Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) Chris Carr locked up the Wrenchead.com National Dirt Track Championship simply by qualifying for t h e main event. Carr wound up eighth in the main event. (A bov e) Kopp (center) once again rode h is TL 1000 Suzuki, f inishing second. Davis (21) was third for much of the two-leg, 20·lap event . " I q ualified ho rr ibly , and then we had such a great hea t race that 1th ought we were goi ng to be al r ig ht," Schnabe l sa id . "Then I got out there in th e ma in event a nd got a horri ble sta rt . It just went downhill fro m th ere. T he bik e was good, but I just co uld n 't fi nd a co m fo rt - master by way of o smosis. "We survi ved , and th at was th e wh ol e ab le line o ut the re, and I got a couple guys back but it seemed like every time I turned around, someone was passing me. Oh well , all we can do is just lea m fro m it and m o ve o n to the Du Quoin deal tod ay ," Rogers said. "I got a direct lAMA] race ." tr ansfer throug h the heat races, and th en D Mar Fairgrounds el Del Mar, California ound 1Dof 10J Results: Dctober 8, ZOOO(H Harl ey-Davidson shop in Ohio h av e somehow turned Rog ers into a cushion sitting here all da y and watching th ese othe r rac es, 1j ust got bu tterfl ies. I would HEAT 1 (8 lap s; 13 rider s. top four tr ansfer): 1. Will Davis (H-D); 2. Ja y Spring steen (H· D) : 3. Rich King (H·D ) ; 4 . J o e Kopp (Suz) ; 5 . Br y an Sm ith (A T K) ; 6 . Dan Stanley (H- D) ; 7. J ason Tyer (H- D ); 8 . Sheun Russell (H· D ): 9 . Paul Berg strom (H- D) ; to. Do n Wil son (Rtx) ; 11. J esse San ch ez (CC M) ; 12. Rob Damron (Due) ; 13. Bill y Mart in (H· D ). like to hav e been a little further up , but " Geo rge and I wer e go ing back and that's re all y c o o l. A nd I'm happy for fo urth o ut th ere , and then he to ok m y li ne away a nd 1 about hit the na sti es t ho le o ut there ," Kopp sa id . " W hen I d id Chris fo r getting the number -o ne plate in the Formula U SA Series. We 've got o ne m o re rac e an d then I c an g o hom e th at , he p ut it o n m e big t ime . There was j ust nothin g I could do . George is tough to be at o n t h is st uff, th at' s for sure" T h a t b at tl e f o r th i r d w ou n d u p b el o nging to Ha y de n at t he flag . Th e 19 -y ear-o ld AMA Su p erbike r id er had o nce again pulled o ff a heroic c harge fr om the b ack o f t he pa c k to swo o p p ast Spr ing steen and th en D avi s t o take th e t he thi rd sp ot, f in ish ing o nly o ne position worse than he d id at D el an d d o something tha t I'm good at : nothin'. " Bi gelow , with K ing j ust nosin g past the "re formed" Michiga n yo ungster at th e line to take the sixth spot. " I just out-horsep ower ed him," King said . " I just found a line that was somewh at sm ooth . I w asn't being real racy . I wa s just t ry ing to surv ive." sec ond, but 1ha d it in fi rst. When I went sion be kept in che ck as much as pos- to shi ft it into second, it wo u ldn 't go in . Th es e things are li ke John D eere trac to rs, man . It took forever to get go ing , sible . "I t w as br uta l o u t th ere t o d a y , " B ig e low sai d . " I do n ' t kn o w , I guess b ut I just sta rted c h a rg i n g . 1 wasn 't about to g ive up . I' m j ust happy to ge t on t he box , a n d I want t o tha nk m y crew for working th eir butts off for m e, th at's j ust Del M ar. I wa s expectin g it to be better, bu t I g uess everyone had to rid e t h e same t rack . W h e n the l in e moved up to the hay ba les, it got rea l but I liked seeing Roeder ride that cush- sc a ry . N ic k y di d a g re at job , an d m e io n. That' s real speci al to watch . E very - and Rich had a good race. We got it in and m ade some money ." o ne wo rked rea lly ha rd ou t he re today ." D a v i s th u s wou nd u p fourt h, a nd Springsteen fifth . Afterwa rd , Sp rin g er Ro g e r s Lake Rac ing /C ust om C hro me /Mi t c hell ' s Modes t o H -D - sum m ed up the feelings of bo th veterans. " It w a s t ou g h , " S pr inger s a id. " I th ou ght tha t if I go t a good start in the back ed Gary Rog ers , Corbin Racing /H D o f Mi ssouri ' s K en n y C o ol b eth and Sc hna be l battled late in t he m ain event, just h an g ing o n as t ig ht as I could . 1 sa id , ' H ey , you n g bu ck , go rig h t o n ahead.' I'm sti ll happy , th o ugh. W e finis he d second in th e points overa ll. So Time : 5 min .