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/128624
A MA/P rog r e s s ive In suran c e U .S . F la t T r a c k C hampionships Rou n d 7 : Lowe 's Motor S p eedwa y qualifier, he was forced to work from the back all night. In his he a t Hacker had worked his way from the penalty line to seco nd , le a vi ng h im wit h a second- row start in the ma in. "The m otor s ta rte d m ak ing some nois e s in the q ua lifying heat," Ha c ke r said . "It s ounded like a rod or some th in g. We didn' t w a nt t o tak e a chance . We wer e just a s fast o n th e other bike , so we jum ped o n th at o ne and took off." Corbin Racing/D a ve Burks Motor sports/B -D of Missou ri's Kenny Co ol be th g ot th e holes hot in th e 25- lap m a in e ve n t , lea d ing J ohnn y Mur phree, Bryan Bige low a nd Joe Kopp into tum one. Cool be th 's lead lasted bu t one lap as Murphree took over on h is Coz ia hr H-D/ Me m p h is S ha des bac ked Ha rle y. At the end of lap on e , Hacker was fifth and headed to th e fro nt. Using a high line , he pushed into the lea d on la p 11 . Hacker an d Murph ree t hen s moothly distanced thems e lve s from a great ra ce be twe en Coolbeth, J a y Spr ing ste en (Ba rt el s' H-D /C orb in Ra cing ) and J oe Kopp (Co rbin Rac ing / Da ve Burks Motorsports / H-D of Miss ou ri). Eac h ha d his turn in third. Coolb eth a ppeared to s e cure th e s pot on lap 17 , a s Kopp a nd Spring stee n lo s t a lit tle gro u nd . La p 20 wa s Ko pp 's la st. "We notic ed during sta ging for th e m a in e vent th a t we h a d a c racked STO RY AND PHOTOS BY DAVE H OENIG /F LA T TRAK F OT OS CHARLOTIE, NC, JULY 22 . , we ntY-fo ur-yea r-old Mike Ha c ke r fu lfilled a life -lo ng dr ea m as he dom inated t he i.na ug ura l ru nn ing of th e Lowe 's Motor Speedwa y's ro und of th e AMA Pro g re ssi ve In s u ra nc e U.S , Flat T rack Ch ampion ship S erie s. "I' ve b e e n wa iting for t h is fo r a long , lon g t im e ," Ha cker s a id . "I' m re a lly exc ite d a bo ut the re s t of t he ye a r. I've jus t got to ke e p m y head on stra ig ht. I'm on cloud n ine . I ca n't hard ly think ." T h e tra c k wa s n ea rly p erfect smooth , wide a nd fast - with a reported 7700 excite d fa ns filling th e la rge grandsta nd s. Ha c ke r a p pe a red to be cru is ing to h is firs t win in fine style when Ch ris Ca rr a nd Ge o Ro ede r II fe ll betwee n tu rn s three and four o n lap 23. In the heart of NASCAR coun try, it wa s only fitting th en to have a NA S C A R-s t y le , five -la p sh o o tou t decide th e rna in event. "My whol e ca ree r, whenever th er e wa s a res t art I'v e e n ded u p o n t he othe r e nd, something ba d ha pp en ed ," Ha c ke r s a id , Not this time . Ha ck e r wa s fla wless as he jo ined the Gra nd National win n er ' s c lub o n hi s Sadd lemen Ra c ing /L anc a ste r H-D/Dodge Broth ers ' Ha rley. Eve n tho ug h Ha c ker had been fas t 18 A UG UST 2 , 200 0 • C U c I e n e vv s M ike Hacker (6 7 ), shown here racing with longtim e pal Kenny Coo l beth (31 ), scored his fi rst caree r AMA Gra nd National w in during th e Inaugural running of th e Charlotte Half M ile at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Hacker' s previous best finish, a runner-up, came all th e way back In 1995. header pipe," Kop p said. "It was a little c ra ck, but we kne w it wa s go ing to grow. O ur two options we re to run it or switc h bike s a nd go to th e ba c k , I had a front -row s tart, a nd I knew it would be hard to pass, so we de cided to run it. Just past ha lfway , it broke completely . It started to s low down coming off the turns. Kenny went by me, and going