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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128205
Volusia Hot Shoe STORY £, Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (31) leads Steve Beattie (26), Mike Hacker (67) and Jake Johnson (14) in the 750/1000 main. PHOTOS BY DAVE HOENIG/FLAT TRAK FOTOS BARBERVILLE, FL, MARCH 6 early five days of rain put a severe crimp into the flat track schedule at the 2003 Daytona Bike Week. A lot of work by the track crew turned the half-mile quagmire into the relatively smooth, fast half-mile Vol usia Speedway is noted for. This race was scheduled for Sunday, moved to Wednesday, then pushed back to Thursday, replacing the ProAm event scheduled for Thursday. Several top riders chose to save themselves for this weekend's short tracks, but there were still over 140 entries in the four classes. Not surprisingly, the Expert 505 class was the largest with 69 riders. KTM Sport Motorcycle USA/Jones Powersports-backed Kenny Cool beth took home the lion's share of the large purse, by winning both the Expert 505 and the 750/1 000 IT]ain events. The 12 lap 505 race had three red flags, the last ending the race at lap ten. The 750/1 000 race was stopped on lap five, but Coolbeth repeated the holeshots he had been getting all night and pulled to a convincing win over Moroney's HarleyDavidson teammates Mike Hacker and Jake Johnson. The 505 Pro-Sport main was hotly contested, as Ultimate Edge Racing/ Tucker Rocky's Logan Myers worked his way to the front on lap eight of the 12 lap race. Veteran rider Robert Lewis Jr. took the Harley-Davidson Sportster Performance Main after pushing his HarleyDavidson Sportster around Noot Irvin on the second lap. The 36 rider 505 Pro-Sport class was divided into three heats after six qualifying heats. TCR's Nicholas Cummings was the fastest heat winner as Meyers and Cometic Gasket/Powers Motorsports' Jason Storms won the other two. Storms led the 12 rider field into the first turn with Shane Arndt and Jessie Watkins right behind. Cummings got a bad start, and then his night got worse as he went down in turn three. He was quickly up but way behind the field. In the meantime Logan was working his way to the front. After he took the lead, the final order was set, with Arndt, Storms, Watkins and Jerry Cartwright (who was making his final ride as a Pro-Sport before moving to Expert) rounding out the top five. The huge 69 rider 505 Expert class had six heats, with only the top two rides of each advancing to the main. Steve Beattie was the fast heat winner on his Lancaster HarleyDavidson-backed Honda. Hacker, Coolbeth, Patriot Harley-Davidson's Ricky Winsett and Greg Tysor won the other five heats. The start of the main saw Coolbeth leading Hacker and Johnson into the first turn, but one lap later Winsett and Paul Lynch tangled, and Lynch went down. Coolbeth, Hacker and Beattie led off the restart, but again one lap later someone went down in the first turn. This time it was Kevin Atherton. The second restart saw Coolbeth, Hacker and Johnson up front again. Cool beth pulled away, with Hacker, Johnson, Beattie and Raun Wood in a great race for second. On lap nine Beattie took the spot. Just after Coolbeth took the white flag, all hell broke loose on the front straight. Wood ended up going down, with Lynch crashing into his bike. Both riders were shaken but returned to the pits under their own power. Coolbeth was declared the winner, with Beattie and Hacker filling out the winner's circle. The small Harley-Davidson Sportster Performance class had two qualifiers and one heat. The heat win went to Thumbs Up Racing/Augusta Harley-Davidson's Noot Irvin. Irvin got the holeshot in the main, only to see a red flag a lap later. After repeating his holeshot on the restart, Irvin gave way to Robert Lewis on lap two. The two leaders were never challenged, but Mark Burch, John Faulkner III and Shane Fox were battling over the last podium spot. Frieze (Left) The top three were (from left to right) Coolbeth, Hacker and Johnson. (Right) In addition to his 750/1000 main event win, Coolbeth also won the 505 Expert main. 46 MARCH 19, 2003' eye I e n e _ s Harley-Davidson's Faulkner would take third on the last lap. The big bikes, the 750/1000 main was the last of the night, and much like the 505 race, Coolbeth took the lead into the first turn over Johnson and Hacker. Coolbeth settled into command as the battle over second heated up, with Johnson, Hacker, Bryan Smith and Lynch (back from his high-flying act in the 505) all running nose to tail. Hacker took second but couldn't shake Johnson as Smith dropped out. Lynch faded back into the clutches of Bryan Bigelow and Geo Roeder II's duel. On lap five Gary Rogers fell in turn three, bringing out the red flag. The restart picked up where they left off, with Coolbeth pulling to a convincing win on his KTM Sport Motorcycle USA/Jones Powersportsbacked Harley-Davidson. Hacker was second over Johnson, while Bigelow slipped by Lynch for fourth. iCIII ValllSia Speed• ., "rIIelYille, Florida Morch S, 2003 505 PRO· SPORT MAIN: I. Logan Myers (Hon): 2. Shane Arndt (Rot); 3. Jason Storms (Rot); 4. Jesse Watkins (Rot); 5. Jerry Cartwright (Hon); 6. Lowell Carson (Hon); 7. Eric Kvinlaug (Hon); 8. Shawn Burr (Rot); 9. Jim Wood (Hon); 10, Tom Murkowski (Rot); 11. Nicholes Cummings (Han); 12. Nick Dlmiels (Han). Distance: 12 laps Time: 4:25.370 505 EXPERT MAIN: 1. Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (KTM); 2. Steve Beattie (Rot); 3. Mike Hacker (Han); 4. Jake Johnson (Hon); 5. Dominic Beaulac (Rot); 6. Ricky Winsett Jr. (Rot); 7. Wesley Brown (Hon); 8. Kevin Atherton (Hon); 9. Tom McGrane Jr. (Rot); 10, Raun Wood (Rot); 11. Paul Lynch (Hon); 12. Greg Tysor (Hon). Distance: 10 laps Time: 3:55.246 H-D SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE MAIN: I. Robert Lewis; 2. Noot Irvin; 3. John Faulkner 111: 4. Mllrk Burch; 5. Shllne Fox; 6. Clint Erickson; 7. Timmy Mitchell; 8. Mike Beland. Distance: 8 laps Time: 3:02.022 750/1 000 MAIN: I. Kenny (oolbeth Jr. (H-D): 2. Mike Hacker (H·D); 3. Jake Johnson (H-D); 4. Bryan Bigelow (HoD): 5. Paul Lynch (H·D); 6. Geo Roeder II (HoD); 7. Steve Beattie (H-D); 8. Jess Roeder (HoD): 9. Shllwn Clark (H-D); 10. Chris Boone (H-D); 11. Gary Rogers (HoD); 12. Bryan Sm;th (H·D). Distance: 12 laps Time: No Time· Red Flag.