(Left to right) Coolbeth, Carr and
Johnson celebrate their two-onethree finishes in the Florence
Nationa l.
W illiam Sey le fell in turn two, br inging
ou t the red.
The complete restart saw RJ Overholt
push his Universal Coatings-backed
Sportster into the lead . Overholt fell ha rd
in turn th ree, collecting Deruyter and
Vance along the way. Deruyter would be
the only one of the rid e rs to make the
restart. McDennitt would lead Deruyter,
Shawn Baer and Brett Pankey to the
National.
The last semi belonged to Gutterridge
Harley-Davidson/Reiman's
HarleyDavidson's Josh Toungett over Cape Fear
Harley-Davidson's Robert Lewis, Rick
W isett and Rob McLendon .
Hart coupled a strong start into the
main event win, as he easily outdistanced
McDermitt and Deruyter. Scott Scherb
was an uncontested fourth, as the top
four positions remained the same
throughout the race.
Merle Scherb, Baer (Bae r Racing
Products ),
Marshall (F&S HarleyDavidson), Toungett and Riggle rounded
o ut the top 10 .
CN
F LORENCE SPUDWAY
UNION, KENTUCKY
RESULTS: MAy 22 , 2004 (ROUND 3 Of 20)
GRAND NATIONAL (2s lops, 18 riden) , I. Chris
c.rr (H·D) ; 2. Ke<> CooIbelh (H.[) ; 3. jake joIrosoo (H.[) ; 4.
Joe KDpp (H'[); S. P.ouI Lynch(H-D); 6. Mike Hacker (H-D);
7_ ShaUfl _
(H-D); 8. Gary Ragen (H -D); 9_ Geo
Roeder (H-D); 10. I(..,;n Athe<"ton (H-D); II. Wdl;e McCoy
(H-D); 12. Shawn Cbrl< (H-D); 13_Chris H"" (H- D); 14.
Rob Pea""" (H-D); IS. 8 (I S); S. Robe" Lewis (14);
6. Merle Scherb ( 13); 7. Shawn 8,., ( 12); 8 . Rkky Ma.-shall
( I I); 9. Josh Toungett ( 10); 10. Clayton RJggIe (9); I I.
Brandon Laursen (8): 12. Rick Wi nsett (7): 13. Rob
MclJondon (6); 14. Paul Nomundln (S); IS. Scott Stu mp
(4); 16. Brian Kromroy(3); 17. Brett Pankey (2).
UPCOMING ROUNDS
Round 4/ 5 . Sprin
gfield, illinois, Iky 29·30
Round 6. lexington, K
entucky, June 12
(Left) Chris Hart won the
Sportster National at Florence
Speedway in what was the first
of a 10-round series.
Continued from page 29
sixth-place finisher. Varnes' night had started much better, howeve r. Vames had won
his qualifying heat and was schedule d to
have a front-row start for the heat. "The
battery went dead while the bike was sitting there running the whole time while we
we re waiting to go out," said Varnes. "Then
it died just before they called us out. It
restarted once but died again and then
wouldn't restart. I reallythought we might
have some thing for them ton ight."
How They Got There
Fast qualifier Chr is Carr jumpe d out into the lead of the first heat w ith Paul Lynch and John
Nickens giving chase. The race was red -nagged on lap three when Henry Wiles spun down
exiting turn four. Lynch led the complete restart with Carr, Aaron Creamer, Bryan Smith
and Rich King all battling over the last transfe r spot.
Car r wasted no time regaining his lead as L
ynch set tled Into second. It loo ked like
Creamer would hold off Smith and King, but with tw o laps left Creamer left just enough
roo m for the pair to slip by_The Doc's Harley-Davidson/KK Supply-backed Smith sent Ki ng
and his factory-backed Harley to the se mis.
Kenny Coolbeth ran away w ith the second heat, but the re was a great race for seco nd.
Tim Eades was holding seco nd ove r Mike Hacker, AJ Eslickand Johnny Murph ree . Murphree was on the move as he charged all the way to second. Hacker was able to get by
Eades with just tw o laps to go.
Jake Johnson easily ran away w ith the fourth heat, as Kevin Atherton, Dominic Beaulac,
Gary Rogers and Rob Pearso n followed. Atherton pulled a small lead over the remaining
thre e. About halfway through the race Roge rs found his rhythm and caught Atherton.
Rogers had to sett le for third.
The last heat w as another runaway as Joe Kopp outdistance d Wlilie McCoy (Quality
Checked Ce rtified Pre-Owned Ford), Goo Roeder and Chris Hart .
The three sem is that would put the last six ride rs into the National were hody co nte sted . The first saw Do minic Beaulac push his Picotte Perfor mance!www.motomax.qc.cabacked Harley to a holeshot, only to have Eades storm to the front. Just one lap later Eades
coast ed to a stop as his chain lay down in tum two. Beaulac was back on point, but he had
Shaun Russell and Gart h Bastian allover him. Bastian would be the od d man out.
