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/128390
AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship AGAI at Hagerstown JOE KOPP LANDS SECOND GNC WIN IN AS MANY ROUNDS STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAVE HOENIG/FLATTRAKFOTOS.COM -n e AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship kicked off the second half of the 2005 season with the Hub-City Classic at the Hagerstown Speedway. The large crowd was greeted with typically hot and humid weather and hot and heavy action on the smooth, wide-grooved half mile. Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned Ford's Chris Carr is working on his fifth consecutive Grand National Championship - a feat only accomplished by Scott Parker, when he strung together titles from 1994 through 1998. During the early stages of 2005, Carr appeared to be on his way, but lately Kenny Coolbeth and Joe Kopp have been chipping away at the champ's lead. The 25-lap National started much like the season has gone. Carr jumped out to a qUick lead and settled in. Latus HarleyDavidson/Jones Powersports' Joe Kopp was second, but he couldn't seem to gain any ground on the leader. The Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson's Rich King held down third, over the surprising Shawn Clark and his Cayuga Tool & Die/Top Gun Performance/Jeff IrvingSJS backed Harley-Davidson, and Racing/Tramontin Racing's Paul Lynch. Around the midpoint of the race, Kopp started to make up ground, as King and KTM/Mid-America Harley-Davidson/Jones Powersports' Kenny Coolbeth closed up the gap on him. "In the first corner, I thought, 'Second is where I want to be' - I'd rather follow him for a while and figure him out," Kopp said. "The first two laps, he gapped me pretty big, and I thought that was too much of a gap. We stayed there and I couldn't make any ground up. I didn't know if I could chase him down or not. "We were staying real consistent for quite a few laps; then I looked back and saw somebody coming," Kopp said. "I looked back a couple laps later, and they were coming more. I thought, 'I've got to go, because these guys are coming.' I pushed it a little bit more and tried some different lines that he [Carr] wasn't using. At first, I was following him pretty much and staying consistent with him. So I tried some outside lines that were working bet- 36 AUGUST 10, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS ter. Once I saw that I was making up a little bit of ground on him, I was really happy; I thought, 'I'm going to get this guy.' By the time I caught up to him, I heard motors on my butt." Just as suddenly as Kopp caught Carr, he was by and into the lead on lap 19. "I knew I had to get by him and get out of there, because I knew somebody was on my butt - I just didn't know who," said Kopp. "I was thinking in the back of my head it was probably Rich, because he was going good all night. I really didn't think it was Kenny, because he was kind of struggling earlier." Kopp said that once he got in the lead, he was going for it. "There was a couple times I about lost my front end on the last couple laps," Kopp said. "I told myself I would either win it or lay it down, and I thought, 'Oh no, don't lay it down!' I had to push hard to win this one." Kopp said that once he got into the lead, he never looked back once. "I knew there was somebody there," Kopp said. "Why do you need to look? You can hear them. Chris has a bad habit sometimes of looking back. He probably looked back at me six or seven times in the five laps before I passed him. That messes with your head. 1 thought, 'Oh, I've got him. Keep looking, because here I come.' When you see a guy like Chris look back, you know he's in trouble. If he looks back and is getting away from me, that's one thing, but if he looks back and I'm catching him, then I know it's blowing his confidence."