AMA Pro Racing has announced that the Du Quoin Mile, the final round of the AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships, has been canceled due to rain.
The final race of the 2000 season had been rescheduled to run today after rain halted action over the weekend. Weather and track conditions, however, remained unfavorable, and the race was canceled early this afternoon. The decision to call the race was made jointly between race promoter Illinois Motorcycle Dealers Association (IMDA) and AMA Pro Racing.
The decision means that Corbin Racing/H-D of Missouri-backed Joe Kopp (shown) of Mica, Washington, is the 2000 AMA Grand National Champion. Kopp came into Du Quoin with a 15-point lead over perennial contender Will Davis of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Davis’ championship hopes, however slim, were washed away with the cancellation, Kopp taking the title 214-199 and becoming only the third rider in the 47-year history of the Grand National series to score the number one plate with just a single victory. Dick Mann was the first rider to accomplish the feat when claiming the first of his two titles in 1963. Randy Goss pulled it off in 1980 to earn the first of his two titles.
Kopp also clinched the AMA/SuperTrapp SuperTracker Championship earlier in the season, successfully defending that championship title after winning it in 1999. He also won the 2000 AMA Hot Shoe National Championship in the 600cc Expert class. The other title to be decided at Du Quoin was in the Harley-Davidson Sportster Performance Series. Defending Champion Willie McCoy held the points lead over contender and former champion Scott Stump coming into today’s final. McCoy. Thanks to the weather, McCoy of Richardson, Texas, will once again wear the class number one plate in 2001, making him the first two-time winner since the series began in 1993
An awards presentation will be held at 2 p.m. CDT today in Du Quoin.
