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/127251
eINTERVIEW . AM! Grand National Champion Scott Parker 0") ...... By Paul Carruthers Photos by Mitch Friedman ~[i~!i~~~~~l Scott Parker and Bill Werner make up the strongest team in dirt track . e~ Yeeooo.ooooow! Hagerstown Half Mile), it would be easy to point at Parker as being a mile speci alis t. After talking to him, however, you soon realize he's never met a race he didn 't like. " I like the miles, but I like them all," he said. " I go to Dayton a and there's a short track do wn th ere, bu t I still enjoy going to it. I guess I wou ld have to say m iles are my favorite, but allin-a li I do n't mind any. I' ve go t a pos itive attitude towards them a ll, and I feel lik e I can win any of th em. If things are going good that da y we can win any of them wheth er it' s a mil e, . half mil e, TT or short track." If Parker were to look in his crystal ball, who would he pick as the one rider who will put up the best figh t to take his championship? " I think Chris (Carr) is going to be th e gu y to beat ," Parker said. "He was going fast at the end of last year and if you look at his record he was going good all year. We were just beating him so it keeps running. We've both been doin g a lot of laps." No matter how much preparation he puts into the com ing racing season, Parker kn ows that hi s chances o f repeating the kind of year he had in 1989 are prett y slim. co tty Parker's trademark is the scream he bellows out after each and every AMA National win. In 1989 , Parker screamed loud and often. Parker had a phenomenal season in '89 as he wrapped up his second successive AMA Grand National Championship. The factory HarleyDavidson rider won a record 10 Nationals '(topp ing Bubba Shobert's 1986 record of nine wins) as he upped : his career total to 30 wins, only 10 behind the all-time leader Jay Springsteen, Amazingly, Parker won each of the nine miles on the AMA schedule - races that are known to be th e most competitive in the series. "Last year was reall y neat," Parker sai d . " It wasn ' t just winning the champ ionship for the second time, bu t having th e added bonus of winning the 10 Nationals in one year. It was someth in g th at nobody had ever don e before, and that was exciting in itself. It was a real bonus. "At the start of the year I set a goal o f goin g ou t a n d winning more Na tio nals than anybod y had ever won in a year. Going into the last ra ce I had a shot to do it, and it made me that much more anxious to go do it." No t one to rest on his laurels, Parker ha s had a bu sy off-season. The Swar tz Creek, Michigan, resident has been preparing for his 1990 title defen se by tossing a Harley XR750 and Rotax 500 around on a frozen Michigan lake with hi s neighbor , three-time Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen. "I' ve been riding quite a bit," Parker said. " Since Christmas we've been out on the lake just about every weekend, and from Christmas to New Year's we were out there every day. We've been getting a lot of ice time. I do some motocross stuff during the su m mer, but right now we just play with th e ice bikes. I get more benefit in th e winter from riding on the ice than I d o in th e su m m er motocrossing. Rid in g on the ice gives you th e sam e sensation as dirt tracking, so it's more S 36 "After looking at this year, it's like, 'Man, what can you try and do now .' I can't see myself doing that again. It was just a great year. Everything fell togeth er and worked great. Hopefully, we can go out and win another championship this year, but it will be tough to have a year like last year. With nine of his 10 wins coming on mile ovals (the other win came at the