Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A M A P r o g r e s s iv e In s u r a n c e U . S. F lat T r a c k C h a m p io n s h ip s R o u n d 1 6 : Illin o is State F a ir g r o u n d s rew ar de d wi th h is fi rs t caree r GNC podium fi nis h. "T hat was a lot of fun," Wiles said . "I to ld m y self as soon as th at fiv e -lap sig n ca me aro und th at I was gettin ' it. J o e [K o p p ] wa s b la st ing m e w i th ro ost st raigh t from the very st art. I said to m y sel f, 'I didn 't co me here to ta k e th is roo st th e whole ti me ,' so I was going to try to get around him. By that tim e, J .R. ha d already kin d of checked out. But it was a lot of fun . It' s a lo t m or e fu n when y ou get to get up here on the bo x instead of just m ak in g the m ain and getting a top - 10 or som eth in g lik e t hat. My bik e was d e f i nitely w ork i n g aweso me t on igh t. I t hink th at it was just th i s aweso me d irt th at t h e IMDA put s dow n for us. Th e tr ack ca me around for the m otocrossers tonight, without a doubt. " Hay d en was no t hi s us ual self at th e v enu e th at is also nickname d " Hayden's Hollow " in deference to the do m ina nce of the Ow en sboro broth ers. He started fourth and ran fourt h for the entire 2 5 laps, u nabl e to do anyth ing with either Wil es or Kop p , who ran ahead of him . The fact o ry BRIEFLY••• Whi le Chris C a r r heaped praise on his crew o f Kenny Tol bert and Richard Bates. Tolbert . who has been wit h Carr for each of his five title s. praised the rider . " This has been really special to win five champio nships." Tolb ert said. " It's so met hing a guy dreams about . and w ith a rider like Chris Carr it makes it that much easier. W e do thing s the way we want to do them , and we work well together. So metim es I might be having a bad day. and he just goes out and rides the wheels o ff the thing. Then he might have a bad day. but the stuff runs good. so it evens out. I always knew that he co uld win like this. and I made the co mmitment to him that I wo uld stay w ith him until he reti res if he wou ld have me. It has been go ing pretty good. Hopefully someday we can retire with the championship. " Regardle ss of the title implications. Ch r i s C arr and Johnny M urphre e shared the same menta l approach headi ng into the Spri ngfield Short Track . For both it was a case o f break ing it all down. " I feel good." Carr said. " I come into a race like this and jus t take it one step at a time . You can't ju st think about wi nning it just yet. The first step is to get a good start in your scrat ch heat and try to secure yourself a front-row start for the heat race . I'm just taking it one step at a time like that. " Carr said that he was confident he cou ld wrap up the tit le at the Short Track. "I'm capable of it . - Carr said. " And I think we have a very good chance of doing it. - Mu rphree also chose to keep it simple. as well. "Getting the holeshot in my scratch heat is all I can worry about right now . all that's on my mind . " Murphree said. "All week long we keep ge tti ng people ask ing us the same ques tion l about the championshipl , and I honestly don 't have any thoughts about it. Right now, our only job is to go out and win tonight. and to do that we 've got to go out and win our scratch heat first. One step at a time , " Johnny Murphree did say before the race that he was getting lots o f encouragement from his fans and even many fellow competitors in the title batt le. "The support has been more than you can imagine." Murphree said . " Chris is a great champion, and he's a great spokesman for the spo rt . a leader for everybody. W e all kno w that. but at the same time . he has been kick ing our butt s for to o many years . Ev eryb o dy seems to be behi nd me . but they' re all fair-wea ther like that. They' re pro bably cheering him on. too. W e'lI just see how it goes . " Spe aking of J o hnny Murphree . the GNC runner-up had the luxury of tw o ace mec hanics in his pit. as former TCA. former Bryan Bigelow mechanic Randy B rady was back to assist Mur· c • e n e vv K awasak i road rac e st ar wa s simpl y mi red in p lace for the who le race. It didn't sit well with him . "I fel t like I w as co m petit ive , but I'm a little d isa p po in te d , " Ha yd en said. "I ne ve r really got co mfortable with the bik e. I j ust fou ght it all night. I co uld n't relax . Th e track was a little bit weird, but it was still fun. It sure beats sitting at home and watch ing TV on a Satu rday night. It wa s good. I nev er saw a wheel from anyon e th e whole rac e. I felt rea lly dialed on th e brush ed o ff part. It was fun . I'm glad I cam e. I' m racing Del Mar next week - phre e again, altho ugh Murphree wrench M ike Wheeler was also present. hav ing recove red we ll enou gh fro m his rec en t surge ry to call the tuning shots . The 35-year -old Brady said that he was having a blast being bac k at the track for the second time in as many week s. " lt 's just good to be back w ith everybody and play with the bikes. and it was a tru e honor to have W heeler and these guys call ask for help from me. " Brady also said that he hasn' t ruled out the possibility of returning to the to ur if the fight deal came along. " I don't know , it's always in the back o f your mind that you want to ge t invo lved in it again. " Brady said. " Right now I have a lot o f medi cal situatio ns with my dad. and tho se responsibilities make it kind of tough. I guess if the right thing did come along. I wo uld be interest ed." M ike Hacke r was inj ure d in a crash in turn two d uring his scratch heat. The Super'I rapp/Moroney' s-backed Virg inian low sided in tum two just in front of Pennsylvan ia rider Donnie M ullen rig ht when M ullen grabbed a hand ful and drove off t he turn . M ullen had nowhere to go and stru ck Hacke r square in the left shoulder, endoing over the fallen rider. Hacker was able to get up on his own but elected to take a ride