Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~I AMA/Progressiv e In s u r a n c e U .S . Flat T r ack Championships R o und 8 : P e oria R a c e w a y P ark us by th e tim e I got into se cond , that bad luc k he had probably wou ld ha ve gone my way , " Kopp said. " I had plenty of tire left at the end , but I was probably getting tired a nd struggling a little bit until I saw that he was slowing down . It was like three la ps to go , and I was riding my butt off then . He was still rid ing hard too. He was slow ing down going into one, bu t that actually probably helped h im be c a us e it was getting slick go ing into one and go ing into three . It's goi ng to take some bad luck on his part and some better luc k on my part. "But Stanley and I had a heck of a battle o ut there . He scared me and I sca red him one time. We we re both go ing o ver t he jum p , a nd it was a s hut-off contest. J ust about the tim e I realized he wasn't goi ng to shut off, he m ust ha ve figu red I wasn't goi ng to eit her, a nd we both sh ut off at the ex act sa me t im e a nd a bout clipped each other. It wa s a stup id move by both of us , a nd th en we did the same th ing on th e next lap . It wa s clean racing with Danny a nd I, but it was a little tig hter than I wanted." For King ' s p a rt , the 3 7 -y e a r-o ld Iowa n ha d a n interstate b attle on his han ds , as he got a fifth- place start a nd s pent th e first three la ps tryi ng to figure out how to ro ll his Bill Wernert une d factory Harle y-Da v idson 600 past a scra ppy J. R. Schnabe l, th e 21year -ol d Wisconsinite p utt ing in a fantastic ride a bo ar d the Te a m Pow e ll/We s t Bend Harl e y -D avi d s on / Torqu e C ent er Wo od -Ro t a x . King found a way on lap three , slidin g under S chnabel in turn one , on ly to slip to the outside and allow Schnabel to relearn th e whole track in the second half of the race." And as if the p roposition of Ca rr ne arly stalling away h is chances for a nother win wasn 't t ant a liz in g enough , the 16 ,008 fans that ja m med th e hillsid es were treate d to a vicious ba tt le be twe e n bitter rival s who are also g raduates of the Pa cific Northwest 1T circuit: H-D of Missouri/Burks Moto rsports' Joe Kopp a nd Ga rd ne r Ra ci n g / Wa lt er s B ro t h e r s Ha rl e y Davids on 's Dan S ta nley. The fac t that Ca rr se t his usua l to rr id p a c e o ut front a nd t hat Tea m Harley -Dav id s on 's Rich King wou ld eventua lly spli t th e pa ir o n la p 10 and finish th ird , beh ind Kop p , was a nti-climactic, as th e crow d wa s whipped into a fre nzy while Kopp and Stanley banged bar s , swappe d p ain t and sc ru b bed ti res right from th e start. Th e ba ttle m ad e fo r a rat he r in teresti n g d is pl a y of gladi ator-like nerve, especia lly when the pa ir s ho t ov e r the jum p si de by side on se ve ra l laps . Th e bashing took its toll on Sta nley first, th e aggres siv e c onta ct eve ntu a lly bowing his front bra ke rot or a nd costing him so me stoppi ng po we r. Kop p then set o ut after Ca rr, but it looked like the '97 Peoria 1T winner had no chance un til Carr's m ishaps began to occur. Kopp admitted to be ing tired by then , and it may have cost him the win , as he like ly would have passed Carr if he had no ticed that the champ was having trouble a lap or two sooner. The turn of e ve nts left Kopp to speculate about what it would take to dethron e Carr at Peoria. "Chris was fa ster than I was, but if he hadn 't gotten a full straightaway on Every year, the best of the IT racers on the AMA Grand National trail come to Peoria. looking for that chink in Chris Carr's armor that will give them a glimmer of hope to dethrone the Prince of Peoria, and every year, Carr and tuner Kenny Tolbert find a way to show the field that the duo isn't quite done dominating the joint yet. Same story this year. as Carr's winning time in the second heat race not only eamed him the pole but turned out to be six second s faster than the next-fastest heat. That meant big trouble for the competition. "Nothing seemed to go wrong,' Carr said. "Every line I ran seemed to work out good. I had a couple laps that were close to the one-lap record that I set here in '88 or something like that, so that shows you how good the track is today.' Carr flat smoked 'em off the line to lead the second heat