Joe Kopp Takes Ducati to Victory at AMA Flat Track AZ Mile

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Joe Kopp on the #3 chases J.R. Schnabel on the #33 during the main event at the Springfield Short Track over Labor Day weekend in 2005. Kopp won the AMA Flat Track Grand National Championship in 2000 and wore the #1 plate during the '01 season.
After having worn the #43 up until he won the championship, Joe elected to carry the #3, that had been worn most recently by the late Ricky Graham, from the 2002 season forward. He has more then made the #3 plate proud, and won last night's Prescott Valley Mile over Sammy Halbert on the #7 H-D XR-750.
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The Lloyd Brothers Ducati GT1000-based flat tracker of #72f Larry Pegram sits in the pits at the Indy Mile in August of 2009. Past champion Joe Kopp came on board with Lloyd Brothers Racing for the 2010 season and promptly won his first outing with the team in Arizona last night. Kopp was to have had his choice of the Ducati or his regular Latus Motors XR for the miles or half-miles for the season, but I would say after last night's outing there won't be much problem working out a choice at least on the mile tracks this year. Kopp led the national at Prescott until the 8th lap when Sammy Halbert on the #7 machine took over. Kopp was able to catch Slammin' Sammy on the last lap at the line and won by a mere .024 seconds-less then half a wheel. It's going to be good to see some parity on the big tracks and this win is just what the flat track community needed, and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Go Joe and a big Congrats for your hard earned win! Let's hope team mate Larry Pegram wasn't too awfully upset. He had been working with the team since the '04 or '05 season and was hoping to score the team's first win. Pegram will race both Springfield events and at Indy in August over MotoGP weekend. Maybe we'll see two Ducks on the podium at those events. Bravo to Lloyd Brothers as well for their tireless development on this trick machine!
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One of Joe Kopp's Team Latus H-D XR-750's sits in the pits at the Indy Mile in August of 2009. George Latus is a Harley dealer from the Northwest Territory who has been involved in flat track racing for some years now. Latus Motorsports also owns the Ducati 848 that Steve Rapp has been campaigning in the AMA Road Racing Daytona Sportbike class and took his maiden voyage on the team's bike to the podium at the Daytona 200 for a fine and hard-fought 3rd place finish. Kopp and Latus H-D have kept immaculate equipment for as long as I can remember and are to be commended for their hard work and efforts.
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Joe Kopp on the #3 Lloyd Brothers/Latus Racing Ducati GT1000-based machine took the victory last night over #7 Slammin' Sammy Halbert at the Prescott Valley Mile in Arizona. In what was Kopp's maiden ride with the team, Kopp led off the line and held it until lap 8 when Halbert took over. Kopp was able to hang in and eventually nip Halbert at the line for his first victory of the 2010 season and his 11th Grand National win overall. Kopp is also the 2000 AMA Grand National Championship.
Kopp's win last night was a 'history in the making' moment for Ducati in mile racing as well. At least in the 'modern' era since the late '60's/early '70's. Lloyd Brothers Racing has been working with the Ducati for several years now, and Larry Pegram put a variation of the machine in it's first mile national at Duquoin back in the fall of 2004. To see it get it's maiden win after all their hard work is excellent, let alone a great way to start off the season. The win ended a streak of 134 races since anything other then a H-D XR-750 won an AMA Flat Track Grand National event. The last time anything other then an XR won on the mile was when Ricky Graham won the Labor Day event at Springfield in September of 1993 when he sealed his 3rd GNC. The last time anything other then an XR won on a half-mile was when Corbin Racing's Rich King won the Joliet event in August of '98.
When it was announced that Smokin' Joe would be coming on with the team earlier in the year, it was said he would have his choice of the Ducati or his usual Latus Motors XR to use on the big-bike tracks. I guess there won't be too much more guessing about which mount he will most likely use from here on out. At least on the mile tracks.
Great job by all--Joe Kopp, Lloyd Brothers and Latus Motors for this epic win in AMA Flat Track racing. To see another solid brand come around and for a new team member to come on board and win his initial outing with them is superb, and should be great for the sport in terms of parity and good racing. Of note, Kopp beat six other makes last night in the final for his 11th win. The other manufacturers represented in the final at Prescott Valley were H-D, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Aprilia, and a Wood-Rotax BMW. With parity such as this the Grand National half-miles and miles should be pretty exciting this year.
Congrats to all last night for a great race and for ringing in the big-bikes with a bang for the 2010 AMA Flat Track season! You can read on below for the results and official story of the final.
Hats and helmets off to Joe Kopp and company for a great and hard-earned win last night. Take a bow guys, you deserve it!
Also a big pat on the back to the AMA Flat Track team of Mike Kidd, Steve Morehead and company for putting on a winning show. All reports have been very favorable, the promoter did their job in selling tickets and the AMA put on a great show for everyone. Bravo!
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Here's the story of the race thanks to the bible of motorcycle racing, CycleNews.com:
http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/flat-track/2010/05/02/kopp-wins-prescott-mile
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Full results thanks to AMA Pro Racing:
http://amaproracing.com/ft/events/results.cfm?eid=2010021010
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Tim Thomas from FlatTrack.com has a pic and a rundown of last night's racing right here as well:
http://www.flattrack.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=746&Itemid=1
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The great blokes at Sideburn Mag have some excellent pictures of the event you can check out here:
http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2010/05/yavapai-action.html
And here:
http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2010/05/ducati-win-gnc-mile.html
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