Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA SuperTrapp SuperTracker Series o u tside and there was n oth ing I could do to s top the m. I did wh at I could fo r a while. " T he Corbin Te am ha d wo rke d all week , ho p in g to be ab le to control the Suzuki ho rsepower. A n offhand jo k e at Lima la s t week may hav e been the key to t h eir s u c c e s s . "We twingl e d the Suzuki, and it work ed ," Ko p p s ai d . "It made it a lot m or e rideab le off the exit of th e co rners . Th e twin gle helped for su re . Th e gre at t hi ng is las t week at Li ma , J ohn ny Goad [Hacker's tun er ] teased , 'Yo u g uys ought t o twingl e th at thing a nd get some po wer to th e ground ,' We d id, and we got 'e m ." "I was a little d isappointed," Ha ck e r said . "I think thi s is going to be a n intere s tin g seri es , with Pa ul o n h is Ha rle y a nd J oe and S ch nabel on the ir Round 3: Route 66 Raceway Suzuk is.. ' Rounding out the top five behi nd S ch nabel was Br ian Thomas . Willie McCoy , Br ian Kromroy and Jaso n Sentell were fighting over sixth . eN (Left) Not wanting to be u p staged on a night that saw close rac ing i n the premier c l ass , t he SuperTrapp SuperTrackers also p ut on a g reat show . (Below) De spite inadvertently hitting his kill switch in the m ain, Joe K o p p manag ed to pull off a hard-fought victory. S T O RY AND PHOTOS BY D A V E H O E NI G /F L A T T RA K F O T O S JOLIET, IL, JULY I h e Sup erTra ck er S erie s c a me to Route 66 Ra cew a y for th e first time , and what a s how it was , with the top three riders swapping the lead repe at edl y, wh ile fourth p lace sat ju st off in the wings . De fen d in g Se ries Champion Joe Kopp ran away with th e first he at on h is Co rbin Raci ng /Dave Bur ks Motorsports/ HvD of Mis so uri-ba c ked Suzuki. In a close ra c e , J im Wag ner/ Widma n H-D te a m m ate s Br ian Thom a s a nd Bria n Krom roy p ut their Bue lls in front of Wil li e McCoy 's F[,S H D/ S hoe i-spons ore d Suzuki. Moroney's H-D / fa s t h o g .c o m / MAX Leathers backed Pa ul Morgan handily won the se cond heat over Saddlemen Ra c ing / Lancaster H-D / Do d ge Brothers ' Mike Hac ker and Te a m Powe ll/H a ll's Moto rs ports S uzuk i' s J .R. Schna bel. Mor g an ' s he at time was half a second fa s t er , givi ng hi m the p ol e fo r the m a in. Schnabe l got th e ho lesho t off the ins ide of th e sta rting line. but Hacker led th e first la p . Morg an , Schnabe l and Kopp wer e right beh ind . Mo rg an took ove r on lap three a s Kopp too k th ird from Sc h na bel. T he to p thre e in ch ed s lig ht ly away, bu t Sc h nabel stayed close. "T h e Suzuk i was w o rking s o good ," S chnab el sa id . "If I' d have been o ut th ere riding by m yself, I'd have thought I wa s th e faste st gu y out T he re , but J oe and Mike a nd Pa ul Mor ga n, they were ridin g ha rd . Th ey wer e rid ing ha rde r th a n I was . I felt like I was pu shin g t o th e e dge an d o ver onc e in a while. I tho ug ht I wa s gett ing o ut of co nt ro l. J o e mu st hav e been rid ing the wheels off that th ing. We're goi ng to have to p ick up the pace if we're g oing to wi n o n e o f these." Kop p 's blitz to the fro nt was int er rupted , when he inadvertently hit the kill switch . "Ab o ut halfwa y - I had just got into second - I hit the kill swi tch and it just went dead, " Ko pp said, "I thought Hacker was going to d rill me, but luckily he missed." Ha c ker then set a bout the business of c hallengi ng Morgan . "He [Kopp] hit that kill switch , and I al most hit him ," Morgan said . "T h e n I had t o get everything back together. I think after I got by Paul , I relaxed and I s houldn 't have ." Kopp was charging to th e fr ont again , but not without inc ident. "I co uld roll into the turn a lo t better than they were ," he said . "I th ink t hey mu s t have more co mp ress io n: it seemed like wh en t hey got off the ga s , they we re re all y o n the bra ke , and I wa s a ble to free -wh e e l it get t ing in. I was gain ing a lot of grou nd ge tt ing in , but th e y we re gai n ing co m ing o ut. I m ad e m ys el f ru n t he low lin e . I t hi nk t hey co u ld ha ve come down there too , but it wa s a lot greasier because not many gu y s were ru n n in g there . I got ba ck up int o the le a d , and then I just abou t spun it o ut in tu rn fo ur. I figured tha t would slow them d o wn ; it ha d t o s care the m a litt le . I knew they were r igh t th e re - it was not a pretty sight." Ha c k e r wa s so me what t ak en b y su rp r ise when Kopp m oun t ed h is c ha lle n ge . "I h ad n o idea h e wa s th er e , " Ha ck er sa id. "I th ou ght h e b le w up ea rlier. I c ha nged m y line a litt le - o h we ll, we ' ll get ' e m n e xt week ." "I was running the bottom , thinking I cou ld hold them off, " sa id third pla c e Pau l Morgan . "I co u ld h e ar them behind me, and th ey we nt to th e cue I e Route GG Raceway Joliet, Illinois Results : May 20, 2000 [Round 3 of 71 SUPERTRAPP SUPERTRACKER SERIES NATIONAL ( 12 laps ; 16 riders) : I. J oe Kopp {Sua): 2 . Mike Hack er ( Sue) ; 3 . Paul Mor gan III (H-D ); 4. J .R. Schnabel (Suz): 5. Brian Thoma s (Sue); 6. Willie McCoy (S uz) : 7 . Bri an Kromro y (Sue ); 8 . J aso n Sentell (Suz); 9. Roy Miller (Suz); 10. Bob Buffington (Suz ); 11. Gary Roge rs (Suz) ; 12. Mich ell e Disal vo (H- D); 13 . Robe rt Miller (H· D); 14. J erry Vanderkooi (Suz); 15. Kyle Long (H-D ) ; 16. Ken Coolb eth Jr. (Suz). Ti m e: 4 m in., 27 .7 14 sec. A MA SUPERTRAPP SUPERTR A CKER SERIES C'SHIP POINT S STA NDINGS (afte r 3 of 7 rounds ): 1. Mi ke Hacker (65 pts / 2 wins) ; 2. Joe Kopp (6 1 / I); 3. J. R. Schnabel (45 ): 4 . Willi e McCoy (40 ); 5. Brian Kromroy (3 3) ; 6. Paul Mo ~g a n III (3 2 ); 7 . Ja son Sente ll (3 0); B. Geo rge Richtmeyer (27); g . (T IE ) Gary Rogers/B rian Thoma s (2 4 ); 11. Roy Miller (23); 12. (T IE) Jerry Vanderkoo i / Mic helle Di salvo (20) ; 14. Bob Buffingto n ( 15); 15. Ken Coolbe th Jr. (1 4); 16 . (T IE) Ja so n Ty er /K yle Lon g (12) ; 1B. Scott Deubler (7); 19. Robert Miller (6) . n e _ S • JULY 12 ,2000 13

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