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/128630
AMA,/Progre ssive In surance U .S . F la t T r a c k C h am p ionsh ips (Left) Chris Carr has seen better days at the Springfield Mile. The reigning champion almost made his way into the le a d draft, but slowed when he saw Mike Hacker leaking oil late In the race. (Below ) Nicky Hayden tested one of Terry Poovey's Honda RS750 dirt trackers in practice before j um ping on his HarleyDavidson and finish ing seventh. Don't be surprised to se e Hayden on factory Honda dirt track eq uipment if he ride s again ne xt year. beca use now I know tha t a ll I have to d o is get off wit h the m - w hich is somethi ng th at I kn ew all al ong , but when yo u haven't won o ne, yo u just keep thi nki ng a bout be ing in th e lea d the whole time ." H-D of Sacram en to /Wrench ead .co m -ba c ked Carr, who will effectively be e lim inated from t he c h a m p ionship hunt when h e ski ps the next round of th e series to attend a Fo rmu la USA event in Po rtla nd , Oregon , lost o ut in h is bid to d raft past Da vis a t the li ne . Lik e Da v is , Car r a lso sa w th at, I slowed down quick . It wasn't wo rth crashing o ver." Despite dropping five points in the c hampionsh ip ra ce , Davis felt c onfident that he wou ld be -the one standing with the num ber-one plate a t the end of the season. "I know that we ca n do th is ," he said . "All that I ha ve to do is go out there and do m y job. Mike Wheele r is p utt in g so me great motorcy cles underne ath m e . At least we ca n say tha t we h a v e won a m ile . T h a t c ha nges your perspe ctive somewhat, After Rich King finished seco nd in the slowest heat race of the day during the Hall of Fame race while his factory teammate Scott Parker had to come through a semi to even make the main event, you had to figure that 13-time Grand National-winning tuner Bill Werner would have his boys running a bit sharper during the Springfield Mile on Sunday. Sure enough, the results of Werner's black magic were evident in the very first heat race, as King took advantage of a fast racetrack and Chris Carr to earn the pole with a time of five minute., 49.164 seconds. King, Carr and Paul Morgan III pulled away from rookie Jason Tyer and young journeyman Shaun Russell to cinch their main-event berths by the fifth lap. King and Carr then dropped Morgan near the finish. King took the win, having ied Carr at the stripe from lap six through lap 10. The lead chase in heat two came down to just Terry Poovey and Will Davis after J oe Kopp slipped off the groove in turns three and four on lap two and failed to gather it up before losing the draft; Kopp was far enough ahead of Gardner RacingjWalters Brothers H-D's Steve Beattie, Kevin Varnes and Gary Rogers to gurantee third place and a quick ticket to the main. Poovey elected to lead Davis off of turn three, but Davis was close enough to slingshot by the Texan for the win. Mike Hacker, Geo Roeder II, Willie McCoy and Team Powell/West Bend H-D's J.R. Schnabel teamed up ea rly in heat three, leaving the rest of the 12-rider field behind them to engage in a four-way war for three spots to the main. Schnabel basically gave up his chances when he hit a hole at the entrance to turn three and skipped off the groove, losing 15 lengths in the blink of an eye. McCoy laid low, running second or third for the duration before setting himself up to blast between Hacker and Roeder for his first mile heatrace win. Hacker was a close seco nd, with Roeder third. Murphree was in some tough compa ny when he lined up against Scott Parker, Larry Pegram and Nicky Hayden in the final heat race. Those four were the men to watch as the IO-lapper wore on, but Murphree was definitely the center of attention, as he borrowed a move