down the back stra ight it j u s t tied up . Th e m ot or fin ally sucked enough d irt and it tied up . That was o ur d eal , jus t run it t ill it drops . We only had five laps to go. " On lap 23 , wha t appea red to be a cut-and -dried race sudde nl y turned upside down - literall y. A small o il le a k fro m Hacker's Harl ey sent Coolbeth sliding high ou t of turn four , and gathered up C h r is Carr and Geo Roeder II , as both fell. The red flag greeted the leaders. "I thou ght my bike was blowing oil onto m y t ire , beca use I was getti ng rea l loos e ," said Coolbeth . "I s lowed down a little and looked at my bike, then I saw the red flag was o ut." S pringstee n had a differ ent ta ke on the re d flag . "I saw Joe Kopp looking around , and when I c a ug ht up to him I could hear his motor knocking , " Spring steen sa id. "I knew it was ju st a matter of time and he was going to drop out. Then Coo ls , I thought so mething happen ed to h is too , but I guess he just dr ifted wide and got ba ck down . I started gett ing a little m ist on m y shield from Hacker, and he had half a straightaway on m e . It wasn' t botherin g anyth ing , bu t I th ink if the y wou ldn 't have sto pped it, he wou ldn 't have made th e distanc e ." The big q uestion now was, how would the young leaders respond with the pack moved to their rear wheel? "Whe n the red flag c ame o ut I wa s sca re d t o d eath ," Ha c k er s ai d. "I looked down a nd s a w a litt le bit of oil on th e b ike . It wa s ver y s tressful. Th at was h ard er th a n le a d in g , k no wing th at I had to s ta rt o ve r. I kn ew I had to ride five laps with no m istakes. " Mu rphre e figu red th at the ra c e wou ld be over . "I thou ght they we re go ing to call it a ra ce," Murph ree sa id . "I thought it wa s the white flag . I honestly felt th at The first heat set the tone for the night, as Phil Ubhart led into the first tum. but Dan Stanley had the point at the end of the first lap. Kenny Coolbeth and Gee Roeder II had locked handlebars off the line, leaving Roeder well behind him. Coolbeth recovered quickly and worked his way to the front on lap three. Hacker was using an outside line as he battled with Stanley and Lynch over second. Eventually Hacker pulled clear and closed on Coolbeth, and the top two spots were set. Schaeffer's H· D/ Las Vega s H-D/ KK Supply-backed Roeder made a last-lap pass on Stanley to take the last transfer. The second he at was a battle betwee n J oe Kopp and Jay S pr ingsteen . They exchanged the lead several times before Kopp settled into first. Kevin Vames was a distant third. TIm Eades was a solid fourth, ahead of a Nicky Hayden/Ga ry Rogers battle for semi starting spots. J ohnny Murphree blasted around early leader, Terry Poovey and ran away with the third heat. Rich King wedged his way by Larcom-Nickens Racing/ K&N/Sad dlemen's Jo hn Nickens J1I to take second. Nickens held on to qualify for his first 750cc National. H·D of Sacramento/Wrenchead .com/Phoenix Racing's Chris Carr ran away the last heat and set fast time in the process . Bryan Bigelow held down second over Team Powell/West Bend H·D's J .R. Schnabel. Willie McCoy eas ily took the first semi, while Nicky Hayden out battled Ricky Winsett for the last transfer spot. Paul Lynch jumped to the lead in semi two, while Tim Eades worked his way around Cory Roth. The Moroney's H-D/Powersports/Cyclema x-backed Eades caught Lynch, and both youngsters were head ed into the main. Eades' first trip to a Grand National final. The last semi was dominated by American H-D/Mike's H·D's Chris Evans and Gardner Racing/Walters Brothers H-D's Dan Stanley.