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/1545446
Stephen Beattie lined up behind him. "I was pretty happy about the red flag because this cushion track is pretty physi- cal," said Beaulac. "When you have a break like that you can cool down and catch your breath back. It's not like a clay track, it's rough and it's physical. It sucks for Geo Roeder that he crashed, but I knew he was starting way back and was- n't going to be able to pass me again." Another rider the stoppage helped was Kopp, who was able to reattach his seat. Kopp said he took a slow cool-down lap to locate the seat. "I thought, 'Where did it go?' " he said. "I thought it fell off in turn two, but it was- n't there. I thought, 'I hope they saw my seat fall off' because I needed one bad. I said, 'I don't care what kind of bolts or duct tape you use, just put it on there - just make it work.' It felt like a new bike when I got that going. I was ready for the final after that." Beaulac botched the restart and Kopp went to the front. Kopp led laps 10 to 13, and then it was Beaulac back in front. "Joe Kopp got a better start than me," Beaulac said. "I made a couple mistakes and it just got to me a bit and I thought to myself, 'No, no!' I tried a different line and I passed him back. I got a good drive com- ing out of the corner. I needed to change my line a little bit. Joe came inside of me in turn one. I just squared down the bike a little bit in the apex and got a better drive coming out of corner two. I thought that was a good line so I tried to do the rest of the laps like that. I was running on the top all night on the cushion and deep stuff. It just got to be a brushed off deal. I was running wide open - that's just the way it is." Kopp would keep the pressure on, but Beaulac never faltered and won by a scant .067 of a second. "I thought the track was skidded off enough that it was going to come to me, but Dominic was really after that first win," Kopp said. "I've beaten Dominic a few times at Dayton, Lima and Greenville and he's been very fast at every one of them. His time was due for sure. I didn't give it to him, I was trying hard, but I couldn't wrestle it out of him this time." Defending Grand National Champion Chris Carr put his Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned Ford-backed Harley into third on the restart, then faded back to sixth. He was passed by, first, J.R. Schnabel; on lap 13; then Bryan Smith; three laps later; and Nick Cummings after one more lap. Schnabel got away from the fight for fourth, waged among Smith, Cummings and Carr, to finish just 2.5 seconds behind the winner. "I got a good restart and just came through," Schnabel said. "I think I was fifth or so after the restart. I got by [Bryan] Smith and then got by Chris [Carr]. The leaders had a half a straight and I knew that was going to be hard. Slowly I reeled them in, I just ran out of laps. It was going to be tough to get by them because the cushion was all the way off the track and it was getting slick. I got close up to about 10 or 15 bikelengths." Schnabel said that he nearly crashed Allen County Fairgrounds Lima, OH Round 3 June 25,2006 JULY 5, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 32 AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship EAULAC'S IRST! DOMINIC BEAULAC TAKES HIS FIRST GNC VICTORY BY DAVE HOENIG PHOTOS BY FLAT TRACK FOTOS F ormer Canadian National Champion Dominic Beaulac stormed to hi s fi rst Gra nd National victory on the pea gravel Lima Half Mile in the red-flag interrupted third round of the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship/AMA Grand National Twins Championship. "It's amazing; it's unbelievable," said the 29-year-old, who also won the George Roeder Dash For Cash on the Carl Patrick-tuned XR-750 Lombardi Harley-Davidson/Shoei/R&D Machine Harley Davidson. Latus H-D/Renton Honda's Joe Kopp (H-D) finished a shadow second with J.R. Schnabel third, 2.513 seconds behind, on the Memphis Shades/Parts Unlimited/ Saddleman Harley. Geo Roeder and Kopp led the 25- lap National into turn one, with Beaulac and Shaun Russell right behind. As the pack thundered off turn two, Kopp's leading Harley shed its seat and he was left sitting on the frame. "I was really thinking the track would brush off and come to me, then my seat fell off that first lap," said Kopp. "That kind of changed my whole plan of attack there. I was just hoping for a podium after that. I thought if I could put this on the podium with no seat, I would be a happy dog - the win was kind of out of the ques- tion. They were getting away and I was having a real hard time getting into the corner because I was sitting so low on my bike. I couldn't get over the front end." Before the first lap was over Beaulac was in the lead with Roeder and Kopp in tow. It looked like it was going to be a two- rider war between the cushion masters Beaulac and Roeder. The pair pulled away with crowd favorite Roeder and his KK/Las Vegas H-D/Schaeffer's H-D look- ing to capture his first Lima National. When Roeder charged into the lead on lap seven, the crowd roared its approval. But the lead was short-lived as Beaulac was able to grab the lead back on lap nine. Then came the red flag when Roeder crashed in turn four on the 10th lap. "Dominic [Beaulac] was spraying me down; I was trying to get crossed under- neath him to get out of the spray and I just spun it out," said Roeder. "That's the only explanation I can come up with. I was feeling really good and running good. I got past him and was thinking I feel pretty good out here. I kind of blew my concen- tration. I went up there and about crashed between three and four - then he got back around me. I thought, 'Good God, now I have to pass him again.' I was starting to catch him again - then I think he was spraying me down and I thought, 'Man, I've got to get out of this spray,' - and I kind of crossed back underneath him and just spun the thing out. It was all my fault." The single-file restart would be set from the order at the end of the ninth lap for the final 16 laps. Beaulac was first, with Roeder, Kopp, Bryan Smith, and B F Dominic Beaulac won his first-ever AMA Grand National dirt track with a victory in the Lima Half Mile. Geo Roeder and Beaulac were involved in a two-rider war at the front until Roeder crashed and a red flag stopped the race.