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/1542396
AMA Grand National Singlcs Championship J.R. Schnobel mokes the SprindreldTT his personol ployground Schnabel Flies Iphe lrrrnoi: Motorcycle Deal- I ers Association made several I maior changes to the TT lay- I out in the Rodeo Arena I inside the lllinois State Farr- grounds. The changes included longer straights and a larger iump, but none of it mattered much to I.R. Schnabel. He iust went out and won - for his sixth-straight victory in the arena. The lulemphis Shades,^famaha-backed Schnabel has been dominant at the sqdish little arena, winning five consecutive races in the spring TT and fall Short Track, but his sixth win would be a hard- fought battle. The National weathered two red flags, bruised bodies, bruised egos and a runaway bike, but when the dust settled the young Yamaha rider stood atop th€ box. All day long Mack Daddy Racing / Pro Honda Oils' Henry Wiles had been domi- nating. Wiles set fast time in qualifying, won the fastest heat and looked poised to possibly end Schnabel's streak. At the start of the National, it was Latus Harley-Davidson/Renton Honda,/ Beaverton Honda'sJoe Kopp grabbing the holeshot with Wiles and American Suzuki/Parts Unlimited's Jake Johnson right behind. At the end of the first lap Johnson had grabbed the lead with Wiles. Kopp and Schnabel close behind. lohnson and Wiles manaSed to pull away quickly, but as the lead duo dove into turn one, Wiles tried to go under Johnson with disastrous results. Wiles got into the side of Johnson and both riders ended up on the ground with badly twist- ed motorcycles. "l thouSht I had a good chance of win- ning it then all of a sudden I was on my head," said Johnton. "l don't really know what happened. joe [Kopp] got the holeshot. I got by him then Henry got by me - l'm not really sure where. lwas able to get back by him again right before the jump. Then we came around and I did a canwheel. I think I could have won the thing. I crashed hard enough to blow my pants off When I got up my pants were around my thighs. I thought to mysell 'what happened?' " "l went from fast qualifier, fast heat, to knockingJake down and taking myself out ofthe race," said Wiles. "lt's definitely not what I came here to do, I've apologized to lake and the Suzuki team. I don't want to be the guy that goes out there and rides wild and runs into people. That's not real- Continued lrotn pose 27 getting real weak because of my shoulder . lwas struglling. The clutch is kind of messed up on the lines. lwas getting really bad starts from the back. l'1y lap rimes were good, but once you're in the back it s hard to tet up there. lt was goinS all right up until that crash- , w3sn't where I wanted to be. I wanted to Bet up there and mix it up with the leaders. I just couldn't 8et off rhe line good enoagh." Kenny Coolbeth's lirst Nation.l aboard the Harley-Davidson Motor Company/Screamin' Eagle was very positive for the title contender. "That restart kind of got rne. I don't know if I would have won but I had a better chance," said Coolbeth. "Harley-Davidson is just an awesome opportunity for me. My main plan was to ride in the lead pack most of the time. I wanted to get a good start and stay out of trouble. I wart to be in th€ top fiv€ for all the race and that's what we did. We missed a lot of accidents. When I was out front I was iust putting my head down and trying to 8et away, because I wes counting rny laps and I knew it was go time. I really don't wait for the ,ive lap6 to go. I just want to get out front and go - | don't know ifthat's the ritht idea. l'm happy with third place. It'5 the first time on the bikes. l'm definitely happy with my new ride- How can you complain when you can just show up and race awesomely prepared motorcycles?" While ray Sprlntste€n'. mc6 schedule is much liShter, it affords him the time to enioy lire- "l've been riding my motocross€r a little bit, my 100 Honda, I've been llsh- in8," said SprinSsteen. "l'm workinS on one of Bart Markel's lron XRs right now it's a I970 model- I've iun about 8ot it to lire up. I did the motor, the frame, the seat, tank and wheels- I need an old Harley front wheel. I looked up in my aftic and I have about l6 rear wheels and there aren't any ,ront wheels. I've just b€en tinkeringwith that and stayinS at home. I've been workinS around the house a liftle bit. My dad went out and cautht all the damn firh out in from of nry houre. I told him to save me a couple ofthem - that's my pond out there." CYCLE NEWS JUNE 7, 2006 29 D Round 3 tri.,y. 27, 2olto lllinoi5 Storo Foirsiounds SDrinqfield, lL Briefly... Springer w:s also thrilled to be re-teamed wi(h his former factory-mechanic, Bill Werner,. "lt's so Sood to have Bill Werner back," Springer said. lust to have some- body that ).ou can tell them what to do with the motorcycle and they know what to do to make it get berter lt's, Iike, I tell him to do something and it's, like, a couple clicks with a screwdriver. lt's Sreat and I feel good. ln the healace the bike was bouncint around a little bit and we set up the rebound in the shock a little bit. We just need to speed up the reboirnd in ir. Thar's what he told me we did anyhow. The shock that failed broke the shaft right at the bot- tom at the thread line, where the threads start on the shaft. k snapped it off ri8ht there." Srony rxo PHoros By DAVE HoENrc/narrllfroros.com ..,, 'I I --l ,. s'.1_ ,l :'fi Z'' 3 ,-, I { .tl o /', t- ,oe Kopp (3) lecds lhe wqy into lurn one ot lhe Springfield TI wilh Henry wiles (17), Joke Johnson (I4) ond even- tuol winncr J.R. &hnobcl (33) in purruit. &, :.rd { A I ,