to St. John 's Ho spital in Springfield to be checked ou t. Late word from his team wa s that Hacker wo uld attempt to ride the Springfield M ile tomorrow. W ith the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S . Superbike Series completed. it wa s no surprise to see th e usual contingent of dirt-track-bred road race rs in the pits at the Short Track . Erion Honda' s Jake Z e m k e and R oger L ee Hayde n and Team Kawasaki" s T ommy H a y d e n were all on hand to try their luck in the dirt . Zemke said that it was a heck of a way to spend his vacat ion. " I think my schedule is more busy now than it was durinq road race season ," Zemke said . "W e're going to race here and Del Mar Supermoto and Short Trac k - and also do the Dallas rAMAl Supermoto. I think my off season is going to be pretty busy. " 1st Rac ing Ho nda -backed B r y a n Smith was drafted by the "other side " for AMA duty at Spnngfield, the 20-year-old M ichigander taking a seat aboa rd a Harley -Davidson fact ory 500R for the Short Track and schedu led to nde one of the team 's XR750s on the Springfield M ile on Sunday. " I don't have any of my own Harley stu ff left , so it was either do this or sit at home," Smith said. "I t's always a great opportunity to ride the factory' s bikes." When as ked abo ut the percept ion of a Harley/Honda conflic t. Smith offe red the followmq: " My contract with Honda is just for the Formula US A Se ries, not for the AMA Series." One road racer in atte ndance but unable to com pete . and thus def end his Spring field S hort Trac k titl e - was Rep sol Hond a M otoGP star N icky H ayde n . " This is prett y painful , watc hing. to be hones t wi th you " Hayden said. " We only live fou r hours from here. and my broth ers were going to ride it. so aft er Brazil s end, so hopefully I shook a little rust off t on i gh t and c a n run with them next week. " Murphree tr ail ed Car r, Saddl emen Rac in g/Lancaster Harley- Dav idson' s J are d M e es a n d F a sth o g . c om / Moroney ' s J ak e Jo h nso n t o fi ni sh ei ght h - h i s best caree r Sprin gfield Sh o rt Tra ck r e su lt. O f co urse, it brought him no joy. "I'm disapp o inted ," the Co ziahr Harle y- Davidson-ba c k ed Murphree said . " So t he cha m p ionsh ip t hi ng is o ver , ok ay , but I'm just more disap pointed in the fact th at I should have wo n this race . I could give yo u a m il li on exc u ses as t o w hy tha t di d n' t happen, but what it comes down to is tha t I just did n't get the job done and at least put m yself int o a positi on to m ay be wi n the champ ionship if Chris br o k e down on th e m il e t o m o rro w. I' m j ust goi ng to have to come back an d be to ugher next year than I was th is y ear. Right now , it's j ust on to tomorrow. " T he night tru ly bel onged to Carr, who later adm itted that he did get a l it tle choked wh en announc er J .B . Norris asked him t o weigh in on his fi fth titl e, third in a row. " You know , when J .B. said that I was cham pi on ag ain on the pod ium , and bef o re J apan I just decided to come ho me . W e [H ayd en brothers! had fun this week . W e all got to nde together during the week. but it's definitely painful watching the boys . I we nt to V irginia, and it didn't bo ther me watching the road race. That was no thing. But here , it would be so fun to be riding." Hayden also said that Roger Lee actually put him to wo rk . drafting him to unload the equipment and help him with gear changes . Tech bit: The fact ory Harley-Davidsons of Ric h K ing. Jen nife r S nyder and Bryan S m i t h we re all equipped w ith a lightweight rear rim like tho se found on the Kawasaki KX125 mot oc rosser. Wh en asked If the rims we re Kawa saki take-off s , fac tory head wrench Bi ll Werner had an inte res ti ng reply. " Ac tua lly. HarleyDavidson had the patent on that type of rim long before Kawasaki eve r came out With it. but we let it expire . Werner said. "We used to caJl that wheel 'The Smoothie.' " B Third at last year' s Labor Day weekend running of the Springfield Short Track, Team Suzuki' s Kevin Varne s wa s one of several riders who commented on the unusual track layout at the Short Track . the shape brought about due to heavy rains that turned the infield into virtual quicksand the night before the race . " It' s quite a bit different. " Varnes said. " It' s wider than normal , and the actual corners are longer than the straigh taway s. so it's like a big circle. But I feel pretty good about things . I'm using a totally stock frame . stock swingarm production DR-Z400 . That's the first time I really rode it all year like that. All our other short tracks, I rode our C&J framed bike . Tonight. the stoc k frame ju st seem s a little more easy to ride, so I'm going to stick with It." After fini sh ing sixth in his scratch heat race. T e r ry Poovey opted to withdraw from the Springfield Short Track and save himself for the Mile. " I hurt my back working out this week , and I finished pretty far back in my scratch heat, so that would just mean that I'll be coming from the back all night, " Poovey said. " I don 't want to be out there racing for 12th place when I have a good bike for the mile tomorrow. I'm just going to save myself for tomorrow. M Fabled Japa nese magazine photographer S hogo Nakao was back at the Springf ield Short Track and Mi le , maki ng this his eighth trip to the United States from J apan this year . ''I'm here doin g work fo r Cycle News J apan. " N akao jok ed . Nakao also said that while there are not many dirt track events in Japan. the spo rt con tinues to be extre mely popular there. ..No mile." N akao said. " W e have two or three quarter -mile tracks. and that is it. We have horse racing miles and half miles , but all those people are roc kheads and so doesn' t like motorcycles. But the young people like dirt-track racing . They like to see pictures of Springer. Chris C arr and Nicky Hayden. "

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