Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Coolbeth used the last four laps to close the gap on Kopp dramatically, but it was too late to mount a real challenge. American Suzuki's Jake Johnson hovered around and came away with a fifthplace finish when he passed Shawn Clark on lap 19. Ciarik was able to hold on to sixth, over the battered Jared Mees, who had been forced to pick up his Saddlemen/Lancaster Harley-Davidson-backed Harley in the third semi and claw his way into the main via a second-place finish. Bartels' Harley-Davidson/Rock Springs L&T's Jay Springsteen took some time away from his vintage road racing and fishing to grab an eighth-place finish. Lynch slipped to ninth, over Reggie Amos Custom Homes' Tim Eades, who grabbed his first top-10 finish of the year. Coolbeth, who sits second in the points race, had struggled all night. He finished fifth in his heat race, but he came back to win his semi for a third-row start in the main. Coolbeth hit turn one in 14th position, but by lap three he was fifth. Two laps later, he worked his way past Clark and headed after King. Carr then had his hands full with King and the driven Coolbeth. "I tried," Carr said. "We had a bike that was real good the first half of the race. I just wasn't as good at the end as those guys. They gobbled me up. The bike wasn't working as good as it did earlier. When Joe came by me, I probably got a little excited with the throttle, and that made things a little bit worse. I thought I had found something, and then Coolbeth got by me. All the rhythm that I had was gone, and I'm a rhythm racer. I didn't have any rhythm at the end. I had two left feet." Carr said that he didn't realize it was Coolbeth who was closing on him. 'That's a heck of a ride from the third row on this racetrack," Carr said. "He must have had some really good laps early. He certainly appeared to be the fastest guy here at the end, he and Rich both. I feel like if I hadn't been in their way, they may have been able to catch him [Kopp]. Rich scooted up under me in turn three and four on the white-flag lap. We were good, we just weren't as good as they were at the end. That's what people want to see." Coolbeth admitted the he made things tough on himself by starting from row three. "I was behind the eight ball, but by the main event we found the setup," Coolbeth said. "I looked up ahead in the main event and thought, 'Wow, I have a tough row to hoe.' I put my head down and got a pretty good start. I don't know where I ended up coming off the line, but I was on the inside and it benefited me." Coolbeth took third away from King on lap 21 and disposed of Carr one lap later. "I passed them going into turn three," Cool beth said. "Rich was kind of slowing me up a little, and once I got by him, I kind of checked out. I just put my head down and started zeroing in on Joe and Chris. I knew I had something for those guys by that time." In the middle of all this action, King was holding his own. "I was nipping away at Joe," King said. "I would reel him in and get close, and then I would make a mistake and drop back. I would catch him again and then drop back. Kenny was all over me. Once Kenny got by me, I just couldn't get both of them. Kenny and I were going at it good. He was better in some spots, and then I was better. We were pretty close, and I just made a couple mistakes. The second one I made, he got by me." King said that he didn't feel like he was getting into turn three hard enough. "I ran it in there like a madman one time, and 1didn't think I was going to get it turned," King said. "That cost me quite a bit. At that time, I was running third, and I wanted to win the thing, so I tried to pick the pace up. This is a track where you just really have to keep your momentum and keep your head under you. I just got in a little hot a couple of times, and it cost me." HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE NATIONAL Lima Harley-Davidson/Jeff Eibling/Widman Motorcycle Sales' Scott Stump dominated the Harley-Davidson Sportster Performance class as he set fast heat time and led every lap of the 12-lap National. Stump's young protege, Mom & Dad/Scott Stump/Pingel-backed Brian Phillips, locked on to second and rode 12 perfect laps, while Doc's HarleyDavidson/Jim Wagner's Merle Scherb, F&S Harley-Davidson/KK Supply's Ricky Marshall and Harv's Harley-Davidson Racing's Chris Hart dueled over third, and Marshall came out on top, over Hart and Scherb. Simpson Helmets/C&F Machine's Robert Lewis, Gutterridge HarleyDavidson/Reiman's Harley-Davidson's Josh Toungett and KK Supply/F&S HarleyDavidson's A.J. Eslick finished sixth through Country Harleyeighth. Low Davidson/Stokes Automotive Group's William Seyle and Patriot HarleyDavidson/West Bend Harley-Davidson's Jeremy Deruyter rounded out the top 10. After posting his second win of the year, Briefly... jared Mees was one of many "East Coasters" who considers Hagerstown Speedway to be his "home track," but the week didn't go as well as last year's Rookie of the Year would have liked. "On Thursday, I was motocrossing and pinched my neck up:' said Mees as he showed off a large bruise. "I hurt my neck pretty good. I don't think I broke anything; it's just sore." Things didn't get much better as the night went on. "We tried some new frames tonight:' Mees said. "It was kind of the wrong place to try them, I think. We made a few changes and put restrietors in the bike. We thought we had them in, and we didn't, so we made a little mistake there. In the semi, I was feeling really comfortable and got taken out." Mees got tangled up and fell hard in the last semi. Mees remounted, made the restart and finished second to get the last transfer into the National. "We're still in the top five in points:' Mees said. "I know Joe and Kenny got some points on us, but we still have half the year to go. We just need to keep going the way we are going and we'll be all right." Kenny Coolbeth is a man on a mission, and that mission is the AMA Flat Track Championship. ''I'm chasing a dream, pretty much," he said. "Will Davis had the Tshirts made, and I can't say it any better than that. I want to beat Chris fair and square. I don't want him to have a DNF or have him not make a main event. I want to race him to see if I can do it." Joe Kopp said that he)s really looking forward to next week's race at Farley, Iowa. "I think I have a heck of a shot there:' Kopp said. "Last year, I think I was fast qualifier; then I threw myself on the ground really hard in turn four in my heat race. I'm just looking forward to getting a little redemption this year. I'm going to just keep going for it. We've got a few more half miles. Half miles are definitely my strong point. There are a lot of good races coming up." Coziahr Harley-Davidson/National Cycle's johnny Murphree's frustrating season continued at Hagerstown, as a fifth in his heat and a third in his semi left him on the sidelines for the National. Murphree is going to take a break and skip the Farley, Iowa, race to participate in the ESPN X Games Supermoto race. joe Kopp pocketed an extra $1000 as Tom Norton of Lexus of Cherry Hill added to the regular payout of $5305. The points race is tightening. Kenny Coolbeth has crept to within nine points of Chris Carr, while Joe Kopp is still 23 points down. "If I wouldn't have fallen out while leading Lake Odessa and could have gotten 23 points instead of two points, that would have made a big difference:' Kopp said. "I would be two points from the lead right now." CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 10, 2005 37

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