Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

dust, then coming back on the groove. I think I was com- ing in a lot harder than him, but was able to get it turned, and follow out on the groove. That's where I was killing him mostly. Coming out of three and four, he was really good, actually." King's plans of going for the win changed. "I went from the first five laps just trying to hold on with Kenny and get a game plan together and maybe try to win this thing," King said. "I went from that, to trying to survive it. When you get in that survival mode, you're just out there cruising around. I changed my line the last five laps and I felt a little bit better. There, for a while, I didn't know if I was going to make the whole race. I tried to throw her down quite a few times. I was good every- where, but down in one and two. "I was struggling bad enough that I really didn't feel like I wanted to race with anybody too bad. So when Jared got up underneath me, I just kind of let him go. I thought maybe he had a better line that he was running, but if it was, it wasn't six inches off of where I was. For whatever reason, I was just struggling down there. I was trying to go in low to start with, but that wasn't working. One time I tucked the front end really bad, and the next time it would be the back end. I just couldn't get into the middle of the corner very well. I don't know what the deal was. That was just my bad spot." J.R. Schnabel worked his Memphis Shades/ Yamaha/Parts Unlimited-backed Harley past Eades and into fifth on lap eight. Eades' plunge continued as first Johnny Murphree (Coziahr Harley-Davidson/National Cycles) moved by on lap 10, then the last of the Harley Team as Screamin' Eagle Moroney's Harley-Davidson's Bryan Smith followed suit on lap 12. Six laps later, Smith, who had been fast qualifier earlier in the day, took over the job of harassing Schnabel. A couple of miscues dropped Murphree to a lonely sev- enth, leaving Eades to hold off the factory Suzuki of Jake Johnson for eighth place and his best Grand National finish. Bartels' Harley-Davidson/TNTHarley.com's Shaun Russell got up off the ground in his heat race, then cap- tured the last transfer spot in the heat. In the National, Russell worked his way into a top-10 finish when he clawed his way around former Grand National Champion Latus Harley-Davidson's Joe Kopp on lap 19. Paul Lynch suffered through a long night. Lynch set fourth-fastest time in qualifying and sat on the pole for the last heat. Unfortunately, that would be the highlight of the night for the SJS Racing/Fredericktown Yamaha- backed Lynch. Lynch jumped the start in his heat and was doomed to start on the penalty line. He would have to win the third semi to make the main, but was able to work his way up to a 12th-place finish. Harley-Davidson of Wausau/Advanced Wall System's Willie McCoy started the race from the last position, but climbed up to a 13th-place finish. Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Racing's Henry Wiles con- tinued to make progress with the Aprilia project, as they qualified for their third half-mile National main event. Wiles then proceeded to finish 14th, his best finish on the big twin Aprilia. Motorcyclists Post/Bruce Transportation's Logan Myers is another of the young lions making his mark as the former Horizon Award winner finished 15th in his third national. Josh Toungett rounded out the finishers on his Reiman's Harley-Davidson/Gutterridge Harley- Davidson-backed Harley. Toungett earned his entry in the main with a great race in the second semi. Toungett and Rob Pearson (Dave Burks Motorsports) locked horns, battling over the last transfer. The two have a his- tory dating all the way back to their 50cc years, and they swapped the position several times, with Toungett grab- bing it in turn three of the last lap. Farley Speedway Farley, IA Round 9 August 5, 2006 AUGUST 16, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 46 AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship/ AMA Grand National Twins Championship MY OWN RACE 1 Chris Carr 4th Place "It was a hard track to make up time on and certainly even harder to pass, when guys are going about the same speed," Chris Carr said. "I was catching Rich a little bit there at the end. I just couldn't get close enough and run clean enough laps. It was a hard track to run clean laps. Coolbeth ran clean ones the whole race, obviously. According to his times, he was pretty steady the whole night. We were the fourth-best guy tonight, and that's the way it goes. Eades made a mistake coming off of four, and Jared got a run on him. I just followed Jared into the corner and got up underneath him. That was the only pass I made the whole race. I didn't get an especially great start getting to turn one, I just left it in third gear and ran the bottom. I got some positions back. I still came off of turn two in fifth. By the time I started into turn three I was still fifth. I passed one guy and that was it." 33 J.R. Schnabel 5th Place "The whole