Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MY OWN RACE 31 Kenny Coolbet h 6th Cool beth figured into the battle for second for much of the race before a mistake cost him his shot at the podium. "Kevin was in a to tallydiffe ren t ballpark, but I was leading the sec ond pack there, and I just screwed up one time in turn one , we nt way high," Coolbeth said. "I fell abou t 10 lengths beh ind the pack, and by the time I caught them there was two laps to go, and I couldn't rea llydo anything with them. It was good. Now we'll go this winter and ride on the ice and snowmobile, and train hard to do the same thing all ove r again." 3 Joe Kopp 8th Another early contender in the draft for second, Kopp said that he had trou ble keepi ng his rear w heel und er him go ing into the tu rns fo r the wh o le race . "That was messing my w hole tum afte r that," Kopp said. " I got a good start, and I thought that maybe I had som ething for Kevin, but he started checking out on us right away. I got shuffled back to sixth or seventh, and the n it was all I could do to hang with them . We made a couple changes for the main event , and I think we went backwards, thinking that the track was going to be a litt le mor e mo ist than it was. All in all, it was a good 2004 for me , and I'm looking forward to ge tti ng to wo rk in the off-season for sure ." 73 Larry Pegram 12th "That was fun," Pegram said after riding the Aprilia in its first GNC main eve nt outing, the machine's impressive straightaway speeds helping Pegram's run. "They've made a lot of changes to the bike, some that I suggeste d and some that they did the mselves. There we re just a lot of changes made before we came here, some chassis and suspension stuff, and now it's a lot better bike. It we nt from be ing an unrideable bike that was hooking up but was bucking yo u all aroun d to a bike w here you can pick you r foot up from the middle of the co mer and just ride it off. No w we just have to get it to hoo k up so me mor e . It wasn't even a race bike before , but now it's a race bike that does n't want to put the power to the ground. But once it does , it kind of goes by people down the straightaway. [laughs) It wears you out, though . I'm pretty tired right now." 69 Nick Cumm ings 13th The 17-year-old son of forme r Kevi n Atherton, Dan Butler and Will Davis tearn ow ner Tom Cummings was impre ssive at Du Quoin, making the main event in his first career GNC mile start . "It was definitely intense," Cummings said. "Jim Kellyand Joe Bisha offered me a bike to ride this weekend, and I really couldn't turn it dow n. We don't own one . It was good . In the sem i, Johnny and I talked , and he just to ld me to follow him to see how he was going. I learned a lot from him, Springer, Kopp and Carr toda y. I'm just overwhelmed. When my dad started our race team [fCR] in 1994, I was B-years-old, and I looked up to all those guys as my heroes. Now to be racing with them is weird. I'm really happy with my performance tonight. I was just trying to do cons iste nt laps. run the same lines over and over. Your first National, you' ve got to learn how to stay in the draft, and I didn't get to stay in the dra ft. They broke away." "We we re too busy racing wit h each o ther in the corners. I th ink that we might have been able to run him dow n, but the n I th ink he had a litt le bit in reserve too . He was flat flyin' all day. Kevin was just on a differen t pla net." Ca r r tho ught he could swoop King at t he line, but he just ca me up sho rt. "Springe r' s bike didn't seem to be ru nning very good on the big end, and I d idn't t hink that he would have a very good cha nce to draft at the line ," Ca rr said . "Rich went low and Jay went high, and I just go t a big, mean draft off Rich when Jay cleared. I dove the inside o f Rich and just came up fou r inches sho rt. It was a great season. We ended it on a decent no te and now we'll start w orking ne xt w ee k for ne xt year." Patien ce was the virtue t hat netted Springsteen fourth place at the finish. "With five to go I was just pacing myself, hang ing right wi th them, and they were kind of bunching up an d go ing ba ck and forth, so I just had to wisk it around the o utsid e o f 'e m ," Springsteen said . "I tho ught that I was goi ng to be able to draft Rich at the line. I started going to the inside of him and then I decided to go to the outside of him . I think t hat littl e bit o f a weave that I made there cost me from be ing on the box. 01' Carr, he just came sailing right by. That' s how clo se it was. Kevin w as just gone. It was great to see. I'm hap py for him because he has been having so many pro blems . Jim Kelly builds his mo tor too, and he had a pretty darn good w on in there tonight. There we re no issues with t ires tonight. We still had quite a bit le ft on ours at the end." Rather than land on the podium, Murphree was fifth, another personally disappointing finish for the California-mile star, who is stillseeking his first win in the discipline. "We made a couple changes before the final and d id some pretty cool stuff, and set it up to go good up against the fluff - kind o f where Kevin was running, if I co uld have seen him ," Murphree said . "I got through traffic rea lly qu ick, running that on-the-gas high line up against the cushio n, and our bike was just awesome. I think that was the bes t mile bike I have ever had . It just sucks t hat we coul dn't race with Kevin for the le ad . Even befo re his t ire went off... He had st retched it out right away, an d then when I got to the fron t , he did n't ga p us anymore. We were just getting in each othe r 's way. I could have raced with him fro m the fron t , but not coming fro m the th ird row and not w ith th e start that I got. As hard as he went right from the get-go, that's his specialty." Coolbe th was sixth , ahead of Smit h and Kopp . Then there w as a gap ba ck to SuperTrapp/Moroney's Cycle s' Mike Hacker, who ran ninth after battling severe tractio n problems. Ba rtels' HarleyDavidso n/C usto m C hro me 's Shaun Russell co mpleted the to p 10 . Also of note was the first G rand National main event sta rt of an Aprilia- powered moto rcycle. Dirt tracker-turnedroad race r Larry Pegra m won his semi aboard the Lloyd Racing-bu ilt Aprilia Mille, and he went on to finish a solid 12th abo ard the mac hine in the main eve nt . eN Du Du QUOIN STATE FAIRGROUN DS QUOI N, IWNOIS R ESULTS: SEPTEMBER 2S, 2004 (ROUND 17) GRAND NAT iONAL (2 5 la ps ; 18 riders ): I. Kevin Atherton (H· D); 2. RKh K;ng (H-D); J. C.... Cerr (H-D); <. Jay Springsteen (H-D); 5. Johnny Murphree (H-D); 6. Kenny Ccct beth (H-D); 7. Bryan Smith (H-D); 8. Joe Kopp (H-D); 9. Mike Hacker (H-D): 10. Shaun Russell (H-D); I I. Willie McCoy (H· D); 12. Lmy Pegram (Apr); IJ . NKk Cumm;ngs (H. D); 1<. Te ")' Poovey (H-D); IS. Geo Beede- II (H· D); 16. J:ved Mees (H. D); 17. Joke Johnson (H-D); 18. Rob Pearson (H-D). TIme: 14 min., 45 sec. M argi n of vict ory: 1.267 sec. AMA PROGRESS IVE INSURANCE FLAT T RAC K CH AMPIONSH IPS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (AIte< 17 of 17 rounds): I. Qv;s Carr (29816 wms ); 2. Joe Kopp (26012";ns); J. KennyCooIbeth(23411 win) ; <. johnny Mu

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