Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Progre s s iv e Insurance U . S. Flat T r a c k Cha mpion s h ip s R ou n d 15 : S c io t o D o w n s [fJGD0DDD f) [JD @[JD (JDD@ @GD0DDD@[JD All 51 entries moved out of the eight four-lap qualify ing heats into the four 10-lap heat races. Dallas Harley -Davidson's Willie McCoy was fast qual ifier after winn ing the first qualifyi ng heat. McCoy looked lik e he was going to back up his fast time with a win in the first heat, but Lombard i Harley-Davidson/Sch ott Harley-Davidson's Chris Hart took the win away on the last lap. Lancaster Harley-Davidson/Saddlemen/Dodge Brothers' Jared Mees held off Rich King and Mike Hacker for the last transfer. Kenny Coolbeth and Kevin Varnes led the second heat as lap two started. The red lights soon flashed as Shaun Russell bailed off going into turn one. Tim Eades led the comple te restart with Coolbeth and Varnes right behind. Coolbeth and Varnes (American Suzuki) regained their positions quickly. J .R. Schnabel was next by Eades. Johnny Murphree had j umped one start and ended up on the penalty line. He then messed up his start and ended up dead last. Murphree was rim -ridi ng his way to the front as Varnes and Schnabel were making the bottom work for.them. Murphree blasted by but could not cut into Coolbeth's lead. Schnabel was able to get around the much -imp roved Suzuki on the last lap for the last transfer. Chris Carr and Gee Roeder II led the third heat into turn one as the red once again flashed. Steve Beattie had gotten tangled up and ended up on the ground. Beattie was up quickl y and restarted from the penalty line. Roeder. Kopp and Aaron Creamer led Carr on the restart, but Carr flew into the lead by the end of lap one. Joe Kopp and Roeder were second and third. Roeder went right to the rim and ran Carr down but couldn 't get by for the win. Kopp held down thi rd over a closing Beattie. The last heat saw Canadian National Champion Dominic Beaulac leading into the first tum . Bartels' Harley-Davidson's Jay Springsteen grabbed the lead, but it was short lived, as Ja ke Johnson dropped the legend to second. Beaulac was under heat from Brya n Bigelow and Shawn Clark. Joh nson and Springsteen pull ed well clear of the battl e for third. Clark made a last -lap pass work to take it. Beaulac came back in the first semi to take his Elka Suspensions/Mike Lynch Harley to the win over Lancaster Harley- Davidson/ Saddlemen/Dodge Brother's Steve Beattie . Beattie was able to slide by Gary Rogers just before Rogers' Custom Chrom e-backed Harley expired. Hacker was running away with the second semi, with Bryan Bigelow, Bryan Smith and Russell locke d in a war over second. Smith had j ust pulled clear as the red came out again. Jason Tyer, who was running fifth , fell in tum four. Although uninjured , Tyer was done for the night. Smith led the restart, but Hacker quickly retook his position at the front. Smith held on the last couple of laps for second over Bigelow, Russell and Kevin Atherton. Varnes once again had his Suzuki in a transfer spot as he led the last semi around the first lap. King and Aaron Creamer (Motorcyclist's Post/NF Sheldon's Harley-Davidson) joined Varnes at the front. King took over and pulled a slight lead. Creamer took second away from Varnes on lap five of the eight lap race. Creamer then closed on King. Creamer just missed the win, while Varnes was one position away from the main again. Stili Springln': Jay Springsteen didn't have his best career fin ish on a c ush ion track, but the aging veteran made the main event anyway. Springer was 15 th . " I don 't know if I could have won th e ra ce or not, bu t I think that co st me a co u p l e of spots at the end, " Roeder sa id. "If I would have got a better start, my lead would have b een even bett er w he n th ey started running me do w n . I st ill th in k I had m or e f un t ha n anybody el se did ag ain ." Car r reg ain ed th e lead On lap 20 , leaving Cool beth a frustrated secon d. " Co mi ng o ff th e comers I could get by him, but by th e en d of t he straight h e was pulling m e a littl e," Cool beth sai d. " It wa s one of those one -l an e ra ce t r ack s, and I just co u l d n ' t g et around him . I'm happy with it. I th ink he w as ho lding m e up quite a bit, bu t that' s raci ng. He' s t h e winner. He was fast eno ug h to beat me, but I think he wa s holding m e up." Carr wa s c am ped On t he groove, but knew h e wasn 't safe. "A t th e en d I looked ba c k and saw o ra nge; I d idn 't kn ow wh o it w a s: Carr sa id . "T u