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/128618
was pressuring me , I fo u nd h is low line that was worki ng , and tha t was where I was ma king ti me on Chris before the red flag . Ke nny [To lb e rt ] must have t old h im that or s ome th ing , becaus e the firs t la p I started to run it in on him and he jus t dove r ight to th e b ottom . I tho ught he was go ing to go high , but he did it e ve ry lap after that. " Ca rr e xp la ined his tactics . "O n a restart like that, I didn 't want t o give anybody a chance to go u nde rn ea th me going into three , so I dove to the bottom and ran essentia lly a lower line tha n I had been," Carr sa id. "I co uld n' t get m y bike to turn a s we ll as I wa nte d it to in turn th ree , a nd when I go t a little room, I moved back to th e line I wa s using origina lly. Tha t let m e se t up for a better dr ive off four." Da vis c a me home thir d . "We we re g o od , just a ti c k off," Da vis said. "C h ri s wa s a little b it qui c k e r than we were . You couldn 't affo rd to m a ke m ista ke s , a nd I ma de o ne or two . The motorcycle ran p retty good . It had a s p utte r , but I do n 't th ink that hurt it any ." Schnabel got a great resta rt and appeared to be headed to a fourthp lace finish when his bid was dera iled - literally . "Ch a in broke : said th e ve ry d isap pointed Schn ab el. "Run n in g fourth with two laps to g o the c ha in broke. Th e bik e wa sn 't wo rking in th e hea t, a nd we just bare ly mad e it o ut. We g o t it working p erfe ct in th e final , the n th e c ha in br eaks . The c ha ins are m ad e for m oto cro ss . They sh ou ld hold up . I don 't know if something got in th ere and bro ke it or what. Th e master link broke." Sc hnabel 's m is fortu n e le ft Coo lbeth in fourth . "I got ki nd of messed up on the restart , bu t I ga the red it up a nd got lucky wh e n J . R. b ro ke h is c hain, " Coo lbeth sai d . "We were struggli ng d uring t h e day, b u t I found a line about h a lfwa y through t he m ain . I wis h I ha d found it earlier." US C Ra c in g / La n c a s t e r Harley Da vids o n' s Bryan Bigelow made the m ost of the restart. After restarting in l Oth , the youngster en ded up fifth . "We needed tha t red flag : Bigelow said. "I wa s runni ng 10th wh e n Rich fe ll. I n e e d e d everyt hing to ge t bunch e d ba c k up . I p ick ed up fo ur po s ition s o n th e re sta rt, normally it's the other way aro u nd . Th a t' s short tr a ck r a c in g. You ' v e g ot to take a dva nta ge of thos e re starts ." S addl em en /L an c a st e r Harl e y David s on /D odg e Br oth er s ' Mik e Ha c ke r a lso advanced via the restart, moving fro m n inth to sixth. "S ixth , I g uess I'll take that afte r the way th e day went," Hacker said. "I p ut my s elf in a bad si tuation [falling down in the qua lifier], but we ke pt working at it. We ha d a miss in the bike all da y and finally got it fig- ured o ut fo r the res ta rt. T he la s t six laps it d idn 't m is s. I wish I woul d have g iven myse lf a little better cha nce, but o h well , I'm ha p p y wit h six th . I wa s ha p py to get in the main, then I was really happy to get in the top 10. " Co ming from last on the restart to finish seventh was King . "We had a good motorcycle ," King sa id. "I th ink we were good enough to finish second. I kn ow Chris was pretty well dialed- in." Gardner Racing /Springfield Armory 's Dan Stanl ey ended up eighth . "I'm p re tty happy: Sta nley said. "I got a ho rrible restart, that kind of s c rewed m e . I to ok off, a nd Kevin [Varn es) missed a sh ift and I ran into th e bac k of him. Th ree guys went by m e . We c ut the tire a littl e du ring the red flag , a nd it was working so m uch be tter. I tho ug ht m a yb e I could pass th em ba ck on the outsi de. I go t u p on Ha c k er o n t im e , an d he s tarted to mo ve me over a nd I tho ug ht, 'Ma n if h e bum ps m e off th e groove , I' m d on e .' I ju st fell back to the bo ttom a nd waited for t h e next mistake . I m ade a big mi sta ke with fou r laps to go . Com ing out of four I h it a h o le an d al most high -sided. I had to sh ift down a nd that's where Rich got me , then he d id the same th ing on the last la p, a nd I almost got him back." Terry Poovey finished a somewhat d is a p po inting ninth on h is USC Rac ing/lstlega l.com · bac ked Rot ax . "O h goodne s s , it wa s a ro ugh one tonight: Poovey sa id . "Tha t's the first t ime I rac ed th a t b ike . It wa s a ne w C&J , not th e same thin g I ro de at Daytona . We worked all night tr yin g to get it bette r. I'm no t saying that's why I d idn 't win th e ra ce, but. .. " Ke vin Varnes lost four positions in th e last five laps , with brake problems plaguing h is Coz iahr Harle y-Davidson/Me mphis Shades -backed ATK. "I blew the restart, I missed a shift, but we still had a decent run going ," Varnes said. "I don 't know if it wa s (To p) Ca rr (1) l e d the 25·lap main event ri g ht from t h e start, w ith Corbi n riders Joe K o p p (43) and Kenny Coolbeth (3 1), Harley-Davidson's Rich K ing (8 0) and Fasthog.com' s Will Davis 121) giving chase. (A b ove) Kopp 143) m a na g e d t o h old off a detennined Davi s (21) f or se c o nd place on the tig h t -co m e red Topeka track . BRIEFLY. •• Jay Sprin g steen took a wee k off and los t his poi nts lead . Chris Carr (56) has assumed the lead for the first time this year , with Sp ringer tumbling all the way to fifth . Dayt ona winner Terry Poovey is second, with 45 points. " Thlnqs are go ing pretty good . - said Poovey. " I think I'v e got 45 poi nts after three races. Last year I think I only had abou t 60 for the w hole year ." They are followed by Joe Kopp (42), Wi ll Davis (41) and Springsteen (38) . D a n S t a nley had a very good weekend in Kansas. Before finishing eighth in the National he capt ured Friday ' s Outlaw race at Thund er Hills Raceway. " It was a good night. and it's been a good weekend for me ." said St anley . " I won the outlaw race last night that was worth $1100. Finally. a bright weekend for me." . W ith a 20·percent chance of rain forecast for the area. th e AMA' s Rolling Thunder show was bound to bring rain. Sure enough a heavy shower interrupted pr actice, but the trac k was quickly put back into shape and the races state d on time. Even with all the red Hags, the fast -paced pro gram was over by 10 p.m. M o st of the riders were happy with the strange racetrack, said to be a 3/8 mile. " The track held up great. " Chris C arr said. " It got faster . In the heat I was running 2 1.2s and 3s , but I ran 20 .70 s and 80 s in the main. " Joe Kopp agreed wit h C arr. " W hen we got here this mo ming I wa sn' t too enthused. lbd causel it didn't look like my kind of track , or anybody's ." Kopp said . " It ended up being a fun track to ride . The dirt is great . The rubber goe s down easy on it. There wer e a couple of crashes , but it' s not a dangero us track to ride. That long straight wit h the sharp tum make s for acti on . I hope we co me back because I want to get him next yea r. " The temp o, rary dirt track is apparen tly Heart land Park' s test to see if they wan t to build a permanent facility . Heartland Park reco rded the attendance at 5000. cue I e n e _ s • JUNE 21 , 2000 31