Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~I F ormula U S A,/VVr e n c h e a d .c om N atio n a l D irt T r a c k S e r ie s R oun d 1 : T e x a s Motor Spe e d w a y a ll ri g ht. Th at w a s o u r f i rs t t im e o n t h i s b i ke . Bill [ Po w e ll ] j u s t pu t it t og eth er , and it works good . O v era ll , th e y m a d e so me e rrors , bu t it w as t h ei r fi rst r a c e , so I' m n o t go ing t o ho ld it agai n st t hem . T her e are a lot o f little things th at th ey need to work o n , but they 'll g et it. " M itch ell 's M odesto H arl ey -D av id s o n / Ro g e rs- L ak e R a c i ng 's G ar y Ro g e rs fin ish ed n inth , with W h ite 's Harley -Davidson 's M ik e Varn es c o m pl et ing th e top 10 . eN Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas Results: May G 2000 (Round 1 of 121 , H EA T 1 (8 laps; 14 ri der s , to p 4 tr ansfer ): 1. Will Davis (H· D) ; 2. Dan Stanley (ATK); 3. Michael Varnes ( H ~ D ) ; 4. Greg Ty sor (Rtx): 5. Willie McCoy (Rt x); 6 . T odd Winsett (Rtx ); 7 . Brent Armbru ste r (HD): 8. J ason Tyre (H-D): 9 . J oe Duvall (ATK) : 10 . Garth Brow (H-D); 1 1. Mark Burch (Rtx); 12. Greg Tea g ue ( Rtx); 13. Mark Gruber (Rtx ); 14 . Ric har d Winsett , J r. (Rtx). Time : 3 m ins ., 14.750 sees . HEA T 2 (8 lap s; 14 riders. top 4 tran sfe r): 1. " We g ot d ial ed in pretty good in th e race , th u s attempting to eli m in ate th e p erc eiv ed unfai rness o f an a ll-green semi, and we started to roll a littl e bit, " s ing le-file rest art. As soo n as D av is Carr sa id. "We j ust ha d t o pick t h e let t he cl utch out o n th e restart, the g uys off on e at a t im e . I got a really green light was flas hed for t h e rest of good rest art, and t hat a llowed me to th e p ac k starting off of t he bulb . ride my own lines and see w he re th e "I knew tha t we could have a prob- other guys were going . I j ust k ind o f lem , because w ith so me of th e glitches threw it in o n th e o utside of J ay , and I we h ad already , I didn' t know if they was surprised I co uld m ake it stick. I k new how to do a restart," Davis said . Ja y Spr ingstee n ( H· D) ; 2. Steve Beattie (H· D) ; 3 . Gee Roeder II (H· D) ; 4 . Beau Brown (Rtx ); 5 . Chris Carr ( H· D) ; 6 . Marc Gifford ( Rtx); 7 . Tom T rou dt (Rtx): 8. Mi ke Hinds (ATK ): 9. Scott Deubl er (KTM ): 10. Christi an Vernon (AT K) : 11. Lee Parker (H-D) ; 12. J ohnn y Murphree (H· D); 13. Sco tt Scherb (Rtx); 14. Victor McA nally (Rtx} . Time: 3 mi ns., 14.000 sees. HEAT 3 (8 laps; 14 riders, top 4 tran sfer): 1. Mike Hacker (H· D) ; 2. Kenny Cootbeth (H· D) : 3. Gary Rogers (H·D); 4. J.R. Schnabel (H·D): 5. Joe Kopp (H-D) : 6. Dale J enneman (ATK); 7. J aime Aguilar (H· D) ; 8. Eli Price (Rtx); 9. Shaun Russell (H· D); 10. Paul Normandin (H-D): II. Kevin Varnes (H-D) : 12. Bobby Lee Decker (Rtx): 13. Al Eadie (Rtx): 14. Mark Witham ( Rtx) . had t o pass him o n t h e ou tsid e " But w hat they d id was th ey pointed at (Above) Lots of mechanics, no wrenches: Fonnula USA rules do not a llow work to be done on undamaged equipment during red flags. If a wrench is turned, the rider must start at the rea r of the field. (Right) The singles vs. twins f onnula appeared to be a success. XR 750-mounted Brent Annbruster (73) diced with Rota>< riders Willie McCoy (59) and Todd Winsett (7 2A) during the main event. because m y brakes wer e going aw ay ." m e a nd sa id, 'W h en you g o , w e w il l Spring st een , m ea nwh il e , su ff e red turn on th e green li ght.' That made th e m ost from th e restart, falling ba ck sense to me . I can 't understand why to e ig hth , be hind Schn abe l , by th e we haven't always done it like that." en d of th e race. Ro eder w as sixth . D a v is us ed th e adva nta ge t o st ay Sc h na b el fe lt a littl e bit gypped by out front, while Carr f ina ll y g ot ro ll ing what h e p er ceived to b e a n unc lear and beg an picking o ff r id ers fr om restart proc ed ure , but he was plea sed beh ind. He had sta rted b ehind Sch n- to f in ish seventh , passing Spring er for a bel on the re start, b ut p asse d h im t he spot j ust b efore the fla g fell. befo re turn o ne to run sixth. He would " We w er e runn ing sixth , and then als o ge t by o n the o uts ide o f Spring st een in turn o ne a nd ru n d own B eat- an d ended up getting pa ssed b y two tie to f in ish fourth. guys," Schnabel said. " I g uess that's w e h ad that bad d ea l at t he res ta r t hadn't got the rain. It wasn't their fault. I'm just happy to be going fast and happy to be on my bik e again . Th at's where I'm comfortabl e: Davis had actually started thin gs off with a win in the first