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/128344
Transponders rather than scratch heats were used to qualifythe riders , with the second and third of the three practice sessions being timed to seed the field for the I0-1ap heats. The top six times were as follows: I. J.R.Schnabel ( 11.1 93 sec.); 2. Henry Wiles (11.2 15 sec.); 3. Steve Murray (11.250 sec.); 4. Donnie Mullen (11 .253 sec.); 5. Ch ris Carr ( 11.277 sec.); 6. Johnny Murphree (11.299 sec.). Despite some of them havingto trad e the lead before winning their heats, all six ride rs did win them to land a front-row start for the main. Despite posting the faste st qualifying time during the timed qualifying sessions, J.R. Schnabel said that he was not as co nfident as he might oth erwise have been leading into the night's program. "We' re cutt ing co nsiste ntly fast laps, and that's important, but o n th ese little tracks you have to get off that start ing line . If we get off to a good sta rt, th en we'll be pretty tough to beat , but there is a handful of guys w ho are do ing abo ut the same times we are, and to pick it up any mo re than that is going to be tough. The IMDA is working the track and making it a cushio n. so that makes me smile . Th ey want to see goo d racing and see us put o n good show for the fans, and I know that we'll do that ton ight." Unfortunate ly fo r Schnabel, he cam e ou t on the losing end of that goo d show. Mike Hacker was sporti ng a he lme t cam all weekend at Du Qu oin, gathering footage for one of his spon sor s, Trident Films, which produc es a line of dirt trac k and Harley-Davidson cruiser-base d video s. "We're just trying to get as much footag e as we can th is weekend, th en we'll see what happe ns with it from there." Chris Carr said that he is getting mor e and more co mfortab le w ith his KTM SX505 motoc ross-based single. At the Du Quo in Short Track, that was the machine that Carr electe d to ride in the race - perhaps more out of choice than necessity this time. "This is only our fourth time o n it, and the first time was on concrete , so that does n't really coun t," Carr said. "We fee l good on it. Th is is the type of environment where it's not so much about horsepower and not so much about having a fiat track-framed bike. It's about pointing and shooti ng, and motocross bikes do tha t well." His ow n eighth- place finish com bined with th e fact that rival Rob Pearson failed to make the Du Q uoin Sho rt Track meant that Jared Me es clinched th e Ricky Graham Rookie of the Ye ar award. "That was one of o ur goals - that and to finish in th e to p 10, and we clinched both of tho se ton ight," Mees said. "It feels so good now that the pressure is off. It [Rookie of the Year] will really look good on th e res umes. I rea lly have to thank my whole team, Johnn y Goad especially, but also Lancaster Harle yDavidson, Saddlemen Racing and also Mo ntgom eryville Cycles for all their sup port. 1think that we're going to have a really strong program next year, and I do n't know what my goals w ill be next year, but I do know that one of them will be to make the top five. We can do that. We have to be con sisten t every week and get good starts. I'm going to train extra hard th is seaso n. Everybody thinks th is gets easier and easier, but it' s going to be toug he r and tou gher, so we wan t to co me out strong next year." Carr did what he needed to loc k up his title early. Carr won his heat race and appeared to be in conte nt ion for the win when he stalled his ma chi ne in one of the co rners and slipped fro m fifth-place to las t place on th e open ing lap . "It's unfort una te that I stalled the bike an d the thing just kind of slid o ut on me but, hey, t hat's th e w ay it goes. T hat 's the nature o f indoo r rac ing. Anything ca n happen. Th at could just as easily have ha ppened in my