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AMA Progr essive Insura nce Flat Track Championship MY OWN RACE 28 Shaun Russell got up to sixth, so there was a little bit of passing. It wasn't perfect, but we have to take what we get. They did everything they could do to make it the best for us, with all the rain we had. Not a bad day. Out of Sedaliaand on to the Springfield short track. Now we can look forward to somet hing." 5th "The restart definitelyhelped me," Russellsaid. "I think Igained four spots right off the start . Fifthis probably my best half-mile finish. I'm pretty happy with that. The bike was working good . I made a big change for the qualifying heat and struggled there. Igot it back together for the heat race and semi. It's a tough race, havingto start from the third row. On a track like this, it's never easy. Twenty-five laps is a long time. I just made the most of it. To pass, I had to set some guys up and do it one at a time. I caught up to a couple packs of three riders a couple different times. To work your way through , you have to do it one rider at time. You couldn't make too big of a move." 33 J.R. Schnabel 6th "Sixth place, on a slippery groove, from the third row? I'll take it," Schnabel said. "I shouldn't be happy about it, but I'lltake it. I was sweating it after my heat race, when I got fourth and I had to go to a semi. It seems like if we can get this bike in the main event, we can get right up there. This year we've been a little inconsistent , but it seems like when we are in the main event, we are right up front, so that 's good. I had a great bike. I struggled early on and Babe [DeMay] made some changes. He made me look good in the main event. Iwas smiling about three laps in. Iwas hittingfull throttle in the middle of the corners . I was thinking, 'This thing is hooked up. Babe's got her set now.' I just rode it around then. I was about fifth on the restart. Jake ended up getting bumped out of that , which was unfortunate for him, because his brakes weren't working. I was sixth when we got through the red flag, and I ended up sixth. I wasn't going to get fifthwhen the red flagcame out . Kennywas too far ahead . The field was split up by then. I didn't get the best restart, and I didn't have enough to get by the guys up front. The track came around by the end of the day. I started from the third row and handlebars exiting turn two. Atherton hit the ground, and the red flag came out. The race w ould suddenly become a six-lap shootout. Carr had been setting up a challenge for the lead before the stoppage. "I was able to run Johnny down, and I thought I had something for him except for the red flag," Carr said. Murphree said that he could see Carr 's shadow. "I didn't care who it was, I just knew • there was somebody down there," Murph ree said. "As long as I got off the corner decent, my bike was pulling hard enough o ff the corner and down the straightaway that not hing was going to happen to me. Chris showed me a wheel going down the back straightaway o ne time. I just figured , 'If I ho ld my line , he 's not going to do anything ignorant, as good a racer as he is.' So I just held my line and got the gas back on kind of early. No more messing up com ing out of turn two because t he re is somebody right there. I just kind of went about my business . "I realized I just needed to start getting more into the co rners, back like I was," Murphree added. "I was going in the corner pretty hard when I was behind . When I got the le ad , I didn't go in as deep . I started to be more cautious, and that allowed them to stay closer." W hile Carr had bee n setti ng up Murphree, Kopp had been planning a similar assa ult on Carr's position . "When Chris got out fro nt, I dogged 80 Rich King for me to see when I was behind someone. I just had a couple lines I was comforta ble run- ning. I couldn't see enough. Iwas challenged. Once I could get in the ope n, I could catch the next group of guys; then, once I got there, I couldn't hardly do anything with them. After Igot by them , I could catch the next group . We we re good by ourselves. Myshoulder [injured at Peoria last week] didn't bother me. It's been sore all week, so it wasn't any different today." 66 Geo Roeder II 9th "Iwas runningaround sixth for a while. I was kind of hangingon to Coolbeth, thinking I'm doing all right," Roeder said. "I started catching him, then I starting screwing up and lost my rhythm. On the restart, I passed a couple guys. Ninth was good, but from where we started the day off, the only guy that improved more than us was Johnny Murphree . He didn't feel so good at the beginning of the day, and I didn't feel so good. We made a couple changes and made another change for the main event. I thought it was working pretty good . I just kind of faded a little bit. Another car track, so I'm happy with ninth. Hopefullythey will keep Columbus a cushion for us. I'm happy. Skip [Eaken] did a heck of a job today. We'll just keep rolling along and go to the next race." him for the first six laps ," Kopp said. "I got by him in turn one when he bobbled and I thought, 'This is my race .' I never looked back. I just put my head down . I didn't think I was really letting up that much; I m ust have been getting in the corner a little easy. They [Murphree and Carr] both rolled by me like I was go ing backwards. I was trying to make my e xit on the corners pretty big, because I was spinning it up quite a bit. I was trying to make more momentum to keep me going. I d idn't have the bite I was hoping to have, so I kind of left the door open underneath me the whole t ime . I've been there before, where you st art protecting. I knew if they were going to pass me anyw here, it wou ld be on the bottom. The minute you start protecting the bottom, then yo u really st art going slow." When Carr fishtailed on the restart, Kopp was qu ick to take advantage, retaking the second spot. " I was really surprised when Chris spun his tire," Kopp said. "He was sideways . I was hoping that more than just me wo uld get by him." More would - at least one more - as Kopp's teammate, Coolbeth, wou ld challenge Carr for the third spot. But Murphree hit the restart perfectly and pulled to his biggest lead of the race, with Kopp , Carr and Coolbeth just ahead of Bartels' HarleyDavidson/Custom Chrome/TNT Action Sports' Shaun Russe ll a nd Sch nabel. Johnson's race came apart on th e 22 SEPTEMBER 8,2004 • CYCL E NEWS 8th "I just had a little troub le gett inga hold of the racetrack ," the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson-backed King said. "We changed a bunch of stuff. Even though we ran eighth, we came from a long ways back. We're trying to get better and better every week. We broke one bike in practice. In qualifying, we had to start in the back, and it has been a battle all day long. These guys [King's crew] hung it out and changed everything under the moon . It was so hard 40th AnnivEl'sa ry On the restart, both Kopp (3) and Kenny Cool beth (31) would get past Carr (1) for the second and third spots.