Track Championships
By
DAVE HOENIG
PHOTOS BY FLATTRAKFOTOS.COM
Ost peop le leaving the
Allen County Fairgrounds
on
Saturday
night
thought they had seen
Joe Kopp once again
crush Geo Roeder's dream of winning
the lima Half-Mile National, but a fuel
field test by AMA Pro Racing tech inspectors revealed Kopp's fuel to be slightly
over the limit. The infraction forced AMA
Pro Racing Officials to disqualify the winner. Seventeenth-place finisher Kevin
Atherton was also found to be outside of
the limits.
Since 1984 the last Saturday of June
has been race day in lima, O hio. This
year was no different as the AMA
Progressive Insu rance
Flat Track
Champions hip Series and a large following
of fans invade d the Allen County
Fairgrounds.
Heavy rains in Knoxville, Tennessee,
postponed the scheduled Friday night
short track, making lima the sixth round
of the 20-race series. The road-weary
AMAstars were greeted by a large crowd
and beautiful weather after their trip
north from soggy Knoxville.
Over the years the pea gravel half mile
has gotten harder and harder but still produces spectacular racing action , and
tonight had the strong Ohio fan base on
its feet as they cheered on their hero,
Gee Roeder. The KK Supply/Las Vegas
Harley-Davidson-backed Roeder took the
lead from defending Grand National
Champion Chris Carr on the Quality
Checked Certified Pre-owned Ford
Harley on lap five of the 2S-lap race .
Roeder then benefited from a major bob bie by the champ and immediately
opened a lead.
"On the first lap I was second going
down the back straight, and he (Carr)
pulled a little bit on me," Roeder said. "I
changed my line and caught right up to
him. He hit that rut and rea lly got out of
shape. I went right aro und him and
thought, 'Man that was easy.' When I first
caught him, I was sure it wasn't going to
be easy to pass him. But it was. I was hoping he would get in between me and whoever else was back there. I thoug ht things
were going my way there for a w hile ."
But just like the past six years, it
appeared not to be Roeder's night. KTM
USNJones Powe rs ports' Ko pp was
repeating his performance of last year as
he moved into position to stalk the cushion master.
"I got arou nd Chris when he had a big
bobble in turn th ree," Kopp said. '"
thoug ht he was going down for sure in
that deal, but he saved it. I tried to
pounce on him the next lap or two while
M
