Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

DIRT TRACK AMA Flat Track Championship Scrl€s Pr€vi€w What Are The Ddds? Okay, so what do I know anyway? I mean, the truth is that flat track isn't like Supercross or Superbike, where you can Suess with reasonable certainty vr'hich guy - or two or three guys, as is the case in SuPercross this season - is going to win the rirle long before rhe series is over. True to its heritage, flat track is an honest-to-God, any-given-Sunday sce- nario, pitting the best of the sport's best against one another with no real expectation of the outcome. That's why seasons with no less than seven dif- ferent winners in 20 races are the rule rather than the exception. So, since I'm getting back into the swing of making series Predictions this year, lthought that it would be fun to Sive all my potential frontline pick the chance to win the title. Rather than tn, to pick a l0-rider exacta for each series, however, l've looked things over and decided to make odds on who might be champion and why. So, here Soes nothing. Saol' RoussEAu Rider Odds Chris Carr Ford Quality Checked Certified Pre-'Owned RacinS 3'2 Notes: Look, nobody has beaten him in a straiSht fi8ht in the last flve years. Do you really think that changint the series format will somehow make this team vulnerable? loe l(opp latus Motors Harley-Davidson 1-l Notes: Throw out lake Odessa and Sedalia in 2005, and Kopp might'Ye been the man to beat comint into the series finale at Springfield. The perennial working-class do8, he's stillthe la5t guy to win the title before Carr's fwe-race run. Kenny Coolbeth kreamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson 3-l Notes: lfthere had been a Twins-only title last ieason, this 8uy would have been your cham- pion. Still, his amazint Half-Mile prowess could be t€mP€red by the tyPical "Srowing Pains" that seem to come with the switch to another team - even if it is lhe miShty Harley-Davidson factoD/ team- Iarcd Mees SaddlemerVLancaster Harley-Davidson 4'l Notes: Talented '05 Rookie ofthe Y€ar showed that he can win on the clay or the cush. His stock is practically assured to go nowhere else but up. Rider Team Odds f.R, Schnabel Memphi! Shades Yamaha 2'l Note5: He won Daytona easily two years ago and miSht have done it again if a bad call by the AMA hadn't placed him undeservedly at the rear ofthe field. He ll win one of (he two Day- tona rounds in 2006, and who's gonna srep up and stoP this 8uy at Sprintfield? Henry Wiles Mack Daddy Racing 5-2 Notes: The two-time and defending Peoria TT winner would've iust edged Schnabel out lor the mythical 2OO5 Sintles title, lt will take more than one win to do it this yea., thouth, but Wiles can deliver that, too. Tough talk and a to-for-it ridint style make him one ofthe true characters on the circuit. Time to step up. lakc lohnson Team Suzuki Flat Track 3- I Hotes: Johnson llat smoked the field on a virtually stock-motored Suzuki last year, and therc's no reason to think that he won't be in the hunt for the new Singles title this s€ason' He repre- sents a nic€ balance between raw talent and hardboiled consistency _ that's the stufr that champions are made ol lohnny Murphree Coziahr Harley-Davidson 5-l Noter: He hasn't been nearly as consistent on small bikes durint his career as he has on the bi8 twins, but the truth ir that Murphree could win every sintle Singles round this yean That would be Bood enouth to take the title now, wouldn't it? joe K"pp Bob bnphere's Renton Honda/Beavenon Honda/Pro Hon& Oib I l-2 Notes: Clear of his old KTM deal. Kopp says that he feels really Sood on his new Honda equipment. He's a fast SinSles rider, of that there is no doubt. Consistent podium finishes are wellwithin his grasp. ,ared Me€s Honda Riders Club of America/Montgomer/ville Cycle Center 6- | Notes: Hees is one of those Suys who is at a crucial time in his careen with two National wins under his belt, the preisure is on to deliver more, and that may Prove difllcult in the Sintles se es, where alrnost everyone's a stzt A win early in the Singles series would b€ a bit conll_ dence booster. Kevin Vames Team Suzuki Flat Track 7'l Notesr Okax "Great Rewin'one," your 2006 strate8/ should be simPle: l) Get into the main went out ofyour heat race; 2) Get on the front row for said main event; 3) Get a freakin' start! lf this lithhinS-quick Quaker State vet can get back to the basi

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