Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

the first two turns. Ekl und pulled th e holeshot, but Carr grabbed the lead going into turn three for the first time and th at was all sh e wrote. Eklund was challenged by Davi s in the final laps, but in th e end it was Eklund second with Davis third. The third heat race was a snea k pr eview of th e National with Morehead the decisive winner, leading from start to finish. Behind th e " Find lay Flyer " a three-wa y battle was waged by Graham , Storz H arley-Davidsonmounted Doug Chandler a nd Spring.steen. Graham led th e threesome in th e in itia l laps, while Springsteen passed Chandler for third pl ace on lap two. Springsteen closed on Graham, mak ing the pass on the outside of turn four o n lap six. Springsteen then ran wid e a t the ex it of turn two with Graham go ing underneath, but by th e end of th e lap Springsteen was back in front. Chandl er pr essured Graham for the fina l tran sfer , but at the checkered flag it wa s Moreh ead , Springer a nd Graham , with Cha ndler bound for a semi . Th e fourth h eat sa w Bellevill e Honda's T im Merten s tak e th e win after passing Ingram o n lap one. Kenn eth Nett o dropped hi s H onda at th e start , but th e bik e was quickl y removed from th e tra ck a nd a red flag avoi ded. In gram was pressu red by Co rn well throughout, with Cornwell snea king past to hold th e seco nd positio n briefl y o n lap two. In gram p romptly repassed Cornwell, a nd th en set his sig h ts o n Mertens, but at th e fini sh i t was Mertens ta king th e win wi th In gram seco nd. Co~n well held off cu sh iongo ing Harley rid er George Roed er for th ird. Parker earned th e po le position for th e National by virtue o f hi s quickest heat race tim e. Parker 's 3-mi n u te, 4 1seco nd clocki ng bettered Morehead 's 3:43.973, Carr's 3:44.905 a nd Mertens ' 3:47.296. Semis The fir st o f two, 10-lap semis which wo uld send th e winner to th e National began with H arl ey-mounted Scott Pears on in th e lead , but Ath erton passed him for th e lead on lap five. A la p lat er , Pearson tried to come un der Ath erton at th e exi t o f turn two, but drifted o u t wid e a nd had to sh u t 0 [[ to avo id a coll isio n. That was a ll the br eathing room Ath erton needed to ta ke the win. Pearson took second with Rodney Farris third and fell ow H arley rider Bob McDowell fourth; th e tri o would head to the Last Chance Qualifier. The second semi was a Chandler benefit as he led start to finish , posting wha t was visibly th e largest margin o f victory o n th e night. The first a tte m p t at a start was red-flagged wh en Char lie Orr whee lied o ff th e line p rema tu rely. Orr led aga i n at the rest art , b u t Chand ler passed h im a t the exit o f turn two a nd sprinted o ff into th e d istance. Roed er overca me Mike Inderbitzen a nd Orr for th e seco nd spot, all bound for th e LCQ. , Last Chance Qualifier T he LCQ sa w Farris, wh ose chain had fall en 0 [[ in hi s heat , .grab th e holesh ot , but Pearson leaned o n Farris in turn two to tak e th e lead. Pears on went on to win th e IO-Iap race, earn ing the final spo t in th e National. Joining Farris on the bus home wer e McDowell , Roeder a nd Aaron Hill, in th at order. Junior National Th~ first o f two l2-rider , six-lap Junior class heat races that would advance the top-six finishers to the Junior National was won by BelI ;r' Scott Parker (I) repassed Steve Morehead (42) for the lead on the last lap, but Morehead still won. Chris Carr (20) was third. lin gh am , Wash ingt on 's Dan Sta nley, wh o went arou nd th e o utside of racelong lea der Kri s Kiser in th e fi na l tu rn. Kiser hung o n for a close second, wi th G ary Ferra varui , fast q uali fier Bria n Tillson, J am ie Aguilar a nd AI Ead ie fillin g i n th e re main de r 'o f t h e tra nsfers. The seco nd hea t was wo n by Sa n J ose, Ca lifo rn ia's Cory Perreault , wh o passed early lead er Stephen Ma yfield o n lap two. Mayfield faded to fourth a t th e fini sh after being passed by eve n t u a l second- a n d third-place fi n ishe rs J ason Fletch er a nd Andy Tresser, respect ivel y. Pa ul Polhem us and J ess Roeder ea rned th e final two transfers. Sta nley earned th e pol e for the fina l, hi s faster heat race time o f 2:21.358 na rrowl y edging Perreault's 2:22.338. H onda-mounted Kiser led t he sta rt o f th e IO-Iap Junior Na tional , fol low ed ever-so -c losel y b y Sta n ley, Ferra vanti, Perreault a nd Ma yfield. T he first ' ti me th e tightly-kn it pack crossed th e str ipe Sta n ley led, relegatin g Kiser to seco nd. T resser began th e race in sixth p lace o n hi s Wood-Ro tax , but moved up steadily. By th e end o f lap o ne he was fourth; by lap three, third; by lap five he'd moved up to seco nd and was hounding Stanley' s Wood-Rotax for th e lead. Completing lap five, Tresser blew by Sta n ley o n th e ou tside o f turn three to ta ke th e lead - a nd th e win . Sta n ley h ung on to fin ish seco nd, with Kiser, Perr eault a nd Ferra vanti ro undi ng out the to p five. Tresser pocketed 420 of th e $1500 J u nior purse; the Redwood City, Ca liforn ia rider is sponsored by Tsubaki , Kendall Oi l, HRD Racing Engi nes, Ron Wood a nd ABC Bod y Shop. After two o f 12 J unior Nation al s, Tresser lead s the point sta ndi ngs with 36 po in ts o ver Sta nley (27), Perrea ult (21), Steve Rasmussen (20) a nd Ti llso n (18). National T he 15-rider National field lined up with fast heat rac e winner and polesi tter Parker joined o n th e front ro w by Moreh ead , Carr, Merten s, Jones and Springst een. The second row was co m posed o f Eklund, Ingram , Po ovey, Graham, Davi s a nd Cornwell, while Atherton , Chandler and Pearson made up row three. At th e flash of th e green light Parker Ronnie Jones rode his Garvis Honda RS750 to a fourth-place finish, despite battling handling problems. The II-year veteran lies seventh in the point standings. Former Champions Ridey Graham (3) and Jay Springsteen (9) waged a war for second place in the third heat race, with Springsteen getting the nod.

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