Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

llli6ol. Srttre Foirsroundt sp"ingfi.ld. lL DIRT TRACK Round 3 , oy 27, 2006 AMA Grand National Singles Championship ly me. I didn't shut off any later than what I had been all da7 I had more of an inside line. lt was just one of those deals. Obviously, I didn't think I was going to run imo him, or else I wouldn't have poked it in there like I did, but once you commit to something like that there's no backing out." It was amazing that only the two leaders went down as the entire field bore down on the camage. "When Wiles went down something hit me, it just cleared my face. I was stepped off the bike," said Schnabel. "The corner right before that happened, I was all mad because coming out of four I was mess- ing up all night. This time coming out of four I stepped out and they got about l0 bikelengths on me. I didn't want them to get away, Then allthat hap- pened. I thought to myself that somebody is riding with me because I would have been in that. I would have been lying on the ground if I had gotten off that corner good. A mistake on my part there saved me, It let me race a little more for the win." After a lot of work in the hot box, both Johnson 30 JUNEZ,z 6 . CYCLE NEt,r'S and wiles made the complete restart - from the penalty line. Kopp once again led the lield into the first turn, but rhis time he kept his Honda upfront, "l led a lot of laps," said Kopp. "lt's kind oI hard to lead on a tight little thing like this." Coziahr Harley-Davidson/National Cycle's Johnny Murphree settled into second with Fat Boy Pacing/ Kirby Kyle4ardine's Nick Daniels and Bartels' Harley-DavidsonfiNT Harley.com's Shaun Russell pulling away from Schnabel, Weirbach- Zumbrun Racing/Steel Dreams' Dan Stanley, American Suzuki's Danny Eslick and Quality Checked Cenifled Pre-Owned Ford's Chris Carr- Murphree shadowed Kopp as Daniels doggedly held on to third. ''Early in the race lhad something for the leaders, but when I started los- ing those 8uys, I was tired," said Murphree, who had been iniured in a training accident earlier in the week, 'Around halfway, I just was done.'' "l tust kept trying to hit my points and tell myself I was trail ridinS. There were only a couple of guys to look around for a while," said Daniels, who was rid- ing in his first Grand National main event. "l just tried to stay focused an front." On lap six, Eslick lost control of his Suzuki when he was sprayed down from his damaged radiator. Eslick's bike roared into the pits with- out its rider and came to rest at a concession stand. Fonunarely, no one was injured. ''l,le and Jared ['lees] had a little contact," Eslick said. ''lt busted my radiator and the spray carne up and started squirting me and burned my legs. lt got under my helmet and staned burning my face a little bit. I tried to get at slowed down, but I finally had to jump off of it. The bike went straight off the end of the tra.k. It got my legs just a little bit, but not bad. I think if I would have stayed on it would have definite- [y burned me a little bit more." The last restart beneflted Schnabel the mosr, as he was able top giab third from Daniels on lap seven and set off after Murphree. Murphree was just trying to weather the storm. "On the first restart Murphree and Kopp were gefting away a little bit," said Schnabel- ''l was behind Russell and trying to find a line by. Shaun and Nick fDaniels] were riding really well and there was nowhere to go. One time Nick would go low and Russell would go high; I was iust boxed in. lwas get- ting a little worried. We were only five or six laps in, but it was, like, 'Kopp and Johnny are getting away.' Once this place gets brushed off, you can't pass." "Luckily on the second restart, I did something dif- ferent. Normally I do a second gear start, but I put it in first," Schnabel added, "l just wanted to shoot up rhere next to somebody and try to beat them to the comer, I got next to Shaun going into the corner and I used that outside line through one and flvo. lt's kind of like I used last year, to get a Eood start. I got Shaun Eithtt-6eyen riders rode the timed practice in an e{fort to crack the 48-rider fi€ld, and morc than a few National Numbers were loaded up before the lights were turned on for the heat races- Henry Wiles posted the lastest lap at 30. 