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/128235
AMA P r o g r e s s iv e In s u r a n c e U . S . Fla t T r a c k Cha mpionships S e r ie s R o u n d 17 : Illin o is Sta te F a ir g r o u n d s race, I think. But I think next year wi ll be real good for us . We've go t some good fo otw or k down for next year already ." T e am KT M /J o n e s Po w er sp o r t s ' Kenny Cool bet h was the polesitter for the m ain eve nt, but K in g ca me off the m id dle of ro w on e and grab bed th e lea d at the sta rt of the 25 ยท lap feature, t ow ing C oolb eth , Ch r i s C arr and I stleg al/ USC Racin g-b ac k ed Te rry Po o vey t o th e fron t of the 18-rider pac k . Po o vey wo ul d b reak a shock early in th e race, drop bac k and sol dier around , usin g j ust th e dampin g of th e spr ing . And so the draft war beg an . A t he rto n th en sw ept aro u n d t he outside of tu rn t wo sec ond off turn two . K in g led t he o pe n in g la p , but Ath erton led th e seco nd. It would be the only tim e th at th e former Harl ey fac to ry rid er wo uld be c redited wit h lead ing a la p. Carr then m ade a break fo r the fron t int o turn t h ree on lap th ree and , d esp ite constant re shuffling on th e back stra ightawa y , contr oll ed th e lea d pac k at the str ipe t o co m plete laps th ree th rou gh six . Murphree poked h is way in to the lead on lap seven. Cool beth was in the hunt early in the race, runn in g as high as second in th e grou p o n lap three . He t he n sli p ped backward to 10th by lap eight and would spend th e rest o f th e race trying to m ak e up for it. "You co uld tell it was the last race of th e season, because th ey weren 't givi ng an y roo m, nobod y ," Co ol beth sai d. " It wa s p retty ti ght th e w ho le race. I onl y saw th e wh ite flag and th e checke red flag . I tri ed to get back up the re, but we ca me out clea n and got hug e for m e ," Kin g said . " Wh at a feeling. When' I came into the week end, I th ought tha t if I cou ld be on the box with th e number 100 in both o f these races [Sh o rt T rack and Mile], t ha t w o u ld be g rea t. If I coul d win aga in , tha t wou ld be grea t, but mo stl y I j ust th ou ght about win ning th e last t im e I wore the number 10 0 . It all worked out ." Despite losin g hi s ab ility to stop and once agai n sli p pi ng into his infa m ous "Sp ringfield wobble" headsh ak e syndrome on th e fin al run up the front straight, Atherton wa s able to stave off Kopp to grab seco nd pl ace . , " Sec ond sucks ," th e 32 - year- old Atherton said . " It just m eans th at I' m first los er. I paid a few bill s. I lost th e brakes aro und lap four or six - it wa s re al e arly. Bu t I got th e h igh side wor king , and on ce I got th at to work , you do n 't us e br akes anyway, so it wasn 't that bad . Wh at a class of guys we have in th e field righ t now. We all can run rig ht next to eac h other, and it's no t a proble m at all. " Kopp cam e home third at Sprinq field, j ust one spot short of his runn erup fini sh at th e previous night's Sprin g' field Mil e. If there had been a bonus for the best overall score of the weekend, it would have gone to the forme r AMA Grand National Champion . "T he track was no wh er e near as wide as it normally is," Kopp said. "It was a spooky race. We were getting pretty sid eways in th e co rne rs. I really had only on e p la c e wh er e I could pa ss peo pl e. It was rig ht in th e m iddle of one and two. I could us e th e lo w lin e th er e an d th en just kind o f drift up in fr ont of them and b loc k them on th e exi t. But it was a real spook y 10 O C TO B ER 8 ,2003' cu e I e nevvs: (Above) King celebrates his victory in what was the la st AMA Gra nd National of the 2003 season. (Be low ) Was th is Jay Springsteen's last run at Springfield? If so, then this is th e last a ct ion shot of him at the fable d raeetraek. sixth . Next year is another year , and I' m going to wor k hard er in th e wi nter and ke ep it going. I th in k th at I can run for the cha m pionship nex t ye ar ." Carr an d K ing b attl ed bac k and fo urth for th e next seve ra l lap s, with K opp , Ath erton an d Murph ree rig ht be h i n d t he m . Th en K o p p t o o k th e stripe on lap 17 . King and Carr once aga in trad ed th e lea d on th e fr ont strai ght until lap 23, whe n eve rybody bega n to set up for the las t lap and th e fin al run to th e line. King led it in t he whi te flag lap, b ut t he n , as t he field went into turn on e, Carr m ade a m istake that cost both hi m and Mu rph ree a shot at the win. Car r would end up fourth , Murph ree fi fth. " We were right where we needed to be , th en I foll ow ed Chris into turn one on th e white flag lap , and it was lik e hi s bik e was on ice, " Mu rphree said. " He went totally sideways, an d I got stuck beh ind him , an d Ken n y [C o olb eth ] and Joe [ K opp] got up under us. We had a big run . We were rolling, and I had the pla n. I was gol d en. I was go ing to lead th e thinq off of four, but the n Chri s bu st ed the th in g sideways , Kenn y got und er m e, an d that was th e end of m y race." Carr took full respo nsi bi li ty for th e misha p. " I j ust screwed up th inking that the wh ite fla g was the checkered fl ag and m ov ed o ve r ," Carr said. " I w en t in k ind o f h i gh , and I saw that thos e