Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship Continued from page 37 After the race, Jake Johnson discussed the differences between his Suzuki RM-Z450, which has a four-speed transmission, and the Hondas, which are five-speeds. "It [the Suzuki] can be a bit of a disadvantage to the Hondas with the five-speeds," Johnson said. "They're able to shift twice down the straightaway. They can get a little bit better jump off the corner, and it's a little easier for them to gear their bikes. We kind of have to either gear it for the jump and right-hander or for the straightaway." who finished 10th after having to come from the third row, is still third, with 153. "I beat the guys I had to beat," Carr said. And Murphree beat Carr, as did johnson, both men getting past Carr in turns one and two. Murphree picked the champ off on lap 23. "I was never riding to my potential all day until that last restart," Murphree said. ':A.fter that, I finally felt I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I was having a problem with the jump and through the right-hander all day until the last little bit of the race, but once I put all that together, I caught Chris [Carr) from like 20 bike lengths in two laps. It was like nothing. After that, we didn't have enough time. Lesson learned, I guess. I really wanted to win the thing, but we were second best to Henry today. We'll be back, and we'll be stronger next week." johnson got Carr a lap later to put his factory-backed Suzuki on the box behind the two privateer Honda men. "It didn't go the way I wanted it to all day," johnson said. "I got second in my heat race, which put me in there, but I really wanted to get on the front row because that's a big advantage here. I just hung in there and stayed as close to johnny [Murphree) as I could. I got alongside of him once there. We ended up going down the front straightaway side by side, and he had a little motor on me." johnson said that his pass on Carr was Former Peoria TI winner Bubba Shobert was on hand for the race, and Shobert, who won the race in 1987, commented that the track hasn't changed a whole lot since his Team Honda days. "The jump is a little smaller, but the surface looks pretty much the same, because they pretty much had all the oil off of it in my day," Shobert said. "It's really a fun race, but because of the heat and humidity, I used to dread coming here. Once the race is going, you don't really notice it though." ''I'm out of the points pretty much," Joe Kopp admitted after his Peoria disaster. "I'm just going for broke now, really. , know Kenny [Coolbeth] is in the points, and now my main goal is to catch Kenny." When asked if he and Coolbeth were still considered teammates, Kopp said, "Oh yeah." But when asked if he would help Coolbeth win the title if he should find himself in the position to do so, Kopp said, "Oh no." Longtime AMA starter Steve Faraci was on hand at the Peoria TT, and not just for a visit this time. Faraci actually served as the miles. "It would be short tracks, TIs and half miles." The premise for the class would be that there would be two number ones, one for 450 and one for the twins class. with the overall Grand National Champion being the top points earner from both classes, although Bober said that the details still need to be ironed out. Dan Stanley explained his absence from the dirt track scene during the summer. "I was going to come back for the summer, but I went to Las Vegas for that World Mini Supercross Championship," Stanley said. "I got a factory ride from Extreme [minicycles1 and went down there and qualified for the Pro deal, and then I crashed in the Stock class and dislocated my shoulder. But I did that, and I've been doing a whole lot of Supermoto. I love Supermoto. In fact, I'm probably going to skip Du Quoin to go to Reno for that finale deaL" Shawn Baer informed Cycle News that his fill-in ride aboard the Carl Patrick-tuned SuperTrapp Harley-Davidsons of Mike Hacker has run its course. The word is that Hacker will be attempting to make a comeback from his shoulder injury at round 12 of the series at Sedalia, Missouri. "I'm keeping SuperTrapp as a side sponsor, but I'll be back aboard the Patriot HarleyDavidson 750s," Baer said. "It will be good to be doing my own program again, like I started out with in Florida." Baer said that while he appreciated the opportunity that Hacker and Patrick gave him, he is happy to see Hacker returning. "Mike will still be coaching me," Baer said. "His bikes were great bikes to be on, but I feel that my bikes are almost as good, and there are starterlflagman in the AMA Grand National some things that we can do with SuperTrapp's help and Mike's help to make them main event for the first time in five years. even beuer." "That felt really good," Faraci said. "I remembered how to count laps and every- thing. I'm just sorry that we had to stop it three times. My arm is killing me. It was nice to get it over with." Faraci said it was a one-time fun deal "for the moment. [AMA Dirt Track manager] Bruce Bober and I have been talking. We'll see." Speaking of Bruce Bober, the series manager shed some light on a proposed 450cc championship class to run in conjunction When all was said and done, Johnny Murphree said that he has no regrets about missing the Farley, Iowa, round of the series in order to participate in the X Games Supermoto in Los Angeles. "It was really educational as far as seeing how they put on a huge production and making a show out of things," Murphree said. "That was definitelya big lesson. And I was riding a 450 for like two solid months to get ready for that event, and now I'm here on a 450." with the GNC class in 2006. "There has been discussion about it," Bober said. "We are going to have a 450 rule [downsizing current 505s to 450cc]. We're almost to the end of the 30-day comment period, and all the comments we've had have been very positive. We're also talking with Harley-Davidson about the role of the Sportsters as well." One concern that some top racers such as Chris Carr have voiced with regard to an increased role of 450s in the series is that the bikes are proving to have a short fuse on larger tracks, most notably on mile tracks. Bober said that any 450cc class would not be run on 38 AUGUST 31,2005 • CYCLE NEWS Paul Lynch reported that he is extremely happy with how things are coming together between him and his new SJS Racing team. "We're gelling up quick," Lynch said. "We had a couple weekends where we missed it by one, but we've made three out of the last four and been inside the top 10. If we can stay inside the top 10, then good things are bound to happen. I just like that James Hart and Paul Saliskar work their tails off and are very enthusiastic. They just want to go out and have fun and do well, obviously."

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