Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2003 AMA/Progressive Insurance U. S. Flat Track Championships LL.lL......II...J L..lL.....ll~Q) By PHOTOS SCOTT ROUSSEAU By FLAT TRAK FOTOS j bout this time every year, I have to dust off the 01' crystal ball and make educated guesses and outright stabs in the dark as to who will be the best of the best in dirt track motorcycle racing. I make a few phone calls, ask around as to who is hooked up with whom, size up the depth of talent and the depth of financial resources on each team, then start tapping the keys of my computer to tell you exactly how the season is going to shake out long before the checkered flag falls on the last main event of the year. And every year I get pounded, made to look like I have no friggin' clue as to t is really going on at the pinnacle of this steel-shoe spectacle we call the AM rogressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Series. I mean, maybe I'd be better off bitc· ing about the excessive contact in supercross. And taking up badminton. In m efense, I can tell you that since 1995 I have picked the winner of the Grand Na nal title six out of eight times. But that's the easy part. It's the lower picks that a ays cause the grief. I either underestimate them, like I did when I picked Johnn Murphree to finish eigthth last year; or they get hurt, like Mike Hacker did I year. Throw in the odd unexplained phenomena like, say, an versized motor, nd you can maybe understand where I'm coming from. So after going rough my usual ritual, plus throwing darts at a few names on y office wall. I pr ent to you the 2003 edition of my Grand National disaster. .. a em... my 2003 /Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships .1\ s ries predictions. Rider: Chris Carr National #: 1 Age: 35 Residence: Fleetwood, Pennsylvania Team: Quality Checked Certified Pre-owned Ford Tuner: Kenny Tolbert Career best result: AMA Grand National Champion (1992,1999,2001,2002) 2002 best finish: First place (Springfield Mile May; Prestonsburg Half Mile; Springfield Mile September) 2002 series result: AMA Grand National Champion Never mind the fact that he wasn't the winningest rider on the circuit last year. Never mind the fact that he actually lost a race at the Peoria TT for the first time since 1988 - excluding those where he didn't show up due to road race commitments, of course. So put yourself in '!!y shoes. Whom else would you pick to win the title? This is still the best team with the best rider in the game right now, although I'm sure they would be the first to admit that more than a couple of teams are catching up fast. But with Carr's consistency and his desire to stay on top in order to please the Ford folks, it's going to take a heck of a lot to topple this regime. It can happen, but it's going to take more consistency than anyone else was capable of producing last year. Besides Kevin Vames, Carr was the only rider to make every Grand National main event last season, and as former champ Joe Kopp will attest, that in itself is sometimes enough. Carr simply has a knack for pinpointing whom he has to beat in order to win the points race, and then he relies on Kenny Tolbert to help him beat those riders week in and week out. My gut tells me that this team is going to do a lot of winning in 2003, and if they don't, they'll still do what it takes to keep the number one plate in their camp. Rider: Johnny Murphree National #: 20 Age: 24 Residence: Paso Robles, California Team: Coziahr Harley-Davidson Tuner: Mike Wheeler Career best result: Second place (2002) 2002 best finish; First place (Hagerstown Half Mile - June) 2002 series result: Second place Let me just say it right here, right now: I way underestimated this kid last season. Sure, I knew he was going to have fast and fancy horses with team owner Tim Coziahr paying the bilJs and topranked tuner Mike Wheeler spinning the wrenches, but I questioned Murphree's own dedication. Well, I won't do that again. Murphree has all the tools to give Carr a run for the roses, and that's no surprise; he has seriously gone to school on and with the champ, becoming an avid instructor at Carr and Danny Walker's American Supercamp, Still, he'll need to stay healthy and make every main event in order to steal the plate, and that's something that he failed to do last year. I was wrong about you, Johnny. It's not the chicks. It was your motocross bike that should have had me worried. If all goes well, this team is going to be tough as nails in 2003. Rider: Mike Hacker National #: 67 Age: 26 Residence: Prince George, Virginia Team: SuperTrapp/Moroney's Harley-Davidson Tuner: Clayton Oliver Career best result: Fifth place (2000, 2001) 2002 best finish: First place (Claremore Mile; Du Quoin Mile) 2002 series result: 22nd place Ab, yes, we come to one of those truly talented riders with more mettle and more medal in him than any other two riders on this list. Simply put, Mike Hacker was destined for great things in 2002. He started off strong. winning the mile in Claremore, Oklahoma, and then he got screwed by that stupid kicker jump at the Springfield n. Nasty spiral fractures to his left leg ruined his season, and yet he stiIJ managed to rehab that leg, come back and win the last race of the year at Du Quoin. With a strong XR program in place and some factory help from Honda for the singles races on the schedule, all that remains is to see how Hacker, who still limps around a bit, will hold up over the course of 20 races. He's done it before, and he can do it again. Here's to hoping that the 2003 season is a much healthier one for the Hackman. Rider: Bryan Bigelow National #: 11 Age: 22 Residence: Au Gres, Michigan Team: Gardner Racing Tuner: Greg Crow Career best result: Fourth place (2002) 2002 best finish: First place (Granite City Half Mile) 2002 series result: Fifth place Bigelow has consistently beaten me for the last two seasons, so why not pick him to finish any higher than fifth in 2003? A couple of reasons: First, he still needs to make every National; and second, he needs to stop getting clobbered on the miles, Tuming around the first will probably be easier than turning around the second, only because Bigelow is a big kid, and big kids have a tougher time on the miles than little kids like Hacker and little old men like Carr, That said, I haven't forgotten his great performances at the Springfield Short Track two years ago and at Granite City last year, Neither should he, because wins like those can often lay the foundation for greatness, If he can win both, and maybe one or two more in the same year, then Bigelow will beat me a9ain. o

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