Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Formula USA,/Wrenchead.com N a t ional Dirt Tra c k S eries Round 5 : T e xa s Mot o r Speedw a y Po ove y adm itted t o being a little fr u str a te d with th e la p p ed traffic , b ut he took it all in st rid e . "Th o s e g uys w e r e ge t t ing in m y wa y b i g t ime ," Poo vey s aid . " B u t I k new th at if C h r is w a s going t o p as s m e, h e 'd have t o d o it o n the outs ide." B y then , Spring er h ad ba cked off o f his p ac e co ns ide r a b l y , but th e 43 y e ar- o ld dirt tra ck l e g en d wa s st ill al most a st r aightaway ahead o f Schn a bel , and third pl ace se em e d all but a ssu r ed. That changed on lap 19. (Left) Jay Springsteen was int ervi e w ed by Wrenchead.com announcer Johnny Landers prior to the start of the racing. Springer crashed while running third in the main event. He was uninjured, but his title hopes took a beating. (Above) How about that Texas gal?: Jennifer Snyder eamed a main event berth in her National-class debut and went on to finish 13th in the biggest race of her career. Based on her perfonnance, Snyder plans to hit the West Coast swing of the Fonnula USA tour. " T h ere wa s a little spot up t h ere all day lo n g a n d turn one ," Springsteen said. " C h ris and Terr y g o t awa y from me for a w h il e, and then I was c atch ing them again. T hen I just got in too hot and h it tha t spot tha t I was telling everyone else to stay away fro m . I just lost t h e front end, and the b a c k went r ig ht w ith it t o o . I just c o uldn't g et 'er wh o a 'd u p . I j ust got a little knot o n Telas MotorSpeedway FortWorth, Telas Results: August 2&,2000 (Round 5 of 101 my fo rea rm . O ther t han t hat I'm okay 'c a u se I landed o n m y head." HEAT 1 (8 laps; 9 riders . top 4 tr ansfer) : 1. Ter ry Poovey (Rtx) ; 2 . Greg T ysor (Rtx ); 3. Ja son Tyer (H ·D) : 4 . Bryan Smith (ATK ); 5. Don Wilson (Rtx) : 6. Je nnifer Snyder (Rtx): 7. Mark Burch (Rtx) ; 8. Mik e Hinds (AT K); 9 . Billy Bevers (Hen) . Time: 3 m ins.. 02 .454 sees. HEAT 2 : ( 8 laps; 8 rider s, to p 4 transfe r) : I. Chris Carr (Rtx); 2 . Charlie Orr (CeM); 3 . Tim Eades (H-D) ; 4. Kenny Noyes (Hbg); 5. A.J . Eslick (Yam ); 6 . Beau Brown (Ce M) : 7 . Trenton Bailey (AT K) ; 8 . Bobby Lee Decker (Rtx) . Tim e: 3 min s.. 03.627 sees. HEAT 3 (8 laps; 8 riders, top 4 transfer): 1. Jay Springsteen (H- D) : 2 . J .R. Schnabel (H· D): 3 . Greg Teague (Rtx): 4. Brandon Cartwright (Rtx) ; 5. Robert Miller (H -D ); 6 . Scott Deubler (KTM) ; 7 . Gary Rogers (H· D) ; 8. Clayton Hul l (ATK). Tim e: No time due to restart lea (8 laps; 12 riders, top 6 transfer): 1. Beau Bro wn (CC M ) ; 2 . A .J . E slick ( Ya m) ; 3 . Jenn ifer D Snyder (Rtx) : 4 . Gary Rogers (Ho ); 5 . Don W ilson (Rtx); 6. Clay ton Hull (ATK); 7. Mike Hinds (ATK ); 8. Scott Deubler (KTM ); 9. T renton Bailey (AT K); 10 . Ma rk Burch (Rtx); 1 1. Bobby Lee Decker (Rtx); 12 . Billy Bevers (Hon). Time: 2 mins.. 56.5 15 sees. NATIONAL (25 laps; 18 riders): 1. Terry Poovey (Rtx): 2. Chris Carr (Rtx); 3. J R . Schnabel (H-D); 4. Charlie O rr (CCM) ; 5. Greg T ysor (Rtx ); 6 . Bryan Smi th (ATK ); 7. Jason Tyer (H-D) ; 8. Tim Eades (H· D ); 9 . Gary Rogers (H- D ); 10 . Brando n Cartw right S pring er wou ld b e c r edited with 15 th pl ace. As it turn ed o u t , th e speedy but e ver -s lic ken i n g r a cing su rface o nce again left C arr in li m b o once he an d Poovey cle ared m ost of t h e lap p er s . Po ovey's marg in of v ictory over Carr was ab out thre e o r f o u r len g t h s at the line, both ri ders w ell ahead of th ird placed Schn ab el and the rest. Smith had a goo d run in the fi nal , working his w ay t o a career-best si xth, j ust ahead of Tyer, Eades and a disappoin ted G ary Ro g ers, w ho ba ttled from t he b a c k and c o u ld on ly salvage a nint h - pl ac e finish on his Ro g ers Lake R a c in g / C u s t o m C h rome en t ry. Cartwrig h t rou nded o ut th e top 10 . eN Sometim es it seems like whe n yo u sho w up to the track , yo u can do no wro ng. When Terry Poov ey sho ws up on the Rotax that brother Teddy built him, he has days lik e that. Th e bi ke is the very sam e th at powered hi m to wins at the AMA