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/Progr e s s iv e Insu r a n ce U.S. Fl a t T r a ck Champ io n ships R o u n d 1 2 : Illinois State F a irgrou n d s • SPRINGFIELD, IL, SEPT. 2 . . n almost unbearable wav e of he at ftand hum id ity contin ued to p lague the Illinois Moto rcycle Dealers Asso ciation 's big tripleheader weekend, a s the action moved from the ov ernight sen sation th a t was the Springfiel d Short Tr a c k Sho otout to the fabled Illinois S tate Fa irgrounds m ile o val for th e rich est race in dirt track his tory, th e Ha ll of Fame Grand Nati on al. Some 54 riders s igned up to vie for the $100,000 pu rs e , with Progress ive Insurance U.S. Fla t Track Cha mpionship points ma king this year's event of added importa nce to thos e s elect few ride rs still in the hunt for the num bero ne plate . T he u nus ual he at caused probl ems with the track. as tum three br ok e up , but desp ite that, the la rg e crowd was still tre ated to great raci ng . A nd Moro ney' s Harley- Dav id s o n/ Fast hog .co m/ Go u ld Er e ct o rs ' Will Da vis be a t th e he a t in h is own p erson a l wa y by fin a lly a nsw erin g the "C a n Will Dav is win a m ile ? " que s t ion by sco ring a victo ry th e bigg est mil e ra c e o f a ll. Aft erward , ov ercom e by the he a t a nd th e we ig ht o f th e m om ent , Dav is nearly broke down in tea rs on the pod ium . " I've wa nt ed th is a lo ng time, " Da vis sa id. "S ince we led here on the Honda ['g 5 1 a nd b lew up, this pla ce ha s j us t had us . We ' v e b e en fa s t e no ugh every time we 've co me he re , and t o day I had just as m u c h a cha nce of getting th ird as I did firs t. It' s like you t h ro w a d eck of cards dow n, and if yo ur c a rd fall s out you' re the winner. If you 're in the hunt, th er e a re so many people th at cou ld win it. It jus t s huffled out in our favor today. " Saddlemen Racing/Lanc a ster H-D/ Dodge Brothers ' Mike Hacker led th e 18- rider field into turn one , but it wa s J oe Ko p p wh o had th e lead at t he end of la p o ne . Th e Co rb in Racing / Dave Bur ks Motors po rts / H-D of Misso uri-spon so red rider gave way to Terry Poovey an d his powerful US C Ra ci n g / I stleagle .com /Hap J o n e s - b a c k ed Ho n da . Ha c k e r scratched back into the th ick of the race with Kevin Ath ert on thri lling the partisan crowd by run ning fourth . Five la ps into th e race , Da vis was now he re near the fro nt . "I spun the tire at the start," Davi s said. "I'd be en gett ing ho le s hots e ver since Lima . I p ic k ed do wn on the ins ide, I go t m y re a r wheel in some ma rbl e s a n d wh en th e light went green it just spun . I went into the first co rner 13th or 14 th. S ome th ird-row g uys passe d me . We start ed wit h b ra n d n e w ru bb er in t he ma in and had to try a nd m ilk th e tire in. I ha d to run four or five laps to get it buffed in. On ce it starte d to hook up , I cou ld tell I could go to the front." 32 e S T ORY BY D A VE H O ENIG P HOT OS BY F LA T T RA K F OT OS S EPT EMB ER 13. 2000' c u e n e uv s Will Davis (21) out-gunned Joe Kopp (4 3) and Teny Poovey (18) to earn hi s first career Grand National mile win at the $100,000 Hall of Fame Grand National at the Springfield Mlle. Davis earned over S18,000 for his efforts. Lap aft er lap, Poovey continued to le a d a t th e finish line whil e Ha cker, Kopp , Rich King . Kenny Co olbeth , Da vis , Ch ris Carr and La rry Pegram bunched up right behind him. Ath er ton t he n b egan d roppin g ba c k as s omeone in th e lead pack wa s having major problems . "So mebo dy was d rop ping oil, and I cou ldn't see," said Atherton . The re t u rn in g star 's C ind e re lla story ca m e to a sudde n a nd vio le nt halt on la p 12. "Go ing into turn three, I got into some oil a nd it j ust pu t me down," Atherton said. The race was red -flagged an d Atherto n thrilled the c rowd as he retumed to the pits under his own power. It turned out th at the oi l cul pr it was Mike Hacker. "It was a bad day , but I guess it could be worse," Ha c ke r said . "S tuff ha ppens , the primary cover blew off and the bike was out of o il. I don 't know what the deal was, I wasn't s lid ing , I wa s fine . I don ' t know what ha p pened , I ha te th at that ha ppened. I thought we ha d some th ing for them, I wa s ju st o n cruise and bidi ng my tim e till the e nd ." Da vis had just begun to flex his mu scle s as th e race wa s stopped. " I to ok th e lea d a bo ut the same time he [Ha c ke r) dumped t ha t oil ," Davis s aid . "After the resta rt, it was pr etty mu ch rid e with th e to p thre e the re st o f th e wa y. " Da v is , Kopp a n d Poo vey woul d do minate the restart. "I've neve r be e n in tha t pos ition , especially o n the Sp ringfield mil e , s ta ying up in the lea d . Th e y're always talk ing abo ut strategy o n t he mil e , and I wasn't sure about what st rategy I s hould ha ve ." sa id Kopp, "I' m think in g t h e whole t ime , 'There 's la p mon e y, my strategy is to lead every lap . If I ca n do that for twenty -five laps, it'll wo rk.' I kept thinking that it was early in the race and the rest would ca tc h up , that I had to get it while I could. I stayed up there and then we had the red flag , even after the red flag I wa s se con d ." Of th e lea d tr io, on ly Poo ve y ha d recorde d a w in on a m ile. He appe a red to be on the ve rge of winning his third un til th e la st lap . "J oe got in m y wa y , he co uld ha ve got second e ithe r way , but it cost me th e win," said Poovey. "When he got underneath m e g o ing into one , tha t let Will get t o o b ig a le a d on him between on e and two. Then we co uldn' t draft ba ck up down the ba ck st ra ig ht. I was go ing to let Will le a d down the ba ck strai ghtawa y , a nd I d idn 't fe el like he co u ld beat m e to th e finish line. I ne eded to be in the lead off fou r. I wa s ju st wait ing for the last c ouple of laps , but I just c ouldn't get into the po s ition I ne ed e d ." "With about five or six laps to go , I real ize d I c ou ld win thi s thi ng or at least be on th e po dium ," Kopp sa id, "I looked bac k a nd there we re a bo ut 15 guys o n ou r ta il. I thoug ht we we re to p thr ee , long gone . I kne w then not to scre w up . I d id n ' t really know wher e to pu t m ys elf the la st la p. I felt like I could be at Will to th e c heckered flag, but not Terry. If Terry was in the Kenny Coolbeth took the first heat away from fast qualifier Rich King. Willie McCoy held the lead with one lap to go before slipping to third. Kevin Atherton showed almost no rust as he took the second heat win. Atherton held a commanding lead until the last lap. when Geo Roeder. Bryan Bigelow and Kevin Vames drafted up to him. Atherton led Roeder and Bigelow into the main. . The third heat had Mike Hacker, J oe Kopp, Larry Pegram. Jay Springsteen and J .R. Schnabel all in contention for the win. Hacker came out on top over Kopp and Pegram . The last heat was another tight battle as Terry Poovey, Will Davis and Chris C~rr finished well ahead of the field. Steve Beattie, Jay Springsteen and Scott Parker won their semis.