Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAI P rogressive In s u r a n c e U .S . Fl a t Track C h a m p io n s h ip s R o u n d S : Hagerstown S p e e dway neath me ," Hacker said . "I lo ok ed behind and saw we had a pretty good le a d, so I figured I'd just let him go and he would know I was back there and push too hard ." Aft er losing some ground earl y , Murphree started to bring his Coziahr Harley -Davidson /Memphis Shadesbacked Harley to the front. "Early on , I got into tum two too hot and had to stand it up to keep from running into the back of Mike. " Murphree said. "I lost a lot of ground, and I couldn 't seem to get any of it back . Then I completely changed what I was doing, to ta lly changed where 1 was running on the track. I could see I was catching them and sta rted to get excited , then the next corner it cam e un gl u e d . We' re not s u re what h a p pe ned. I know it made a lot of noise, and that was a ll she wro te ." Murph ree had been leading a tight pack made up of C h r is Carr, Joe Kopp and Rich King . With the young ster's demise , the race was in the S T ORY BY D A VE H OE NIG P HOT OS BY FLA T T RA K F OT OS HAGERSTOWN, MD, AUG. 19 a tte red , bruised and swollen, Will Davis showed the gritty determination that is keeping him in the hunt for the 2000 AMA/Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships title. Da vis th rilled the large Hagerstown Speedwa y crowd with a lastlap pass of the new tough guy on the block , Mike Hacker, to capture his third Grand National win of the yea r. When the light flashed green at the start of the 25-lap National, the Moroney's Harley- Davidson/Fasthog .com/Gould Erectors- backed Davis got the holeshot over Hacker , Joh nny Murphree and Nic ky Hayden. Hacker, who was the fast qu alifie r for the event, pus hed his S a ddle me n Racing/Lancaster HarleyDa vids o n/ Dod ge Brothers' XR hard , repeated ly testing Da vis , but co uld n' t make a pass stick. "The first time 1 pas sed h im [Davis], he ducked back down under- B 14 AUGUST 30,2000' eye I e neVV's hands of Davis and Hacker. Perhaps understandabl y , it appeared as though Davis was tiring , and Hacker took the point on lap 16 , but Davis didn 't rollover, and came right back after the young ste r. " In the beginning 1 thought we were about the same speed ," Davis said. "I c ould tell where he was , but I couldn't get settled in," said Davis. "I thought I had found a line, then he passed me and I got him right back. I thought we were set, but when he passed me the last tim e I didn't know for sure if he was j ust going to be faster and get away : 1 started looking for a new line. I moved down o n the track , and I fo und some thi ng by s earch ing the track. Whe n you're out fro nt, yo u can't do th at." J ust as fast as Hac ke r ha d moved into positio n to w in hi s secon d National, it all sta rted to unw ind . "I was able to get ba c k by him on the bo ttom, and then I lost m y bra ke with about five la ps to go," Hacker Wi ll Davis (center) completed his comeback from an off-track Injury by w inning the Hagerstown Ha lf M ile. Davis pulled off a la st -lap pass on Mike Hacker (righ t) for the victory. Joe Kopp (left) was third. said. "I trie d to use up as much track as I could, but I didn't use up enough, You don 't realize how much you need brakes until you lose them ." The sta ge was then set for Davis' last-la p heroics . Davis had shadowed Hac ker 's e very move un til the la st la p. "I cou ld t e ll so mething wasn ' t ex actly right [with Ha c ker ] going into t he corners ," Da v is said. "I h a d to s lo w d o wn pretty m uch t he same place he did . I kinda got s ucked into him once a nd really had to ba ck off. Whenev er he 'd s low down , I'd hav e to s low d o wn because t he re was now here for m e to go without runni ng into him . I kept seeing what he was doing , bu t I couldn't tell what was wrong. Th er e was a bump in turn one th a t we had both been catc hing the

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