into tum one, with Rich King, Willie McCoy, Johnny Murphree and Rex Fisher left to battle it out over the remaining two transfer spots. Carr put in a smooth ride. eclipsing the 110-foot mark over the jump as he pulled away from the pack. By the time he took the white flag, the Prince was getting over the jump and into the right-hander before King was even getting off tum two. Carr took the win, stopping the clocks at 4:19.65 1. King held a safe second over McCoy, with Murphree being forced to try his luck in the semis. After posting singlelap times within a tenth of his 25.550 single-lap record, Carr felt that it would be a fast main event, but that his 25-lap record from the '88 event would likely remain intact. . "I'd imagine it'll slow up with the sun and the wind on it," Carr said. "If they don't water it, it'll groove up, but this is the best that I've seen this track since about 1988. My single lap times were surprising me because I remember what it was like to try and run that hard back in '88. I nearly crashed the motorcycle over the jump because I was pushing it so hard. It was like the perfect lap , but today those times are coming really easy. It's hard to say if we can set a new record. That depends on how hard I'll have to run. We'll see if these guys can step up the pace a bit.' In the heat races , nobody did, either before or after Carr. Dan Stanley got the holeshot in heat one, with Donnie Steward and J .R. Schnabel filing in right behind him when the field went into tum one. 16 AUGUST 23,2000' c u e • e neVIl's to jum p right back underneath him as they headed over th e jum p. King th en set Schnabel up in turn three and got a good run off turn four to make a clea n pass for the fourth spot. When Stanley s lipped up high in the same pla c e s e ve n laps late r, King had him c o ve re d , ro lling underneath Stan ley on lap 10 and m a inta ining the positio n for the rema ining 15 laps . King was happy to be on the podium , but he wa s even happier to have been in th e b est p os it ion to witness th e Kopp/Stanley battle. "Eve ry time we went out, we got a little b it better ," King sa id. "We just started off too far back, but th e bike was good and I actually go t re al com fortab le in the ma in event. I just ra n out of time a nd was a little wore out by lap 20 . I actually liked the track b ett e r last yea r when it was a bi t rougher and more of a cushion, bu t t he Peoria Motorcycle C lu b did its usual excellent job ou t he re . Actually , during the main event I was more interested in watching Kop p and Stanle y go at each other than any thing . I don't know how many times they hit , but there was one t ime wh en they bumped going ov er th e ju mp , and I think that ou t of the th ree of us I was the onl y one that let off! I ne ver co uld p ic k it up to get there with the m , bu t it was fun to wat ch . Next ye a r we 'll just come ba c k a nd try again ." Stanley was a bit res erv ed when the m a in event concluded . After ha ving p oste d a d om inating win in his he at ra c e a nd clocking th e second -fastest time of th e day in it , he th eoretic ally s houl d have had a t le ast a sh ot at Ca rr. Inste ad , Stanley spent a majority By the time they hit the jump on the second lap. the Washington rider already had 20 lengths on the field . Schnabel picked off Steward in turn one on lap three for second place. Stanley kept up his pace, winning the heat by about a half straightaway over Schnabel, recording the win in four minutes, 25.806 seconds. Steward held of Eli Price by a couple lengths to guarantee his spot in the main event. Josh Butler got the holeshot in heat three as John Hlebo 1II and Joe Kopp emerged from the pack to run third and fourth, behind Brett Landes. The four riders nearly ran four-wide into tum one on lap two. Butler then lost the lead on lap three with a bobble just before gassing it toward the jump, allowing Landes by while Kopp shot by both Hlebo and Butler to take second. Kopp then caught Landes on lap four and swung under him in tum one to take the lead just past the halfway flags. Kopp held on to take the win, posting a time of 4:29.776, with Landes running second and Hlebo getting by Butler for the final transfer spot. Geo Roeder II got a brilliant holeshot in the final heat , while Terry Poovey got by Mike Hacker over the jump take