Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Leathers' Paul Morga n III is pro of that part-t ime ra cers can succeed. Morg an ran in the lead p ack early and held o n t o fin ish n i nth. " T h e m o i stu r e w as sta rt i ng t o come u p , and it seem ed sl ick to me, so I w as ru nn ing r ight o n the m arbles o n th e bo tt om : Morg a n sa id. " It w as working go od for me, b ut I was runnin g r ight with fifth , sixth and se venth and coul d n 't move up. I just wanted to keep it on two wheels. Th e p o in t s don 't r eall y matter that much to m e now. " R ound i ng out t he t op 1 0 w a s de fe nd i n g series c h a m p i o n Chr is (Left) Will Davis (21) and Jay Springsteen (9) were th is close for much of the 25-lap main event, w ith Davis holding off th e veteran fo r th e w in. [Below) Bryan Bigelow k'!!pt the old dog s honest w ith a t hird -place f inish. He sits fi fth in th e poi nt s chase. r i g h t i n the r e fo r a li ttl e wh ile , but th en ju st fad ed b ack . I t o ok a peek ba ck o nce, ju st to mak e su r e I had som e ro om . I w anted to try so m e d iff ere n t lin e s . I sa w I had so me d i s tanc e, an d that m ak es y o u feel a little bit better. " Fourth went to Corbin Racing/ Burks Mo to rs ports/H -D o f M iss our i 's J o e Kopp . K o p p was a s olid f o u r t h desp ite bike p roble ms . " B e f o r e h al fw a y , I h ad a spark -p lug wire fall off. " he sa id . " It sta rte d back -firing at th e end of eac h strai g ht and los ing a littl e bi t of p o w er co m in g o u t. I thought it was a pipe co mi ng lo o se b ec au se it w as b ac k- firing a nd fel t a little doggy . The y a ll got away fro m m e t he n , bu t I saw I ha d a g oo d lead o n f ift h. I d idn't know if it was motor n o ises , so I k ind of b ac k ed off a little bit, nursing it to m ak e sure it wasn 't g o i ng to b low u p o n m e . After t he checkere d flag , I looked d own an d it [t he sp a r k p lu g wire] w as j u st flyi ng around ." E arl y in the ra ce , Mik e Hacker was hung up be h ind Chris Carr and lost touch with the leaders. " I wish I co u ld have got going a little e a r l ier," said the Saddlemen Ra cing / Lancaster H D /Dodge Brothers -backed Ha c ker. " I wanted to catch J oe so bad , but he was going real g ood. I kept thinking he was slow ing up, but I just cou ldn't d ro p pe d the cl utc h , I fe lt like I had a good st art, but I wen t about 20 feet a n d th e motor bo g ged . I th in k I just t r ied t o pu ll t oo h igh a g ear o ff th e lin e, and it cos t m e. I w ent b ack t o 1 don' t -kno w-whe re , probabl y 10th or fa rth er. A lo t of th e guy s w ere goi ng reall y good, and it w as h ard to pa ss. I wi sh we 'd hav e been o n t he box . W e h ad a m o t o r c y cl e tha t was goo d eno ug h to be o n the box; w e ju st d idn 't make it. " Co rbi n Rac ing/ Bu rk s M otorsp o rt s/ H -D of Missou r i ' s K en Co olbeth was a lso wo rk in g hi s way towa rd t he f ront. " I got a good sta rt from t he se cond row , ca ug ht t he in sid e in turn one and got by a co up le o f guys, " Coo lbeth sa id . " I ju st put my head down and co nc en t ra ted a nd kept o n go ing forward . E v e r y o n e w as pretty mu ch even, so it was hard to pass ." Team Po w e ll / W e s t B e n d H - D ' s J. R. Sch nabel worked h is way from n inth to sixth , but lost two positions o n la p 24 . " W e got up to six t h run n ing the l ow line co ming off turn four: he said. " It was working real good for me. Just befor e the fi ve [laps] to go came o ut, it w ent a l ittle sid eway s on m e , but I d idn 't thin k much about it. It happened three lap s in a row , a n d I f ig u re d