Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 9, 2006 33 80 Rich King 4th Place "All in all, it was a good night," said Rich King after finishing fourth. "I made a couple drastic mistakes and got a little sideways, and it cost me a lot of ground. The track was so slippery getting in, it was easy to overrun it going in. Then you had to be so easy on the gas. Both times I got in a little bit hot, and I just tried to steer it around with the throttle. It just kept coming around and around. You don't want to let off; you've got to make that call sooner or later, though. When it starts hitting the stops, you know you've got to get off the gas. That's just basically what I did the last corner on the last lap. I was on Mike [Hacker] again. I ran it into three hard and got on the gas. I bounced it off the steering stops a couple of times and about turned around. We were trying; that's all we can do." 21 Jared Mees 5th Place Jared Mees ended up fifth after getting the bet- ter of J.R. Schnabel. "From the very beginning, J.R. was right there," said Mees. "[Mike] Hack- er was riding around the top, and I figured I'll try that, since that was where he was getting me. Then I dropped back down to the bottom after [Rich] King got up underneath me. I was running right up there with them for a while. I was thinking that I might be able to get these guys. I think the track just kind of went away from me as the race went on. The traction went away and my setup went away. You live and learn. We had a bad night tonight, and I was fifth. After the first practice, we weren't looking good at all. We kind of struggled through qualifying. In the heat race, we put it together and had a good start. Technically, we had a bad night tonight and [we still] finished fifth, so I can't complain too much." 33 J.R. Schnabel 6th Place "This wasn't bad for us - not for Hagerstown, which is a slippery race- track; we're getting it fig- ured out," said Schnabel after ending up sixth. "We want to get top-fives, and we missed it by one tonight, but like I said, coming into Hagerstown, with this track, for the last two years, I haven't even made the main here. We were all right. We ran third for a little bit and battled with those guys. I just take it in a little bit harder, and that's not the key on the 750 on these slippery tracks; it's all on the exit speed. I learned some things again and we got out of here with a sixth place. It was a good night. The track had a little more traction early in the race, and you have 18 guys out there, drying it out. I think it got a little bit slick, and I was searching for lines, because they started get- ting away. I really lost touch with them. Then once Bryan [Smith] starting pushing me, I noticed we were catching Jared [Mees] a little bit. He had almost a straight on us, so it wasn't like we were gonna run him down. Things were good; it was just mistakes that hurt." 42 Bryan Smith 7th Place "I made some passes at the beginning, but I was struggling for traction all day," said Bryan Smith after ending up seventh in the National. "I couldn't really get a hold of the track. Some of the other guys were. I definitely wanted something better than a seventh-place finish. I don't really know what the problem was; I just couldn't get hooked up. Luckily, I was able to make some passes at the beginning of the race. That obviously got me up to seventh. I was all over [J.R.] Schnabel; we were see-sawing back and forth, really. I could never get an edge on him. It's just one of those things. We did better here this year than we did last year. It was a lot better, so hopefully we will do a lot better next year, too. All we can do is come on stronger next time." 14 Jake Johnson 8th Place "I think this was like my fifth eighth place in a row or something," said Jake Johnson. "It was all right; I felt really good all day. My times were just a little bit off. I felt really comfortable. I went out for the main and got a good start and was up to like fifth. It always seems to be the case that Suzuki comes off the line so good. I got up towards the front and got a little impa- tient. I blew the groove wide down in turn one a couple of times. A couple guys got by. Once Bryan Smith got by me, I kind of settled in and found a good line. I pretty much stayed equal the whole rest of the race. With about six to go, I started searching around again. It really wasn't making much of a difference. I just kind of cruised around in eighth the whole race; nothing too exciting really happened. I'm happy with another top-10; at least we are consistent. I'd like to get that thing up there on the box one of these races; I think we can do it. We just need to take that extra step and haven't quite figured out what it is yet. I think we'll get there." 