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/128635
F ormu la USAlWrenchead .com N a t iona l D irt T r ack S e r ie s R o u n d 10 : D e l Mar Fa ir g rou n d s c h ec k for f irst place, a position in wh ich he might ha ve seen himself a lo t more had he no t experienced so many mecha nical fai lures during th e season . A nd j ust w hat was tha t tell t a le smoke tha t erupt ed fr om t he back of Roeder 's bik e anyway? Sim ple, reall y. He b lew a shock , begg ing th e qu est ion as t o w h o rea ll y even need s a rear sho c k a bso r ber wh en neg ot i atin g th e cha llenging cra t ers that in ev it ab ly pop up o n t he c ha ll en g in g D el M ar tra c k eac h year? A pparently not Roeder. " I d i d n e a r l y c om e o f f of it o ut th ere a co up le times, but tha t's what you ' v e go t t o d o when it gets lik e that," Roed er said . "Yo u 've j ust go t to ho ld it wide ope n. J oe was raci ng m e cl ean , and we had a good race j us t like at Seattl e, except I br ok e at Seattl e. I guess I pu ff ed some smoke out there, b ut I g ues s we j ust blew a shock , so we were luc ky . We've been gett ing bi t by m echanical gremlins all year long, but eve ry thing finally went o ur way tod ay , and I just th ank th e good Lord fo r that. " Polesitter Will Davis got the holeshot o n h is Fa sthog.com/Moron ey ' s H -D entry and led the l 8-ride r field down t he b ack straightaway on the open in g l a p o f the f irst 10 - la p l eg , b ut he was q uick ly re e led in by B art e ls' H-D /Corb in /V HT's J ay Spri ngsteen , Roeder and Corbin Racing /H -D of Missouri/ Bu rks Mo to rsports' Joe Kop p Kopp once aga in aboard his D ennis Town -tuned Suzuk i TLl OOO. Kop p then used the power of his Suzuki to run it into turn one, slidi ng bet ween Spring- S TORY B y S COTT R OUSSEAU PH OTOS B y J OE B O NNELLO DEL MAR, CA, OCT. 8 t was all go ing t oo well once agai n fo r Geo Ro ed er II. The l ap s w er e un fol d in g in th e second leg of th e 20l ap Wr en chead. c o m N atio na l D ir t T rack Series fina le, and Roed er w as in c o m m a n d o n a tire -torn , san dy m il e t rack , ge tting set t o pull away f r o m a ll of hi s co m peti to rs. A ft er hound in g leader J oe K opp and that d a m n ed roc ket -fas t Cor bin Su zu k i an d fina lly beating K op p into tu rn one , Roeder had the lead. Then it hap pened. Just as it h ad all year, Ro eder 's luck looked to all the world li k e it had run o ut aga in , as h is Harley -Davidson XR750 suddenl y let out a huge puff of smo k e w hi l e he led Kopp off tu rn four . Th e ca pacity c row d in atten danc e waited t o see w hat fig u red to be a dejected Roed er slowi ng down , once agai n the victi m of a mechan i cal gre m lin . Onl y th i n g was, Ro ed e r neve r stopped . Li k e th e Energ izer Bu n ny , he j u st k ept go ing and g o ing an d going , drafting ba c k and fort h w ith Ko pp befo re putting a smooth m ove on th e Corbin ride r to l o c k up t he lead in turn on e on lap six and t ak e hi s fi r st ca re e r W r en che ad . c om N atio na l v ictory as well as hi s fir st Nati on al- c aliber w in of th e yea r at the sev enth run ni n g of the K& N Filt er s D el M ar M il e. In doi ng so, the Las V e g a s H -D /S c h a e ff er ' s H - D /KK M ot o rc ycl e Sup ply-backe d O h io an pic k ed up a, well -d eser ved S10 ,000 I 12 OCTOB ER 1 8, 2000 ' cue I e nevvs Geo Roede r II (6 61 ro de a motorcycle w ith a blow n shock absorber past Joe Kopp (431 to score his fi rst National w in of th e sea son at the K&N Filters De l Mar M ile. Jay Springsteen (gl an d Wi ll Davis (fa r leftl fi nishe d fou rth and fifth respectively. stee n and Dav is befo re bumping the cus hio n and then run ning back to th e ins ide down th e back straig hta way to tak e the lead. D avis th en retoo k th e poi nt off turn s thr ee and four and held i t t o th e st r ipe , as K o pp , Roe de r , Sp ringst een , T eam Harley -Davidson 's Scott Parke r, T eam Harley -Davidson 's Rich K