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/128381
the I980s, when it was commonplace to run there. "The only one who could get around the bottom today and make it work was Joe Kopp," King said. "He's an excellent rider when it comes to dry, slick race tracks. He could go around the inside of the corner and go straight to the front. I tried to follow him one time, and I think I was second or third then, and I went back to fourth or so. I didn't go down to the bottom anymore. Joe Kopp and Kenny Coolbeth were really going well through the corners. Of course, Chris [Carr] always goes well." Carr said that the track looked different in the main event. Hit was new for us," Carr said. "With a wider line, you have multiple lines, and everyone is kind of not sure where everyone is going when you go into the corner. You could enter in a IS-foot area, and we're normally going into about a four-foot patch and clipping the guardrail and trying to do things from there. What we had was a 50- or 60-foot-wide racetrack in the corners. It's basically 15 times wider than what we normally run. That was a track that we had in the '80s. It was an '80s-style racetrack today. There was probably more moisture off the groove in turns three and four. Here, there were patches. If you went too high, you got into a bunch of dust and that lit it up. But there were some patches of moisture that we were all aiming for, especially late in the race." (Above) Winner King (center) holds his hard-earned victory tror.hy high, while runner-up Carr (left) ooks on and third-placed Coolbeth (right) looks elsewhere. (Above) Corr (I) grobbed the holeshot ot the stort of the 2S-lap moin, fending oH King (80), Kevin Atherton (23), Joe Kopp (3) and Jake Johnson (14). Atherton and Johnson would drop back, while King, Carr, Coolbeth and Kopp formed the bulk of the lead pack. The first lap saw King leading sentimental favorite Bartels' Harley-Davidson/ Rock Springs-backed Jay Springsteen, who was followed by Team Suzuki Flat Track/Parts Unlimited's Jake Johnson, Carr, Mid-American Harley-Davidson/ Jones Powers ports' Coolbeth, Latus Harley-Davidson/Jones Powersports' Kopp and Gerencer's Harley-Davidson/ Kerstings Cycle's Kevin Atherton. Lap two saw Joe Kopp put his Harley on the rail and into the lead. Atherton followed the outside path and led the third lap as the top 10 pretty much made up the lead pack. After lap eight, Atherton's race deteriorated, and he eventually went a lap down. In typical Springfield fashion, positions were exchanged all around the track, lap after lap. King was back to the front for four laps until Bartels' HarleyDavidson/TNT Action Sports' Shaun Russell grabbed the lead for a lap. "The track was big, bigger than we are normally used to," Russell said. "We were maybe a little short on gearing. I had a hard time passing people. I was able to stay up front. I kind of lost some ground there the last couple laps." Moroney's Harley-Davidson's Bryan Smith inserted himself into the mix at the front, while Coziahr Harley-Davidson/ National Cycle's Johnny Murphree fought it out with Johnson, Saddlemen/Lancaster Harley-Davidson's Jared Mees and Team Suzuki Flat Track/Parts Unlimited's Kevin Varnes. As the laps wound down, it was still anybody's race, with seven riders within striking distance of the win. The white flag greeted Coolbeth, Kopp, Carr, King, Russell, Springsteen and Smith. Every position changed on the last lap. The wily veteran King came out on top, with Carr and Cool beth in his pocket, and Russell, Kopp, Smith and Springsteen in the lead pack. "I had planned to just try to stay at the front," King said. "I knew where I was struggling. I actually went into the lead on the last lap going into one. I really didn't want the lead there. I wanted to get into second. "Those guys - Coolbeth, Kopp and Carr - went in there three abreast, and when I came along, that was four," King said. "I was way down on the bottom. Everybody was getting a little out of shape. I had to cut a lot of the racetrack off to stay away from everybody. It got kind of tight there for a second." CYCLE NEWS. JUNE 8, 2005 31