Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Motivated to keep himself in the championship title hunt, Coolbeth drafted his way into the lead by turn three and then attempted to break away. He would lead the first nine laps of the race, putting nearly half a straightaway on his pursuers by lap five. "I had my head down, and I wanted to break away, but I didn't think it would work," Coolbeth said. "It came down to about the seventh or eighth lap, and I looked back, and they were quite a ways behind me." While it appeared as though Carr, McCoy, King and Russell got a little extra busy trying to run Coolbeth down at first, eventually they began to line up and reel him in. Carr said that he didn't expect that Coolbeth was capable of getting away for the entire race. "I had moved into second and was giving it a half-hearted effort at chasing him down simply because I didn't want to overcook my tire too early," Carr said. "Then Rich came by me, and I followed him for a few laps, and he was tending to eat into Kenny's gap, so I was content to follow Rich until we got to him. We were almost there when he had his problem." Just when it appeared as though the pack had caught Coolbeth, his championship hopes were derailed when his Harley-Davidson XR750 threw its chain coming off turn four on lap nine. Coolbeth was out of the race, all but handing Carr the championship right there. Coolbeth's DNF not only mathematically eliminated him but also dropped him into a points deadlock with Kopp, the outcome of which will be decided at the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship series-finale Du Quoin Mile on the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois on October I. "That's real shitty luck, but it's just one of them things," Cool beth said. "You've just got to keep your head up and move on to the next race. The championship chase is over. Now I want to win Du Quoin." When Coolbeth fell by the wayside, Carr realized that the title was practically in the bag, and this gave him a 135-mph moment of pause to contemplate his strategy. "I went for about four or five laps thinking, 'Well, I can just ride around now. This thing needs to hold together, and I've Briefly... While Chris Carr said that winning Springfield is always sweet, he added: "There's only one win right now that would be sweeter, and that's to win Peoria at my age. It's a different race now than it was. It's a different environment, different equipment... Right now that would be the only win sweeter than Springfield for me personally." Chris Carr's seventh championship title was a timely one, as he has yet to begin negotiations with Ford for the 2006 season. "It's always a year-to-year situation," Carr said. "While I have to explore all opportunities, I certainly want to stay with Ford. They are a great series sponsor, and they are a great team sponsor. I believe they have helped put people in the stands through different types of promotions than we have seen in the past, and I hope to be able to be with them again next year." While his main event didn't go as well, Reggie Amos Custom Homes Inc.'s Tim Eades was impressive in his heat race at Springfield, as he battled none other than Chris Carr, Willie McCoy and Jay Springsteen, staying in the draft with them for a few laps before suffering an engine failure. Nevertheless, Eades was there. "It was really good today," Eades said. "I was running close to them in my heat race, and then I let them get away a little bit, but I had a pace with them. Then the bike dropped to one cylinder. I had to get on my backup bike, and I just squeaked into the main event. Hopefully we can get things together for Du Quoin. I'm shooting for 17th Dn the points standings), which would by my first time in the top 20." One rider just shooting to not shoot himself is Johnny Murphree, who was once again uncharacteristically off pace at Springfield. Even when a bad day means finishing eighth on the mile, Murphree ii tired of all the bad days he has been having. "It's just typical of my whole summer, you know?" Murphree said. "The bike feels slow, and it feels like it doesn't handle, and that's stuff it has always done good here. We'll start over next year. We've still got Du Quoin to struggle through, and hopefully I'll get some stuff figured out between now and then. I haven't done anything different [this year) ... I don't even know... I feel like I'm riding better than I ever have this year, and yet Iget on the Harley and Isuck. There's a certain amount of flow that has to go on in your life and in your pit area, and it's not happening for me right now." King (80) leads Carr, McCoy and Russell in the late going. King's third-place finish backed up his victory at the May running of the Springfield Mile. got to stay out of trouble,'" Carr said. "But I felt comfortable with the guys we were running with right there at the end. I had dropped back to fifth, and I took a look back and saw that we weren't being pressured from behind, so with five laps to go I started to inch back toward the front." Not content to win merely by default, Carr continued to swap the lead with King, Russell, McCoy and Kopp, and a drafting war - the kind that the Springfield Mile is famous for - ensued after the fivelap board came out. As has been his custom during his sev- eral Springfield Mile wins, King led Russell, Carr, Kopp and McCoy off turn four, but the Iowan gassed his factory-backed XR just a little too much and spun the rear tire, forcing him to drop toward the inside edge of the groove on the final run to the stripe. "I thought I had it all set up," King said. "I just got a little squirrelly off of tum four. I've won it that way before. I remember when Kevin Atherton led it off turn four and got all sideways. That time, I said, 'Thank you.' This time I wasn't saying, 'Thank you.' Coming off turn four, I tried to pull it down low, but there was a little Jay Springsteen said that he will be at Du Quoin. In fact, Springer's schedule might wear out a lot of younger guys. ""m going to Colorado to road-race a Triumph next weekend; then, the weekend after, that I'm going to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to road race there; then I'm going to take a couple days off at home; and then go to Du Quoin; and then go to Barber in Alabama for another road race," Springer said all in one breath. "Then I'm going down to Australia, and I'm taking Nick Cummings with me. I was supposed to go to New Zealand, but that fell through. I had 50 much fun today, racing with Carr and everybody else. I had a ball, talking to myself as the race went on, and I was grinning. I still get that adrenaline rush going. I got the heebies in my hand a little bit, but I enjoyed it. The way I feel, I don't think I'll ever quit." Continued on page 4 J CYCLE NEWS. SEPTEMBER 14,2005 39

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