in g, USC Rac in g/Lan ca st er H D ' s Bry an B i g e l o w , TCR /M i chig an Ha rl e y -Da v i d son D ea l er s A s so c ia tio n's Nic ky Hayden and Te am Pow ell /West Ben d H - D 's J.R. Schnabel ran no se to ta il behind them . Kopp co ntinued to pull clea r on the straightaways, bu t he strugg led in the comers . Davis once again had the lead as they ca me down for the fou rth lap . Kopp then drafted back by D avis o n the front straig htaway, and he was in front whe n they ca me arou nd again. Hayden , me anwh ile, had latched onto the B igel ow/K in g battl e for the fifth spot, wh ile Schn abel slipped well aft of the lead pack. They were th ree-wi de th rough turn s th ree and four on lap seve n, with Roed er co mi ng to th e fro nt, but Ko p p was using the superior speed of the Suzuk i to pull past any of his cha llengers at the fin ish li ne. Th at was the way the first leg finished . with Kopp taking the win , ahead of Roeder. Spr ingsteen was abl e to beat Davis back to the line for third . " We' re do ing good ," Kopp said in between th e two seg m ents. " I have found a high lin e in both tums. I just got roosted reall y bad, and the dirt is bumi n g m y ey es. W e ' v e got a lo t o f stra igh taway sp eed on ' em , but w e struggle th roug h the turns." Kopp had th e advantage of leading the sing le-fil e restart off the line at his own leisure, as F orm ul a USA res tart rule s allow the lead rider to restart the rac e rath er than have all the riders take a green lig ht. As soo n as he dumped the cl utch , Kopp co m ple tely fille d-in Roeder, who swam th rough the roost to still stay second at the firs t co mer. Hayden , who sta rted in abo ut the mi ddle of the pack , mi ssed shifts as he was heading down the front straight, im me diately dropp ing him to ward the bac k of the pack, just like at the Sacram ento Mil e. Par k er ' s good D el Ma r luc k th en tumed bad all at once, as he low -sided and crashed hard when th e pack drove into turn three. The n in e-t ime cham p was u p i m me dia tely , bu t wi t h h i s m otorcycle laying upside down aga inst th e outer wall and no red flag call ed to st op th e race, Parker was do ne for the day . " Hey , I've had a lot of good luck here , and I just had some b ad luck toda y ," Park er said . " It' s one of th em th ings . I just got into th e co mer, hooked a ho le and it kic ked m y feet up in the re. I tho ught I c ou ld save it fo r about a hundreth of a second, and then I said, 'Uh uh ' and gave 'er a kic k . I've got a litt le bump on my hand and twisted m y knee a little, bu t no big deal. I didn't eve n wo rry abo ut th e bike because I k new that in about another 30 second s th er e was gonn a be a bunch of the boys com ing around , so it was time to get the hell out of the way." Ko pp h e l d th e l ead w h en th ey crossed th e lin e to sta rt lap three, with Roe der and D av i s ri g ht beh in d hi m . Davis then began searching on the botto m fo r a pl ace to run , while Roed er att acked the m idd le line in the hope of beating the rim -rid ing Ko pp into turn one at some po int. He was able to get by Ko pp down the back chute on the fourth lap, but as he led off of tum four, Roeder ' s bike belch ed o ut a h uge smoke clou d. The smoke was gone by the time he reache d Formula USA starter Scott Zimmerman, it never rea ppeared, and thu s Roeder was not black -flagged. Kopp dra fted by Roeder on the front straig ht, wi th the Oh ioan follo wing him arou nd the tr ac k and t he n swi nging around him in tu m one and cutti ng an arc th at forced Kopp to hit the brakes . From th ere, Roeder was in co mma nd, "I finally beat him into the turn and just took his line away from him, " Roed er said. "Whoeve r got into the tum first could pretty mu ch co ntrol the co rner. I didn't even kn ow that it blew the shock out. Oh well, I guess it wasn' t too rough out there. We didn't need shocks today." Kopp held on for second a safe dista nce ahead o f th e ba ttle fo r t hird place .