Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

,I AMA Progressive Insur ance Flat Track Championship BLAZING SPEED, AMAZING POISE CHARACTERIZE YOUNG MICHIGANDER'S FIRST CAREER GNC WIN n front of 16,000 fans, Henry Wiles enjoyed the kind of day that few riders besides Chris Carr have enjoyed in the 56 years of racing at the Peoria M.e. Race Park, the kind where he never put a wheel wrong all day. And just as Carr did in 1986, the 20year-old, Mack Daddy Racing/M&K Racing/Motion Pro -backed Wiles scored his first career AMA Grand National win at the 56th annual Peoria Grand National TT on a sunny day at one of the AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championship's most prestigious venues. Wiles was only briefly challenged by former Peoria TT winner Joe Kopp in the run toward the famous TT jump before he took the lead for good, amassing a huge , 6.71 I-second lead by the finish. "Is that good?" Wiles quizzed genu inely after the race. "I tried to ride as hard as I could, and it really paid off." Wiles, of Blanchard, Michigan, dominated the entire day from start to finish. Starting out as fast qualifier in the scratch qua lifying heats, he went on to win the first 10-lap regular heat, which was also the fastest , landing him first choice of starting positions on the front row for the 25.lap main event. His inexperience perhaps showed only when he chose a rather odd starting spot, tak ing the spot one to the left of the outside pole in row one rather than the inside or outside pole . The move arguably left top TT contenders in more advantageous grid pos itions . Coziahr Harley-Davidson/Nationa l Cycle 's Johnny Murphree was on the low pole , with defending Peoria TT champion J.R. Schnabel in the number-two starting spot, and former Peoria TT winner and I former AMA Gran d National C hamp ion Joe Kopp in the middle of row one. Gardner Racing/Walters Brothers H a r le y-D av ld so n's Br ya n Bige lo w line d up to Kopp 's r ight, w ith Carr on the outside pole . Kopp got the holeshot aboard his KTM/Jones Power Sports entry when the green light flashed, but Wiles pulled even with him through turns one and two, and the pair then played chicken in a drag race for position on the run to the jump. Wiles pinned it, Kopp backed off, and t hat set the tempo for the rest of the race, as Wiles took advantage and set a to rrid pace while in the lead. That lead grew to a halfstraightaway by half-distance, and to more than a full straightaway by the finish, Wiles lapping up to 12th place be fore the checkered nag fell. "I got a decent start," Wiles said. "I knew going into the main eve nt that if I cou ld get a good start and get out fro nt , I really tho ught tha t my chances were good . I got around Joe quick and just checked out , I gu ess , from there. It was a big showdown [over the jump] . I was pretty far into him ... He had me beat to it [the jum p], but I think I just w ante d it a little more." Kopp agreed. "I had the holeshot free and clear," Kopp said. "Then Henry came up alongside of me , and I thought, 'He had bett e r back off,' but the n I realized it was Henry. I thought, 'This kid has a lot of guts,' so I let him go," With Wiles charging away out fro nt , the real race to watch was among Kopp, Carr and Murphree, thei r th ree-way dice for second place putt ing them an easy 15 26 SEPTEMBER 1, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS lengths ahea d of early fifth-place runner Jared Mees , who ha d brought his Johnny Go ad -p r ep a r ed , Lancaster H a r ley · D a vid s on / M0 n tgo m e ryvi IIe Cycles -backed Honda up from the insid e of ro w two . The battle raged before Murphree made the first move, picking off Carr in turn two on lap seven but having trouble with Kopp. That order would remain the same for most of the race until finally, after repeated attempts, Murphree got past Kopp in tum two on lap 19 to secure the second spot. "Wh e n I'd go high, he'd drift up on me , and when I'd go low, he wou ld pinch me off," Murphree said. "I finally did get by him, and once I did, he was staying right on me . I was still kind of racing for the lead, but Henry was just gone. I think next year we 'll be more prepared. We get faster here eve ry year. We were second this year. There's o nly one place higher for me to go. O ld 'Ha mmeri n' Hank' was just somew here else to day. I figured if I cou ld get by Joe quick e nough, t hen I might have a chance, but he [Wiles] was still gapping us. He was the fastest guy on t he track all day long. It was a heck of a race." Especially for Kopp, who tallied another finish over his championship rival, Carr, in their heated battle fo r the AMA Insurance Flat Track Progressive Cha mp ionship title. Satisfied with his third-place finish, Kopp said that he wasn't giving up, as he now trails Carr, with 175 points to Carr 's 198. "It's 23 points, one race, and anything can happen," Kopp said. "Th ere was a severe high line and a seve re low line in all the corners. I was liste ning for him 40th Anniversary [Murphree], trying to protect my poin deal. O n the last lap, I th ought I had him back. I thought that I could rail him o n the outside, but I realized that if I did, we were go ing to come t o ge t he r, and t d idn't want that. Then I heard somebody on the ins id e of me , and I thought it m ight be Ca r r." It turned out to be Schnabel, who had blitzed his way past SJS Racing/Park:er Stores' Rob Pearson and Mees to move to fifth, and he then began reeling in Carr. Schnabel had no trouble passing Carr, w ho, after attempting to set up Kopp, dr ifted high in turn four and allowed Schnabel to skip underneath him on lap 22. Schnabel went to work on Kopp in the hope of stealing away the last podium spot, but he simply ran ou t of time and had to accept fourth. "I didn't get a bad start off the line, rea tIy, but I we nt into the first tum, and I think Jake Johnson clipped me in the back," Schnabel said. "Something stood me up bad, and then I was back in eighth , getting rooste d. I was kind of slowly picking through the guys, and then, as it started getting a little ro ugher, I was on 'em. I got by Chris, and I was able to catch Carr and Murphre e pretty quickly there. I almost had a run on Kopp, but I needed 10 more laps before I could have been second. Henry just walked on us today. He smoked us. He did what he needed to do." And if Schnabel had come second instead of eighth off turn two... "It would have been interesting," Schnabe l said. "I think I cou ld have hung with him, but he deserved it. I still had a good ride. I came through the pack, but not enough. It's my own fault. Now the

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