heat race, his Harley XR750 and that of third -running Micha el Varnes sand wich ing the Rota x single of Dan Stanley, who hounded Davis to the finish. Continental Tires' Greg Tysor , who qualified for the AMA Daytona Short Track in March, hung in there to fini sh fourth for a direct transfer aboard a brand new Rotax. Afterward, Davis said that he felt the rainbattered surface was shaping up. " T he ra c e t ra ck i s co m i ng around, and we got a good start t hat was th e m ain th in g ," D avi s said. " I don' t k now who had the fastest heat, but I kno w that we'r e all real clo se, all low 2 1s. The track started out with a lot of marbles on it , but it ha s been deve lo pi ng a groove. It was a lot better for m y heat race, and it's going to get better yet. Rotax-mounted Saddlemen Racing/ Lancaster H-D/Dodge Brothers rider Mik e Hack er put it to ' em in the last regular heat, chasing longti me friend and riv al Kenny Coo l beth off the start . Coolbeth, aboard a Corbin Racin g XR750 , drifted high to square turns three and four one too many times, allowing Hacker to dar t unde rneath him and tak e the l ea d for t h e rest o f th e way . M it ch ell 's Mo d est o H - D/R ogersLak e Racing ' s Gary Rog ers r an t hi rd, with Pow ell Racin g/Sun oc o [;S[fJf?D fiDrfj@ 0 f?f) [;SliDD [fJ&J@ D With the amount of unfam iliarity that stemmed from racing at a new facility, under a new sanctioning body , and with the resultant hit ches due to both , one thing remai ned constant for sure: Ja y Springsteen still hauls ass no matter what. Th e 43 -year-old Michi gander seemed to let it all roll off his back as he grabbed the holeshot, blasted to the win and earned the pole for the National m ain event in the second heat race. Springer triumphed after a close battle with Gardner Ra cin g ' s St eve Beatti e an d Las Veg as Harl ey Davidson/ KK Motorcycle Suppl y's Geo Roeder II. There was a tense mornent late in the eight- Iapper, as Roeder appeared to rub up against Beatt ie's exhaust pipes off turn two on the white flag lap. Both riders gathered it up, with Beatti e hanging 01; to finish second, Roeder finishing third , and Oregon rider Beau Brown earned a dir ect transfer to his first National Cham pionship event by finishin g fourth. There was sirnply no stopping Sprin ger, though, as he scor ched to a tim e of three min utes, 14.750 seconds to take the pole. " I don 't know, m an, they had m e the slo west earlier when they lost all the tim es," Springer said with a laugh. "But really the track is gett ing better now as we ride on it more. It' s starti ng to show a blue line around there, and it is start ing to get more cons istent. If they wouldn't have had the rain . they could have put som e caici um down and wheel-pa cked the track , and it would have been beautiful. But they had all the rain, and they couldn't do that, so it wasn't real consistent earlier. We just got the holeshot out there and cruised. It' s not that bad. It' s a beautiful facility here. I j ust wish they 14 MAV 17,2000 ' e y e I e n e vv s Fuel's J .R. Schn abel, who was fast during the aborted timed practice sessions, came from way back to pass Dale Jen neman and Joe Kopp and finish fourth , go ing dir ectly to the m ain. Hacker app eared not the least bit surprised that his one-Iunger had carried him to the win. "Me and Kenny have always had a riva lry ," Hack er said. "Jo hnny [Goad] ju st has our 600 work ing, m an. It' s got plenty of motor, and it is doing what I want it to. I think thati'll be right there in the main event ." Perhaps the biggest sur prise of the night was that AMA Grand Nati onal Champion Chris Carr had a tough time of it in the seco nd heat race and finished fifth , beh i nd t he un her a ld ed Bea u Bro wn , th us faili ng t o earn a d ir ect t ran s fer . Cl ad in his n ew Wrenchead.com leathers, Carr went on the warpath in th e first sem i, winning t he race and ge tti ng into t he m ain along with second-place fin isher Todd Winsett . Carr appeared to be relieved. "That was better," Carr said. "Those were my fastest laps of the nigh t , so we' re getti ng th er e. Now I hav e t o c o me fro m t he t h ir d ro w , and it is going to be tough out there. If I win this sucker, then I will have earned it. " Were there any surprises for Carr by that point in the night ? "Beau Bro wn m ade th e main," he said. "I thought that was cool." J oe Kopp and Willi e McCoy transferred to the main by running first and se c o nd respec t iv ely i n t he sec on d semi . Brent Armbruster and Dale Jenneman earn ed the fin al t wo slots via the Last Chance Qualifier.

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