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AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships Round 1: Daytona Municl~1 Stadium found behind the front three, especial. Iy where it pertains to eventual fourth· place finisher, 2002 AMA Ricky Graham Rookie of the Year winner Jake Johnson. The young New Jersey rider had The reigning series champion got the 2003 season off to a good start with a win at the Daytona Municipal Stadium on his ltalianmadeVor. a busy night aboard his Moroney's 1-800-FASTHOG/American Honda CRF450R. Johnson came from the outside of row two in the main, and he was right on top of an early scrap between Team KTM's Joe Kopp and 1st Legal.com/USC Racing's Terry Poovey when it nearly all went bad: Poovey and Kopp locked handlebars off turn four on lap one, with the Texan getting the worst of it as he swapped violently on the front QUALIFYING [JJ@D@ B [JJ@I!A!l@[? @(l @@svz!J@[fD@ them. I appreciate all the fans hang- dard "I'm just going to be more selec- ing out. It has been pretty miserable tive" line when asked by floor here this week. If I had stayed back in announcer Larry Maiers during open- Michigan, I would have seen more ing ceremonies. Springsteen had a sun." Prior to the night's racing, Springsteen had suggested that this would be his final season, invoking his stan- different story to tell after the race. "I don't think I am gonna quit now: he said. There was plenty of dicing to be Perhaps more than anywhere else on the AJIIA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track cir· cuit, posting the fastest heat time In the four-lap scratch qualifying heats that narrow the field to 60 riders for the regular program is of utmost importance: It doesn't necessarily guarantee a win, but it offers a bit of a head start. The proof is in the performance: Chris Carr won the very first scratch heat, taking advantage of the fresh dirt to post II time of one minute, 24.920 seconds in his victory over A.J. Eslick. That time stood up to eam him the pole for the first 10-lap heat rllce on the progrllm. As the hellts panned out, each successive 10-lapper clocked slower than the one before it. Carr and J.R. Schnabel blltt.led briefly in that first heat, the champ jumping off the inside starting position with Schnabel to his right. The two then pulled clear of Michael Vames, with Carr on the Vor stretching his lelld at every tum. Schnabel also left Varnes behind after a couple of laps to cement the runner-up spot and a direct transfer to the main. Carr's mar9in of victory at the finish was 3.12 seconds, and his time of 3 minutes, 14.746 would also stand as the best, giving Carr the pole for the. main event. "It feels good right now," Cllrr said. "The Italian Vor is a great bike. I'm pumped. This is the first time that I have even won a heat race here in a long time." Heat two was all Johnny Murphree. The Califomian shot off the low pole, leaving behind a four-rider scrap for second among Donnie Mullen II, Shaun Russell, Henry Wiles and Rich King. As Murphree pulled away, King dropped to the bottom of the track and then passed Wiles on the back straight on lap five. King then out-gunned Russell on lap eight to eam the transfer spot. Murphree won the race with 1.47 seconds in hand. "We wanted to be fast and consistent when we came here, but that wasn't fast, and it wasn't consistent," Murphree said. "But we're probably going to leave the bike alone and just leave everything up to the rider," Two·time Daytona winner Terry Poovey squared off against Jake Johnson and peren· nial Daytona contender Greg Tysor in heat three. Poovey trailed them In that order on lap one, but then the Texan went to work, passing Johnson on the front straight and then knifing under Tysor in turn two to take the lead. Poovey went on to win by 3.35 seconds, with Johnson prevailing for second after an inside/outside. over/under battle with Tysor. "I want to win every time I come here," Poovey said, "so that [win] was important to me." Defending Daytona Short Track Champion Rick Winsett Jr. battled with former AJIIA Progressive Insurance Champion Joe Kopp and his factory KTM in heat four. Kopp pulled the holeshot against fellow Team KTM rider Steve Murray, but Winsett rolled underneath Murray In tums three and four and then did the same to Kopp in tums one and two, taking the point on lap three. Winsett pulled clear of Kopp, taking the win by 2.93 seconds. "I slipped up a couple times, but I picked it back up," Winsett said. "I want to kick their butts. I want to win it again. That would be awesome." Bryan Bigelow looked strong in the opening laps of heat four, leading Jay Springsteen, A.J. Eslick and Bryan Smith away from the rest of the pack for a four-rider battle for the win. Springsteen followed Bigelow across the stripe twice before diving into the lead in turn one and splitting. Bigelow, meanwhile, had his hands full with Smith, who dispatched Eslick and then shot around Bigelow off the outside of tum two for second place. Smith followed Springsteen into the sunset for a Michigan Mafia one-two. "The important part here is to get a good start," Springsteen said. "My good bike had something wrong with it earlier, so this is my back-up bike, but I guess it's my new good bike." Former Daytona Short Track winner Brett Landes came back with a vengeance after having his string of successive Daytona main events broken at the 2002 opener. The Califomian proved that he hasn't lost a step by jumping into the lead at the start of heat six and leaving Mike Hacker, Kenny Coolbeth and the rest of the field in his wake en route to the win. "I'm looking forward to this main event," Landes said. Hacker, meanwhile, appeared to struggle in the turns, and his off-track pal Coolbeth was more than prepared to take advantage of it. Coolbeth outran Hacker down the back straightaway on lap nine, making an outside pass that would stick till the checkered flag. Michael Varnes entered the main event via a Victory in the first semi. Sam Lowe got lucky in the second semi, making a pass underneath race-long leader Dominic Beaulac to steal the only transfer spot and qualify for his second-straight Daytona Short Track. John Raun Wood was able to fend off a charging Steve Beattie to wjn the third semi and advance. Former AMA Horizon Award winner Cory McDermitt put Hacker on the trailer by leaving the Virginian and the rest of the field behind in heat four. McDermitt took the win and the last ticket to the 16-rider final. 30 MARCH 19, 2003' cue • e n .. vv s