Kopp continues big roll
Mica’s Joe Kopp has been on a tear over the last two weekends. Picking up his first and second victories of the season, the 1999 AMA FlatTrack national champion trails leader Ken Coolbeth by one point heading into today’s event in Topeka, Kan.
Kopp’s win last weekend was challenging as his race team hauled from Pennsylvania to the Lima, Ohio, Twin Nationals. Arriving in Lima at 6 a.m., Kopp got little sleep to prepare for the evening’s event.
Once things got started, the 39-year-old veteran qualified ninth and gained entry into the fast heat race. Running against many of the riders Kopp is chasing in the points standings, the Screamin’ Eagle/Latus Harley Davidson 750 finished second, .69 seconds behind the winning heat race rider.
For the 25-lap main event, Kopp took a conservative approach to the start and tried to pace himself through the field. At the end of the first lap, Kopp had moved to second place and was chasing leader Henry Wiles.
At the race’s halfway point, Wiles had built a comfortable lead over Kopp, who was riding in the leader’s tracks trying to find a line that would propel him to the front of the field. By the time the white flag had come out, Kopp was to the rear wheel of Wiles with a half mile to go.
Entering turn No. 3, both riders came roaring up behind a lapped machine. Wiles choose to take a high line around lapped traffic while Kopp looked to the inside as the pair raced to the checkered flag.
Both riders had great exits off the corner as Kopp throttled later than Wiles and managed to pull even in the early portion of the frontstretch.
Drag racing down the straightway with Kopp to the inside and carrying momentum – which forced Wiles to drift high – Kopp picked up the victory by .17 seconds over his rival.
July finds Kopp battling in Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and Iowa before heading to the annual Castle Rock, Wash., event on Aug. 10-11.
Kopp’s exploits on the AMA circuit can be followed at his Web site, www.joekoppracing.com, where he keeps a weekend blog of each event.
Firecracker 125 lights up
Mead’s Shelby Thompson has been on a roll in the Inland Northwest Super Stock Association’s racing held at Stateline Speedway, besting current points leader Dave Garber on several occasions.
While the INSSA wins have been nice, Thompson aims to pick up his first ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series victory since 2006 when the series takes the green flag Saturday night in Kalispell, Mont.
The Firecracker 125 marks the fifth event of the season for the ARCA series. Thompson has finished in the top 10 in all but one event. The Mead High School graduate missed the series stop in Vernon, British Columbia, and sits eighth in the chase for the 2008 championship, just 100 points back of fifth-place Erick Hargraves.
“I love racing Dave Garber, Rusty Webb and those guys on the INSSA show, but I want to beat the best in the Northwest right now and that’s definitely (defending ARCA champion Gary) Lewis and (Wes) Rhodes,” Thompson said after a third-place finish two weeks ago in the ARCA Washington 125. “We’re not running for points in the INSSA, but we plan to run the rest of the year on the ARCA show and see what we can do.
“I have a good crew chief in Kevin Richards and that has been a big key to our success (in 2008).”
Not to be outdone, Garber comes off last week’s win in the INSSA Windermere 100 with three victories in 2008 and a 76-point lead over Rusty Webb as the series takes a month-long break heading toward the Aug. 1 “Duel for the Idaho 200.”
The combination of Jack Morse and Gonzaga Prep’s Andrew Zimmer holds down the third spot in the chase for the 2008 INSSA title.
Don Yonke and Andy Brown round out the top five.