Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A M A Prog r e s siv e In s u r a n c e U . S . Fla t Tra c k C h a mpion ships R ou n d 1 4: V e r n o n D o w n s m Own Race Chris Carr 5t h "I ju st rode a steady pace, kept the wheels in line through the co me rs and went to th e bottom fairly early," Carr said. "When Coolbeth went by me , he was hauling the mail. I tried to emulate his lin e, but I couldn't get it to work like he did. I did dro p down to the bottom and just ran a steady race. At th e time, Mur phree was a stra ightaway ahead of me, and I got by him at the end. We didn't drop off in lap tim es as much as some of the other guys and were able to inch forw ard. Th e first six or eight laps 1couldn't make out who was who up in front, because there was a lot of orange. About the halfway mark I could tell where Murphree was, and it gave me a carro t to go after. He (Murphree) mad e a bobbl e com ing off tum two, and I was able to get around him down the back straight. I saw both Roeder and J ohnson above m e in three and four on the last lap, and I knew with Roeder I could beat him to the lin e, because the lap before when he got to the straig htway, he lit up the tire on the high line. 1came down and rode in the fuzz where the track hadn't been brushed off. The tire didn 't spin at all. It j ust pulled, and l out-accelerated them to the line." . ®® Brya n Smith 9 th ~® St eve Beattie "I th ink 1 came from last," Smith said. "I finally caught Beattie with about six laps to go and got by him , but comi ng down to the white flag, he stuffed m e going into tum one. He lost his brakes, I guess. He drifted right on off the groove, and I went back by him down the back straight. It was really a stru ggle. We got like ninth in our heat and realized the bik e was break ing , so we went to th e back up for the semi and had to start on the third row. At the start of the main I thought 1 was losing my brakes, but after about four laps 1fig ured I really had to push hard to make them work . Then 1 finall y got going and was picki ng guys off . Roeder passed me about five laps into the race, and I couldn't figu re out what he was doin g behind me - he starte d on the front row. I'm happy with ninth , consid ering where I started tod ay. Th e more rubber that got down, the better it was for me. I thought th e bottom wo uld be the slow way aro und, so I went up high , and Bigelow passed m e on the bottom . I went down there and started picking guys off. I'm supposed to be able to ride the cushion - I'm from Mich igan - but I haven't been able to figu re it out yet on the big bike." 10th "I had a really good line, that would have work ed better, but I lost my brak es on about the eighth or 10th lap ," Beattie said. "I had nothin g; I had a line come loose and lost all my fluid. That's why I was runni ng so high - it wasn't intention al. I kn ew there was a lot of good dirt up there to turn off of. I j ust went up there and mad e the best of it. I figu red I could ride thi s k ind of tr ack with no brakes, maybe not as fast, but 1could still rid e it. Top 10, I'm happy , considering . I'm j ust going to hav e to safety wire that brake lin e." come th rough the semis and had a 10 , and he was way down low, and I third row sta rtin g p o sition . knew h e w as m aking it work . I cou ld " I knew I had to get a g ood start in g et in lo w , b u t then I' d let it drift u p . I t he m a in , but it's pretty ha rd o ff the co uldn ' t h a n g o n t o th e groove . It thi rd-row, " Kop p sa id . " I had first pi ck d i dn 't seem l ik e t here was e no ug h o n t he back row an d th o u ght I wa nted rubbe r d own th er e. I saw K enny w as in sid e o r o utside, bu t ri g h t in the m id- getting away , s o I s tarted comi ng dle of the th ird row , there w ere a c o u - Johnny Murphree 7th " After Kin g and Coolbeth got by me, I jus t couldn' t - get any faster," Murphree said. "I spent the next 15 laps try ing to figure out how to get any better on the dow n more a nd more . I sta rted c atch - p le of deep g rooves . I p icked one of five to go, oh where's the white flag.' On the last lap those guys drov e around me, and 1 thought , 'I've got to get them back by the line,' If 1 had the whole race to do over, I don 't know what I'd do differently. I have no idea how to get any faster. We were going good up in th e c us h io n , which normall y I do n' t do , and I suc ked on th e gro ove, wh ich nor m all y I don 't do, so 1 don 't kn ow what happened. The track really changed as the race went on. There was never a solid groove around th e bottom, but it was getti ng that way." ing J ohnny a nd so mebody else , They th e grooves a n d got a g reat start. I bottom. It was like, 'Come on, five to go, come on, 1] LB LB~ Geo Roeder II 6t h Geo Roeder II had fifth cho ice of starting positio ns and opted to go to the outside of row two in hopes of findin g that perfect line into turn