Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/SuperTrapp S uperTra c k e r S e r ie s Round S : Ver n o n Dow ns Mi le B Y D A VE H O E NIG PH OT OS BY FLA T T RAK F OT OS VERNON,NY,SEPT.9 o rbin Racing / Dave Burks Moto rsports / H - D of M is so uri's Joe Kopp has defended h is Sup erTrapp SuperTra ck er Ser ies title. A sec ond-pla ce finish coup led with Mike Hack er 's non -finish was eno ug h to g ive Kopp an insurmounta ble lead with one race rem a in ing on the schedule. Chr i s Eva ns m ad e h is first start in the series a good o ne , Th e Canadian cush ion maste r jumped on th e fasthog .com / Moroney 's H -D-backed Harley, bl asted by Joe Kopp and ra ced on to th e win. " We w rap ped up the ser ies , but not really the way I wan ted t o d o i t, " Kopp s aid . " M i ke [Ha cker] had bad luck again , or he wo uld have been right th ere. Joe Kopp had a good night in Vernon" Kopp finished second to King in the Grand National to extend his championship poi nts lead after earlier wrapping up the SuperTrackers title after finishing second to Chris Evans" DuQUOin with no 'hot rod' that' s for sure, All we have to do is halfway good and finish and we've got it. " BRIEFLY••• Rich King not only pocketed $6230 for his dominating ride, but also said he really enjoyed the night , "The track was fun, the whole night was fun - eve rybody here was just pleasant ," King said , " Because of the rain we had to move the pits to the outside and there we ren 't any re stroom s. so we had to go in and out the gate several time s and eve n the sec urity guards were ple asant. It wa s an enjoy ment for the riders and hopefully we 'll come back here," Two more rookies made their mark : Ricky Winsett (Mom & DadlGre g ThalislEric Rausch) and Chris Hart (Perfonmance HDI ArailWhite Brothers) rode their first Grand National mains, "That was a lot of laps, my anms were getting pretty tired, I've got to do some work for next year. ~ said W insett. M bee n a long time comIt's ing, I've been working towards this for 16 years - finally made one M team manager , Dave Burks as the reality of the situation sunk in. 20 SEPTEMBER 20, 2000' eye I e n e There's nothing wro ng with that and there's nothing wrong with me conceding off the starting line like I did. I don't have anything to prove, I don't have to win, it's really my first race back. At Springfield we went fast. but we ended up in the hay bales." said Atherton. " In the heat, Nicky [Hayden] pulled up next to me and we started to screw off a little bit. Some hand gestures and touchy feely things. it broke my concentration. It was like, 'I'll nun him down this lap.' I ran it into the comer and lost the front end. I decided second was good enough. There was no need to do something stupid." today. Next year our sponsors are supposed to have a bette r bike for us. We've stuck to the half-miles most of the year, if this hadn't been a cushion we'd have been in trouble." Hart couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he also made plans for next year. " Kinda' hard to There was possibly a little relief mixed in for the winner of his 11th be lieve ac tually. unrea l. The first time I ever rode the bike was National. but first for the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, ' Wed nesday night on a little quarter mile," said Hart . "The track was "I didn't really feel like we had a monkey on our back. we 've been awesome. It was better for me in the heat race. but we didn't going fast, we've just been out raced and bad little things have change anything and it didn't wo rk as well in the main. They're really been happening, just keeping us off the top," said King, " It's nice pumped at Performance Harley, their shop is only about a half hour to finally have a night like this. I've felt like there we re four or five from here. They're already making plans for next year." races this year that I could have won and didn't. This was another that I felt like I could win and I did. We 've been gelling some bad A last minute phone call from Kevin Atherton to his long-time draw s and loaded heat races, but tonight we were fast right from sponsor led to the Tommy Cummings Racing team bringing Nicky the get go . We had good starti ng spots all night