Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I got going real well from the third row, and Shaun Russell came around me on the outside with a good aggressiv~ pass," Beattie said. "He kind of blew it off the groove and sucked me off with him. It was either cream him or lay it down. I opted to lay it down. Dominic must have decided to do the same thing, .or he was just watching us, one of the two. Chris [Evans] was behind us, so he must have been falling at the same time. I laid it down pretty easy and went to pick up my bike and saw Dominic laying there. Then Chris was down in turn one and it was like 'What's going on here? 0' Canada is in turn one laying on their ass.''' Beaulac and Beattie were up quickly and made the restart, but Evans' bike was too badly damaged to continue. All hell broke loose on the restart. Third-, fourth- and fifthplace riders Bigelow, Willie McCoy and Rich King tangled, triggering a massive pileup. "I guess Bigs missed a shift, or so they say - I don't know," McCoy said. "I tried to miss him, and King said I hit his back wheel and flipped over, and he jumped right over me. I don't really remember exactly what happened. I'm a little fuzzy, a little sore. (Above) Chrls Carr (1) led the race but eventually wound up fourth. It was good enough to stretch his serles points lead even further, however. (Below left) Coolbeth finished second. Again. (Below right) Shaun Russell backed up his first career podium finish at Springfield with another one at Vemon Downs. The Callfomlan was third both times. didn't need to be off far. There was such an edge on going fast and really screwing up. I was on that edge most of the night and went over one time. Luckily, Chris wasn't around." By this time, Carr was not even close, as he had his own problems. "On lap 17, going into three, we lost the brake," Carr said. "I had nothing left the last three laps and didn't really want to race anyone at that point. We cruised around and got fourth. ' After the red flag, Carr's crew had put a new edge down on the rear tire, and Carr said that he knew it would be better at the end of the race. "I suffered early, that's why Kevin checked out early, but as we got to the middle, I started picking up," said Carr. "I made a couple of bobbles in three and four, lost a little, but made it up quickly. I knew Kevin hadn't changed anything from the first green light. I knew I'd have the better tire, I just didn't get the chance to prove it." Taking full advantage of Carr's misfortune, the battling duo of Shaun Russell (Bartel's Harley-Davidson/ Custom Chrome) and Coolbeth stormed onto the podium. Cool beth collected an all-toofamiliar runner-up, while Russell grabbed third for the second week in a row. "Before Shaun passed me, I was just taking my time, trying to focus on finding my line, kinda feeling it out," Coolbeth said. "After he passed me, I just had to go for it. We put a new tire on for the last restart, and I saw his was getting low. We drafted back and forth a couple of times, but my tire was better at the end." Russell said that he simply took his time. "The track was really kind of junk, and it didn't promote good racing," Russell said. "You just had to wait for someone to make a mistake or wait for them to spread out and get one at a time, instead of draft two or three. We just didn't get into any trouble, and unfortunately those guys piled up on that restart. My tire went away at the end. The-last three laps was kind They got my bike ready and wanted " to know if I wanted to ride, but I didn't really know where I was at, and I was starting at the back of the pack. I thought it would be stupid to get out there. I'd rather watch, get out of here safely and be ready for next week." King also couldn't answer the bell on his factory-backed Harley. The remaining 14 riders chased Atherton on the restart. Atherton quickly pulled clear of the fray and led the remainder of the race. "Halfway through the race, I was trying to conserve my tire and not spin so much, but Chris really closed up, so I had to pick up the pace again," Atherton said. "The track was really fast if you could stay on the groove. On the white-flag lap, I ran it into three and four and almost lost it. I was just off the groove, but you cue' e n e _ S • SEPTEMBER 18. 2002 23

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