Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Progr essive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships machinery, a very light sprinkle began to fall. "I was n't concerned about the first red flag until it started to rain while we were sitting there," Carr said. "I thought, 'We really need to get this in.''' Carr dropped the hammer, and the restart found Coolbeth back in second. The running order had reverted back one lap. Carr once again took off as Coolbeth and Kopp fought over second. On lap 12, Kopp once again took sec- My 67 ond, this time fo r good. Kopp started to close on Carr as Coolbeth faded back to Hacker and Pearson. "I had a good low line in tum three on Kenny," Kopp said. "So meo ne must have told him that dunng the int erm ission, that I was gaining on him there. After the restart, he went right down there. I thought, 'Oh, no .' He finally gave up on it a few laps later. I started using it again and got by him and started catching Chris ." Just off the leaders' pace, SuperTrappl Moroney's Honda's Hacker and SJS Racing/Parker Stores' Rob Pearson were runn ing fourth and fifth and closing on the fading Coolbeth. All the t ime , the sprinkles were increasing. Hacker worked his w ay around Coolbeth but was the n hit with the re d flag. At the same time, Charlie ltalia's KK Supply/F&S Harley- O W N RACE Mike Hacker 4th "It was a good night." Hacker said. "Everything was going reallywell. That rain kind of shook things up a little bit. I was happy the bike ran good all day. Kenny [Coolbeth] was slipping a little bit in the comers, and Igot a drive on him. I found a line. I was watching Carr before the red flag because I was struggling so bad. I was mimicking him, and started easing up on joe and Kenny before the red flag, and just felt like I had found a good line. I got by Kenny; then the rain came . I guess they say I was a lap too late." 59 Willie McCoy 6th "I made a change for the main event, thinking it was going to be better, and it was worse ," McCoy said. "I got a dece nt start , but with the change I made, it was hurting so much I was going backwards. After we had the red flag. I had them change it back. It was a lot better, but those guys had already got away from me. I could see the rain. It hadn't bothered me yet. I was sliding around a little bit, but I was doing that anyway. I don't know if that was the rain. I hadn't thought about it enough to know if it was bothe ring me. I was still just trying to go. jake was trying to come underneath me, and jared was trying to come outside me. We had a good race going." 14 jake jo hnso n Hacker (67) actually passed Coolbeth fo r third place just before the race was halted because of the rain, but lost the pasition when the race was reverted back to the prior lapd and made official. he ld t hose pos ition s for o ne lap. Ko pp was o n the move, and he closed do w n o n his KTM/Jones PowersportslMid-America Harley-D avidso n teammate Coolbe th . Kopp worked for several laps and finally worked his way into second o n lap eight , only to see the red flag the next time around. "It took a while to get by Kenny," Kopp said. '" had passed him before the red flag, but since we have to revert back a lap for the single-file restart, I had to start behind him on the restart." A nasty accident had brought o ut the red. Raun Wood had been running in 10th when he lost the fro nt end in tum one, 42 AUGUST 4 ,2004 • sen ding him Into th e hay bales . Wo od's Scott Pow ersp o rts ' Rotax bounced back down the banki ng and was clipped by Garth Bastian. O ne of the dislodged hay bales collected Rick Winsett, and he also fell hard. Both Wood and Winsett were able to make the restart, but Bastian rode straight to the ambulance. Without falling, Bastian had broken his right leg when he hit Wood's fallen bike . "I was really having fun till then," Bastian said as he was loaded into the ambulance. "Oh, well , I get to keep my National number anyway." While repairs were being made to the CYCLE NEWS 7th "I started out decent, I guess," johnson said. "I was a little bit off the pace, enough for seventh. I'm happy with that. [There was] a lot of really close racing going on. In the main, me , Willieand jared were right on top of each other the who le race. It was fun." 21 jared Mee s 8th " I had a great race with jake johnson ," Mees said. "I was hoping he would make a mistake. It was a lot of fun. I reallywish we could have finished the race, tho ugh. The track was a lot like a track back home called Path Valley. It was a great time." 20 johnny Murphree 9th "I was back in about IOth and really charging through those guys real quick." Murphree said. "Igot by Willie [McCoy] for seventh; then the crash happened . They put me back to eighth, and jared [Mees] got by me on the restart. It was raining, and I was being cautious about that . The front end kept tucking. I was ridingaround on eggshells, waitingfor them to call it. Before the restart, I felt more com fortable than I had all night. I was able to run in high and come out lower. I could go in low, drift to the top. I could go wherever the other guys weren't. In the heat race, I could only run that one line." 40th Anniver sar y

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