Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127140
00 00 O"l Team Harley- Davidson's Sco tt Parke i (11) finished third. but early lap . leader Jay Springsteen (9) slipped to sixt h. Chris Carr took over second on lap 10 and then held off Scott Parker in the late stages of the race. beating hi m to .t he finish line by inches. used th e same time- saving lin e Parker utilized in h eat one, but H oward closed the door in the fourth turn on th e final lap. "It feels like we 're riding on marb les tonight, but this is a rac e and I'm here to win it, " said Morehead, who won the race in 1985. S emis Twelve riders were gridded for each of two IO-Ia p sem is, with the top three from each race co mpleting th e li ne-u p for the IS-ri der main event. G raham got the lead in semi one, but before he so rted out h is h igh line, Farris we nt underneath to lead. Ronnie J ones th rottled h is H onda into transfer co nten tion, got under Graham, an d th en used turns 3-4 to work inside o f Farris to lead. Graha m used his high line to repass Farris, and th en tightened up th e battle for the lead with Jones on laps 8-9. Jones pulled out a safe cu shion, Graham was second, and Farris stayed ju st a hub ahead of Felicio, who came alongside com ing out of four for th e final time. "You ca n ride all over the track, th ere's no groove out there," said Jones. " T he best line at the start o f th e main won 't work all the wa y. Those guys were trying to kick my butt - you 'd better stay o n th e gas or get ou t of th e way." Estep holeshot th e seco nd semi, but Doug Davis ra n his K&K H arley wide in turns 1-2 to lead. The m ove wa s wo rt h the ri sk; Davis ra n uncontested to th e finish. Estep got sq ui rr ell y o n la p two , g ivi ng Br yan Hardin th e hole he need to work his Harley to seco n d. Estep rode the h igh lin e a ll the way, bu t n ever regained th e ru n ner-up slot. "You can ride anywhere on the track, but you have to hold on tight on th ose outside lin es," said Davis. "These fans and all their cheering reall y h el p my riding a lot." Nat ion al Pa rker, Roeder , Springsteen and Pear son j u m ped o u t fron t a t th e sta rt o f th e 20-la p main event, but th e red flag came o u t after Da vis an d H oward fell h ard between turns one a nd two. Davi s wa s through th e bal es an d up in to th e fen ce, but walked away. Howard initially o pted for a ride in th e a mb u la nce, but never left th e fairgrounds and returned later in th e evening for th e 600cc National. O n the restart it was Parker and Carr leading, bu t Springsteen tucked in low in turn two and went underneath to lead on lap one. Morehead and Poovey dropped into 3-4 on la p two, and then Poovey dropped low in turn two to take third on lap three. Mo rehead rega in ed th ir d from Poovey o n the n ext circui t, a nd then got past Park er for seco nd through tu rn four on lap five. Parker st uc k a wheel under Moreh ead in turns o ne a nd two o n lap six, bu t by this point Steve was di al ed in a n d movi ng a head. H e en ded Springer's reign u p front o n la p six, a nd began to m ove a way from th e pa ck. Parker ca me u p o n Sp ri ngsteen an d m ad e co ntact, saved it a fter a h igh-speed wobble, an d got underneath for seco n d. Poovey, Ca rr and Roeder were running a dr aft line in 4-5-6, and on lap seven Carr dropped under Poovey a n d closed on Springsteen. Then Roeder coa sted o u t with a so ur engi ne, and Sh ob ert moved to sixth. . It was Carr with th e hot moves o n lap s 9-10, as he stu ck low to pass Springst een in tu rn three, then Parker in tum two. " I Set th e bik e up to run high, but I grew up on litt le blue grooves, " said Carr. " Whe n I needed to I started to work down low. " While Morehead wa s alone out front, Carr, Parker and Springsteen wo rked in a cluster on th e low line. Davis, th e victim o f the firs t la p crash, went ou t of co ntentio n o n la p I I. Sh ob ert, J ones a n d Pea rson were sp read ou t in 5-6-7. Shobert closed the gap to Springsteen th rough laps 12-14. Springer p rotected h is position through tu rn three on lap 14, b ut Shobert went u nderneath J ay in tum two on the next go-rou nd. Then J ones m ade h is way on Springsteen and go t u nderneath for fifth on lap 18. Morehead's engine was breaking up, b ut Steve kept it on th e groove a nd up to speed through the final la ps , never losing an inch to th e finish. Carr got th e nod over Parker by in ch es, with Shobert, J ones a nd Spri ngsteen 4-5-6. Farris m oved past Pearson for seventh , wi th H ardin a nd Grah am ro u nding ou t the top 10. " It sounded like th e igniti on or th e valve springs, but I think th e p roblem a lmost served to help me on th is slippery tra ck," sa id Moreh ead, after wi n n in g h is third National this season. " So metimes these modern Steve Morehead gave the checkered flag and bik~ owner/tuner Hank Scott a victory lap ride aro und the Lim a oval. bikes have too much horsepower , and m y m echanical trouble was actually helping me hook up." " I was hopin' for five more laps," said Carr. "The tra ck changed so much that it becam e a big guessing game, a n d I was just ge tti ng it figured o u t." . "Stevie was j us t ha u lin ' on that rough inside lin e, but when I tried it I was buckin g a ll over. I th o ught I better get back up h ig h before 1 busted my ass, " said Pa rker. " I ga ined a couple of points on Shobert (Shobert now leads th e GNC by th ree points ), and. that's what raci ng a • ch a m p ionsh ip is a ll about. " Results 20·LAP NAT"L: 1. Steve Morehead (H-D); 2. Chri s Carr (H-D); 3. Scan Parker (H-D); 4 . Bubba Shoben (Hon); 5. Ronn ie Jones (Han); 6. Jay Springsteen (H-D); 7. Rodney Farris (Han); B. Scott Pearson (H· D); 9. Bryan Hard in (H-D); 10. Ricky Graham (H· D); 11. Don Estep (H-DI; 12. Doug Davis (H· D); 13. Terry Poovey (Han); 14 . George Roeder (H-D); 15. Don Howard (H-D). TIM E: 9 m in.• 03 .474 seconds GRAND NAT"L C'SH IP PT STDGS: 1'- Bubba Shoben (B6); 2. Scott Parker (B3 ); 3. Steve Morehead (6B); 4. Chris Carr (64); 5. Terry Poovey (54 ); 6. (TIE) Jay Springsteen /Ronnie Jones (44 )' Rodney Farris (43); 9. Don Estep (34t 10 . Keith Day «30). a. Scott Parker. Steve Morehead and C hris Carr sha re t heir champagne in w inner's circle. II