STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAVE HOEN IG/FLAT TRAK FOTOS
he 20 04 editi on o f the
AMA's Progressive Insu rance Flat Track Championship has be e n a very
bumpy r ide for Rich King
and the facto ry Harley-Davidson race
team , but things got a lo t smoother
when King pulled off a last-lap, last-turn
pass to win the rain-delayed Springfield
Mile.
This win, the 18th of his career and
his th ird consecutive at the Springfield
Mile - was extra special for King, whose
4 1st birthday also happened to fall on
the Springfield Mile's rain date. It was
also a great way for the factory rider to
se nd off 13-time AMA Grand National
Championship-winning
tuner
Bill
Werner, who picked up his ISOth career
T
22
Grand National win w ith King today.
We rne r is scheduled for retire men t on
July I of this year, and this win may we ll
have been his last at Springfield - if not
his last anywhere - as a Harley-Davidson
factory mechanic.
Tornado- like weather and heavy rains
had forced the AMA and IMDA to delay
the race for one day. The last time King
raced on his birt hday he won the
laSalle, Illinois, short track National in
1997.
With all the moisture in the fabled
Illinois State Fairgrounds oval, the track
turned into a wide blue groove that
afforded the racers plenty of room to
move around . As is expe cte d at
Springfield, the National turned into a
big drafting party, with 12 riders break-
JUNE 9, 2004 • C YCLE N EWS
ing away and no o ne taking control of
the pack. Most every one had a plan;
most everyone had to alter their plans.
"My plan was to stay up front and
determine the pace and save the tire,"
King said. "Guys actually started going
around me on th e outside, and I
dropped to 10th or 12th for a whi le.
That spooked me a little bit. I start
push ing hard to get back to the
running some different lines, .
past some people. It w
probably one of the
won ."
iretired
orbin/PJ light have the
his only lap on lap
