind of helped me out. It was a hairy ride. The track was real slippery. I just couldn't poke it off under anybody, it made for a long 25 laps. The track was so different from the heat to the final, but we would have done really good if I'd had brakes. Those first couple of laps I was pumping, pumping the brakes, and I'd look up and everybody would be on the brakes going into the turn. I just didn't want to knock anybody down." USC Racing/lstlegal.com's Terry Poovey rounded out the top 10. Polesitter Chris Hart (Performance-Lombardi's Harley-Davidson) Willie McCoy (Dallas Harley-Davidson). Kevin Varnes (Memphis Shades) and Bartel's Harley-Davidson/Custom Chrome's Shaun Russell rounded out the finishers. Heat-race action was furious, Clark won the first after passing Poovey, who then slipped to third behind Springsteen. The second heat had King chasing Geo Roeder until the red came out after Sam Lowe fell in turn one. The down time allowed King to solve a mechanical problem. "A bolt was sticking out and rubbing on my brake arm," King said. "' had a little brake, but not a whole lot. After the red flag, I knew I had brakes. A guy in my condition, , kind of like to have brakes." King then easily won the race over Roeder and Dominic Beaulac. Chris Hart charged around Kenny Coolbeth in heat three on his way to the fastest heat of the night. J.R. Schnabel took the last transfer from Bryan Bigelow, Chris Evans and Johnny Murphree. The last heat belonged to Kevin Atherton after he passed Kevin Varnes. A short distance back Chris Carr was in jeopardy of loosing the last transfer spot to Jake Johnson, but the defending Grand National Champion held on. Bryan Bigelow walked away with the first semi, while bothers in-law