the second spot early. Poovey then ca ught Roeder and made the sa me move to take the lead on the second lap. Kevin Varnes also moved up to cha llenge Hacker for third. Hackers then got under Roeder over the jump on lap three, with Varnes also passing Roeder before they got back to the front straightaway. Varnes then got by Hacker and started pounding on Poovey just past the halfway mark. Roeder hung tough in fourth and got back by Hacker in tum one on lap seven to regain a transfer spot. Poovey held off Varnes , pulling a wheelie as he crossed the finish line to stop the clocks at 4:33.373. Roeder held fast in third. Hacker and fifth -placed Bryan Bigelow were forced to try again later. Murphree led Jason Tyer into the main event through the first semi, taking the win in an eight-Iapper that was restarted after Indi ana rider Chris Boone endoed off the jump big-time . Boone was unhurt in the crash . Bigelow gained entry into the feature by controlling the proceedings in semi two, with Paul Lynch threading the nee dle between Washington riders Rex Fisher and Eli Price to land the second spot in a thrilling dash two laps from the finish. A deter mined Hacker stormed to a comfortable win in the third semi, while Gary Rogers ran down Butler and dove underneath him in tum one to stea l away the final ticket to the main event. of t h e ma in e vent b ouncing off of Kopp. Neither rider lacked aggression - that much was c e rtai n. Ultimately, that aggression is what cost Stanley another shot at the podium. "It k ind of bothers me ," Stanley sa id. "I was having a super day , and then me and Joe got together in the main event. What a battle tha t was . We were passing e a c h othe r back and forth, using all diffe rent kind s of lines. I think that th e la s t t im e we got together he ran into my front d isc a litt le b it and bent it ov er. I didn't have any front brakes aft er that. Th e rest of the race I was kind of ju st tip -toe ing around there . I th ought that I could at least have stayed with J oe. Bu t this is th e best Peoria I've ever see n . T he tr a c k was smoo th a nd ta cky. Wh at a grea t day, getting the q ualifyi ng re c or d [see Brie fly ] a nd running up fron t. I' m real happy " And for once th is year, what mi ght ye t be a banner seaso n for form e r Ro o k ie of the Year Sc h na be l wa s boosted by what d id not ha p pen to him. He did not get a c ra p py sta rt in his he a t race, and he did n o t fall do wn du e to a rookie mi scue. He was no t forc e d to ride a semi and start on the s econd o r third row , a nd he did no t s quand er h is front -row sta rt in the ma in ev en t b y j um pi ng the g u n . Finall y , as the ma in event unfol ded, Schnabel did not suffer a ticky -tack mechanica l fa ilu re that o nce aga in prevented him from finis hin g sq ua rely in the top five. No s iree , it all turned around at Peoria wh er e , ex cept fo r his loss of the fourth spot to King , Schnabel put in a som etimes aggressive , sometimes passive , alwa ys smart ride to finish fifth at the lin e . He e ve n ch ew ed on Stanl ey in a bid for fourth aft er King had made it into the th ird spot. All in all , it was th e kind of finish th at the self-a vo wed c he e s e he ad and h is Alabam a- g ang team have been loo k ing fo r s ince th eir s ixth pla ce run at the Daytona S ho rt Track. "We h ad a g o od run tod a y , and th at feel s good," S chnabel said . "Ric h got by me , a nd I tried to follow him aro u n d a s b e s t I could. S tan le y mess ed up a cou ple tim e s , and I m a de a couple run s at him , but I just could n' t get by him . If we 'd have had a red fl a g, I woul d have c han ged some stuff. I was a little flat off of the c o rner s . I was d o g g in g it a b it. I wa s n' t getting off of the corners like I wa nte d to , but I'm rea lly happy. We came here to run in the top five , and that 's j u s t wh a t we d id . I was j us t ov ergeared a little b it.' S chnabe l fin ish ed a few length s ahead of USC Ra cing/! stl egal.com 's Terry Poovey, th e 42-year-old Texan having a vintage da y at Peoria . After s ta rting e ighth , Poove y t hrea ded his wa y p ast young st ers J ohn Hlebo III a n d Donn ie S tew a rd to ru n sixth on just the s econd lap . Poove y th en seesawed ba c k and forth between Schnabel and ultimate seventh-place finish -

• Cover