Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Rich King , but I' m do ing wha t I need to do to win this cham p ionsh ip." S a d d le me n Ra cing /La ncast e r HD/ Dodg e B ro t h e r s ' Mik e Ha ck e r wo u nd up fifth , a b ig im p rov e m e nt ove r th e moto rc ycle- re lated diffic ulties t h at ha ve ke pt h im from do ing we ll in re ce nt AMA eve nts . To nig ht , Ha c ke r's Johnn y Go ad -tu ned Ha rley was s ing ing a sweet so ng, a nd it pro pelle d him int o th e le ad on th e o pe n (Right) Tradition vs. technology: Harley XR-mounted Jay Springsteen (9) di ced w ith Suz uk i TL-mounted Joe Kopp for the entire featu re, with Kopp just beating Sp ringe r to the line for second place. (Below) Mike Hacker was ba ck on form after a few subpar outings in AMA competition. Hacker led the f irst lap at Sa cramento before slipping to fifth in the main event. ing lap . Ha ck er wa s in th e hunt for a p od ium fini sh for m ost of t he race, but a po or tire c ho ice be gan to haunt him jus t past t he hal fwa y point, and h e fell o ut of th e lead d raft as h e fou g ht t o keep his m otorc ycl e from pushing to the ha y ba les . "We just made a bad c ho ice , and it was p u s h in g s o bad that I just c ouldn 't ke ep it down ," Hacker said. "It was a c ha nge that m e and J ohnny [Go ad] made togeth er , and o nce it started hooking up , she was try ing to go through t h e w a ll. I' m hap p y , th ough. We finish ed th e ra ce a nd got a top-five . We're ju st go ing to go o n to Pho enix a nd tr y to win th at o ne . J oe was s u re riding th e heck o ut of that Suzuki. Tha t th ing was so fast it was s ca ry. " Hac ker actua lly go t th e ho leshot to le a d the 18- rid er field int o turn o ne , with TCR /M ichigan H- D Dealers ' Nicky Hayden im m e d ia t e ly runn ing de ad la s t as he de s p e ratel y tried to hammer his over- revv ing XR7 50 into fou rth gear. With so much ground lost , you wou ldn 't thin k that the tal - e nte d S uperbike star would e ve n be a fa ctor. Hold th at tho ug ht. As th e ra c e q u ic k ly took s ha pe, Hacker led th e first lap and als o held th e p oint d own th e back st ra ight away, with a pa c k conta ining Corbin Ra cing/H-D of Mis souri 's Kopp on a Suzuki T Ll OOO, King , Memphi s Sha des/Cozia h r H-D's Johnny Mur p h re e , Wren chead . c om /H -D of Sa cramento's Ch ris Carr and Bartels ' H-D/Corbin /V HTs J ay Sprin gste en . Both King and Murphree had a lready passed Kopp as th e y skittered int o turn on e , with King jum p ing rig ht to Hack e r's ba c k wh e el. King th en m ade th e m on e y pa ss do w n t he b a ck stra ighta wa y befo re the entrance to turn thre e . T ha t wa s ab o u t all s h e wrote . "I d idn't le a d until a bo ut the sec ond lap ," Kin g sa id . "I' d h ad so me goo d lines in th e h ea t ra c e , a n d I was afra id that they were go ing to go a wa y in th e ma in if it g rooved up , but it di dn' t. I made a fe w mi s take s d own in turn o ne , s o I had to co ncentra t e o n h it t ing m y lin e a lit t le best I've ev e r ru n here is fo urth , so I liked the tra c k th e way it wa s , con si de ring the way it wa s at the beginni n g o f the n ight. T h e c ro wd w s: g re a t to night, to o ." As King set s a il, a gr e a t drafting w a r for seco n d p la c e dev el op ed between Ko pp , Carr, Springsteen and Murphre e, who had quickly sep arated the m s el ve s from a nothe r pac k c o n ta in ing Fasth og .c om /Moroney 's HD' s Will Davis , Co m petitio n Ac c es sor ie s ' La rr y Pe gr a m , Las Vega s H-D /KK Mo t o rc y cl e S u ppl y 's, Geo Roed er II a n d T e am Po well /W est B end H-D' s J . R. S chn a be l , w ith " C o rbin Ra c in g / H-D o f Miss ou ri's' Kenn y Coo lbeth , US C Raci ng /Lan c a ste r H-D's Bryan Bigelow and Pau l Lyn ch , who wa s a bo a rd a Sk ip Ford yc e H-D e nt ry , fig ht ing for th e 10th spot . Dav is drop ped out on la p eig ht. "Tha t th ing wa s try ing to hurt me, " Dav is sa id of his bik e . "I got a th irdpla ce sta rt off the line , and then it just quit, and the wh ole back row a lmo st ran ove r m e . Th en I was a bo ut 12th, a nd I p a s s e d a co up le peop le, a nd the n I ne arl y c ras hed a bo ut four or five tim es. I think that's gonna be the m ore . I didn't k n o w h ow far ba c k the y we re a t th e finish , and I d idn 't k now h o w , m u ch ti r e I ha d le ft. I th ought that the track d idn 't turn ou t t oo b a d cons ide ri ng that we we re luc k y to ev e n be ra cing o n it. The Rich King wasted little time in showing the rest of the fi eld how strong his BiB Werner tuneup was, once the heat races got underway. After watching Jay Springsteen and Chris Carr draft back and forth in the open ing heat. King shot off the line in heat two and murdered the rest of the pack, blowing away even the potent Suzuki of Joe Kopp en route to posting the fastest heat win, with a time of fi ve minutes, 13.103 seconds. Kenny Coolbeth rode his Corbin Harley while Terry Poovey rode one of his faithful 1stlegal.com Honda RS750s in the heat. with both riders also transferring directly to the main event. King was well ahead of all three fast guys, however. Carr and Springer's heat was the first and the slowest despite the fact that the pair arguably put on the best show as they towed each other around the racetrack. Geo Roeder II ran about eight lengths behind them in third, with J .R. Schnabel fourth. After getting off the line last at the start , Nicky Hayderrwas dearly one of the fastest riders on the track as he pushed his way to fifth place by the checkered flag. That was one spot out of a transfer position, meaning that Hayden would have to gain entrance through the semis. Mike Hacker copy-catted King in heat three, rolling his Johnny Goad-tuned XR to a sizeable lead in just a few laps, leaving Joh nny Murphree and Will Davis in his wake. Kevin Varnes and Larry Pegram battled for the last transfer spot, with the nod going to Varnes. That meant that Pegram would join road-race buddy Hayden in the semis. Withthe program starting so late, Formula USA dumped the LCQand added one more berth in each of the two semis, meaning that three riders would go through to the main event from eac h semi. Bryan Bigelow made his return to National competition known by grabbing the first semi over Willie McCoy and Dale Jenneman. Pegram, Hayden and Paul Lynch set the field by finishing 1-2-3 in the second semi. c y c l e n e vv S • O CTOBE R 4 , 2000 11

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