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/128327
Briefly... Con rin uecJ from page 2 3 a fun race , I'm just glad to be backon a 750." ~1T"f Pegram used an off weekend from his road race duties to ride David Lloyd's Aprilia. Unfortunately the Apriliaonly lasted one lap of practi ce. Not to be discouraged, Pegram hopped on Jess Roeder's backup Harley. With no practice on the bike Pegram was leading his semi when the bike also expired. If finishing fourth could be considered an off day, then Chris Carr had an off day. "The track moved up," Carr said. "In the heat race we were running a lower line. When the track moved up, it opened up the comers quite a biL I th ink it was hard for everybody to stay low. I think the last two or three Springfield Miles, this is the highest we've run . I think that's why it was as slow as it was . It just wasn't very fast, at least in the main event. I th ink part of the reason the track (groove) got so wide was the wind. It was hard to tum in com ing off tum two. The wind wanted to push you out. Allthe way through the middle of one and two, you're just trying to tum, tum, tum to keep from hitting the wall. The re were a lot of dose calls coming off two, because the wind was trying to push you into the wall. There was more passing in the corners than I can ever remember, because you had so manyoptions . Ididn't spend near enough time up from to know what to do with the guys I was running with at the end ." (Left to right) Murphree, King and Springsteen whoop it up o n the box. Murphree will likely be standing on the top spot someday soon. least ." Defending Seri rent points eader Chris Carr kept his Quali hecked Certified Pre-Owned F. -backed Harley in the thick of things, without ever wi n n ing an official lap, to fin ish fourth . " It was a hard t rack to move fo rwa rd on ," Car r sa id . " T he re was more p as sing going on in t he co rners than d o w n t he straights; that's not normal mi le rac ing. I thin k we needed a better setup for the m ain event, as far as gearing is concerned , to deal with the w ind ." C arr said he got to the front w he n he co uld, not when he wanted . " Like in the past when we won ra ces here," Carr said. "We struggled a lit t le bit, not too bad, I guess. The best t h ing for me was to maintain patience . I never got desperate out t he re . I felt if I just kept y p ace a nd let other gu s make mi s ta kes, 'd get to t he front. I g9 to the front on la p 24 and too k the lead go ing into t u rn one . That 's not really t h e p lace to be w h e n there's a big head w ind down the back st ra ight. In the past I could take t he le ad when I wanted, but t oday I couldn' t ." Murp h ree sai d that he w a nte d t o be second coming off turn four, but he couldn't get the re. " 1 figured I'd just have to make a double draft pass, b ut it just w as n' t there," Murphree sa id . " 1 was just ab le to hold off Chris by less tha n a wheel length ." Fas t qu alifie r Ko p p was fift h across t he line. "After the first straightaway, I knew it was go ing to be a dog fig ht ," Kop p sa id . " 1 d ro p p e d back a couple of t imes, but I knew I could come bac k up whenever I wanted . I did a couple of t im e s, bu t I d id n't want to punish the t ire. It kind of got spoo ky, typical mile racing, r e a l close . You've got to give t he guy beside you a little room. It' s just spooky. Fifth isn't w h a t we wanted, but we'll take it ." Afte r his ear ly race su ccess , McCoy slipped back into the pac k befo re clawing his way back to si xth. '" led o ne la p and down the back straight a few times. I just w ent backwards for a little b it," said McCoy. " T he bike w as run ni ng good , and I was feeli ng good . I ju st need better Sp ringfie ld luck. " eN ILLINOI S STATE FAIRGROUNDS D, S PRIN GfiEL I LLINO IS R ESULTS: MAY 3 1, 2004 (ROUND 5 O f 20) UPCOMING ROUNDS: R ound 6 . Oa k Ridg e, Tennesee, June 25 Round 7 . limo, Ohio, June 26 www.cyclenews.com Carr's new team mate, Willie McCoy, had a solid day. "1got a good start and was running good ," McCoy said. "I did figure the main event would be faster than that, it wasn't a real fast pace. The guys were just swaNi ng around out there and moving people ove r. Everytime I tried to move up, Iwas trying to be nice. I didn't want to knock people out of the way, but it got pretty rough out there, and Igot shuffled backward. I just had to try and pick my way forward . I just couldn't get up there far enough. I moved up a littie bit, but if I'd been more aggressive, I'd have moved up more. I just didn't want to move people out of the way. I tried to inch up there and ease over, not just move ove r. These guys are my friends, and I want to be able to talk to them after we 're done." The weekend was a points wash for Joe Kopp, who gained one point on Carr a the SpringfieldTT Saturday, then gave it back at the Mileon Monday. "Igot a good start and broke away a couple of times earlier in the day, but I didn't th ink it would happen in the main event," Kopp said. "In the main event the track got really wide , which is something I didn't want. Iwanted the groove to be a little narrower, like it was in the heat race . When it was narrow, I could bump it around on the outs ide of the groove , but when it was that wide on the warm-up lap, I knew there was no way Iwas going to run away; it was going to be a typical mile. I pushed rea ily hard when the fiveto go sign came out, and with four to go Igot to the front, A lap later Iwas backin fourth . I just couldn't get myself into the position Iwanted. It's tough there's no room out there. I felt I was fast enough to win it. There's just so little [leeway) between being in the right spot and being in the wrong one ." CYCLE NEWS . JUNE 9, 2004 25