154 seconds while Logan Myers was the last man to make the cur at 3 I ,745 seconds. Two o{ the AMI(S full-time road racers, Lary Pegram and Danny Eslick. took advanage oftheir open weekend by trying their hand at TT racing. Pegram iust missed by eitht-thousandths ofa second, while Esli.k made it all the way to the main. "l had a treat ni8ht," said Eslick. "l want to thank the Suzuki team and everybody at Dave Burke's Motorsports, alonS with Travis Smith. I realry appreciate werybody that helped out tonght and Save me the opportunity to come out and ride." Nick Daniels,less€ tanisch and Aaron King all made their first Grand National Mains. While Daniels has been around for a while and is makinS somewhat ofa comeback. and Janisch has been dabbling in road racing and Supermoto, Rich King's number-one son is in his first season as an Expert. "l've been practicinS a lot and just trying to ride as much as I can. I'm really 6xcited," said King. 'l've always loyed Springfield - the TT is my favorite. lt's a good place to make my first National. I had a heck ofa time todayi it was grea!, Running the y'fna- teur Nationals at Sprintfield helped. A couple of years ago we were running three class€s on the TT during the Anateur Nationals. Last year at the Amateur Nationals we ran just about every day here. That surely helps learninS the Springfield din. Once we got the guys from the Tech Squad and Famblin' \ryheels it helps a ton to get some seat time on a track like this one. The more experience definitely paF off. I've practiced the 750 a couple oftimer. lt was 8reat. So far I love it. I look forward to getting my points. I'll start out on some half miles, then maybe some miles after that." Things went better for johnny Murphree than he expected, but he still paid a heavy toll from his traininS accident- "l came to the track with a hurt body and I'm leavint with a sore lung," said Murphree, "l crashed my motocrosser on Tuesday and I had about 7s-percent lung capacit),, on the left side- I separated my shouldea to a slight degree, On Wedneday, I wasn't riding toniSht. I was going to miss this and maybe ride the mile- Then I rode practice and qualified fiIth and thoutht maybe I could hang in there for l0 laps. I didn't think lwould be able to rnake 25. If it wouldn't have been for the restarts, I would- n't have made it. I was runnin8 ou! ofgas. loe Kopp picked up 23 laps worth of the ll'4DAs lap money, but misred out on the big prize. "l had the holeshot, then [Henry] Wiles aired it out and spooked me and I got pushed out in the right-hander," said Kopp. "That was iust no.mal racing. I iust didn't weed myself out very good on that first start. I felt good; I was ridin8 8reat. I had a new slipp€. clutch in the Honda. That thinS was sweet out there. The llrst time I ever rode with it was today. lt was awesome. I thought we had him. lwould have liked to stop [l.R.] Schnabel's rornp on this little fairground. l guess l'll have to wait until the short track." Three races into the seven-.ace series, Joe Kopp holds a two- point lead over Jake lohnson, 48-46 with J.R. Schnabel five points behind Kopp. Bryan Smith and Shaun Russell are tied for fourth with 40 points. khnabel did hare a plan B late in th€ race, but didn't have to go to it. "ln the middle ofturn three and four there was a wet spot right on the bottom and I ligur€d if I couldn t do it over the iump I would drive it in hard there end kind of try to block pass him," said Schnabel. "That was the last-resort option, which wouldn't have been good. lt would have jlst be€n me tryint to tet nry bike in front of him. I knew if I did it riStr over the jump I would be by him. lf I bobbled I would iust go wide and he would to ritlt back by. There was Soing to be no aontact and I thought that's where I want to do it. He rode a flawless race and nothint was lining up for rne. Two laps from the end, he did- n't really make much of a mistake, I iust lihally had a good corner and got throuth there with him." f' I x rk. 1 Schnobel owns the Rodco Areno inside the lllinois Stqt€ ]oirErounds, This wos hir rixth win in q row ol the focility. .4. t I :i aa L II I t1 !fi11+:,- ,.U Briefly... { {'

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