from Jay Springsteen and rim-rode his way to first in turns three and four as they ran four abreast on lap seven. Murphree used the line again to pull into the lead on the last lap , and he won a drag race with Parker to bag his first mile heat-race win. Pegram was the odd man out at the finish. Kenny Coolbeth rebounded from a bad start in heat one to post the win in the first semi, with Varnes landing seco nd to make the main after missing out on both Friday and Saturday. Rogers and Russe ll battled back and forth in a tight second semi, with Rogers getting the win while Russell earned the other available tran sfer. Evans, Pegram and Schnabel clashed in the third se mi, with Schnabel getting caught out at the line and packing up ea rly after Evans squeaked ahead of Pegram for the win to set the fi eld. 24 S EP T EM B ER 1 3 . 2 000 ' cue started ta king it too seriously. I have to remember that these dirt tracks are just fo r fun ." For McCoy , who does not have a lucrative roa d ra cing dea l to fall back on , eighth p lace - his best finish o n a mile - was not good enough. " I have h igher expectations of myse lf," McCoy said . '" know that I c an run with thos e guys, and I had a front-row start for the main ev ent. I'm disa ppointed. I s ho uld ha ve be e n in th e top five. " Rogers was ju st happy to be in a ma in ev en t after fa iling to q ualify fo r th e program at th e Springfield Short Tr a ck Sh ootout o n Frida y a nd then m is sing th e m ain e ve nt during Saturday's Hall of Fame ra c e . I e n e vv s e lected to pla y it safe o nce he saw oil on the tra ck. "We've had better da ys at Spring fie ld, that's for s u re, " Carr sa id . "I think t hat Wi ll and I wou ld h a v e caught the lea d g uys , but then Ha c ker 's bike started b lowing oil. It made me ba ck off. I didn 't want to c ha nce it, espe ci a lly after what happene d to Kevin [Atherton] yeste rda y ." Behind Davis a n d Carr c a m e a no t he r drafting b attle , th is one in clud ing TCR /Mi c h ig an HarleyDav idson Dea lers Association -backed Nick y Hayd en , F&S Harley -Davidson ' s Willi e McC oy , Comp etiti on Accesso r ies . co m- ba cke d Larr y Pegr am a n d Cu st om Chrom e / Mitch e ll's Modesto Harl e y-Dav idson 's Gar y Rogers. Th e y wou ld finis h in th at o rder afte r Pegr am , McC o y a nd Roge rs caught up to Ha yd en . " I j ust d id n' t ge t o ff with th o s e guys up fron t ," Hay den sa id. Pegram sa id th a t he ca ug ht him sel f trying a little bit too hard. "I jus t came o ut her e to ha ve some fun ," the ninth -pl a c ed Pegram sa id . "Yeste rday was fun , but toda y I just " It was pretty goo d, I g uess , " Rogers sai d . " I mixed it u p wit h ' Pegra m a nd Willie [McCoy], and we c a u g ht u p t o Nicky . He wa s go ing kin d of s low , I thought. " Me mp his S hades /Coziahr H-D ' s Kevin Varnes and Las Vegas H-D/K K Moto rcycle S upply 's Ge o Ro e d er II nursed sick mo to-rcycles home in 11th and 12th place , re spectively . Behind them we re a s lew of riders whose equipment fa iled to go th e dis tanc e . Kopp ' s Cor bin teammate Kenny Coo lbeth dropp ed o ut with me chani cal troub le o n lap 21 and was c re d it e d wi t h 14th , one sp ot higher tha n Ha ck er. Bartels ' H- D ride r Shaun Russell's m ount e xp ire d o n la p I I , whil e T erry Poovey 's USC Ra c ing Honda let go o n la p nin e . Chris Evans wa s c a rded in 18 th afte r h is Ad kin s Ra cin g /Wi nch este r H-D XR750 holed a pis to n wi t h o nly s ix laps in t h e eN boo ks . Illinois State fairgrounds Springfield, Illinois Results: September 3, ZUUU[Round 13 of 15J HEAT 1 ( 10 laps; 11 riders. top three tran sfer): 1. Rich King ( H· D) : 2. Chris Carr (H· D ) ; 3 . Paul Morgan III (H· D) ; 4 . Kenny Coolbeth (H·D ); 5 . Sheun