Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Formu la USAlWr e n chead . c o m N a t io n al D irt T r a c k S e r ie s R ound 7 : E m era ld D o w n s So the n wha t does Kopp go a nd do next? He ventures hom e to the Pa cific Northwest to do battle in the Wre nc head.com Nationa l Dirt Tra c k S er ies , and as if to prove th a t h is se aso n long cons iste nc y knows ne ithe r sa nc tioning -body nor motorcycl e -brand boundar ies , he yanks hi s Denni s Town -tuned Corbin Rac ing /H -D o f Misso ur i-b a cked S uzuki TLl OOO o ut of the tr uck and scores a popular win o n the c u s h io n mi le ra c e tr a c k at Emeral d Downs , leading most of th e la ps to ea rn his first career Fo rm ula USA victory , m uch to th e delig ht of th e sol d out gra ndsta nd c rowd . Funny guy, tha t J oe Kopp. But th at wasn't th e only tomfooler y to ta ke pla ce a t Em er a ld Downs , the Form ula US A-s anctioned event actu a lly m a rking th e third successive ye a r S T O RY AND P HOT OS BY S COTT R OUSS EAU SEATTLE, WA, SEPT. 16 ~hile see ing Joe Kopp ma ke ~ \IV the podium at a Nationa l-ca liber d irt track ra c e m ight b rin g a smil e to th e faces of his fans , it's a safe bet that th e Wa shington ride r's competition stopped la ughing a while ago . After all, Kopp has scored seven pod ium finishes - one of them a victory - in h is las t seven AMA Gr an d Nati on al starts , m a king him the man to be at when the AMA title ra ce wra ps up at the Du Qu o in Mile a little over a mon th from now . He ha s also already lo ck ed u p h is seco nd st ra ig ht AMA/Sup e rTr a p p Su p e rT r a c k e r Champion s h ip . Oh , ye s, a nd th en ther e is th at AMA Nationa l Hot S hoe title - wo uldn't wan t to forget that one. 12 SEPTEMBER 27 . 2000' c u e I e n e uv s th at a major flat-trac k m oto rc ycl e eve n t h a s b e e n h e ld th e re . During th at time, riders and racegoers alike ar e we ll awa r e that, for a ll t h e grandeur of the palatial fa cil ity. th e ex tremely loose, s a ndy racing surfac e ha s m ade raci ng ext reme ly d ifficult if not downright dangerous. To combat th e problem , Fo rm ula USA offi cials d ev iated from th ei r standard ra c e format to one that featu red abbreviated pr eliminary e ve nts leading to a 12 -r ider, 20 -lap main event which was br oken int o two 10 -l ap legs wit h a m and at o ry p it s to p in betwee n to gi ve th e teams th e o p portunity to a djust tuneups a nd riders to reloa d tear -o ffs . Mor e im portantl y , the downtime allowed th e trac k c re w to regroom the dirt. Pe c uliar as it all sounds , it seemed to wo rk we ll, a nd Joe Kopp continued hi s recent domination of the national dirt track scene by scoring a convincing w in at the Wrenchead.com Seattle Mile In his hom e stat e of Washington. the capacity crowd appe ared to s how no distaste for the program changes. It wo uld tu rn out to be nei ther he re nor there to Kopp, who charged to a n all -im portant win in his hom e state. "I came in here sa ying to myself tha t I was n't even go ing to p ra ctic e on m y Ha rl e y a nd that I was j us t goi ng to concent rate on the Suzu ki," Kop p sa id . "If it d idn't wor k, it d idn 't wor k , bu t I was going to try a nd mak e it wor k . I wa s jus t hoping fo r a top five finish , but to win with it... I ne ve r ex pected to win with it. To win here, o n th e Suzuk i - tha t m eans a lot to me ."

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