24.
" I did n't kno w what was going to happen, but I knew I was getting t hro ugh
turn t hree real go od ," Spri ngsteen said .
" I t hought I had him (King) off fou r ; it' s
hard to lead the race olf lo u r, but I had
to go lor it .
" I tried to turn down . I wanted t hem
o ut of my draft, so I t ried to
weasel down to the
bottom , and as soon as I d id , it busted
lo o se ," Spri ngsteen sai d. " T hat gave
Rich all he needed . As we were coming
to the line, I was looking at Rich. I wasn't even looking at whe re we were
going , just his Iront wheel, that's ho w
close it was."
King said t hat he
knew Springsteen
w as
. good in t hree and lo ur a nd didn't
want him leading off fo ur that last
lap.
" I w anted to be ahead 01 him ,
because he was getting th rough
t he re real fast ," King said . " It d idn't work that w ay. I came o ff tu rn
two in fourt h and drafted up second , but Springer ra iled th re e
and lour again. It wo uld have
bee n interesting il Springer had n't slipped his t ire . He had a pretty good lea d, but he just spun t he
t ire a little bit. Once I ca ught him ,
I caught a litt le draft and was abl e
to inch past him ."
King said that most of th e t ime
he has a plan for the e nd 01 t he
rac e , but this t ime w as completely differe nt .
" I didn't kn ow who I was running with fr om la p to lap ," King said .
"Usually there ' re lour or five guys
you 're battling with, but this t ime the re
was always somebody new going by, and
you d id n't know where they were run ning. One time it was Kevin (Atherton)
going around on the
fringe, the next time
it was Kopp , and
Briefly...
Rich King's third consecutive Springfield
win couldn haw come at a better time.
't
Along with hisbirthday BillWe rner was call,
ing it a day as he retired from his long held
position with the Harley-Davidson Motor
Company. "Thiswas somethingI reallyneeded, with it being my birthday and thiswhole
thingwith Bill," said King. "It's wry special; it
hasn'tsunk in yet . I don't think he's (Werner)
goingtoo far. I know when I call him and say I
need some help , he'll help me out."
While Bill Werner relishedhis I 50th win, he
iscertainlylooking forward to a more relaxed
life. "It's a good way to start the retirement,"
,
he said. "I'm comfortable, I'm happy l've
wori
