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AMA Progressive Ins ur a nce Flat Track Championship back in line , but I gave th e race away right there. Props to Ke nny, and also to that dam ned guy who has be en beating us all year." Carr said that it was just a matte r of mak ing sure he put himse lf in the " hon ey s pot" coming off turn fo ur on the last lap. " I thought th at Jo h nny m ight have let Cool beth go a little far, bu t it was far e no ugh away th at I could get a single draft off Jo h nny and kind squeeze it up in th ere," Carr said . " It wo rked out good for me." Cool beth's t hird -place finish w as the best Springfield result of his ca reer. " I kind of sat back in fifth, fourth , maybe as far bac k as sixth, and I knew t hat I wanted to be in maybe first or second o ff turn fo ur to have a chance," Cool beth sa id. "I led it off four, but I kind of choked up going into turn three, and I d idn't get off fo ur as good as I w anted to, so t hat 's what hurt m e . We m issed it by two, but it still fee ls good , even thi rd place." In a good d ay for th e Ford team. McCoy came ho m e fourth . Carr was clearly pleased to see it. "Whe n Willie got in front of m e on lap 22 , I thought, ' Man, th is is cool, t his is awesome. Maybe w e can get on the box to gethe r for the first time.' Unfortunately, it d idn't work out fo r him , but he's do ing a great jo b. We'll see how the winter goes and how things se t up for ne xt year, but he 's doing an absolutely fantastic job for being thrust int o the lim e light , so to sp eak. If we can get things organized the w ay we need to get t hem o rganized, ho pefully it will happen again . Th is was our best one-two [team] finish for Fo rd , and it is certainly something to build on." Harley-David!ion 5port!it.er Performance Nat.ional Stump Yanks 'em T hanks to a little he lp fro m his friends, former Harley-Davidson Sportster Perfo rmance Champion Scott Stump emerged victo rio us in the 12lap, 17-rider HDSP main eve nt at t he Springfield Mile. The 34-year-old, FFRIGlo bal Products -backed Ohioan , w ho has been 5(0" Stump (7 7A) pu lled off a b ig struggling with bike problems th is sea w in in the HD SP main. son , rode a Lima Harley- Davidson 88 3 to victory over reigning series champion Scott Stump, on the Doc's Harley-D avidso n/Illinois Buell 883, and Merle Scherb, on the Illino is Buell/H all's Cycles 883 . T he main even t had to be re started afte r Michigan rider Brian Vincent tangled handle bars with another rider in turn one and crashed violently, his hefty machine cartWheeling skyward. Vincent was not hurt, and when the race res umed, Eaken Racing/Maryot t's Honda's Dan Stanley led Stump, Lo mb ardi H-D/Schott H-D rider C hris Hart and bot h Scherbs across the line to start lap two. Stump and the Scherbs qu ickly outdistanced Stanley, w ho held a comfortable margin on Planet Honda/Glo bal Products' Nichole Cheza, the 16-year-o ld look ing competitive in he r first start , aboard a mac hine she had never ridden befo re , in her first HDSP Springfield Mile start. Hart took over the lead at the end of lap two, and he would be the official leade r of the ne xt seven laps befo re falling out of the hunt as his bike slowed. That left Stump to battle the Scherbs alone, but he prevailed at the finish, w ith Scott Scherb finishing second and Merle Sche rb finishing third. "T his is my first win since Ve rno n Downs, New York, last year, so it was a good one the best o ne of the year," Stump said. "We co uld run with them, but we couldn 't dra ft past at the finish line. So once Hart fell back, I knew that ali i had to do was beat Scherb, and I MY OWN RACE 9 Jay Springsteen 6th "T he bike was fast all day, but we started with a new tire , and it just took a little bit, until after halfway, (o r it to start working good," Springsteen said. "They put that water on the track before we went out, and it just made it greasy, and it took a while fo r my tire to wear down to where it was working . It's always great, though. Springfield is always the bes t ever, and I love com ing here. Hopefully, with Bill Bart els and my sponsor, I'll be back here ne xt year. I don't know how many races I'll do . I've been doing a lot of road racing no w, and it' s fun because you don't get no dirt in your mouth riding them, but dirt track is still number one." 89 Kevin