and that's critical Hayden to New York. "I tested here Wednesday and it was such on racetracks like this. I didn't bot ch any starts, good draws and a blast. I called Tommy and they decided to make the trip," said being fast that put us on the top of the box ." Ath ert on . " I enjoyed it : I' m glad I came . I didn 't deci de until Wednesday to ride. " said Hayden. " I was trying up top, but every The 200 0 Progressive Insurance Flat Track Championship Series body was going by me on the botto m. I tried to go to the bottom . is now a two-man race . Joe Kopp has officially eliminate d the but it didn't help me down there. They were killing me no matter defending AM A Grand National Champion C hris Carr. W ith one what line I ran. I couldn' t really see much of anything . My shield race, the DuQuoin Mile, left on the schedule only Will Davis can didn' t really fog. but it had some condensation on the inside. I had take the tit le from Kop p. "We can do thrs ! " Kopp told Co rbin a little proble m seeing there a t the end . Kopp now holds a I S-point lead. -I've got a IS -point lead, so we just have to stay within 14 points of W ill [Davis]," said Kopp. " If we tie he wins because he's got more wins. We ain't going to I was ki nd of in a defensi ve mode tonight . I wanted t o w in the champi onship , but I knew I didn 't need t o win the race . I was trying t o save my body for th e 750. When [Chris] Evans we nt by I tri ed t o g et him b ac k fo r about ha lf a lap . I rea lized I was go ing to hav e to go ov er my head to do thi s so I j ust backed off and took second ." Ko pp's Corbin Raci ng t eamma te Kenn y Co ol beth was a solid t hird , over the F & S H-D/Shoei/MSR-backed W illie McCoy . H ac k er h ad l ed the start of t h e m ain into t urn on e, but as t he fiel d thundered ac ross th e sta rt fi nish line th e fi rst time, Hack er's hand shot into the a ir - his ti t le chase over for the year. Wh ile Evans harassed Kopp , Cool beth and Bob Buffington fought over third . Buffington would ev entually fad e, rep laced b y McC oy and B ri an Kro m roy (W idm an H-D/J im Wagner). E v ans pushed his Harley pass ed the Suzuki of Kopp on lap lOaf the 12-lap ra c e and post ed the first win fo r Harley in th e Seri es - wi th Hack er's wins co m ing on a Bu ell. M&S Suzu ki /Wh it e ' s H-D /Mill er Cycle 's Roy M il ler fi n ishe d sixth on hi s Suzu ki. J err y V a n de r k o o i was seventh o n board th e C hu c k Seku ra / Larco m Racing Suzuki , Wolf Rac - Mike Hacker's breakout season continues to fall apart as he s ulfered breakdowns in both classes loosing the SuperTracker points race and suffering in the GNC also. " Damn I was so far ahead of seventh, now they're right on my door, Rich [King] has done blew by me, there's no way I can catch him," said Hacker. " Oh. well, it could always be worse . That's the best I've ever run on a cushion. I used to not be able to ride this stuff, now here I am nunning up front. Stuff happens, you just have to regroup and get 'em next time.- Kenny Coolbeth wa s ready for the wet track con ditions that didn't really materialize. " I had 14 tear-offs on, it was like looking through a smoke shield," he said, - I stayed on the groove the whole race, never went off, it looked like it was pretty slick on top. I had a pretty good start from the second row, I just hugged the inside the best I could and got around a couple of guys. I looked back a couple of times and saw they were pretty far back , so I just relaxed,.. Willie McCoy obvious ly enjoyed the cushion mile, posting his best GNC finish of the year . "The track was aweso me, to have to steer the bike with the thrott le on a mile, You'd roll off in there get off the gas for a se cond, then hammer it wide open, Guys were running all over the place . I like tracks where you have an option. At herton is easing back into the fast lane. "The first couple of if you don't like following them go around them, that' s racing. You laps in the main I just was n't aggres sive. like I normally am. Being aggressive comes from racing week in and week out and I wasn 't. run in there wide ope n. you ge t sideways and you r still wide ope n. vv s that' s coo l. "

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