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/128341
AMA Progressive Insurance Flat Track Championship MY OWN RACE 20 johnny Murphree 4th Although he was happy to land his third top-five finish in as many races . "Showt lrne" Murphree was less than th rilled that his pal jake johnson stole the last podium spot from him. Early in the race, Murprhee was as fast as the leade rs, but when they got away, he couldn't go with them. "Apodium streak would feel a little better than a top -five streak, but I think at this place we 'll take what we can get because I didn't feel comfortable all night," Murphree said. "We could run the fast times , but not consistently. I gave that spot back to jake at the end, but we'll be on for the Springfield Mile tomorrow." 27P Rob Pearson ' 5t h Not only did the Illinois rookie land his third fifth-place finish of the season, he appeared to shed his "Wild Child" riding style in the process, running smooth laps while giving up just a little ground to jake johnson and johnny Murphree after all three passed Henry Wiles. "That's something james Hart [Pearson's tuner] has to te ll me all the time , to settle do wn and be smooth. I want to just go as fast as I can, but sometimes that 's not the fastest way around ." Like most of the field, Pearson was aboard a motcross-based flat-tracker that seemed to work well all night. "Until the rubber was laid down on the groove, it really worked way, but after it slicked off, it was just too far away to go bump the cushion. That's what happened to Henry, I think, and he just kept falling back. j.R. [Schnabel] was able to do it, but that's just j.R. I don't know anyone else who can ride like that ." and like that, you have a litt le bit of an adva ntage, because you have nothing to lose . He had to be a little cau tio us, and I was right there. We didn 't have any pressure from third place, so I thought, 'Let' s take a ch ance and see w hat happe ns.' It paid offtonight." Although he didn't win , C ar r did sco re a vict ory in th e o ngoing poi nts battle between hims elf and Joe Kopp , more th an making up for the po ints th at he has lost to Kopp in the past two rac es. C ar r's ru nnerup finish , m ixed with a 10th by a st ruggling Kopp , moved him bac k into a more comman ding pos ition in his qu est for a sixth AMA Progressive Insura nce Flat Trac k title, during perhaps its most pivotal w eekend . Carr no w leads Kopp by 29 po ints , 232 203 , heading into tomorro w 's Springfield Mile, w he re Ca rr almost invariably show s well . "It w as a good race, and J.R. put in a great move there on th e last lap ," Carr said. "I guess it' s a lot easier to follow so meone sometimes than it is to lead . I thought I had a good pace go ing when I was in the lead , and I bobbled a bit aro und lap 20, and he gained on me; then I felt like I got away, but he ran th e perfect last lap. "T he thing I fe el best abo ut is that I got bac k in one night the points that I lost in the last three races," Carr said. "T he last race I won was Farley [Iowa] , and I was 29 points up after it. Tonight I didn't w in, but I'm still 29 points up after another fou r races. I th ink that the difference this year is that a lot of the races I've do ne good at , he 's had some bad showings. Tonight he had his, what, second w o rst finish of the year. That's costly when you' re going down to the w ire ." Carr said that he never really heard Schnabe l coming until it w as almost too late . "He's go t a stock pipe on that th ing, and it's really quiet," Carr said. " I t ho ught I heard somebody bac k the re , and I think he m ust have been rid ing a really w ide line, because I loo ked back to my le ft an d didn 't see anyone. He was coming from the right . Afte r I made that bobble, I saw he was there. I put my head do wn and did the best I could. I may have ru n the last two laps a litt le bit te ntative ly. It's a case of I'm in a defensive positio n, and he's got nothing to lose. W hateve r ha ppens w o uldn't affect his points stand ings a wh o le lot, and he ran a great last lap. "Hell," Carr added, " I'm getting old . But to be 37 and still finishing good o n these tracks, I'll take t hat . Sho rt tracks are usually meant for the younger guys , but we're still competitive on th em." Third plac e w e nt to Moroney's Cycles'/American Honda's Jake Johnson, the New Jers ey ride r matching his best finish of the season. While Carr and Schnab el were off handlin g th eir own personal battle for the lead , Joh nson diced with two oth e r Honda riders, Coziahr H-D/Nat ional C ycle's Johnny Murphree and SJS Racing/Pa rker Stores' Rob Pearson. Johnson was fourth on the first lap, but Murphree passe d him for the position on three. lap After all three riders dispatched the fa lte ring W i I e s , Johnson was able to capitalize on a late-race mistake by Murphree to claim the final podium spot. 58 SEPTEMBER 15,2004 • CYCLE NEWS 16 A.j. Eslick 8th "Happy birthday to me ," said the factory Suzuki-backed Eslick, who turned 23 on the day of the SpringfieldShort Track and then gave his DR-Z505 a decent finish after com ing off the back row. "Early in the week, I thought that I could have top -10 finish both days here, and now we 're definitely on track for that . I started from the third row, but it was good. I just waited for the track to brush off, and then I was fast. I just wanted to put in a good result for Suzuki. They 're putting a lot into this, and we just want to give them what they need. Top lOs are good , and both me and Kevin [Varnes] in the main event are good . I can't say enough about the Suzukis." 3 joe Kopp 10th To put it bluntly, Kopp's race didn't turn out at all like he'd had it scripted. "No, it sure didn't ," Kopp said. "I was in trouble right off the start. I wheelied a little bit and got sandwiched in between a couple guys and had to back out of it . I went for it around the outs ide and just got roosted and pushed out wide . I almost went off the track and into the hay bales on the front straightaway." Kopp also said of the championship points picture: "We 're down , but we're not out . Anything can still happen to him. I've just got to keep bringing it home and maybe get the voodoo doll out. " 40th Anniversary