• 15.291 sec . ye ar." For Schnab el , 12th was a rather pe r- HEAT 2 ( 8 laps ; t o ri der s. top four transfer): 1. Scott Park er (H· D); 2. J .R. Schnabel (H-D); 3. Gary Roge rs (H- D) ; 4 . Ken ny Cool bet h ( H· D); 5. Steve Beatt ie (H· D); 6 . Je ss Roeder (H- D) ; 7 . Ste ve Uberty (H-D); 8 . Randy Bereman (RlX); 9 . Mike Hac ker (HD); 10. Tim Eades (Rtx) . plexi ng way to fi nish what started out as a p romising day . Behin d Spri ngsteen, the best battl e fo r For B ig elow, th e rid e marked an oth er ste ady a p pe ar ance since hi s A MA p en a lty at Sprin gfield , and t his o n a rac etrac k tha t d ictated tha t all agg res- k ne w that Ni ck y wa s co m ing, and I wa s we wer e top five in th e points , and we were to p 10 to day. W e'll just tak e th at and build o n it, an d get health y fo r next position at the line wa s between K ing and Mar a yea r ago. "T he track g ot reall y ro ug h ," Hayd en sai d . " A t th e sta rt , I th ou gh t I had it in seco nd leg that I might have so m ethi ng for 'em , but the spray was so bad that it ' wo uld just bog the m otorc y cl e down . It just slows yo u down so much tha t the guys in front of yo u c an j ust get away . I eN w ith Schnab el nev er able to rec apture the groove th at he had been in during a brill iant heat race battle with n in e-time AMA cha m p io n Scott Parker [see Q ual i fy i ng B o x] . Rog ers f i n is he d 10t h , a hea d o f Coo lbeth and Sch na be l. t he yo ung Califo rn ia n once ag ain putting a fi ne rid e un d e r le ss- t ha n - idea l condi tions , lead ing yo u to wo nder wh ether or Fasthog .com/Moroney"s Harley-D avid son's Will Davis had the hot hand in both the tim ed qualifying sessions held on Saturday and then again in his heat race on Sunday. DaVIS had qualified number one, with a single-lap tim e of 38.440 on Saturday. He then backed it up with a domina ting performance in the first heat race of the day on Sunday , as he got the hol eshot and battled briefly wit h Rich King . Jay Spring steen and Joe Kopp before pulling clear of the them to tak e a comm anding victory and post a winn ing time of five m inutes, 15.29 1 seconds to take the pole for the main event. "I had a good track ," Davis said. "Qualify ing fast yesterday set all of that up . It gave me the chance to be the first tim e out on the track . I've had the best circumsta nces all day long. I got the holeshot and stayed out fron t. Th at was pretty much it." Dav is agreed that the tactics used at Del Mar were pretty mu ch the same as those used at a short track . "Pretty much ," Davi s said. "You need to get the holeshot, try to stay out of the spray and stay out of the holes and run on the clea nest part of the track that you can. It's goi ng to be the same deal in the main event. Th ere's going to be a couple lap s where it will be good, and you've got to get out front right away, because if yo u're fighting the holes and you can't see, then you' ve got a problem . Hopefully we won't run too many laps, because it's going to get terrible." Sprin gsteen wound up second, tak ing a shot at Davis on the last lap but not quite getting in his draft to try for the slingshot. Kopp followed King across the line to take the final direct -transfer spot . " Kharm ic teammates" Scott Parker and J .R. Schnabel put on a good show for the fans in the second heat race, with Parker pullin g the holeshot and Schn abel tag ging along for the ride. Th e two quick ly pulled away from the pack, Schnabel running a low line underneath Parker to take the lead away from him on lap four. Parker then follo wed the charging kid around the track for two m ore circuits before diving up underneath him in tum one, cutting across his path and then spraying him down with roost. Schnabel attempted to retaili ate dow n in turn thr ee, but he hit a hole and pulled off a handl ebar toe hook maneu ver similar to an MX freestyle jumper that saved him from being catapulted over the bars. Schnabe l settled down for second. while Gary Rogers was third and Steve Beattie was fourth . . A great battle shaped up in heat thr ee, but it was only for the remain ing direct transfe r spo ts , as Geo Roeder II sim ply checke d out on the second lap, arcing up high on a smooth line near the haybal es in both curves. Behind him , Bryan Bigelow, Chris Carr and Nick y Hayden drafted with each other down the straights and then fanned out three-wide in the corners, mixing up their order with every lap. Bigelow wound up drafting past Hayden to tak e the second spot, whil e Carr calmly cruised hom e fourth to cinch the Formu la USA Wrench ead.com Nati onai Dirt Tra ck Championship and the S50 ,000 points fund check that goes with it. "I' m relieved that I don't have to go out there and race for the cham pionship now," Carr said. "I' m going to go out and ride, but I doubt that I'll race." A fter finishin g fift h in his heat race, prom isin g youngste r Bryan Sm ith cam e out smok in' on his big AT K single to win the first semi , gaining entry to the mai n event along with his roadmate Willi e McCoy. Kevin Varnes and Mike Hack er came through the second sem i, while Dan Stanley and Steve Beatti e notched the final two spots in the 18-rider field by finishin g first and second in the LCQ. Califomia rider Mark Corsetti dogged the two Harley XR riders on his Wood- Rotax single but came up short at the finish line. . not all of th e summers spent at th e F & S c ue I e n e vv s O CTOBE R 18, 2000 13

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