one. It didn't turn out as well as Roeder planned. "I got sp raye d down , c ouldn't see where I was going; I got a tear-off off, got sprayed again, and it j ust really took me off my gam e," Roeder said. "I finally got going, and it was like, 'This thi ng' s working prett y good!' I started get tin g on the gas, and that bik e was working so good , I let off into those corners a couple of tim es and thought, 'Man I'm in here too hard: I'm not going to make thi s.' I'd ju st turn the front wheel and gas it, and it would come right arou nd, The bi ke wor ked so good , I just wish 1 could hav e got off with th ose guys , but I had a lot of fun out there." Roeder impressively carved thro ugh the field. "I caught Jake, passed him and he passed me right back on the groove ," he said. 1thought I needed to try the groove, but I could n' t make th at work . I went back to the top . I cou ld see Jake wasn't pu lling away from me, and I could see we were catching the guys in front of us. I th ought, 'Well this might work out. They 're down on th e groove , and if I catch them at the right time, I'll pass them while they 're stuffi ng each other on the notch.' I got them all on the last lap, but Carr got back by me down the front straightaway . It almost worked . I got all but one, I didn't know where I was at. Hell , I tho ught I was going for the win; I passed Carr and Murphree and thought I mu st be going for the win ." ~@ My Own Rac Continued e were slow ing down so much , t rying to w as going b y g uys o n t he seco nd and two-wheel it and stay o n th e gro ove . fi r st r ow , j u s t s we r v i ng back an d I' d j u st get in there hot and go right to forth ; it w as lik e , 'Hey , loo k o ut. I've the c us hion and t ry to g et it tu rne d. I got m omentum go ing he re . Get o ut of gai ned so m u c h ti me o n th em th e m y w a y. ' D own th e b a c k straig h t I f irst ha lf o f th e corner. When I ca ug ht t h i nk I was like s ixt h o r se ven t h . I K e vin t h e l a s t f our o r f i v e la p s, I passed C h ris goi ng in to turn t hree. He th ought I' d try the sa me t hi ng . It h ad was p rob abl y wo nde r ing wh ere t he J ake J ohnson 8th "I didn' t get th e greatest of starts," J ohnso n said. "The fir st five or 10 laps, I tri ed the Roeder lin e up high by the bales. I got around a few guys. I saw everyo ne in front of me was run ning around th e bottom. I thought I'd run down there and check it out. I started making up ground on Carr and Murphree, but as soon as I got to within striki ng distance of Carr, I lost my brak es. I guess I was using them too hard going in and smoked the brakes. I was stuck behind Chris. I didn 't want to run it in under him with no brakes. I was just waiting for an opening and never got one. Roeder was up on the outside. and he was getting me going in, and I was pullin g him coming off the comer. Th e last coup le of laps I figured I couldn 't get under them , so I'd try to go around . I ended up with Roeder, wide open by the bales. The last lap was prett y wild. I led those guys through three and four. I tried to get back down on the rubber and get a drive co ming off, but I just couldn't get down in time . Chris and Johnny beat me to it, and Roeder was on the outside in the moistur e. The last couple of lap s were prett y cool. The track was a lot bett er than it has been the last couple of years." O n ce th e gr oo ve c a me i n, h e was inside shou lder , so I fi gu red som eo ne t he g u y t o b e a t. 1 th ink w e w ou ld h ave had a sh o t if th e g ro o ve had n 't w a s o n th e o u t s i de . I st i ll h ad m y h ap p en ed ." head d ow n , c h a r g i ng , w h en I sa w K enn y m aki ng up so me ti m e o n t he Ath ert o n ' s p ro b lem s w er e far f ro m o ver, as J o e Kopp m ad e a la st - lap b li t z w or k t o tak e th e l a st p od ium spot. bo t to m . Ke nn y go t b y, a n d th e n a bo u t t h ree la p s lat er Ri ch got b y . I loo ked ba ck and did n ' t see anybo d y " I lo o k ed b ac k a c o upl e of t imes clos e , t hen J o e c r e p t up o n m e. I an d d idn ' t see a ny b ody ," Ath erto n k new he wa s t here ; I wan te d t o rea c h said. "I figured Sp ri nger was p ro b abl y o ve r a n d g ra b him a n d say , ' He y on t he ou tside of me s omewh ere . 1 don 't do th at!' " fig u re d so m ebod y wa s running higher K opp ' s t r i p t o the podi um was than I was , and you lo o k over y o u r lon ge r than most, as h e was forc ed to 42 e S EPTEMBER 17,2003' e ye nevvs b e en s ix o r seven la ps si nc e I' d he ll I came fro m , off the third row. passe d anybody u p t here , an d I " T he fi rst five , 10 lap s, I kept ru n- wasn 't sure w hat was left . I we nt in t o n ing higher and h igher," K opp c o nt in - turn on e and tr i ed to go a r o u n d ued . "K enn y ca me b y o n about la p K ev in , and it w as w ay slic k o ut th e re ,

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