heat race and ru ine d my night. But We ha d a good heat race and did what we needed to do. It was kind of disap point ing fro m th at poi nt on, but we picke d a good t ime to have a bad night ." Bad night o r not, the 37- ye ar- o ld Pe nnsylvanian became o nly the third m an in AMA G ra nd Natio nal history to lan d four conse cutive se ries t itle s. C arroll Reswe ber (195 8 thro ugh 196 1) and Scott Parke r ( 1988 thro ugh 199 1) bo t h ea rned fou r consecutive titl e s during t he ir ca reers, wi t h Par ker go ing on to win another five consecutive titles ( 1994 th rough 1998) before retiring in 1999 . T hat's a mark C arr Jared Mees might have finished higher in the main event, but unfortu nate ly he was involved in a crash just after th e red flag was th rown for the Hen ry Wiles/J.R. Schnabe l incident. "I was reallyfeeling goo d, but then Murp hree got a litt le sideway s and snapped back, and as he did he just took my handle bars away from me completely, and I got ran ove r," Mees said. "We had the restart, and I picked off ftve guys by just ro lling arou nd everybody. It started to get rea lly brushed off, and I was riding to aggressive. I got calmed down and got it going." will be hopi ng to equal during t he 2005 season.eN Du Du QUOIN STATE FAIRGROU NDS QUOIN, ILLINOIS RESULTS: SEPTEMBER 24, 2004 (ROUND 16) GRAND NATIONAL (30 la ps; 16 riders): I. Jake Johnson (He n): 2. J.R. Schnabel (Yam); 3. Kenny Coolbeth (KTM); 4. Joe Kopp (KT M) ; S. Johnny Murphree (Hon); 6 . Jethro Halbert (Hon); 7. A J. Eslick (Suz): 8. Jared Mees (Hon): 9. Donnie Mullen (Hon); 10. Bryan Bigelow (Hon ); I I. Paul Lynch (Hon); 12. Hen ry Wiles (Hon) ; I] . Shane Vance (Hon); 14. Shaun Russe (Rot); 15. Chris Carr (KTM); 16. Steve Murray (KTM). ll Ti me: Race was red flagged . Marg in of victory: 1.266 sec. AMA PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE FLAT TRACK CHAMPI· O NSHIPS SERIES STAN DIN GS (After 16 of 17 rounds): l. Chris Ca rr (282/6 wins); 2. Joe Ko pp (24912 wins); 3. Ke nny Coolbeth (221/1 w in): " . John ny Murphr ee (2 12/ 1 win): 5. Ja ke Johnson (16 3/ 1 win); 6. J.R. Schnabel ( 154/3 wins) ; 7. Mike Hacker ( 12 1); 8. Willie McCo y ( 119); 9. Ja red Mees ( 115); 10. Shaun Russe ll ( I09); II . Rob Pea rson (87): 12. (TlE) Geo Roeder II (83 )/Bryan Smith (8 3); 14. Bryan Bige low (79); 15. Rich King (7211 wi n); 16. Jay Springst een (66); 17. Kevin Athe rton (54); 18. Terry Poov ey (53): 19. (TIE) Pa Lynch (50)/Chri , Han (50). ul www.cyclenews.com For his part , Rob Pe a rson was disappointed about the outcome of the rookie battle, but the Illinois rider re mained upbeat about his seaso n. "I tho ught that comi ng to this sho rt track we wou ld do a litt le bit bett er because this is my style of racetrack, but indoors is a litt le bit different deal, " Pearso n said. "I definitely didn't get the starts I needed, and I didn't have what it took. So I'm just going to go out tomo rrow on the mile and fini sh as I high as I can because I rea llydon't have anything to lose . I wan t to congratulate Jared. He definitely rode a great season . I wish I could have given him a litt le bit better contest for it [Rookie of the Year] than I did, but I guess I'll just have to finish it up by finishing in the to p five next year. We got th ingsgoing this year, and next season shou ld be eve n bett er for us." Speakingof roo kies of the year, 1995 Rookie of the Year Pau l Morgan III was on hand at the Du Quoin Short Track,though just as a spectator. "I only live45 minutes from here ," Morgan said. Now 27 and married with two children, Morgan works at Engineering Fluids of Centralia, Illinois, a builder of boost pump stations for water supplies. "I missevery minute of this, but I just don't want to do it part time . IfI could do it fulltime, I'd be back tomorrow." CYCLE NEWS • O aOBER 6 , 20 04 25