Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIProgressive Insurance U. S. Flat Track Championships Round 1:2: Hagerstown Speedway IAbove) Teny Poovey (18) put in an inspired ride aboard his Bob Benytuned Hariey-Davldson to finish sixth. (Above right) Murphree, KIng and Carr (left to right) on the podium. Carr now leads Murphree by 16 points, 171-155, In the series standings. thought, 'Man this is great,' I lost the front end going into turn three. I tried to get in too hot, too low. He got by me, then I got a drive on him going into one and he chopped it a little bit early. I got into his rear wheel. Luckily, there wasn't any more contact than that." The King/Murphree battle entertained the large crowd until late in the race. "I thought I had Rich covered," Murphree said. "I can go back in my notes for three years, and it says the same thing, 'Do not enter low, do not enter lowl' I started doing it anyway. It's an optical illusion. It looks like you're going to get in there and chop off a bunch of racetrack, but then you get to the middle of the corner and have to get it turned, and the other guy is already gone. There toward the end, I started getting it figured out," King said that he felt he was faster than Murphree all along. "I knew we could get in [the turns] hotter," King said. "We were kind of running a different line, and I could get in front of him, but I couldn't stay in front of him. After about three or four laps, I felt I had a pretty good shot at holding him off, as long as I didn't make any mistakes. We were just running lines that kind of collected each other in the middle of the corner. He put some rubber marks on me, but it was nothing intentional. It was just racing. I was going in high, and he was going down low, and we just kept meeting in the middle. Once that sorted out, I was pretty sure I had him. I felt comfortable where I was running, and unless he changed something, I didn't think he could get me back. Once things settled down, it worked out pretty good." Murphree said that he thought the Hagerstown track was really technical. "I was just driving around, trying to find my groove, and every time I'd get into it, somehow the track would change," Murphree said. "It seemed 24 AUGUST 21. 2002' cue I like the track was changing all night, and by the main event there were just a few good spots. There were a lot of little holes and slick spots that I was getting into. The line he [King] was using, he was really getting stopped going into the turns. He would go in there really deep and just park. I'd run in there real deep and get up next to him. He'd stop like that. Next thing you know I'd be four bikelengths back. He's really good at getting wide when he's out front like that. I started looking for another way around, but it was too late. I probably should have been more experimental. I almost settled in second. After the last few weeks we've had, the points looked good, which is dumb, because championship points mean nothing right now. It's my fault. I should have won the thing." Defending Grand National Champion Chris Carr quietly worked his Quality Checked Pre-Owned Ford Racing/David Liles Fuels-backed Harley into third place. "If I'd had anything for them, I'd have been up there mixing it up," Carr said. "I rode as hard as I could, but we were off all night long with our lap times. I got a gift. There is no way I should have been on the podium. Coolbeth had everybody covered. It's a shame for him. We did the best we could and came out third, and that's not terrible. I have always struggled with the setup on this track. I have to ride it a certain way, and we haven't quite hit that magic combination yet. When this is slippery all the way around and consistent, I'm good on tracks like that. Tonight, it was a little e n e _ os inconsistent, and I never could get a good rhythm going." Bryan Bigelow's roller-coaster ride left the Gardner Racing/Walter Brothers' Harley-Davidson rider a disappointing fourth. "I led for a corner, but it was a mess the first six or seven laps," Bigelow said. "There were a bunch of us going for it, and it got pretty tight out there. I got into three pretty hot one time and almost lost it. I lost a couple of positions and got them right back, but the time I lost on the leaders was the killer. I lost 15 bikelengths to the leader, and that's what cost us. Rich and Johnny were racing pretty hard, and I was hoping to get close enough that, if they made a mistake, that I could capitalize. It was rider error, and I'm kind of bummed out about the whole deal. Rider error cost us the win. The 25lap race was too short, but I'm sure if you ask Kenny Coolbeth, he'd say it was too long." Dodge Brothers/Saddlemen/Nationa I Cycles' Kevin Atherton set fast qualifying time, then seemed to lose the handle on the slick speedway. "I didn't get too bad a start, but I ran up top through three and four, and there were too many of us up there," Atherton said. "I got a little too high, and it was real greasy. I got a little bit sideways, and a couple of guys got by. I don't know if the track changed or what, but we didn't change anything from the heat race, yet we were off a little bit. I don't know, maybe I was riding a little more aggressive." Atherton clawed his way back up, with a little help from attrition. "I saw Jake drop out, and then Kenny cut some good laps before he dropped out," Atherton said. "Around halfway, I felt Bigs and I were catching them, and then all of a sudden I couldn't get the thing through the middle of the corner. Here, that's what you have to do. The last 10 laps, I just couldn't get it to work. Oh well, fifth is better than sixth, and a lot better than the last few weeks." USC Racingj1stlegal.com's Terry Poovey backed up a solid heat-race performance with a sixth-place finish in the main. "We're likin' the Harley, we really are," Poovey said. "It's Bob [Berry]. I wasn't doing anything until I got hooked up with him two years ago. I couldn't hardly make a main on the Harley. I was okay on the miles, but these half miles were a struggle. We're going to try and win one of these things. I'm liking this racing too. We're not ready to stop yet. I feel as good as I have in a long time - on the track, that is. Off the track, I hurt worse than I used to." Jay Springsteen had a rather uneventful race until the last few laps. "With two or three laps to go, my right footpeg flipped upside down," Springsteen said. "When I'd go into the corner and step on the brake, it would hold the brake on. Kevin Varnes caught right up to me on the last lap, and we had a drag race out of turn four to the finish line on the last lap," Hagerstown was the site of Kevin Varnes' first National win, but things have gone downhill since. "The track really gets where you can't pass," Varnes said. "I guess I don't have as much luck here as we used to. I could see Jay struggling, and I really gained on him the last couple of laps. I just kept going harder and harder, but I had to try and go under him while he rolled around the top. I was stuck behind him pretty much the whole race," JAB Computing/CTC Racing/ SuperTrapp's Paul Lynch fought his way from the back all day and finished with a solid ninth. "All in all, not a bad day," Lynch said. "We had a rod go out of my number-one bike, so I had to switch bikes and start my heat on the penal-

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