Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

With the repairs made, Coolbeth restarted from the fourth row. Mees then repeated his holeshot over Carr and Hacker, but Mees couldn't hold on and both Carr and Hacker got by before the end of lap one. Hacker surged to the point on lap three as he and Carr opened a gap over Mees. Schnabel (Memphis Shades/Parts Unlimited), King, Shawn Clark (Cayuga Tool & Die/Top Gun Performance), Smith (Screamin' Eagle/Moroney 's Harley-Davidson) and Russell (Bartels' H a r l e y - D a v i d s o n / T N T H a r l e y. c o m ) were fighting for the positions behind. Hacker was able to hold the lead until the ninth lap. "The first 10 laps were a blur," Hacker said. "I don't know what the deal was. Then I woke up and said, 'Holy crap, I'm leading this race.' I made a few mistakes and Carr was able to get back by." King found a low line that no one else was using and used it to move around Mees and into third place by lap 11. After running as high as fourth, Schnabel started to fade. "We were battling with Jared and Rich for fourth spot," Schnabel said. "It was actually third, fourth and fifth spot. I battled for quite a while with them and then all of a sudden it was like every- thing started to go wrong. I started spinning up off the corners. I'm not sure what happened. Babe [DeMay] thinks the engine started tying up a little bit on us. We just started dropping back. We went from fourth to ninth in a matter of five laps." The five laps to go board came out on lap 20 with the running order: Carr, Hacker, King, Mees, Smith, Russell, Coolbeth, Johnny Murphree (Coziahr Harley-Davidson/National Cycle), Schnabel and Clark. This was important as the red lights flashed once again with Geo Roeder (KK Motorcycle Supply/Las Vegas Harley-Davidson/Schaeffer 's Harley-Davidson) crashing out in turn three. Roeder was also able to make the restart, which was now a five-lap dash for the cash and the points. Yet another twist to the race came as Mees' crew struggled to get his bike started as everyone was called to the line for the restart. Because it was nec- essary to work past the time limit, Mees was also forced give up his fourth-place position and had to start at the rear. "When we went to start the bike for the restart, the starter mechanism that you plug your starter into spun out of the motor," said Mees. "So we had to work on it. We had to get it repaired just to make five laps. Since we were working on the motorcycle we went to the back." Carr and Hacker resumed their war at the front with King, Smith, Russell, Schnabel and Coolbeth stretched out behind. The restart was not as benefi- cial to Coolbeth as most had expected. The new factory Harley rider had been fast all day, including setting the fastest lap of the day in qualifying, but after his get-off on lap one, the speed just wasn't there. Mees was the rider on the move, wasting no time getting by Schnabel and Coolbeth then Russell by lap 23. Lap 24 would shake the race up completely. As Carr got the white flag, there was an obvious problem - his 750 twin had become a 375 single. Hacker shot to the inside and into the lead. Carr was just struggling in an attempt to finish. Hacker then easily raced the last lap for his fourth career National win. King, Smith and Mees were also able to get by Carr, with Russell falling just inches short of fifth. Coolbeth, Schnabel, Murphree, Rob Pearson, Paul Lynch, Sam Halbert, Clark, Bryan Bigelow, Joe Kopp, Geo Roeder and Henry Wiles (Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports) filled out the field. Wiles was the only non-fin- isher as his Aprilia quit on lap four. CN WEST VIRGINIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY