Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

pots for good. The seco nd lap sa w a y, who was riding th e Harry Lillie &0 Honda, put a sim ila r move o n earson and th at wa s th at for th e dvancement spots. By th e midway point of th e race, rr had a comfortabl e margin o ver raham, who had an equally safe argin over Day , whil e Doug handler, aboard th e Storz H arley, ettled into a non-challenging fourth fter having dropped Pearson to fifth . The rac e from there to th e finish was follow th e leader affair with Carr aking th e win, Graham second and ay third. Heat race number two started with klund on th e pole but it was Sp ringteen who led th e field o ff th e line at he flash o f th e green starting light. e race quickl y developed into a hree-rider fight involving Springteen, Eklund and Farris, who was board. th e Ch arlie Gardner Harley. pringsteen, Eklund and Farri s ran I-3 at th e line for the first three laps, ut Farris and Eklund were exchan gng th e second spot all around th e rack. On lap four it was Farris who got nto and out of turns three and four he best , only to see Eklund draft by im just past the start/finish line. arr is co nt in ua lly fought back and on he sixth lap appeared to have estabished himself in second, a growing istan ce behind Springsteen who ppeared 10 be head ed for th e win. eh ind th e three front-runners, George oeder and Ronnie J on es were conesting fourth . Th e pi ctur e qui ckly c h a n g ed , hough,as on lap seven Eklund closed n Farris and their drafting battle a nd me ch ani cal problem on Sp ri ng teen's bike allowed th em to close th e a p on th e leader. Springsteen was lu cky he wasn't idelined wh en the di sc on hi s rear rak e broke. " Loo k," said Springsteen , alking over to hi s bike in th e pits fter th e heat race a nd picking up a o ur -inc h piece of th e di sc. "It broke o ur laps from th e end and I was riding ithout a ny brakes." The white flag , signalling the eg in ning of the 10th a nd final lap, aved with Springsteen trying to hold n to fir st, Eklund seco nd with a draft »ass o ver Farris a t the line, a nd Jones nd his Garvis Honda-backed RS750 ourth by in ches over Roeder. The final lap saw everything change hen Farris sudd en ly slowed, the icrirn of a partially closed gas tap. "I uess I hit it with my kn ee," said arris. His tuner, Bill Wiebler, sa id, ' We' ll safety wire it open for his sem i." Farris dropped back, eventually in ishing fifth while Eklund took dvantage of Springsteen's problem, losing in on him in turns three and our and then scoring the win with a ast second draft maneuver that nabled him to beat Springer in a hOIO finish. The big ben eficiary of a rri s' s misfortun e was Hondaounted Jones who took third 10 dvance di rectly to the main. Ro eder inish ed fourth , sem i-bo u nd as was Farris. The third heat race saw th e lead hange se ven tim es with Ingram , exa n Poovey, and T eam H arl eyDavidson so p homo re Kevin Ath erton taking turns cross ing the lin e first. Ingram pulled th e hol esh ot a t th e start but it was Poovey first across th e line a t th e end o f both laps on e a nd two. Ingram led th e th ird lap over Poovey and Ath erton, a nd th en Ath erton was th e lead er a t th e end of th e fou rth lap. Lap five saw Ingram back in front over Atherton a n d Poov ey, w i t h Tim Merten s and Will Davis runnin g Steve Eklund (8) and Rodney Farris (92) dueled in their heat race which Eklund won. Eklund got fifth in the National. fourth and fifth a distance behind the leading trio. Although th e fr ont s po t was excha nged at different points o n the track, it was Ingram who led th e final four laps wh ere it counts, at th e line. T he tri o cro ssed th e finish line in a clump with th e win going to ESP 's Ingram , seco nd to Ath erton a nd th ird to veteran Poovey. When asked if his kn ee bothered him , Ingram said, " O n ly wh en I dr ag it through a hol e. This is th e ro ughest I've ever seen Sacramento." The three-r ider draft th rough out th e race mad e it th e fast est of th e four a t six minutes, 31.851 seco nds. The crowd had barely sett led down whe n th ey were brought back to their feet as Grand National Ch ampion Parker and veteran Steve Moreh ead engaged in a race-lon g du el th at saw th em swa p th e lead a ll arou nd th e o val. Parker led th e opening lap by in ch es over Morehead, but it was Morehe ad in front with a draft pass at th e lin e a t the end o f th e second lap. Parker was back in from a t th e end o f th e third lap, but on the fourth lap it appeared as though Morehead may have broken away from th e champ as he exited turn four wi th a lead of severa l bike lengths. But Parker wasn 't going for that and quickl y closed the gap and continually pr essured Morehead. Lap e ig h t saw Parker draft by Morehead down th e backstraight to take the lead going into turn three. Morehead got wid e exiting turn four and went up into the loose dirt alongsid e the guardrail , but managed to straighten the H onda out and th en draft by Parker at th e line . Parker worked his way back aro und the Ohio rider 10 lead the ninth lap, but on the lap th at co u nts Moreh ead do gged Parker through turns on e a nd two ; down the backstraight, into turn three a nd through four. Exiting turn