night I had somebody on me," J.R. Schnabel said. "In the heat race, I got the start, and Bryan [Smith] pres- sured me the whole time. In the main event, it was the same thing - I had somebody pressuring me the whole time. I got by Tim [Eades] maybe five or eight laps in, but the leaders had split. The whole race I had pressure on me. It made it tough because on these groove tracks you want to, kind of, get in there hard, so you can set up your apex and your exit good. Every time I was shutting off just that little bit early to make sure I didn't slip the groove. They were able to keep the pressure on, that was good. I stayed smooth enough that they couldn't get by. To run 20 laps with somebody on your tail, and not make a mistake and let them by is hard to do. So I felt good about that." 42 Bryan Smith 6th Place "I had a good jump; Chris was on the front row, and I got up beside him," said Bryan Smith. "He kind of shut the door pretty hard on me going into turn one. I don't know if he knew I was there or if he saw me and tried to make me slow down or what. He kind of pinched me off and that kind of killed the run that I had, or the hope that I had, from the second row. I got stuck behind Schnabel and Murphree and Eades, I was just held up. Once I got past Eades, I turned some fast laps that were as fast as the leader, but when you start off midpack on these tracks, it's just impossible to get to the lead. It's a bummer after being fast qualifier. Hopefully, with Springfield and Columbus, which are two of my favorite tracks, we can get back up there in the top three." 20 Johnny Murphree 7th Place "I wanted that top five pretty bad," Johnny Mur- phree said. "I battled with J.R. the whole time. "I had huge speed on him in the middle of the corner, but I couldn't get him on the exit. He was going in a little deeper. If I was 10 bike- lengths back, I would make up 10 bikelengths right in the middle of the corner. If I was on a rut, I would just about clean him out and have to blow the groove to find a line to get by. I couldn't figure my timing out to get by him. I slipped up and Bryan got by. Then I lost those guys; I was spinning up coming off the corners real bad. I went out and made a good first turn. I got through and made a couple passes right away then I was just stuck on J.R. I think I could have run some faster laps, if I could have kept that pace going, but I couldn't figure out that timing to get by him. I saw the starter holding the blue flag out like he was getting ready to drop the blue flag on some guys. I'm thinking, 'No, I'm, like, in the top 10, I can't get blue flag!' " 72 Tim Eades 8th Place "Out of the truck we were pretty good; I changed a couple of things I really shouldn't have changed in qualifying," said Tim Eades. "That set us back a little bit. I was really due a good start and I got it in the heat race. I've been getting crappy starts all year. I just rode a smooth line and I was able to beat Chris [Carr] to the finish. At the start of the main, I got off the line good again. I think I was third for a couple laps. We talked about taking a tooth off before the National and we didn't - we really should have. It was a little bit more slippery for me that time out. I couldn't get back on the gas as early as I wanted to. It just wanted to spin right up. If we would have finished the 25 laps in that same spot as I was in after the first couple laps, we would have done good." 14 Jake Johnson 9th Place "I ruined my streak of eighth-place finishes. I had three in a row and I'm starting to slump a little bit," said Johnson. "I did all right tonight, I was trying some different things tonight. It was a different bike and a different setup. It worked a little better, I guess - at least we are consistent. It's just time now to try a few different things, to see if we can make things bet- ter. It seems like we are just a tick off - we're getting there. We're getting some stuff figured out. We've figured out a lot of things not to do. We haven't really figured out what to do. We are definitely learning. I thought I was going to be able to get Timmy early in the race. It was just so hard to pass. It was kind of one line and I didn't really want to dive under- neath anybody because there were so many holes and stuff. I didn't want to end up getting out of shape and getting into somebody. I got on Timmy early in the race and tried some different lines. I kind of fell back, I saw the five-to-go and put in a last charge to try to get him. I got close - I got up on him - I got alongside him a couple of times. I just couldn't get by." 28 Shaun Russell 10th Place "This track is kind of noto- rious - if you don't get a good start here [you] kind of get stuck behind peo- ple," said Shaun Russell. "I got a good start, then, I got pinched off in the first turn. I kind of settled in where I was at. It took me a good 15 laps to get by one guy. By then, everybody else was gone. It's real rough, and your setup is crucial."

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