MINERAL WELLS, WEST VIRGINIA RESULTS: JULY 8, 2006 (ROUND 5 OF 13) HEAT 1 (10 laps; 11 riders, top three transfer): 1. Kenny Coolbeth (H-D); 2. Bryan Smith (H-D); 3. Bryan Bigelow (H-D); 4. Jethro Halbert (H-D); 5. Henry Wiles (Apr); 6. Raun Wood (H-D); 7. Dominic Beaulac (H-D); 8. Ken Yoder (H-D); 9. Gary Rogers (H-D); 10. Dan Gedeon (H-D); 11. Jess Roeder (H-D). Time: 4 min., 14.603 sec. HEAT 2 (10 laps; 11 riders, top three transfer): 1. Chris Carr (H-D); 2. Shawn Clark (H-D); 3. Rob Pearson (H-D); 4. Joe Kopp (H-D); 5. Steve Beattie (H- D); 6. Charlie Italia (H-D); 7. Sam Halbert (H-D); 8. Josh Toungett (H-D); 9. Joe Hartrich (H-D); 10. William Seyle (H-D); 11. Nick Evans (H-D). Time: 4 min., 14.393 sec. HEAT 3 (10 laps; 11 riders, top three transfer): 1. J.R. Schnabel (H-D); 2. Rich king (H-D); 3. Paul Lynch (H-D); 4. Johnny Murphree (H-D); 5. Chris Hart (H-D); 6. Jake Johnson(Suz); 7. Logan Myers (H-D); 8. Nick Cummings (H-D); 9. Tim Eades (H-D); 10. Garth Bastian (H-D); 11. Tom McGrane (H-D). Time: 4 min., 17.393 sec. HEAT 4 (10 laps; 10 riders, top three transfer): 1. Jared Mees (H-D); 2. Mike Hacker (H-D); 3. Geo Roeder (H-D); 4. Shaun Russell (H-D); 5. Willie McCoy (H-D); 6. A.J. Eslick (H-D); 7. Ricky Marshall (H-D); 8. Doug Lawrence (H-D); 9. Scott Stump (H-D); 10. Nichole Cheza (H-D). Time: 4 min., 15.922 sec. SEMI 1 (8 laps; 11 riders, top two transfer): 1. Johnny Murphree (H-D); 2. Henry Wiles (Apr); 3. Steve Beattie (H-D); 4. A.J. Eslick (H-D); 5. Logan Myers (H- D); 6. Garth Bastian (H-D); 7. Nick Evans (H-D); 8. Scott Stump (H-D); 9. Josh Toungett (H-D); 10. Jess Roeder (H-D); 11. Ken Yoder (H-D). Time: 3 min., 26.384 sec. SEMI 2 (8 laps; 10 riders, top two transfer): 1. Joe Kopp (H-D); 2. Sam Halbert (H-D); 3. Nick Cummings (H-D); 4. Raun Wood (H-D); 5. Chris Hart (H-D); 6. Doug Lawrence (H-D); 7. Gary Rogers (H-D); 8. William Seyle (H-D); 9. Willie McCoy (H-D); 10. Tom McGrane (H-D). Time: 3 min., 27.341 sec. SEMI 3 (8 laps; 10 riders, top two transfer): 1. Shaun Russell (H-D); 2. Jethro Halbert (H-D); 3. Charlie Italia (H-D); 4. Jake Johnson (Suz); 5. Tim Eades (H-D); 6. Dominic Beaulac (H-D); 7. Dan Gedeon (H-D); 8. Joe Hartrich (H-D); 9. Nichole Cheza (H-D); 10. Ricky Marshall (H-D). Time: 3 min., 25.380 sec. AMA GRAND NATIONAL (25 laps, 18 riders): 1. Mike Hacker (H-D); 2. Rich King (H-D); 3. Bryan Smith (H-D); 4. Jared Mees (H-D); 5. Chris Carr (H-D); 6. Shaun Russell (H-D); 7. Kenny Coolbeth (H-D); 8. JR Schnabel (H-D); 9. Johnny Murphree (H-D); 10. Rob Pearson (H-D); 11. Paul Lynch (H-D); 12. Sam Halbert (H-D); 13. Shawn Clark (H-D); 14. Bryan Bigelow (H-D); 15. Jethro Halbert (H-D); 16. Joe Kopp (H-D); 17. Geo Roeder (H-D); 18. Henry Wiles (Apr). Time: 25 min., 00.709 sec. - RED FLAG - AMA FORD QUALITY CHECKED FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP/AMA GRAND NATIONAL TWINS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of 13 rounds): 1. Chris Carr (67/1 win); 2. Rich King (60); 3. Bryan Smith (54); 4. Kenny Coolbeth (52/1 win); 5. J.R. Schnabel (46); 6. Mike Hacker (37/1 win); 7. Jared Mees (36); 8. Shaun Russell (31); 9. (TIE) Dominic Beaulac (29/1 win)/Joe Kopp (29); 11. Sam Halbert (25); 12. Johnny Murphree (24); 13. Jay Springsteen (22); 14. Jake Johnson (21); 15. (TIE) Nick Cummings/Paul Lynch (20). UPCOMING ROUNDS Round 6 - Saluda, Virginia, July 15 Round 7 - Greenville, Ohio, July 22 West Virginia Motor Speedway Mineral Wells, WV Round 5 July 8, 2006 JULY 19, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 24 AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship Shaun Russell (28) finished sixth in the race with Johnny Murphree (20) ending up ninth.

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