Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128233
"A littl e bit of hel p goes a long way i n th i s racing ," Stan ley sa id, " A nd after Peor ia , Sk ip [Eaken] inv it ed me to come to h is ho use and sa id , ' Hey , let' s see if we c an 't make y our m ot o r better. I got a lot of help fro m Sk ip , and hi s spo nsor D ic k Ford .actua lly stepped up and had Da v e Durell e do my suspe ns ion , and th at wa s j ust my best f in i sh o n a tra ck w here h orse pow er and ab il it y are wh at it takes, so th at pr ov es m y point. I reall y hav e to th ank t hose g u ys for helping me . " E ve r y bo d y wo u ld h it a hol e and m ak e a m ist ak e, and th en you co uld ca tc h b ac k up ," Sta n ley sa id o f t he race . " I m ad e a m ista k e, and Lo gan got awa y, the n he ma de on e, and I was abl e to get back wit h him. Dave m ade a li ttle m ista k e, bu t I co ul dn 't ca tc h him be cause W i ll ie and Lo gan we re right on me. But tha t 's th e way it goe s. I'm still ve ry happy w ith m y finish." Th e DRS /Rockwa ll Hon da/ Sh eerba cked M cC oy w as far less p leased with fift h. Not g ood eno ug h ," M cC oy said . "I just got a bad start and co u ldn' t get u p t he re . I was try ing t o ge t so mebody t o get beh ind me and get rolling . Then Da vey p assed m e, and I tried t o sta y w ith h im , but h e got awa y. I j ust m ade too m an y m ist ak es. Lu ckily, Da n and Loga n sta rted racing each other, and I wa s able to get up with th em. " Myers finished six th , w it h his amate ur rival, Pro Hon da O ils £, Che m ica ls/ TCR 's Nick Cumm ings seventh . T he KTM /Jones Powerspo rts duo of Ken n y Coolbeth and Joe Ko pp r an eig ht h and ninth respe ctively , with 1800 -FAST HO G / Am erican H o nd a ' s J ak e Johnson c om p let ing the top 10. and cha rge d as hard as I co uld . I was worki ng t he front end b ig -time ." A nd it wor ked , j ust a bout th e sam e t im e tha t Kopp' s bike began to q uit wo rking . " I put a M ax xi s on t he rea r fo r m y heat rac e, and I felt it go ing aw ay in th e heat rac e, so I just decided I'd try and k eep th e wh eels in lin e m o re for the ma in eve nt ," Kopp sai d . " I went o ut th er e a nd c u t so me r eally fast laps ea rly in th e m ain eve nt. Wh en I k ept th e wheels in lin e, it wo uld sort of bog off th e co rners . Th en I st arted ge tting a little m ore sideways later in th e r ac e . I lo ok ed ba ck , a nd I saw Ke nny sneak ing up o n me . If I wasn 't runni ng so hard for th e first fi ve or six la ps , th en I prob ab ly co u ld ha ve hun g o nto it. I w asn 't reall y ge tting into th e co rne r s fast e no ug h a ll ni ght , so m aybe I was ju st t ry ing too hard ." Coo lb eth caught K opp on lap 15 , mak in g a pass fo r t he lea d down th e fro n t st r aig h ta way just as th e white fl ag wa s show n to t he field . With hi s t ire used up , th ere was nothing Kopp co u ld do . Co o lb eth to ok th e w in b y an e a sy 15 l eng ths , giving K TM a o ne-two fin ish. O n Harley-Davidsons. " It se emed li k e he w as having a h e ad s t ogether and rid e them . Th ey 'r e definite ly c apable of wi nni ng . Bu t it was go od that KTM went o netwo in th e tw in s to ni gh t. " A nd Varn es surp rise d m or e th an a few onl ook er s w he n h e b rou ght th e Suzuk i home th ird . Wh at' s m ore, he earned it , as he staved off a last -lap blitz by K K /Las Vegas H -D / Ro ed e r H -D 's Ge o Ro ede r II. Roeder h ad be en sta lk ing Varnes for several laps M EMPHI S S H A DES TWIN S CHALLENG E T h e Me m p h is Shades T w in s Chal lenge wa s ano t he r d i spl ay of t eam po wer. T e am KTM's Joe