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/128234
(Left) Johnny Murphree (20) and J.R. Schnabel (3 3) went from the back to the f ro nt in t h e main event, finishing fourth and sixth respectively. Jake Johnson (1 4) went i n the opposite direction, starting second and slipping back to e ighth by the fi nis h. (Below l eft) Rich K ing played catch-up all n ight. The factory Har1ey man fin ished seventh in the main. dry in g r e al fa st , " Carr s ai d . " I ha d " I k ne w so meone w as right behind wat ched th e se mis, a n d t hey had m e ," C arr said . " O nce K opp p a ssed fewer ri ders a n d less l a p s , ye t the me goi ng in to th ree , he made a rea l trac k w oul d dry o ut for them , too. W e good pass, and then 1 got right ba c k k new t he racetrack was goi ng to m b y him ." change a lot. I was p rett y goo d th e first three or four lap s, then G eo just came out of nowhere." W hen Roeder was finally fo rce d off the groove, it became painfully obvious to then veteran that he was not going to win h is second Grand National. " I knew the gro ove was coming ; it was a matter o f try ing to time when B y t h e halfway m a r k , Ro e d e r ' s rac e was b eg innin g t o unravel. " W e had t h e b ike gea red for the c us hion, and when 1 st arted r id in g the notch, i t was l u g g i n g pretty hard coming off the corners ," Roeder said. "I thought with the lead I had, if I just rode all r ight on the notch , I'd be okay . I figured even if I was a couple of tenths slower than those guys , it would tak e them all n ight to catch to g et o n it, " Roede r said. " I thought I me. 1 screw ed up one time real bad . I was going pretty good on the groove , got all sideways down in three and but those guys w ere just hauling: While Roeder was fighting his bl ue four, a nd it took me a little b it to get back on th e gas ." groove demons , there was a great Cool b e t h and Ca r r got by, wi th r ac e goi ng o n over second . Carr was Coo lbet h gra bbi ng h i s on ly le a d on holdi ng Tea m KTM at bay . lap 19. K o p p wou ld follow a la p lat er. Own Race J.R. Sc hnabel 6t h "The night started rough again ," Schnabel said after finish ing th e ma in event in a respect able sixth place . "We broke again in the scratch heat, but both bikes were working good. Luckily we had taken both bikes out in practice, so I knew th e backup was working too. In m y heat we made it from the th ird row to th ird place, so we didn 't hav e to run a semi. In th e ma in I hooked up with J ohnny Murphree - he went fly ing by m e, and I thought I'd just follow him . It wor ked out great for me. We started passing guy s and ended up with a sixth out of it . It was hard to pass, but you set the guy up right, you could get a good run and go by . It was a littl e follow -the -leader, but yo u co uld still pull a pass off. We've been stru ggling since Peoria; it felt good to be running near the front. We had a good pace going , and we were catc hing the leaders. J ohnny was the only guy I caug ht that I couldn't pass. I got by him two or three times, but by the time we came out of the tum , he was gone, and I'd end up losing time . He was the only one I couldn't get a run on." 'lJ ~ Jake J ohnson cD~ Brian Smith @ 'lJ Shawn Clark 8t h "I tho ught I had thin gs under control, but we blistered the tire ," Joh nson said. "I went out with a brand -new tire, and soon as there was rubber laid down, it got hot and flew apart. I was ju st on surviva l m ode from there. When I was runn ing with Joe, Kenny and Chris, it looked like Roeder was gone. I ran with those guys for a while, but the more rubber that was laid down , the worse it was. I started goi ng backwards. I got eighth here last year and eighth agai n tonight, so I guess it was all right. Th e first few laps I ran the m idd le up to the top, but I saw everyo ne else moving down , so I did too. It wo rked th e first four or five laps I was down the re. but it ju st went away . I couldn' t do anything ." 9th "Another ninth - that wasn't very good," Smi th said. "It was good , but I tried riding up high too lon g. On ce I dropped down, I starte d catc hi ng and pass ing gu ys . I probabl y could have got up to around sixth, but I slipped off the groove trying to pass Rich on the outside going into on e. Then Chris Hart sli pped off th e groove and c am e down in front of m e, and th at slowed me down quite a bit . I got by Shawn Clark on the last lap going into tum three . The first couple of laps I passed two or three guys , but I just co uldn 't see. Anoth er one of those nights where I started last and fini shed ninth; ma ybe one of these days I'll start ninth and finish in the front." 10th "I'm pr ett y happy; I just wish I hadn 't gone backwards: Clark said. "We went forward, th en backward. I guess I wa sn't surprised the notch came up and we were stuck foll owing somebody. I felt a lot more comforta ble on the cushion. but we really had a good bik e. I think we're get ting more competi ti ve. I thin k Bent ( Arm bruster) and I are starti ng are starting to jive bett er. Jim Kell y's doing our mo tors now." @ 71 Mike Hacker 1 1th "If they had let the tr ack groo ve up , we wou ld have had a lot better race than we had ," a frustrated Hack er (SuperTrap p/Moroney' s Harley -Dav idson) said. "It grooved up anyway, but we were stuck with a baby groove instead of a big groove. I don't know; I don't understand th eir reasoning. You can' t do anything when you start in the back and have to tak e the spray off 15 bik es. It' s hard . When th e groove came in, we were right on. I went fro m last to 11th , and we were in last at the halfway poi nt: cue I e n e _ S • O C TOBER 1 ,2003 21