Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 12, 2006 31 Live I Sports continues the webcasting of the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship series at www.LiveiSports.com, with the Internet-based company exposing flat-track motorcycle racing to a worldwide audience. For $10 per event, viewers can log in and watch the races live. The races are also archived on the site for users to retrieve at their convenience. Once a race is pur- chased, subscribers have unlimited viewing access to it throughout the season. On-air personalities have included former racers Ronnie Jones and Scott Deubler. Scott Park- er has been aboard for both Lima and Lake Odessa. Jared Mees' flat tire put a big kink into his champi- onship points. "It's a real bummer. It would have helped us out so much in the points tonight," said Mees. "Joe Kopp was out and Springer [Jay Springsteen] wasn't here. It just hurts - it's hard to swallow. When you're going for the championship like this, it's just hard. What are you going to do?" J.R. Schnabel has suddenly become a force in the twins class, but aboard his back-up Harley, as opposed to the Yamaha, the team is hoping to campaign. "I've always kind of done well on the singles and kind of getting that program going. Last week at Lima, I got third on the cushion," said Schnabel. "The cushions I run good on. It feels good to come over here and run really decent on a groove track. A lot of it goes to my team with Babe DeMay and Tryce Welch working so hard. We got some things changed around over the winter that we wanted to try. I think it's all paying off. It's all coming together. The bikes working exactly the like I want it to. Now I've got to make a little bit of an improvement to get us on top of the box. We're definitely taking a step forward. It is nice to have the Harley to fall back on. We're really working on getting that Yamaha developed. I feel bad for the guys. They've been working hard on getting that thing going. It's just little issues with it every week that cause us to fall back on the Harley. It's running really well for us. Like I said at Lima, it's nice to have a bike to fall back on that you can get on it and still get a podium." Earlier in the day during heat two, Motorcyclists Post/Bruce Transportation's Logan Myers fell entering turn one. Patriot Harley-Davidson/Lucas Oils' Shane Baer was collected and he went off the top of turn one. Mey- ers returned to the pits, but Baer was transported to the hospital with what appeared to be a collarbone injury. Joe Kopp's big get-off left him with stitches in his elbow and a slight concussion, but he is hopeful of a return to action next week in West Virginia. "The bike is ready, I just need to be," said Kopp on Sunday. Sam Halbert ran away with the last semi of the night, but there was a great race for the last transfer spot. Henry Wiles had the Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motor- sports Aprilia in second with Bartels' Harley- Davidson/TNTHarley.com's Shaun Russell all over him. With two laps to go, Russell got a drive off turn two and shot inside of Wiles going into turn three to take over the lead. Russell slipped high, though, and Wiles was back in control. Russell made one last charge on the last lap, but hit the dirt in turn one, leaving Wiles with an uncontested trip to Aprilia's first Half Mile National main event. Kenny Coolbeth has only ridden four races under the Harley-Davidson Motor Company/Screamin' Eagle tent, but he has now captured his first National win in the Harley orange and black. "There's a lot more to come," warned Coolbeth. "It's pretty nice when you can just come to a racetrack and jump on a motorcycle. They know what to do... we're communicating well. I felt great on the motor- cycle. You definitely need luck behind you. These guys are definitely hard-core into it. That's good because I put all my effort into it. I think we've got a good thing going." Briefly... Mees wasn't alone in hitting bad luck at Lake Odessa, with Joe Kopp also failing to score points as he crashed out of the race on the opening lap, bringing out a red flag. Kopp was transported to hospital with a sore back and shoulder. With Mees out, J.R. Schnabel - again riding his Harley- Davidson and not his Yamaha - was able to hold off the advances of defending AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr to finish second. Carr held on for third place, a position that did little to hurt Carr's championship status as he managed to further pull away from his nearest rival, as Harley's Rich King finishing fourth. Carr now leads the series with 53 points, 12 clear of King. Coolbeth has moved to just a point behind King and 13 behind Carr after his I-96 win. As always, the AMA Flat Track series flirted with disas- ter as far as the weather was concerned, with gale-force winds and severe-weather warnings greeting round four of the series. But this time, they got lucky. Despite the fact that heavy rains were within 20 miles of the I-96 Speedway, the races were run, and most of the pit area was vacated before a fierce storm drenched the facility. It was Mees and his Harley rocketing from pole position to lead the 25-lap National into turn one, but the race was over as quickly as it had started with a red flag coming out as the field completed the first lap. Kopp had crashed hard in turn three, the veteran racer getting transported to hospital. A light sprinkle started to fall just as the remaining 17 riders lined up for the restart, but fortunately, the rain stopped. The second flash of green saw Mees repeat his effort from earlier with Coolbeth, Memphis Shades/Parts Unlimited's J.R. Schnabel, Quality Checked Certified Pre- Owned Ford's Carr and SuperTrapp/Doc's Harley- Davidson's Mike Hacker right behind him. Mees and Coolbeth quickly separated themselves from everyone else as Carr slipped by Schnabel. Carr and Schnabel then locked into a good race for third as the two leaders pulled away. Hacker, meanwhile, held down fifth over American Suzuki's Jake Johnson and Screamin' Eagle/Moroney's Harley-Davidson's Bryan Smith. "I think I might have had something for Kenny," Mees said later. "I looked back and I had a little bit of a cushion. He wasn't right up along me the whole time, or maybe he was. I think Kenny and I were a good match tonight. I don't know if I would have had anything for him, but I think I would have gotten second or better." Mees was able to hold Coolbeth at bay until lap 16, when he left just enough room and Coolbeth pounced. A lap earlier, Schnabel had got back by Carr and looked to be on his way to a second successive third-place finish. But it all changed on lap 22 of the 25 lapper when Mees slid up high in turn one with a flat tire. "Three or four laps after halfway I knew the tire was gone," Mees said. "Coolbeth got by me and started taking off. I had some cushion behind me. We were going into the lapped traffic and I thought that Henry [Wiles] just shut the door on me. I went really sideways. I thought that it was me that did it, but the tire blew out. In three more laps, I would have had second place." "At first I didn't think I had anything for Jared," said Coolbeth. "I was good in the long runs, and when I caught him I knew where he was messing up. I knew where I could try to pass him. It worked out okay. It's too bad that his tire blew because we would have probably been one and two. The track came to us all day long. Even though we won here last year, I go to every racetrack and try to win. I think the win was just one of those things. We had our stuff together." Mees' misfortune moved Schnabel into a safe second with Carr rounding out the podium. "We had a little bit of a gift with Jared having that flat tire there near the end," Schnabel said. "That moved us up one. I had a good battle with Chris [Carr] - it was nice to be able to run with him on one of these stock-car tracks. Chris Carr (1) and J.R. Schnabel (33) locked up in a duel for what would be second place. The spot eventually went to Schnabel, with Car finishing third.

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