Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIProgressive Insurance U. S. Flat Track Championships Round 17: Vernon Downs BRIEFLY••• H,s Vernon win was the 13th for Kevin Atherton, moving him into a tie with Gene Romero for 20th on the all-time win list. "Just the support that I've got from Tony Dodge, the Saddlemen guys, Arai and especially my parents. after going through what they have Wlth me. they're as crazy as I am," Atherton said "It feels good to finally win one again. but really I've haven't been feeling well. Maybe I got bit by a mosquito or something. The last month or so, I haven't been feeling well. It felt good all day, and to win. that's awesome. It has been a long time." Number-two man in the points race. Johnny Murph...., had a painful night after IookJng very fast in his heat. "I just wanted to tum some fast laps and get the pole for the National: Murphree said. "' knew that the start was going to be big. In the semi, I wasn't able to get it together until the race was almost over. It was a little fuzzy there for a while. " Defending Grand National Champion Chris Carr (256), now holds a 54-point lead over Murphree (202) with just three races remaining on the schedule. Bryan Bigelow (1 99) Is just three points behind Murphree. Kevin Varnes (186) and Kenny Coolbeth (181) round out the top five. Chris Carr appears to be cruising to his fourth Grand National title. "I'm glad to get out of here in one piece and never hit the ground." Carr said, "It was easier for me to stay on the groove this year than last. It's one of those things. that as you pick up speed the risk of going off the groove is much greater, and we were running lap times a second or more faster than last year, Probably a little too qUick for this size track. It would have helped tremendously If they could have swept the track, You can put all the water on you want, but in this warm weather it's not going to help. " of like riding on ice. I came up on Kenny quick, and everybody else I passed I just got away from. I was hoping not to have to play with him, but he put his head back down and gave me a race. He was ahead when it looked like both our tires went bad at the same time." Jones Powersports' Joe Kopp came home a quiet fifth. "Survival, that's what it seemed like," Kopp said. "We lost our brakes at the end of the race. That was a bummer deal, but still, fifth's not that bad. It wasn't that bad after I got used to it, but that first time was kind of a shock. I was real careful to keep it on the groove. I saw Kenny [Coolbeth] go off and Kevin Varnes, and they lost so much time. The track wasn't too bad, but it was pretty dusty from the guys dragging their feet, especially going into tum one. Once you got settled into the comer, there was a lot of traction. On the restart, Kenny bogged down, and I tried to go around the outside. Kevin [Varnes] was trying to go around the outside of me. Luckily, we were going to the outside and missed it all. It looked like Chris didn't have brakes either, and I had to decide if I wanted to do something stupid or not. I saw Kevin was quite a ways back, and I just settled in." Varnes overcame several misadventures to come home sixth. "The tire we picked for the main event didn't seem to work as well as the one we had in the heat," Varnes said. "Tire wear was real bad. We Just SlX days after earning his first podium finish. Shaun Russell overcame all challenges to duplicate his Springfield finish. "Gosh, what a dayl" Russell said. "We were going good in our heat. then blew up our bike. I had to change bikes for the semi, so I had to ride a bike that I hadn't ridden all night. It was the same bike I rode at Springfield. and it was it was good right off. The bike was set up right. and we could Just run it in and I was able to get stopped. From there. it was just accelerate through the comer and try to have a good drive coming out. I made most of my passes on the straights. I tried to leave enough room coming off the turns to get a run, then draft by. I didn't want to spend too much time side by side." didn't have much left at the end. The last three or four laps I was really struggling, just trying to stay down on the groove. I'm pretty happy. We stayed out of trouble, a lot of guys didn't. I kinda liked the track. It reminded me of Hamburg [New York]. You had to stay on the groove. Once you got off the groove, you were done." Despite a close call on the restart, Bartels' Harley-Davidson/Corbin's Jay Springsteen used the restarts to his advantage. "It was miserable out there," Springsteen said. "The first start, I (Top left) They come In threes: Team HarieyDavidson's Rich King suffered his third serious get-off of the season as part of a multirider accident that also took out Willie McCoy. Both riders were sore but were able to walk away from the crash. (Left) Left to right: Russell, Atherton and Coolbeth enjoy the spoils of war. 24 SEPTEMBER 18, 2002' ... U ... • • n e _ s couldn't even see, so I just let everybody go. On the next start, I got a pretty good start, then I saw what all was going on. I just swerved to miss Rich's body and then I see his bike cartwheeling through the air. It just about came down and hit the tail section of my bike. I was headed down picking rhubarb in the infield. There were bodies and motorcycles flying everywhere. There were guys sliding in the grass in the infield and everything. I'm lucky I made it through. The track was 1DO-percent different from last year. Last year, you could ride anywhere, but this year, it was just so blistering fast, and if you get off the rubber it was just marbles. It was like you slide for 100 yards, then you hit the hay bales. It was all right. I survived, but it wasn't that much fun out there." JAB Computing/CTC Racing's Paul Lynch overcame a heat-race fall to take eighth. "It wasn't an easy night, that's for sure," Lynch said. "It wasn't the easiest way to get into the show and then to the front, but we did it somehow. We were fast aU day. Our times were in the top five. I made a mistake in the heat race and the bike ended up riding me, I think. We just kept moving forward through all those red flags, then ended up eighth. I was right behind those guys, Bryan [Bigelow], Willie [McCoy] and Rich [King]. I followed somebody to the outside, but I saw a bunch of guys down in the grass. I saw it happening and was able to react and get out of the way before I got into the mess. I only got off the groove an inch or so, just with my back tire, the front was still on the groove. I thought I was

• Cover