72 Tim Eades 9th Place "After the first lap, my race went really well," said Tim Eades. "I got a crappy start, and I saw two or three guys from the third row pass me. I thought I got a good jump, and I kind of got boxed in on the back straightaway and couldn't go any- where. I think I got like three guys going into three on the third lap. It was a little bit close, but I didn't hit anybody, so it was all right. After that, I thought I was charging up pretty good. A little bit after the halfway flags, we just kind of stalled out. I wasn't catching anybody and wasn't getting caught by anybody. After that, it was kind of boring. [Finishing in] the top 10 was all right; I was hoping for a top-five, especially after qualify- ing. I was like third after the first two ses- sions. I don't know, [I was] just pushing the front a little bit too much. We'll take it. I've made the last couple mains at Farley, too, so maybe I'll get my top-five there. That would be good." 69 Jethro Halbert 10th Place "I feel pretty good about a top-10," said Jethro Halbert. "I was kind of struggling in practice. The track kind of came to us. We made some changes. We got along pretty good there in the heat race. I got an okay start in the main and picked off a few guys. I just rode smooth the whole race. I held my position; I got into a battle with a few guys for a while. It was a good race. I'm happy that I'm moving up in the points. I was defi- nitely more comfortable on this track than last week. We're struggling a little on the cushions. I'm trying to get the hang of that it takes time. I'd like to thank Zanotti Racing and Brent Armbruster. They really got the bikes going good for me." 3 Joe Kopp 11th Place "It was a bad night; I ended up 11th," said Joe Kopp. "I felt pretty good in qualifying. I kind of had the same setup as last year [which he won]. I was just having trouble getting in the corner all night long. A couple guys got by me on the first couple laps. After that, I just tried everything I could to make up some ground. I just couldn't do anything on Jethro. I'm frustrated." 59 Willie McCoy12th Place "It felt good," said Willie McCoy. "I was just struggling. I needed to move up in points. I still need a win - that would really help. I was struggling in the semi. Even in the heat race, I got good starts, and I was just a sit- ting duck. I had to struggle to stay where I was, and you have to go forward. I made a bunch of changes for the main event, and it was a lot better. I was still struggling getting into the corner and getting turned. You have to be smooth here, and I wasn't smooth. The Harley-Davidson of Wausau worked really good. My buddy Jay Beckner was here helping me out. Bubba was here helping me out a lot, too, so we got the bike working better. I'm feeling better and getting my confidence back. We're gonna keep this thing rolling and win one of these things. They just came by and gave me $200 cash for the Hard Charger Award. I heard them calling me and I thought, 'What did I do now?'" MY OWN RACE It was announced at the riders' meeting that Jay Springsteen was released from the hospital on Saturday morning and was on his way home to Michigan to begin his rehabilitation, which will be lengthy. A fund has been set up to help the Spring- steens with his medical bills. Donations may be mailed to: LaSalle Bank, 2480 E. Court, Burton, MI 48509, Attn: Ann Bisha, 810/715-1608. Donations may be wired to: LaSalle Bank Midwest, Routing #072000805, Jay Springsteen, Acct # 5404508094. "It's been real competitive," said the championship points leader, Chris Carr. "All the guys running up towards the front in points have had a problem at one time or another. It has kind of evened things out a little bit in that respect. I felt like I was owed a couple after Parkersburg and then sucking as bad as I did at Virginia. We were on our game tonight. I felt good. The bike was great. We ran a good main event." The ever-popular what-if game is inter- esting. As in, What if the AMA had not split the series in two? Under the 2005 system, the points race would be one of the best in years. Joe Kopp would be leading with 127 points, followed by Bryan Smith at 123. Chris Carr (121), Kenny Coolbeth (119), J.R. Schnabel (118), Jake Johnson (100), Jared Mees (98), Johnny Murphree (83), Rich King (80) and Mike Hacker (75) would fill out the top 10. Timed practice/qualifying proved how close the racing would be, as the top 32 riders were within eight-tenths of a sec- ond. Kenny Coolbeth was fastest at 24.169 seconds, and Dan Gedeon brought his Triumph across at 24.964 sec- onds. The entire 43-rider field was only separated by 1.689 seconds. Heat wins went to fast qualifier Kenny Coolbeth, Chris Carr, Mike Hacker and Jared Mees. Garth Bastian, Johnny Mur- phree and Josh Toungett were semi win- ners. The second semi was sailing along smoothly, with Ricky Marshall and Johnny Murphree safely in qualifying positions, but then the lights on the front straight went out, leaving the front straight and grandstand in near-total darkness. The race was quickly red- flagged, without incident. After a long delay, the race was completely rerun. White's Harley-Davidson's Sammy Hal- bert jumped out front on the restart but was quickly run down by Murphree. The last transfer spot was a battle between Rookie Of The Year hopefuls Halbert and Marshall. Just when it looked like Halbert was in, Marshall made a last-lap, last-turn blitz and stole the spot away. Briefly...

• Cover