Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I act ually didn't see Chris and j.R., because I was kind of busy trying to get away from johnny:' jo hnso n said. "I saw j.R. fly off the track that one time, and I th o ught maybe johnny and I co uld get something togethe r and ru n him do wn. Afte r that happened, th o ugh, it seemed like he got away from us even more." jo hnson said that he was pleas ed with his finish, though he 's always look ing to do better, "I've made every main event so far, and I have been more consistent, but I have n't had the finishes I wanted," johnson said. " It fee ls good to be on the bo x again. It seems like a long time since the last time. It' s good fo r the team, it's good for the sponsors, and it really bri ngs my confidence level back up." The o utcome of the race made fo r some heavy poi nts shuffl ing inside the to p five, as Murphree's fou rth -place finish moved him to withi n nine po ints of th ird placed Kenny Coolbeth, who still ho lds the spot, 173- 164. johnson's third allowed him to advance up to sixth place , w ith Schnabel vaulting to fifth, the two pass ing johnson's teammate Mike Hac ker, who was fifth comi ng into the Springfield Short Track but then failed to make the main. Schnabel leads johnson, 127- 118. Hac ker is seve nth w ith I I I but will be loo king to make up the de ficit at tomorrow 's Springfield Mile, w here he is more than capable of do ing so . Pearson's t hird fifth -place run of the year also has t itle implicatio ns, as the young Illinois rider is now sitting just outsi de t he top 10 but only seven points adrift of fellow Roo kie of the Year contender jared Mees , who also failed to make the main . Mees sits in ninth wit h 91 points, follow ed by Shaun Russell, with B7. Pearso n is now 11th with 84 . Behind Pearson, Gardner RacingfWalters Bro t he rs H-D's Bryan Bigelow also got past W iles to land sixth , with Wiles seventh , Coolbe th was eighth, aboard his KTM/jones Po w erspo rt s mac hine . Ame rican Suzuki/ Part s UnlimitedlYoshimura 's A.j. Eslick finished ninth, the factory Suzuki team finally starting to hit on all cylinders w ith t he hiring of fo rme r facto ry KTM wrench Travis Smith. Eslick's team mate , Kevin Varnes, followed Kopp across the line for 11 th. eN How They Got There While the other AMA Grand National disciplines qualify 18 riders through four regular heats and three sem is, short trac ks use six heats and four semis to qualify only 16 riders. To guarantee a spot in the main. a rider must win or come in second in a heat race, or win a se mi. Heat-race winners earn a crucial front-row starting spot for the main eve nt. Fast qualifierj.R. Schnabel had the pole for the first of the six 10-lap heat races , and he used it to take the lead going into turn one , followed by Greg Tysorand Shaun Russell. Schnabel quicklyrocketed away from Tysor, leading the field by almost half a straightaway by lap five . Russell , meanwhile, tried unsuccessfully to cut down the five-length advantage that Tysor had on him. The two remained about the same distance apart for the entire race . Schnabel won , followed by Tysor, with Russell being the first rider to head to a semi. Chris Carr was on the pole for heat two , with johnny Murphree to his right. Carr too k the lead off the start , with Murphree slotting into third, behind Nick Cummings. As Carr pulled clear. Murphree went to wor k around the outside of Cummings in turns one and two on lap five, and he was able to complete the move in turn three to take over second place. Carr ran flawlessly on his Rotax framer, easily stretching out to a straightaway-length lead, which he maintained to the finish. Murphree finished second , gainingthe only other i direct transfer out of the heat . Cummings finished third. jake johnson had the pole for heat three, which had to be held up after Kevin Varnes tripped the red lightand was sent to the penalty line. johnson took the lead, with Rob Pearson on his tail. while Dustin Crow held down the third spot, fending off the rest of the pack. Varnes and Rich King battled over the seventh spot . johnson and Pearson checked out from the rest , the two trans fer positions never in doubt as they put a straightaway on Crow by lap nine. johnson won the race by about seven bikelengths over Pearson . Peoria IT winner Henry Wiles held down the low pole for heat four, and he jumped into the lead off the start , closely tailed by Kenny Coolbeth , who went to work around the outside of Wiles for the next two laps before dropp ing back in behind him. R.j. Overholt was a precar ious third, ahead of A.j. Eslick, but Eslick would take the position away and catch Wiles and Coolbeth to make it a three-rider battle for the two transfer spots with one lap to go. The order remained the same at the line, Wiles and Cool beth advancing and Eslick heading to the semis. 8rad Furlong shot into the lead in heat five, followed by Will Sawhill, whose second position didn't last long once Willie McCoy headed to the outside. McCoy too k over second place in turn two on lap five. McCoy got within a few lengths of Furlong at the finish, but Furlongtook the win and was headed to his first Grand National main event . McCoy finishedsecond , followed by Sawhill. joe Kopp had the pole for the final heat , which started out in wild fashion when Bryan Bigelow whee lied off the front row and lost control of his bike, shoot ing into the infieldand taking Chris Boone with him. Both riders got back in the fray, but Boone then caused a red flag when he crashed off turn two on lap two, while Kopp was in the lead - a lucky break for Bigelow, as the AMA ruled that there would be a complete restart. The restart then had to be red-flagged when Nick Williamsbailed off in turn one . Kopp once again grabbed the lead when they did get going, followed by a cleaner-starting Bigelow, with Bryan Smith in the third spot . Smith tried to claw his way back to Bigelow as Kopp pulled away, but Bigelow was ablte to kee p Smith at bay by gell ing off turn two better; Kopp won , with Bigelow second and Smith bare ly holding off jeth ro Halbert for third. D ominic Beaulac held off three potential main-event winners in N ick Cummings. King and Terry Poovey to win semi one , putt ing himself in the main and them on the tra iler for the night. Kevin Varnes came out on top of an exciting, handlebar-to-hand lebar shutoff contest with Shaun Russell to take the lead in turn three on lap one of the second semi. The factory Suzuki rider stretched his lead off every turn to win the race and transfer to the main. Smith and Halbert met again in semi three, and the two battled for the last remaining transfer position. Smith won by less than two lengths. Geo Roeder II and Shane Vance made heavy contact and crashed hard in turn one at the start of the last semi, with Roeder then struck by another rider in the pack. Both riders made it to their feet after a few anxious moments, and Vance made the restart, while Roeder elected to park it for the night. Once the race got under way, Eslick, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, prevailed in a wild thre e-rider battle that also included jared Mees and john RaunWood . Mees and Wood actuallybanged wheels hard in turn two on lap seven, with Mees taking second, w hich wasn't good enough . IWNOIS S TAn FAI RGRO UN DS SPRINGFIElD , IWNOIS H EAT I (10 la ps: 10 riders, top 1 trand er): I.J.R. Schnabel (Yam); 2. Greg Tysor (Han); 3. Shaun Russell(Hon); 4. Dom inic Beaulac (Yam): 5. Thomas McGrane (Rot): 6. Ken Yoder (Hon); 7, BryanDougl.u(ATK):8. Roy MIller (Yam); 9. C J. Beving (Ho n): 10. Ben Knight (Hon). T ime: 2 min., 15.493 sec . RiSULT5: S EPTE BER M HEAT 1 ( 10 laps : 10 riders. top 2 transfer): I. Chris Carr (Rot): 2. Johnny Murphree (Hon); 3. N ick Cumm ings (Ha n):

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