four, Mor eh ead locked himself o n Parker 's rear wh eel a nd a t th e last po ssible seco nd drafted by the Michigan rid er to tak e th e win. Finishing a di stant third, but head ed for th e Na tio na l, was Donahue Harley-Da vidson-sp onsor ed Durell e o f Minnesot a. "Tha t's a great way - bea ting the cha mp - to sta rt the yea r o n th e bi g tr ac ks," sa id Moreh ead , w ho h ad finis hed 10th a t th e opening ro u nd o f th e Ca me l Pro Ser ies - th e Daytona Sho rt Track. " I worked (turns) three a nd four bett er th an .he di d on th e la st few la ps." Semis The fir st of two IO-Iap sem is, each o f which would advance th e top two fini sh ers 10 the main, sta rted o u t as a three-rider affair inv olving Farris, Chandler a nd Roeder, but ended up being a ca kewa lk for Farris after he broke a way fr om th e fight with Ch andler a nd Roeder o n lap four. Ch andl er a n d Roed er conrinued .a position swa p p ing du el a nd th eir fight enabled th em to close th e ga p o n Farris a fter a few laps, but th e fin al lap sa w Farris maintain hi s winning margin a nd Cha nd ler o pe n a bit of a ga p on Roeder 10 lock down th e adv ancem en t spot. Bell ev ill e H on d a -ba ck ed T i m Mert ens p u lled the hol esh ot a t the star t o f th e seco nd semi and p roceeded to turn th e race into a ho-hum affa ir as he stre tched o u t h is in itia l lead to tak e th e win handil y over runner-u p Will Davi s, who was aboa rd th e Ed Adkins XR 750 . Merten s a n d Dav is wer e head ed for th e main , wh ile third pl ace finish er Dave Camlin faced th e upcomin g Las t Ch an ce Qualifier. Ca nadia n J on Cornwell, wh o was runnin g seco nd a t th e end o f th e ope ning lap, slid down in turn on e on th e next lap. Cornwell , wh o was enjoying h is first rid e on th e ESP Racing Honda , wasn 't injured, but he was o u t o f th e program. Last Chance Qualifier Camlin, riding the Bab e DeMay H arley, wasted no time establishing a lead in th e IO-Iap LCQ and he led each a nd every lap o n his way to th e win a nd a spot in th e National. Sent packing were Bobby McDowell , Ch a rlie Orr, Pears on a nd Roeder , wh o follow ed Camlin across the fini sh lin e in th at order , wh o once th ey realiz ed Caml in was gone co nduc ted a "fi ght for bu cks" through out th e race. Junior National T he first of two l 2-rider, six-la p Jun io r class heat races that would adva nce th e top six fin ish ers from eac h 10 th e J u n ior Na tional was won by T u rlock , Ca lifornia's Steve Rasmu ssen afte r ea rl y lead er Ste ve Ra ym on d dropped out with mech an ical prob lems. After d icing th rough out th e race, Rasm ussen drafted by Dan n y Sta nley 10 wi n by inches. Tony H ol dscla w, C lint Vahsho ltz, Cory Perrault and Jess Roed er rou nded o u t th e 101' six fini sh ers. The seco n d h eat sa w e ve n tu a l winner Andy Tresser, runner-up Steve Beattie a nd third place finish er Steve Mayfield co nduc t a po sition swa p ping duel th e entir e dist ance. Mayfi eld was first ac ross the line at th e end of laps o ne a nd two, a nd Beattie led lap three, but R edw o od C i ty , California 's Tresser was in fron t o n lap five and th e lap that co u nts, lap six. The 10-lap Junior main sta rted with H arley XR750-mounted Rasmussen o n th e po le by virtue of havin g posted th e fastest heat time, and th e quiet you ngster produced a lot of nois e as he led all 10 laps, holding o ff a lot o f p ressure from runner-up ' T resser , wh o was ab oard a Wood-Rot ax. Ca n ad ia n Beattie, aboa rd a Deeley H arley, finish ed th ird by inc hes over Sta n ley. " Alt ho ug h I was o u t in front I kn ew Andy (Tresser) was n 't too far behind me," said Rasmussen. Enjoying bein g in winner 's circle , Rasmussen th en ran down a Iist o f spo nsors that rivaled th e a mo u nt of a tte ndees a t a trad e sho w. " I' ve got to th ank the Staa bs fir st," sai d Ra sm u ssen , w hose R ob ert S ta a bowned H arl ey is tuned by Robert 's son Dave. " And there's a lot of people who a re helping - Sh oei , Brak e Masters, D&K Motorcycles, T u rlock Blu e Priming, Dave Bird, O'Neal , Mod esto Harley-Davidson, Artworks, MK Customs, Sound Room, Rock Oil. . . . and I guess that's it. I hope Ididn ' t forget a nyone." " I figured that if I co u ld stay on his (Ra sm ussen) tail, I could do it - draft him and win ," said runner-up Tresser , wh o match ed Ra smussen in th e number o f sp onsors. " P lease mention HRD Ra cing Engin es, ABC Body Sh op, T subaki, Arai , SuperTrapp, Kend all Oil , Sports Fuel, S&J Machine, Ron Wood , Brad Raymond and Will Pennington ," said Tresser. National Wh at was to have been a ' l7-rider, 25-la p Na tio na l go t under wa y o ne man shy . Dave Du rell e, wh o had qual ified fo r th e main by fin ishing th ird in th e fou rt h heat , was forced to scra tch from th e race . H olding up a tin y screw as evide nce, his tuner , J ohn Er ickso n, said , "Th is little thing d id it. It backed o u t of th e cI u tch derb y." J o in in g fast heat winner a nd pol esi tte r Moreh ead o n the fron t row were In gra m , Eklu nd, Ca rr , Athe rton a nd Park er. Ro w two , m inu s Durell e, co ns is ted o f Sp ri ngstee n, G ra ham , P oov ey, J ones a nd Da y. Mertens, 7

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