The seco nd semi saw King get the holeshot over Shawn Clark. Cayuga Tool & Die / Top
Gun Performance's Clark too k the lead on lap tw o, and King fell back to battle Bryan
Bigelow and Jared Mees . Gardner Racing's Bigelow too k second with tw o laps to go.
The last se mi started as a five-r ider batt le over the last tw o tickets into the main. Lornbardi Harley-Davidson / Schott Harley-Davidso n's Hart led JRSchnabel, Rob Pearson, Rick
Winsett and Eslick. By lap four of the e ight-lap race , Hart, Pearson and Schnabel had pulled
clear. Hart and Pearson exchanged the lead repeatedly as Schnabel waited for a mistake
that never came . When the checkered nag fell, the SJS Racing/Paul Seliskar-backed Pearson
was the winner.
HEAT I (10 laps: 12 riders , top three transfer): I.
Chris eo (H-D); 2. Paul Lynch (H· D); 3. 8rran Smith
rr
(H-D) ; 4. Rkh King (H -D); S. Aaron Creamer (H· D); 6.
RK:k Winsett (H· D): 7. Chris Boone (H· D); 8. Raun
Wood (H'[) ; 9. Josh To unge tt (H -D); 10. John N ickens
(H-D); I I. Scott Sche rb (Bue); 12. Hen'Y Woles (H· D).
Ti me: 3 min ., 15.558 sec .
HEAT 2 (10 laps : 12 riders . top three transfer ): I.
Ken Coolbeth (H- D); 2. Johnny Mu
(H· D); I I. JeR lAndru m (H-D); 12_10m MeG""", (H -D).
Ti me : 3 min .. 15.262 sec .
HEAT ] (10 laps; 12 riden, ' op theee .""",.,), I.
jake johnson (H-D); 2. Kev;n Athe (Sue ); 10. Tm Eades (H.[) ;
I I. Shawn Bae-(Sue); 12. Mike Meye.- (H-D).
Time: 2 min., 3 9 :~ 26 sec .
SEMI 2 (B laps ; 12 riden. top two """,I.,), I.
Shawn Cbrl< (H-D); 2. 8rran Bigelow (H.[); 3. Rid> King
(H'[); 4. jared Mees (H. D); S. Jess Roeder (H-D); • .
K..,;n Varnes (Suz); 7. Ken Yode, (H'[); B. Chris Boone
(H'[) ; 9. joh n N icken s (H· D); 10. Roy Miller (Suz); I I.
)eR l.ond.-um (H'[) ; 12_ jeremy Deruyter (H· D).
Time : 2 min., 38.474 sec .
SEMI] (B laps; 12 riden, top two tJ"3nSIer), I. Rob
Peonon(H-D); 2. Ovis Hart (H·D ); 3. JR Schnabel(H· D);
4. Rick Wo tt (H -D); S. Joson lYer (H· D); 6. AI Eslick
nse
(Suz); 7. Josh Toungett (H-D); B. Hen'Y Woles (H-D); 9.
Charlie lui" (H· D); 10. Merle Schert> (Sue ); I I. Jerry
_ool (Suz); 12. Tom MeG""", (H'[).
Time : 2 min ., 40 .579 sec .
Gary Roge rs is hoping his strong performance is the sign his program is turning
around . "That bike was like a tractor; Carl
[Patrick] did a grea t job on the engine, and
Brent [Armbruster] built me a great bike
th is year," said Rogers. "No matter w here I
put it, it wou ld stay in line and just acce lerate like no other bike I saw out there. Start ing off the year with the two short tracks
was hard o n me , but th is was a real confidence builder for the rest of the year. I'm
definitely pumped about tonight and going
to Springfield next week for the dou bleheader."
The new track received high marks from
most of the riders . Surprisingly, it was the
winner who voiced the most concern.
"This wasn't too bad for a short track ;
that's what it felt like," said Chris Carr.
"Woth the 7505, we were ridingaround at
half-throttle just trying to gather them up in
the turns and baby them around; we couldn't really ride them . Other than that it's a
neat little track . It would be real fun on a
500."
"I thought the track was awesome; I had
great time ," said Mike Hac ker. "They did
a wonderful job of preparing it. This is the
kind of stuff I like, clay stock car trac ks."
"The track was pretty cool," said Ke nny
Cool beth. "When I first got here and
looked at it, I thought 'Man that's awful
small for these 7SOS,' but it worked o ut
pretty good."
"It's a great track . First time here and I
think it was near perfect. I mean you could
pass," said Joe Ko pp. "There was a high
line, low line, wherever you wanted to go.
Kindof like Charlotte. It was so smooth,
killer track . I hope we get to come back."
"The track was a lot of fun. It's kind of
tight, a little like Sharron, O hio , but smaller," said Jak e [ohnson . "I seem to do pret ty good on the smaller tracks on 7505. It
got a little slicker than I wanted in the main,
but I'm happy. Usuallyon slick tracks Igo
backwards, but tonight I got third . I can't
complain."