Dayto na Short Track in 1997 and 2000, and now it seems to be more than co m petent on the half miles as well , havi ng nett ed Poov ey a thi rd- place fini sh at the Rapi d City Half M ile at the beginn ing of A ugust. A t T exas Motor Speedway, he used it t o win the fastest heat race and sit on th e po le for the m ain event. "My broth er builds the best m ot orcy cle out here," Poov ey said. "And I want to win real bad, too . So I've j ust been tra ining real hard, and I don't get tired like I used to ." Poov ey was the class of the field in the opening heat race. After everyone on the front row except him and Greg Tysor jum ped the line and was sent to the penalty li ne, Poovey beat Tysor in a drag race to turn one , and fro m there he wor ked the m iddl e of the everwideni ng groove to pull far ahead of the Georgian, while J ason Tyer wo rked into third place, ahead of fellow rookie Brya n Sm ith, with Don Wilson run ning way beh ind the rest of th em to beco m e th e first of th e nonqualifiers. Poovey posted a ti m e of 3 minutes, 2.4 54 seco nds en rout e to victory . Carr 's win ning tim e in heat two came j ust a little over one second slow er at 3:03.627, but li ke Poovey , he m ade it look easy . T he two-time Grand National Cha m pion rocketed away from th e rest of the pack on the second go after the original start was erased after T im Eades crashed in tum one, bringi ng out a red flag. By the end of the eight laps, he was a full straightaway ahea d of runne r-up Charli e Orr, wi th Eades screaming through the pack to finish thi rd after coming from the penalty li ne. Kenn y Noy es was fourth, taking the last di rect transfer spot . It would have been interesting to see how the tim e of XR750 riders J ay Springsteen and J .R. Sch nabel would hav e stacked up agai nst tho se post ed by Rotax riders Carr and Poovey , but a cras h by another XRrider, Gary Rogers, on lap fiv e ulti m ately caused the race to be red- flagg ed . Un settling to Rogers' team was the fact that the dow ned rid er was forced to lay beneath the hay bales in the impact zone for several lap s before the race was finall y halt ed. Prior to that, Schn abel and Springste en, had gotten away from every one, with Sch nabel clearly carrying the faster entry speed , only to slip high when com ing onto the straights. That was all the cagey Sp ringst een needed , and when Schnabel slipped in three and four, Spr inge r powered unde rneat h hi m to take the lead. Whe n the race was called, Springer had the win. Without a full field , the two sem is were not necc essary and all the nonq ualified racers were du m ped stra ight into the LCO . Beau Brown , A .J . Eslick , Jennifer Snyder, Gary Rogers, Don Wilson and Clayton Hull finished in the top six positions to fill out th e fie ld for the National. 20 SEPTEMBER 6, 2000 cue I e n e vv os (Rtx) ; 11. Don Wilson (Rtx) ; 12 . Beau Brown (CCM) ; 13. Jennifer Snyder (Rtx); 14 . Clayton Hull (ATK); I S. Jay Springsteen (H- D) ; 16. Greg Teague (Rtx) ; 17. A.J. Eslick (Yam) ; 18 . Kenny Noyes (Hbg). Time: 8 mins., 39.920 sees. FORMULA USA/ WRENCHEAD .COM NA T IO NA L DIRT TRACK SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (A fter 5 of 10 rounds): I. Chris Carr (304 ); 2 . J .R. Schnabel (272) ; 3 . Mike Hack er (254) ; 4. Rich King (248/3 wins); 5. (T IE) Gary Rogers (2 42 )/ Jay Springsteen (242); 7. Terry Poovey (2 16/1 ); 8. Jo e Kopp (200); 9 . Wil l Da vi s ( 198/1 ) : 10 . ( TI E) Geo Roe der II ( 19 2)/ Dan Stanley ( 192) ; 12. Kenny Coolb eth ( 190); 13 . ( TI E ) W illie M cC oy (188 ) /Jason T y er (t 8 8 )/ Mic hael Va rnes (1 8 8 ); 16 . Johnny Murph ree (160 ) ; 17 . Gre g Ty sor ( 142 ); 18. Dale J ennem an ( 136) ; 19. Charlie Orr (122 ); 20. Steve Beattie ( 116) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 6 - Portland, Oregon, September 9 Round 7 - Seattle, Washington, September 16 BBIEFCY; •• Lights out: Just as the National main event was lining up to do battle, several banks of lights that line the outside of turns one and two on the Texas Motor Speedway half mile inadvertently turned off, and the main event was run without them. Fortunateiy. the state-of-the-art facility features an ample Musco lighting system, with flood towers on both inside and outside arcs of the corners. "The breaker just blew.