Varnes 8th After finishing I Ith in the Springfield Short Track, Varnes was confident that he could better teammate A.J. Eslick's ninth -place finish in the Short Track when it came time for the Springfield Mile. True to his word, the Penn sylvanian came from way back to catch the lead draft, ultimately finishing eighth. It was Suzuki's be st performance yet with t he fuel-injected DUOOO twin. "T hat' s what I'm talking about," Varnes said. "We got 'e r do ne . The bike ran perfect all day. We fought for traction early, but w e made the right changes, and in the main event it was great. I could have used a hair more traction off the comers. I was having to let guys get a jump off the corner before I could hook it up to come after them, but we ran in the lead pack most of the time. We're there now for sure, w e know what to do now, and I can't w ait for Du Q uoin." 67 Mike Hacker 10th Hacker had to sta rt from the penalty line on his backup bike after his ma in miler "sta rt ed making a real bad noise" in his heat race , where had finished second. In the main , he was neve r really competitive, well off t he lead draft, battling w ith Shaun Russe ll and Bryan Smith before com ing home 10th. "We just didn't trust going out fo r 25 laps on our first bike, so w e just took a chance and went out on the other one , and it was slow," Hacker said. "We co uldn't get it to run . I'm disappointed , because this [mile racing] is my business, and when I don't take care of busine ss, it's not very fun. It's kind of like my whole season has been going ." 11 Bryan Bigelow I5th hopes to make her 750cc debut later t his season. "I sucked bad, but at least I made it in," Bigelow said after the race . Running I Oth after lap one, he slipped back to 15th on lap two, drafting with Geo Roeder, Shaun Russell and Mike Hacker early, and then mostly with Roeder in the late going . "Hacker and I got together early on , and I go t knocked off the groove, but it rea lly didn't matter because we were struggling all day. The track was really dry, and you couldn't run the top at all. It's frustrating. After last night, I was fairly confident that we could do something, just because I really had noth ing to lose . I wanted to hang it ou t, but I never got the chance to hang it out. T he eng ine was great, but the chassis wouldn't let us get the power to the ground, so we were slow. It wasn't due to a lack of effort on our part." HDSP NATIONAL (12 laps; 17 rid e n ): I. Scott Stump: 2. Scott Scher b; 3. Merle Scherb; 4. Dan Stanley; S. Nichofe Cheza: 6. Robert l ewi s; 7. Ricky Mars hall; 8. William Seyle : 9. Chris Hart : 10. Shawn Baer ; II . john Clark ; 12. Timm y Mitchell; 13. Brian Krom roy; 14. Tony GK>mo 15. Joh n W insett ; 16. Brandon Laursen ; 17. Brian Vincent. ; Tim e : 7 min., 21.-130sec . Marg in of victory: 1.290 sec . AMA HARLEY·DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFORMA NCE SERIES POINTS STA NDINGS (Alter 6 of 7 rounds): L Chris Hart ( 117/3 Wins) ; 2. Scott Scherb (94); 3. Roben Lewis (&4); .... Scott Stump (6811 win); S. Cory McDerm itt (67/ 1 win): 6. RickyM ~hall (M I l win); 7. Merle Scherb (60); B. Jeremy Deruyter (56); 9. Josh Tou ngett ("'7); 10. Brandon Laursen (43); I I. Shawn Baer (36); 12. Dan Stanley (34); Il . Brian Vincent (B); 14. John CJark (29); IS. (TIE) Wilham Seyle (2SVB, ett Pankey (25). After three consecutive w ins at the Springfield Mile, King found himself at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum t his time when his motor lost power just while he was battling for a fourth consecutive win . ''At about halfway, it started to vibrate a little bit , an d it smelled like it was running hot to me, so I don't know," King said. "Maybe it burned a piston; I don't know. The th ing was awfully good, and there wasn't anybody that I couldn't run with . I thought I could dominate t he thing, but it just didn't happen." knew I cou ld do it, so I just hung in there. The bike was bad. Mike Joyce at Lima HarleyDavidson called me o n Th ursday and asked me if I wanted to ride it, and I said, 'Yeah, I'll jump right on it.' My own bike has been breaking all seaso n long, so this was a great opport unity fo r me , and I want to thank Mike." Stanley finished fourth, and Cheza finished fifth, earning her GNC Expe rt license. Cheza 54 SEPTEMBER 15,2004 • CYCLE N EWS 80 Rich King 40th Anniversary 18th