rn ed out it w as Kenn y . I coul dn 't tell wh o it wa s, but I knew it w a s o n e of those gu ys b reath ing down m y neck. " My b ike was k ind o f un stable, and I had t o c h an g e l ines : Carr c o nti n ued . "I we nt to the bottom and figured w e w ou ld wear a groove e v ent u ally. When it ca me in , I figured second wasn ' t bad . I wasn 't getting hurt in th e points whe re I was . Onc e the groove came in, we were able to ru n Geo down. He m ad e a cou ple of mistakes , and it looked like he lo st h is rh ythm. Once I got by hi m , I just did n ' t m ake any m istakes from th at point On. B y t he time I got b y G eo , the track had beco m e a one -line , bo t t o m - gro o v e tra c k. Th e t hi ng was to just n ot m ak e a m istak e; no matter wh at I di d , I was gOing to stay On the rubber. I wa s going t o make those guys wo rk to go around me , and it paid o f f. They we ren 't abl e to g et around ." Coolbeth said t h a t w hen the track was lo os e, h e h ad a hard time seeing . " O n ce I calmed d own , I was able to move up, " he said . " In th e beginning , y ou could pass pretty much an ywhere as long as you stayed out o f the roost. It wou ld j u st about tak e you off the b ike. When it came down to the onelane deal at th e end of the race , it was pretty hard to pass. " After sli p pi ng off th e groove On l ap 14 , Kopp would us e the o n the top. I thought , 'I'm catchi ng Chris , but I'm not c at c h ing Roe d er.' " I j ust stuck to my guns , and Chris came t o the b o tt om pr ett y ·q u i c k . K en ny st arted pushing m e, t ha t made m e push a li ttle h ard er . a n d pretty so o n w e c au ght up t o Chris ," Kopp sa id . " Ch ri s wa s ho ld ing m e u p . and then K enny t ried to pass m e On th e o u t si d e i n tu rn three . I fi g ure d i f I didn 't try th e outside On Chris . Kenny was gOing to try it On m e. So I w ent for it in t u rn three . It was a swe et pass ; I co u l d n't believe I m ade i t stick , actually . Then down the next st raight he went ba ck by me. As soon as he got j ust eno ugh in fron t of m e to pull over On m e, he did, and th en he just nail ed th e brakes. I wa s ei ther going to h it him, or I h ad to move up. I moved up off th e groove to m iss him, and then K enny went under m e. As I was moving , I knew it was going to happen ; I k new K enn y was right th er e. I slipped ba ck. I co uld tell Chris was ho lding up K enny. and I was able to catch back up to them , bu t I couldn't do an yth ing. " Roeder had o ne la st challenge to weathe r. After finish ing the first lap in n inth , Coziahr Harley-Dav idson / N a t i o n a l Cycle /Kiesow Raci ng' s Johnny Murphree steadil y worked h is way u p . " I had a few fas t la ps , an d I thi nk I could h ave run with those guys if I' d st arted up fr ont : Mu rphree sai d . " I w as ma k in g good t im e in the c u sh ion. I was w atch ing up f ro nt, and I' d m ad e u p m y m in d t o st ay up there u ntil he stop ped pu lling awa y . When Ro ed er qu it s g oing g oo d, it m eans the top is goi ng away . Things sta rt ed to even o ut , and it all w ent p re tty well as plan ned, but I gave th em too big a h e a d start. I made a few mista kes after I dro pped to the bottom. I was getting too exper imenta l, trying to make everyth in g up at once . I was never ab le t o m a k e up th e time I should have." Memphis Shad es /Pa rts Unlimited / Drag Specia lties ' J.R . S c h na b e l had his best f in ish sin ce his Peoria w in , a s ixth p la c e . Rich King overca me a third -ro w start to bring his factory-backed Harl ey - D av idson to seve nt h . After running in the lead pack for many l aps , Johnson fa ded to eight h . Do c ' s Harley-Davidson/KK Su pplies' Bry an Smith pa ssed Cayu - good starts when I'm On th e sec - g a T o o ls/Su n o c o ' s Shawn Clark On t he las t lap fo r n in th . HARLEY· O A V I O S O N SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE NATIONAL The Harley -Davidson Spo rtster Per- ond o r third ro w , b ut wh en I' m On form an c e p o ints race h ad na rro wed the f ro nt ro w , I don 't get good to a t hree-rider r a c e coming i nto th e p en ultimate round of t he 10 -race series . S c o t t Sch e rb , Sco tt St ump and Cory McDermitt we re t h e main players. rem aind er of th e rac e to close On h is teammate. " I got a rea l good sta rt again: Kopp said . " It seems li k e I get starts . I t hin k I was fou rth into th e back straight. I fo llowed Chris for a whil e , then the n e xt t h i n g I know, there goes Roeder around

• Cover