Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

career Grand National victory in typical Springfield fashion - barely. It was the second time that King has won the event - the last one coming when he was a privateer in 1999 - and it was his fourth AMA Grand National mile win. Another former Springfield Mile winner, Bartels' Harley-Davidson/Corbin's Jay Springsteen, finished third. As you might expect, King was thrilled to add another big Springfield win to his tally. "Anytime that you can win at Springfield, it's a good thing," King said. "To do it with the number 100 on my bike and to have so many neat people from Harley-Davidson here to see it, it's definitely a big day for me." And it was close, King taking the win by less than a wheel over Carr, the reigning AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Champion thus robbed of the opportunity to reset the record for most consecutive Springfield Mile wins to six. The victory could have gone either way. "A lot of people are telling me that they thought I won, but what can I say?" Carr said. "I hid out for a while. I don't think that I even took the lead until about lap 16 or 17, something like that. I was just kind of seeing what everybody was doing. I didn't see a whole lot of reason to press the pace. Pretty much it was Rich and I leading every lap. Other guys would take the lead, but Rich and I led every one of the last eight. I really thought I had it." Springsteen was equally unsure about the last two laps, the veteran thinking that he had given himself a good shot to deny either Carr or King. Still, third was a good way to continue the "Springer Victory Tour." "I just needed one more lap," Springsteen said. "I swore that the white flag was the checkered flag lap. I guess I just couldn't see. Jim Kelly [Springer's engine builderl said to me, 'Hey, man, you can borrow my glasses if you want to.' It was great today. It was a good clean race. A couple times a couple people maybe screwed up a little bit, so you had to back out of it and let them get back in line, you know." National Cycle Supply/Kersting Cycles' Kevin Atherton grabbed the holeshot and led the first lap when the 20-rider Rolling Thunder Show blasted off the line under cloud-laced skies and cool temperatures. He ran ahead of the usual suspects, with KTM/Jones Powersports' Joe Kopp, King, SuperTrapp/Moroney's HarleyDavidson's Mike Hacker, and Quality Checked Certified Pre-owned Ford Racing/David Liles Ethanol Fuelsbacked Carr slotting into the top five at the front of the pack. Three laps into the race, the first eight riders attempted to gap the rest. KTM/ Jones Powersports' Kenny Coolbeth, Coziahr Harley-Davidson's Johnny Murphree, and KK Motorcycle Supply/American Honda's Bryan Smith were at the tail end of it. Kopp had already run at the front twice by then, but King came back to lead laps four and five, with Carr content to run around in about fourth for the first seven laps. All bets were off, however, when Smith slid down and tumbled into the hay bales between turns one and two at the start of lap eight, causing the race to be red-flagged. The young Michigander was not seriously injured, but his bike was DOA when it arrived back at the work area. "It broke the shock," said Smith, who was credited with 20th place. "There was nothing I could do about it. I was just along for the ride after that. My leg is pretty sore, but I'll be back to ride in the support races later today [see Qualifying box]." Once the race got back under way in earnest, two more seasoned milers dropped out. USC Racing/ Firstlegal.com's Terry Poovey and Hacker were sidelined due to bike failures within a lap of each other. "It broke," the 19th-placed Poovey said. "It just wouldn't run in the feature. I was going around 'em all on the outside early, but then after the restart it wouldn't run. We still got tomorrow." Hacker, stuck with 18th place, was far less appeased. "I could puke right now," Hacker said. "We don't know what happened. Before the restart, it started acting weird. After the restart, it would act weird. then run good then act weird again. The bike was so awesome when it was running. I get real disappointed when shit like this happens. At least we're still alive, and everything's good, but the way I felt in the first three laps, we were able to run up front. I hate it. I guess I'm just Those three went at it hard earty on with Ca.... Atherton and King running in tight formation. going to have to go win some half miles. I just hope I can get in the [Springfield TTl main event tomorrow." Springsteen poked his nose to the front at the finish line for the first and only time to lead lap 15. "I started the restart in sixth, and then Cool beth dropped me back to seventh, but I was able to shuffle back up to the front," Springsteen said. "I just kept telling myself, 'Stay with them, stay with them.' Then with five laps to go, it was like, 'I gotta pick the pace up.' I did, and I made some passes getting into the corner. Kevin [Atherton] was sure wiggling out there. He always wiggles here. It kind of makes you hesitant when someone's wiggling like that at a buck-thirty." Atherton was still in the hunt, running in fourth as he mixed it up with King and Carr, but he would slip off the groove on lap 18 and drop all the way back to 12th by the finish. Coolbeth was still looking good, as were Murphree and Bartels' Harley-Davidson's Shaun Russell, the stubby Californian working his tail off to catch the leaders. It paid off. Russell eventually worked his way up to snare fifth. "I had to work just to make the main today," Russell said. "Fifth is fifth. It's Springfield, and anything can happen. I didn't come here with King (1001 holds off Joe Kopp (31. Despite having a run at the front earty on, Kopp would fade back to finish sixth after trying unsuccessfully to make the high line at Springfield work. cue I e n e _ so • JUNE 4, 2003 11

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