the lin e w a s go ne , so I m o v e d u p . Ju st wh en I m ov ed up, Ri ch goes ri ght b y m e o n it. He w as pu shin g m e th e w ho le race . Once I got by Ch ris , I k ne w Rich quite g et th ere . I w ish I c ou ld ha ve done better, but those gu ys up front, t hey w er e ro llin g . Th ey k in d of just sp lit fr o m us ." was there; he just had. g ood lines . T o o bad Ke n ny h ad to ge t me at th e en d ; H a rley -D avi d so n M otor Company ' s Rich K in g had to o ve rco me a slow w e went back to e ig ht h . Com ing from th e th ird row, we g ot up there a nd ran start t o clim b t o s ixth. " We had a w ith th e t op guys . That's wh at w e ne ed to do ev ery w eek ." good motorcycle and a good set u p, " he sa id. "I just b o t ch e d the sta rt. I Pole-sitter Paul Morgan led.the first heat until Terry Poovey pushed his Honda to the front. Just two laps later Rich King broke from the three rider batti e to take the win. Poovey and Morgan also mov ed along. Will Davis mad e short work of heat two, with Bryan Bigelow vainly try ing to stay close. Ken Coolbeth got away from Chris Boone to take the last direct transfer. The third heat was talent-loaded. Chris Carr hit tum one ahead of Jay Spring steen, Chris Evans and Gee Roeder. By the end of the first lap it was Spring steen and Joe Kopp chasing Carr. The Springsteen, Kopp batti e brought them to Carr's rear wheel, and the three freight-trained across the finish line. Back in the pack , Nicky Hayden work ed his way up from a slow start to tak e fourth over Roeder. The last heat saw Coziahr H-D /Memphi s Shades' Johnny Murp hree in command. As the young charger was coming out of tum four to get the half way mark, the bik e spun out fro m under him , and his alm ost -sure win was gone. Th e Paul Lynch/Dan Stanley war became a batti e for the lead. Th e Gardner Racing/Sp ringfield Arrn ory/Walters Brothers HD-bac ked Stanley took command and pulled to an easy win over a tight race between Lynch (USA Direct/ J AB Computing), Mike Hacker and J .R. Schnabel. Schnabel was semi -bound . As usual, the semi races provided thrills and surprises . The first saw IMW/ Cayuga Too l's Shawn Clark blast to the front. Part-time dirt tracker Nicky Hayden was in second, but lost contact with Clark and had his hands full trying to hold off the challenges of John Nickens III and Mike Varnes. With two laps to go, Varnes took third , and on the last lap he slipped his Whit e's H-D/ Schaeffer's H-D-ba ck ed Harley around the outside of Hayden in turn two and ended the young star's night. The second semi was a great race, although both riders would move on. Roeder and Chris Boone batt led to the end. Boone, trying to qualify for his first National, mad e it in sty le. "I knew I could get a good run on Roeder coming off four, and I was going to sit there and wait , but then I thought, 'Man I better get him .'," said Boone. "This is our first AMA National; we've been real close, and it was getting kind of frustrati ng, but it all made up for it tonight." The last semi saw Willie McCoy hit the first turn over Chris Evans, J .R. Schnabel and Tim Eades. Schnabel quickly shot into the lead and pulled away. McCoy settled his F&S H-D/S hoei-ba cked Harley into second, and the final line up appeared to be set. Young Tim Eades had other ideas. Afte r he blasted by Evans into third, he ran down McCoy and took a desperate shot coming out of turn four on the last lap, Eades' fine ride came up just short , and he'll have to wait a little longer for his first National appearance. Moroney 's H -D /fa sthog .com/MAX e ye ' e n e _ S • JULY 12, 2000 11

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