May 3, 2010

AMA Pro Grand National Twins - Joe Kopp on Ducati takes Prescott

Sammy Halbert got out to an early lead and Joe Kopp found some traction in the high groove in turn two and went by on the high, wide and handsome side throwing a rooster tail about 10 feet in the air.

Sammy Halbert dropped back to 3rd behind but eventually figured out that the high side was the fast way around and went back to the lead and pulled out to 10-12 bike lead. Kopp was visibly spinning up the back tire on the Duc and it looked like he backed off a little to save some tire.

This year, Kopp brought out the much-speculated Ducati Hypermotard 1098, built by the Lloyd brothers, with tuning and tech assistance provided by Kevin Atherton, former National winner.

With about 5 to go, Sammy was cruising and Joe started stalking.

Kopp got a tremendous drive out of turn two on the last lap and caught Sammy's draft down the back straight and got within striking distance, got a drive out of turn four and pulled out of the draft at the last second and won by maybe the width of the tire.

Kopp and Halbert were well clear of third-placed Kenny Coolbeth Jr., the factory Harley-Davidson rider some three seconds behind and just .006 of a second ahead of Rogers Lake Racing's Jared Mees. Halbert had earlier won the Dash For Cash over Coolbeth and Mees.

Chris Carr was almost another two seconds behind the Coolbeth/Mees battle and almost five seconds ahead of sixth-placed Jake Johnson.

JR Schnabel, Robert Pearson, Don Taylor and Luke Gough rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Halbert leads the AMA Pro Grand National Twins Championship by a single point over Kopp by virtue of leading more laps and also for earning pole position. He has 24 points to Kopp's 23.

The last non-Harley victory in a Grand National Twins race was on August 8, 1998 when Rich King won the Joliet Half Mile on a Honda. The last non-Harley win on a mile was on September 5, 1993 when the late Ricky Graham won the Springfield Mile on a Honda.

Twins:
1. Joe Kopp
2. Sammy Halbert
3. Kenny Coolbeth
4. Jared Mees
5. Chris Carr
6. Jake Johnson
7. JR Schnabel
8. Robbie Pearson

Yavapai Downs is hosting two crucial AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship mile races as the first and last twins races for the 2010 series.

May 3, 2010 10:03 AM | send page