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/128343
Briefly.•. Bryan Smith had his best day since the series left Florida in March . " In practice I was on e of the fastes t guys he re , and then the cushion went away and the groove came in," Smith said. "We had a good se tup for both. I liked it bette r w ith a cushion, though, because the re were fewe r guys going fast. I would have been better off. We got the bike working good. My lap times were the same as the leaders. I'm hap py. Fifth, it's my best finish on the 750 this year." it in there on him like that .' Once Johnny got by me, he was definitely holding me up. I'm sure he was runn ing into the same thi ng I w as . It 's kind of hard to lead on a narrow groove like that . I'm sure his lap t imes slowed down a little bit once he got in th e le a d. I was still trying to get Jo hnny every lap. My en t ry was slow getting into the corner b e ca u se I w as w ait ing o n Joh n ny getting into the corner. I was being pretty caut ious go ing into t he corners on both ends. I knew they [C a r r and Cool beth] w ere probably doing the same t h ing to me that I was doing to Johnny. Chris made a clean pass on me on the outs ide. We were brake checking so early going int o the co rn e r." On lap 22, Carr was able to slide around the o uts ide of Kopp in turn three, and he im m e di a te ly began to challenge Murphree for the lead , going into turn one. " I got a great run coming off fou r," Carr said . "Johnny wasn't getting the same great drive off the corne r in the le ad as he was when he was in second . Part of that is a drafti ng thing, I just got a really good ru n. He slippe d a litt le coming off of fou r. I t hin k it was a combination of I got Hart Take!i "the Ti"tle Lo mbard i's Harley- Davidson/Schott's Harley-D avidso n's Chris Hart came from behind to win the Harley-D avidso n Spo rtster Perfo rmance main event at Scioto Dow ns, and in doin g so the New Yorker-turned-Califom· ian clinched his first career AMA Nat ional title . lima Harle y-Davidso n's Scott Stum p picked up where he left off at the Springfield m ile as he push ed his Sportster into the lead . TItle co ntenders Scott Scherb (Doc's Harley-Da vidso n/Jim Wagner) and Hart were exchanging sec o nd as the y ran do wn Stump, At the halfway po int, Scherb took ove r the lead. Sche rb had to beat Hart to keep his chan ces o f repeating as class cha m pion, but o n lap I I Hart made an inside move on him as they entered t um one. Hart took the lead and went o n to win. " It was good racing today with Scott Scherb and Scott Stump," Hart said. "Th ey were racing real hard. It was just trying to pick your time to make a move where you 're not going to ge t yourself into a bunch of trouble . You don' t want to skid off the groove. If you can't get all the way by them, you Chris Hart bagged his fourth win of the season don't wa nt to push anybody down either. I knew I was going pre tty fast . I sat and clinched the HDSP National Championship back and waited it out. I got anxious at the e nd . I said, 'It's time to go .' Scott at Columbus. Sche rb was the o ne I was racing w ith all day toda y. I knew in orde r to lock it up, I had to beat him today to get that extra po int. It happen ed to be for first and sec on d, so it was a pretty good show." Stum p w as able to hold on to third ove r F&S Harley-D avidso n/KK Sup ply's Ricky Marshall and Doc's Har ley-Davidson/ Illinois Buell's Merle Sche rb. HARLEY·DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE MAIN ( 12 lap" 17 ";de ,,), I. Ch ris Hart; 2. Scott \chert>; 3. Scott Stump; 4. Ricky MaM all; S. Merle Scheri>; 6. Josh Toungett; 1. Robe rt l ewi s: 8. C layton Riggle; 9. Shawn aaer; 10. Brian Vincent; II . Travis Sprong; 12. Chris Klinefelter, 13. Brian Phillips; 14 . Darren Ca rter; 15. Shane FOK; 16. J ohn e1arl<; 17. Broondon Laorsen. Time : 5 min., 56.135 sec. HARLEY .DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 7 of 8 rounds) : I. Chris Hart (1"014 wins); 2. Scott Scherb (II ]) ; 3. Robe rt Lewis (96); 4. Scott Slum p (84/1 wi n): 5. Ricky MaMall (79/1 win); 6 . Merle Scher b (14); 7. Cory McDennitt (6 7/1 win); B. Josh Tou ngen (60) ; 9. [er ern y De ruyt ..- (56); 10. Shawn 80..- (46) ; II. Brandon Laurse n (" S); 12. Br ian Vincen c (" 2); 13. Dan Stan ley (3"); I" . John Oark (32); 15. Travis Sprong (26); 16. (TIE) William Seyle/Brett PAnkey (25); 18. Clayton Ri gle (2"); 19. g Brian Krom ro y ( IS); 20 . Rick Winsett ( IS). www.cyclenews.com Chris Carr's pass o f Johnny Murphree certainly ruffled some feathers , most notably Joe Kopp's, " He [Carr] just drove it un der Johnny a lot hard e r than I thought he should have in turn on e ," Ko pp said. "It's a move I could have don e to Johnny 10 times ove r. I was n't going to push him off the groove. If you can make that pass , it's fine, but you don't need to push your buddy off the groove to do it. If he and Johnny cou ld have both stayed on the groove the n that would have been a clean pass, but obviously Jo hnny couldn't stay o n the groove. There was no bumping involved . What's John ny going to do? He's no t go ing to bang back. C hris is the one tha t fo rced the issue . [o hnny had nowhe re to go but o ff the groove. If that' s the way that C hris wants to rid e to be the cham pion , then he can be it because I'm not going to ride like that to be the cham pion . C hris wasn't going to wait fo r that little mistake . He was going to force it . I'm probably madder about it than Johnny is." It did seem Joe Kopp was madder than Johnny Mu rphree, who was more d isa ppointed than ma d. "He [Carr] just go t by me there at t he e nd," Murp hree said. "If I wouldn't have left room, he wouldn't have made it. He wasn't going to pass on the outside . This racetrack was so treacherous that yo u can't try to go fast . You have to just try to maintain if you're out front . If you 're beh ind, you have to try to make that guy make a mistake. The only mista ke I made was leaving room on the straightaway. I didn't mess up in the comer rea l bad . He got a better run on me right there. I was just d riving aro und, didn't have a clue where anybo dy was . He go t just e no ugh of a run on me w he n we go t to that part of th e st ra ightaway. I left a little bit of an o pen ing, and he came up through there. If I wouldn't have left the doo r open, he woul dn't have gotten by. These little skidder, o ne -line grooves, I can make stuff work. I took care of business up to the point of le tt ing C hris by, then I just handed it to them. I o nly feel bad that I gave up points on Kenny. We coul d have at least bee n even in the points now." Th e first semi saw Jes s Roede r and Cory McDennitt fight their way into a National main for the first time this year. McD e rm itt was making his second start aboard on the Moto rcyclist Po st Racing entry fo rmerly occupied by the late Aaron Creamer. Finishing right behind Roeder and McD e rm itt was Kevin Atherton, who was forced to bo rrow a bike from t he Motorcyclist Post Team after his own bike failed during qualifying. Roede r had his own agenda as he is still coming off ea rly season injur ies. "Th is was about my last chance to make a N ation al and save my National num ber 94," Roed e r said. " It was Dad's [the late George Roede r] number and I wasn't going to lose it." Sadly, it was learned t his week that former longt ime AHA official Vickie Faraci lost her lengthy bat tle w ith cancer. Fara ci served as a score r and her husband, Steve, as the race starter during the many years the cou ple spe nt on the AHA Grand Nat io nal tra il. CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 19