- Texas Motor Speedway short track manager Gary Gueheler said. .. It takes a whiie for them [iights] to cool back down so that we can turn them back on. They [Formula USA officialsl said that they were satisfied that there was enough light to continue. If it had been a safety issue, we certainly wo uld have waited." Perhaps a little less tolerant of poor track conditions in his old age (and who can blame him?), Jay Springsteen offered fair praise to Formula USA and the Texas Motor Speedway crew for whipping the clay into shape after the racers struggled with horrible conditions during practice. "The track was better than it was last time," Springsteen said. - Last time, they had so much rain, and it screwed up everything. This time, it was just so hot that they couldn't get enough water on it. But as the night went on, it did get better and better. It wasn't too bad." It is ironic that Formula USA has no Rookie of the Year award to speak of, and yet the series is hosting three riders who couid be considered among the more talented first -year National riders in professional dirt track racing. Texas rider Jason Tyer heads the list in the unofficial battle right now , currently sitting in a tie for 13th place. with 188 points . Michigan rider Bryan Smith , who finished one spot ahead of Tyer at Texas Motor Speedway, is 25th. with 86 points. Oregon rider Beau Brown , 12th at Texas, is actually ahead of Smith. sitting 23rd in the standings. with 92 points. "We finally got that front-row start that I've been wanting," Jason Tyer said after finishing seventh in the main event befo re his home crowd. "This was a lot bett er than we did the last time that we came here , and it was real nice to do this in front of my home crowd. W e 're still learning. Chassis setup is what seems to kill us a lot of the time, but Kenny Tolbert has been giving us advice, and it's really starting to payoff. I'd say we've got it goin' on.Speaking of Jason Tyer, the young Texas charger's pit was the best place to be after the race. as Tyer's fath er , K irk . also known in Te xa s dirt tra ck c ircles a s "The Pre sid ent. " co e rce d long time friend and award-winning barbecue chef Dana W ebb into holding a Texas-style feast for the racers and pit-qoers after the event. Webb towed his own barbecue pit in next to Tyer' s transporter and cooked up pound after pound of beef brisket and pork ribs, complete with his own mouth-watering homemade sauce. Needless to say, the serving line seemed to stretch halfway back to Dallas. We bb said that he plans to be back again to do the same thing next year." One for one; Jennifer Snyder continued to endear herself to dirt track fans everywhere, but especially her home state. The 16-year·old Texan showed up to contest the both classes. and she made the main event for both, making her National debut by charging to a safe third-place finish in the Last Chance Qualifier. .. It felt really good to do that. " Snyder said. "The track was rough, and I had to go for it and ride really aggressive. I just started to find lines that other guys weren't using. and it was working awes ome. I was hooking up, and getting through the bumps prett y good." Snyder finished 13th in the main event. gett ing lapped by the big boys in the process. "That was crazy," Snyder said. "I' ve never been lapped before, and it was definitely weird. I was proud to make it. but I don't want to get lapped again." T im Eades had a rather impressive heat race, charging from the back of the pack in the second heat to qualify for his second-career National main event this season, the first coming at the AMA Charlotte Half Mile. Some of it has come from good riding, but it may also be attributed to a tuneup from championship-winning tuner Johnny Goad, who builds bikes for none other than Mike Hacker, Eades' roommate. "Jo hnny went through my bike for me, and it hauls ass now," Eades said. " I can't believe the diff erence. - W hen asked what the tuneup cost him, Eades replied. - Jo~ nny made me wash his truck, and let me tell you, I had that sucker shinin'."

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