K o pp an d Kenn y Coolbeth had it , but Coolbeth had m ore as he ran dow n Kop p - who appeared to have an insurmountable lead - late in th e 16 -lap race to earn hi s sec o nd Formu la US A w in o f the y e a r. Co o l b e th b e a t K opp t o th e str ipe by an eve n do zen len gth s. " M y b ike wa s awes o me t onig ht," the KTM/ Jones Powe r Sports-backed Coolbeth said . "O nce I got into second place, I looked up and saw whe re Joe was . I d idn't th ink t ha t I cou ld ca tc h .him, but I w as j ust burying th e thing into the corn ers as deep as I co uld. " Kopp powered awa y early, leading Co ol beth a n d Team Suzuki /Parts Unlimted 's Kev in Varnes at the front of the fie ld as th ey r ac ed down th e back st ra ig htaway on the open ing lap . Co olbeth t he n slid off th e g roov e i n t urn s three and fou r and dropped to third , sev eral len gth s behi nd Varn es, With Ko pp some 40 length s ahead of Va rnes by lap two , Cool beth we nt to work in getting back int o t he race, He was able to run th e facto ry Suzuki ride r down and d raft past him as th ey went in to t urn four on lap fou r. " I looked up and saw wh er e J o e was whe n I got into sec on d," Cool beth sai d . " I just put m y head down pretty good . I d idn 't think that I was going to catch him , but th en my bik e go t so me legs ab out ha lfway down th e straightaway , and I passed him. I thi nk t ha t we reall y have a great mile bi ke now . Thi s is th e first Nationa l pod ium for m e o n a mi le . I'm real ly lo o k i n g f orward t o Spr ing f ie l d a nd Del Mar now ." Varnes was epeci all y pleased with his result in light of th e fa ct th at he f e els th e t e a m i s sti ll b e hind t he e i g h t - b a l l w i t h it s tw ins progra m so m ewhat. " We' re a litt le beh ind schedule, bu t it' s c o m i n g around for us ," Va rnes sa id . "W e cam e into this ye ar with out mu ch t est ing, and t hen we go t t hi s new D L motor , and the more t ha t we have worked with it , the be tter it has gotten . To have a pod ium fi n is h this lat e in the year, th at's more lik e what we we re loo k ing for ." Ro ede r fi n ish ed fourt h , wi t h J a k e John son fifth . S ILVER CUP Th e b ig g est c heer o f th e ni g h t w as reserv ed fo r a Harl ey -D avid son rid er, as J enn ifer Snyd er ro d e h er Bla st pow e r ed , fa ct o r y-b acked H a rl e y - few proble ms in one and t wo ," Coolbeth said . " He c ho se a M ax xi s tire , an d I c ho se a Go o d y ear tire , an d I gu ess tha t h is didn 't work out f or him. " We hav e th e tw in s p rogram down pr etty goo d," Coo l bet h s a id . " W e need to get our si ngles program down now . W e 'r e j us t n e ed in g a co u p le po nies on th e bi g t racks, and on t he sh o rt tr ack s we ju st need t o get o ur l e ading up to t he fi n i s h , a n d h e passed Varn es g o ing into turn three f o r t he f i na l t im e . Fo r t u n ate ly f or Varnes , his Suzu k i had a goo d " k ick" in th e run to checkere d flag . " W hen Roed er c augh t me , it w as li k e , ' O h n o! ' " V arn es sai d . " He passed m e d own th e bac k st rai gh taw ay o n th e l as t l a p , a nd then h e gap pe d m e through three a nd f o ur c y c l e ne D avidson 500R to th e w in in the Sil ver Cup ra c e. Sny de r t oo k the lead just befor e th e halfway point and then pulled away co nv incing ly . "It feels go od to win again, " Snyder said . "I really ha ve to thank Harley Davidson for being beh ind m e. T hey ga ve m e a r ea ll y aw es om e m oto r cycl e. It wa s fast in a stra ight lin e, and i t handl ed r eally w e ll. Onc e I g ot vv S • S E P T E MBER 24 , 2003 13