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
(Above) Hayden (6 9) worked the outside to pass Davis (21 ) on lap 19. (Right) Davis retaliated w ith an insi de m ov e to retake the lead for one lap before Hayden made t he w inning pa ss in turn s t hre e a nd four. we re d rag ging o ur toe s o ut th er e . It's to ugh when you 're battling like tha t. Some tim es yo u d on' t wan t to be on the ga s whe n there are ho le s in t he track like we wer e hittin' ." T h e Cor bin Ra cin g /H -D of Missouri-backed Kopp had th e speed to ru n with Da vis a nd Ha yd e n , but he was held u p just e nough at th e sta rt to prevent him fro m gett ing a ny thing goi ng o n hi s De nny La p p -o wn ed Rotax . Wh ile the two front-ru nners had clear sailing . he was forced to cut under Team Powell /West Bend H-D's Schnabel. USC Ra cing /Lancaster HD's Bryan Bige low and the n Landes in o rde r to m a ke his way to third on th e o pening lap. Kopp s pent th e rest of the race runn ing about a stra igh ta wa y behind Davis a nd Ha yden , his progress further impeded by lapped traffic . St ill, Ko p p was plea sed to c o nti n ue hi s run in t he po in ts a n d bac k up his Se dalia Ha lf Mile victory with a nother pod ium a ppeara nce . He a lso offere d fa ir pra is e fo r th e s hor t track its e lf. "The tr a ck held u p rea lly g ood ," Kop p said. "I didn 't th ink that it would hold up as well as it did bec ause it lo o k e d pretty soft e arly o n . It was rea lly kind of tricky be cause of the way it was banked [off-camber ] in th e turns . T ha t was th e tri cky part, th e corner. The ha rder you pushed it, th e ha rder it was to ke ep fro m fallin g off the pole. They were pretty q u ic k off the start, and I had to com e up from behind them." King landed his Bill Werner-tuned fa ctory Harley -Davidson fourth in the main eve nt aft er g etting a c ru d dy l Oth-plac e s tart. The Iowan fought his way through th e pack qu ick ly, kn ifing his wa y pa st Gardner Racing/W alters Brothers H-D 's Dan Stan ley and h is o wn Harl e y -D av ids on b u d dy Scott Parke r on th e firs t coup le la ps . King th en forg ed h is wa y by a s tr ug gli ng Brett Lande s to catch up to H-D of Sa cra mento/Wrenchead .c om ' s Chris Ca rr by la p five, the two battled ba ck and forth for the fifth spot, with King 's bike working well in tu rns th ree and four - just the s pot whe re Carr stru g gled. King got under Ca rr on lap fo ur before they got back to th e start/fi nish line . He would continue by we a r- ing dow n Bry an Big el ow th re e la ps fro m th e finish . "T hat was hard wo rk ," King s a id . "I s tarte d o n th e b ac k ro w , and I di d n' t g et a rea l good sta rt. I've been com ing from th e ba c k ro w a lot. The t ra ck wa s g ett ing rough e r a n d ro ug her. I just tried to conserve m y e ne rg y. because I knew it wa s go ing to be a lon g race . I had a re a l good lin e in t hree and fou r , and that ' s where I wa s p a s sing m o st of 'e m . Th en I ca ught up to Bigel ow , a nd me and him had a battle ro yal e for about 10 la ps . After I got b y h im , I wa s wo rn o ut. " cu e I e n USC Raci ng/ La nc aster H-D rid e r Bige low m ay hav e ultima te ly pu t too mu c h s toc k in the o uts ide line . but it h a d served h im well e nou g h in the early la ps , and he stuck it out up high for m ost of th e ra ce be for e dr opping low to p rot e ct th e groove after King we nt by h im to ta ke th e fo urth spot. But c ha lk u p a nother top -five for one of Michigan' s gang of ta lented riders. "T h e o u ts ide was wo rk ing fo r a wh ile, but it just dried o ut and got so rou g h u p th e r e . " sa id Big e lo w . " I was n 't go in g g o od all d a y lo n g . I d idn 't wa nt to be here. It just got too rough and too chop ped up up there. e uv S • S EPTEMBER 13, 2000 37