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/Progressive In sur ance U.S. F la t T r a c k C h a m p io n s h ip s R o u nd 1 1 : Illin o is S tat e F a irgrou n d s forn i an was m ired in sevent h p l ac e for much o f the ra c e . "I actua ll y got a g ood sta rt , a n d t h e n I hit a hu g e h o le in turn o ne , " Lande's sai d . " K in g. K opp an d D av is w ent b y , an d tha t wa s it. You' re n ot going to ma k e up time on those gu ys . Then I f ollo w ed Chri s [C a r r] foreve r . This is more of a c rapshoot than D ay t o n a , but it was nice to be in th er e. I t hou ght if I d idn't w in it, I'd at least b e on the podi u m . I j us t m ad e o ne m is take , but t hat's a ll it t ak es." S ad d l e m e n R a cing /L an cast e r H -D /D o d g e B r o th er s r ider Mi k e H a c k e r h a d a lot of p a s s ing to do ju st t o m a k e hi s w ay t o t he e ig ht h s p o t , a p o s iti o n wh i c h b e l i ed h i s a bil ity a s a t op - n o t ch sh o rt - t rac k e r. " W e ll , I m ad e it an y wa y ," Ha c k er sa id . "I just di d n 't get m y st uff to g eth er ea rly enough. I let to o m uch stuff g et to me, b ut J ohnny [Goad] m ad e a Fro m the second row , I got up to pio n admitted to ha ving a good time , fourth or so mething . Then once Rich even though he was one of the few go t m e , I dropped down . I ha ted who wasn 't exactly fond of the track , doing t h at , because it wo re me out and he was grateful to see Ha yden m o r e th a n running wide open up (Above) Chris Carr (1 ) and Rich K ing (80) had to batUe from behind to earn the-r placings «ing passed Carr and eventually f inished fourth. Ca rr was sixth. stop D av is' b id for the win . " I' m not b um m ed o ut at all ," Carr li k e that. C erta in ly , Nicky h elped m e said . " I d idn ' t see it, beca use they out in t he points. " W e j ust f o u g h t a probl e m w i th t ra c t ion all n ight long," Carr con ti nu ed. " T h e thing was wa ntin g to b ust loose in th e c o rn e rs eve ry t ime w e w ent o ve r the crow n . It was se ttin g m e o ff- line q u ite a bit, and w e d idn 't fi x it for th e m a in e ve nt , e i t he r. I foug ht it t he w ho le w ay a ro u nd for 2 5 la ps." TCR /M i chi g an H a rl ey - D av ids on D eal er s Ass o c iation -ba cked L an d es , w ho is al w ays a t hreat t o wi n th e D a y t o n a Short T ra c k at th e b e gin - high. M y b ik e was j ust rippi n ' , b ut I d idn 't w in ton ig ht, so I d id n 't w a st e were so far ahead of me , b ut I hear m y luck fo r tomorr ow ." t hat W ill and N ic k y ha d a h e ll o f a C arr ca m e h om e seventh , fa iling t o make his w ay p ast B ig el o w . Th e rac e up th ere. T hat' s go od, beca use rei g ning AMA Grand National Cham - no t to o m an y sh ort tra cks e n d u p Will Davis is pretty m uch on his game anytime he takes to the track, but when it 's a short track, the from veteran North Carol ina-based is usually a good bet for the pole. Sprin gfield was no different Davis ran away from fellow short-trackers Joe Kopp and Terry Poovey to post a winning 1O·lap time of two minutes, 23.131 seconds during the opening heat race. Davis had the advantage of a fresh race track with no dirt brushed off it, but he was guarded in his predictions for the main event. "I don't know," Davis said. "I thi nk that it's going to be a whole different ball game for the ma in event. It's going to be a racy racetrack. It was good in the heat race. It was different. We were a cou ple seconds quicker than anybody else, but that was the racetrack. I was a little tim id the first couple laps because it was a little marbl y, but once we got to brushing it off, it was the same for everyon e else in the later heats." Kopp held off Poovey for the second spot and a transfer . With only two riders going thro ugh in each of the six heats, aggression paid off. Parker showed plenty as he ran up the inside of Adkins Racing/Winchester H-D 's Chris Evans to take second place. then bobbled , allowing Memphis Shades/C oziahr H-D 's Kevin Varnes to jump into the battle for a ma in-event tick et. Parker then fought his way back under Varnes in tum one on lap six to nail down the transfer spot behind runaway winner Brett Landes. Varnes slipped wide on lap nine, finishing fifth , behind Evans and Mike Hack er. J .R. Schnabel and Bryan Bigelow put on the best show in the heat races, during the third heat, as Schn abel got the lead and ran on the pole while Bigelow jam med the thrott le open and ran the outside. The pair ran side by side in the mid dle laps. much to the delight of the cro wd, before Schn abel finally established his dom inance over his forme r Amateur rival. Both riders transferred. . Chris Carr found him self in a fight for his life with a couple of relati ve unknowns - Cory Roth and Sam Lowe . during heat four . Carr followed both riders for about three laps before pulli ng the trigger and splitti ng them off tum two to take the lead for the rest of the way . Johnny Murph ree came with Carr to land the second spot and mak e it thro ugh to the main. Hayden pulled clear of a Charlie Orr/ Rich Kin g duel in the fifth heat. Hayden stretched his lead at each turn, while Orr and King traded the second spot on laps seven and eight. King eventually finshed second. Dan Stanley led every lap of the final heat race, while Larry Pegram worked the out side in an effort to make his way past Paul Lynch and Eli Price. Pegram never made it stick, and Lynch nabbed second to cont inue his string of m ain-event appearances. It was crunch time in the four semis, as only the winner earned a spot in the main event. Mike Hacker eliminated Terry Poovey, Kevin Varnes and Steve Beattie, among others, in heat one. Evans outran Roeder in the second semi. Orr nailed down the thi rd -semi win, fending off Greg T ysor. Kenny Coolbeth was the class of the field in the fourth semi. 38 S EPT EMB ER 1 3 , 2000' cue • e n e 'IN' S n in g of each racing season , wa s less of a threa t than everyone th ought h e m ig ht be in the m a in event. The Ca li - c oupl e o f ch a nge s befo re t h e m a in event , a nd it really made a d iffer en c e . I was working m y butt off, a nd we came pretty fa r up there for being on the third row. I just w ish I would have gotten u p there further on t he start. We m i ght have had a li ttle better chance." Even more d isa p p o in tmen t registe red in the fac e of Team Powell jWest B end H-D's J .R. Sch n abel. A ft er ru nn ing six t h at the D ayto n a Short Track a nd fifth at the Peo ria TT, th e fo rm er coll e ge w r e stl er h ad h ig h e x pect a t ions , winning a thrilling h ea t w hi le racing ag ain st h is ol d A m ateu r neme sis, B rya n B ig el o w . In th e ma in eve nt, Sc hnabel go t a goo d start , bu t a series o f m is c ues sa w h im slip ba c k in th e p ack b efo re he ac t u ally dug in and anchore d in th e nint h sp ot. " T h at ' s n ot w h at w e we re ex pect ing h ere to n ig ht, " Schnabel sai d . " W e shou ld ha v e d on e mu ch bett er. I th o ught we wer e set up pe rfec t after th e heat rac e , but afte r a few laps it fe lt li k e it was ty in g u p , a nd then m y bra kes felt like t hey we re lo c k ing up , too. W e should have done be tter than Hottest of the heats: J.R. Schnabel (3 3 ) barely held off Brya n Bigelow (33) for the win In heat three. They ran side by sid e for m ost of th e ra ce.