Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Formula USAIOrag Specialties National Dirt Track Series Round 8: Del Mar Fairgrounds (Right) Evel Knievel himself (fourth from left) was in attendance at De' Mar, ... III al C33I .nd Chrk c.r (41 rRed flwthe sbdh spot ••rty In ...... c.r - . c I up tIftb, SChnabel _nth - and stili .11ve In the ........ Teny ~ fJIIIed to _k. the _In. ~:':l.FllI"" Varnes. He then caught Carr, and the two diced together, trading positions at every corner. Schnabel appeared to be gaining the upper hand when he nearly high-sided and hit the ground in front of Carr off turn four on lap 12. Carr was able to get by Schnabel for sixth, and he then passed Mees for fifth in the same spot a lap later when Mees made the same type of mistake. After that, Carr rolled out the rest of the laps to hold fifth, behind Kopp. "That was a barn-burner, man," Carr said. "The first 10 laps, it was like someone was always crossing up in front me, and I didn't know which way to go. Then things kind of settled out, and guys were far enough ahead of me that when they made a mistake, I had room to react and go by. I got into a little move-over fest with Schnabel for a while, but that's shorttrack racing. I'll take fifth, especially after not having been here before. We've got a motorcycle that was probably too fast for here, but it will really be good tomorrow on the mile. If I have a good day tomorrow, we could get a [point fund] check." Mees had to contend with Schnabel to retain sixth place, but the Pennsylvanian stood his ground and held off the charging Schnabel. '" had fun," Mees said. "I got off to a pretty good start, and my Honda was really good tonight. It was a good battle among me and Chris [Carr] and Kevin [Varnes], but then Kevin stalled, and then I made a really big mistake and let Chris by me. J.R. [Schnabel] got up in there one time. I felt him hit me, but I closed the door on him on the last lap because I real- Iy wanted that position. We were kind of off and on, but it was a good time." Schnabel's seventh-place finish netted him an 18-point gain on Poovey in the series title race, and he wasn't about to concede anything yet. "All in all, it was a good night," Schnabel said. "Hell, I had a good qualifying time, but then I just got in the heat race and got knocked around. I ended up having to fight back, and we were able to do it. We started from the second row and got up to sixth. One time I hammered Carr pretty good - it wasn't a good pass - and he got me back. We caught Mees there at the end, but we just couldn't quite get him. I know we were fast. Everything went good. We picked up 18 points tonight, and anything can happen tomorrow. The last time that we were at a mile, he won and I didn't even make the show. We need a big turnaround, and he only needs to finish close to us. I'm just going to ride my own deal, like I did tonight." Kopp was probably the least-disturbed rider on the track, as far as traffic went. The KTM rider simply rode the same middle line for the distance, eventually getting near the third-running Tommy Hayden, but it was too late to do anything about it. "It was crazy early, just one of those bar-bangin' short tracks where The future: Formula USA once again hosted an aocc event at the Del Mar Short Track. Steven Bonsey (3) won the main event for the second year in a row joining motorcycle racing's legends down on the floor during Intermission. BRIEFLY••• Perhaps the most dejected rider in the pits was defending Del Mar Short Track champion Terry Poovey. who watched a chunk of his series points lead evaporate when he failed to make the main event. .. t was geared too low in the fi':St practice. and then I never got the gearing right until the heat race,' Poovey said. "Then when I started the heat race, that put me behind the eight ball. That's short-track racing - you're either a hero or a zero." Besides Nicky Hayden, probably the happiest guy in the pits was AMA Formula Xtreme and 600cc Supersport racer Jake Zemke, who not only raced the Del Mar Short Track but made the 12-rider main event, where he finished 10th. "Yeah, ~ was just great to come out here and ride the dirt, and t loved it." Zemke said. "It was a lot of fun to come out here and race the guys that I grew up with as well as the younger guys coming up. Coming out here cold like I did, the best I could hope for was to make the main event, but I'm going to do some serious practicing this winter. I want to come back and do it again. The way the rules are with this Formula USA deal. you can take a stock 450 and put it in the main event. Zemke wasn't the only production·frame convert in the bunch, as both Johnny Mur· phree and Joe Kopp expressed their excitement for the Pro Singles concept. .. Big, big props to these guys [Formula USAl for this class. - Murphree said. "This is the first time I've ridden this class. Four days ago, the bike I rode tpnight was a stock motorcycle, sitting on the showroom floor. Now it's on the podium at a Pro Singles National. I'm a firm believer that these guys and the AMA need to unlock hams and get together and promote some races. You still have to have a big-bike class, but then you have this, and where are you then? You have all the manufacturers and all the aftermarket companies involved. This could be a real breath of fresh air for the sport of dirt-track racing." Kopp, who has been a proponent all along, simply voiced his favoritism for the class once again. "These [stock-framed] things are working, so I say let's put everyone on the same thing and let's go racing," Kopp said. "This is great racing. Clear Channel Motor Sports VP Mike Kidd confirmed to the fans that in 2003 the Formula USA National Dirt Track Series will be a production-frame-only class, although he didn't go into detail as to what that meant. Kidd has admitted that having Harley-Davidson in the Pro Singles class is important. but Harley obViously does not make a production-based motocross or dirttrack machine. That could leave the door open for some sort of Harley/Buell homologation special in a dirt-track frame, although it is assumed that the machine would have to be produced in quantity in order to be legal. Along those lines, several riders have voiced concerns over the fact that productionframe/dirt-track swingarm hybrids have been allowed into the series, adding to the cost of racing. J.R. Schnabel was one of them. "It should be a stock-frame/stock-swingarm class," J.R. Schnabel said. "Why should a guy spend $300 on a swingarm and $800 on a shock when the stock stuff works just fine? If the dirt-track parts should start to work belter, then everyone will have to go out and buy that stuff. With the stock stuff, it's just more fair. " Tommy Hayden was pleased with the way his dirt-track season went in 2002. especially considering the circumstances surrounding it. "I had a pretty good year dirt-tracking. especially for not even planning to do any," he said. "I really liked the track tonight. I just didn't feel quite as hooked up in the main as I did in the heat race. I didn't quite have the grip off the turns. I don't know if it was me or if the track changed. But it was a great opportunity, and I've got to thank Kawasaki for giving me the opportunity to keep racing. Hopefully, it will payoff in road racing next year, and people will see why I'm out here doing this.Tommy Hayden said that if he does return to the dirt in 2003, fans can most likely expect to see him on a green machine. "They've got some stuff in the works," Hayden said, "Maybe I'll be able to come back here on a Kawi and move up a few spots next year. " Canadian rider Steve Beattie had a solid night at the Del Mar Short Track. Not known for his short-track abilities, Beattie scoffed at the notion that he can only ride cushion half miles. "Shorttracking is not that hard when you've got a bike that works as good as the one that Johnny Goad built me," Beattie said. "We've made the main every time on that thing. It was just really racy out there tonight. and ninth was the best we could do. - And he could have done worse, as Beattie ran into Brett Landes' exhaust pipe and had both hands come free of the bars during the main event. As for Brett Landes, the former Daytona Short Track winner who now races stock cars gave a good accounting of himself, making the main event and finishing eighth. "I just got a bad start, and it killed my rhythm. Then I stalled it. I got it going again, but when you have something like that happen to you on such a qUick track like this, you're not going too do to well." 42 OCTOBER 23, 2002' III U III I e n III _ S

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