Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ DIRr rRACK AMA Grand National Championship_/C_am_el_P_ro_Se_rie_s:_Ro_un---,-d_4 ; _ in centive of a berth in th e Camel Ch all enge for the six fastest q ua lifiers. And with three-quarters of the field having logged thei r q ua lifying tim es, Parker turned in the record breaker a 36.076 lap , .120 quicker th an Ri cky Graham's 99.46 m ph lap set in Septemb er of '82. " I th ink it could have gone eit her way ," Parker said after making hi story . "It could hav e been a little faster or it could hav e been slower. The track 's the best I' ve seen it. Most of the pack went befor e me and and not havin g any sunshine definitely helped me out. It was the clouds that did it." Carr, the winner of th e first mile of the season at Sacramento in April , was second quickest a t 36.235. A rej uvenated Springsteen was third fastest with a 36.419 clocking whi le two -time San Jose Mile winner Graham was fourth a t 36.461. Las t week's Ascot Half Mile winner Mor ehead stopped the clock a t 36.463 while Atherton made the final cu t to the Ca mel Challenge by logging a 36.566. Kei th Day, David Du rell e, the still inj ured Poovey, an d ESP Racing's In gram , on his backup Honda RS750 after hi s " faster o ne" had bro ken in prac tice, ro u n de d o u t th e top 10 q ualifiers. . Surprisingly, J ones was dow n in 12th after wavin g off h is first a ttempt to cha nge th e jetting on hi s Honda RS750; also surp risingly slow was Dod ge Brothers/SuperTrapp-backed Doug Ch andler mi red in 21st, the longtime H on da rider now ridi ng a Harl ey had tri ed to make a lo w li ne work in qual ifyin g - and i t didn 't. Heats Scott Parker dominated the San Jose Mile, setting fast time, winning his heat, the Camel Challenge and the National. Parker ends dry spell in San Jose By Paul Carruthers Photos by Mitch Friedman SANJOSE, CA, MAY 20 t ma y have taken Scott Parker four races to fin ally win in 1990, but so far in this you ng season nob ody has dominated a da y like th e defending Grand National Champion dominated this one at the San Jose Mil e. Parker and his fa ctory H arleyDavidson were nearly perfect on th is cold and bluster y day in northern California. En route to winning his 31st career AMA Na tional, Parker broke a near-eight-year-old lap record in time trials, won hi s heat race and then won the Camel Ch allenge, pocketi ng $10,000 in the p rocess. T oss in the $5750 wi nner's share of the $49,500 San J ose Mile purse, and you can see wh y Parker left California with a sm ile - he was $15,750 ric her. In the National , Parker did wh at nobody thought possibl e at San J ose, he bro ke away from a six-rider freigh t tra in and won going away - smas hing Bubb a Shobert 's th ree-year- ol d 25-la p' race record in the p rocess wit h an average speed of 98.211 mph. T he battle for second place was a hard foug ht affair as six riders diced I 10 to the finish some five seconds behind Parker. At the flag it was H arleyDavid son 's Chris Carr ea rning th e runner-up spo t ah ead of privateer Ronn ie Jones on hi s Garvis H ondabacked Honda RS750. Rod ney Farri s was fourth o n his Gardner Racingspons o red H arley-David son XR750 ah ead of the Bartel 's H arley-Davids on of Jay Sp ringsteen , the Lawwill & Gardner-b acked H arl ey of Steve Moreh ead and the Do ns Pl u mbingspo nso red H onda of Ricky Graham. Behind that tightly-kn it group came Parker 's factory H arl ey team mate Kevin Atherton, wh o battled through fro m the th ird ro w on the grid to finish a lonely eight h. Keit h Day and Terry Poo vey ro u n de d out the ' top 10 finis hers. Parker's win helped him ch ip away at Carr's point lead and the Michigan resident now trai ls the Cal ifornian by o nly three po ints, 65-62. Springsteen 's season cont in ues 'to thrive as his fifth p lace fin ish moved him ahead of Dan Ingram, I Ith tod ay, and into third p lace in the stan dings with 42 points. In gram dropped to fourth with 41 points and J on es vaulted himself fro m sevent h to a tie with Morehead for fifth with 34 points. " It's a tri cky race track, bu t I beat 'em th ro ugh the corners," Parker, wh o now trai ls Kenny Roberts for thi rd in career wins by on ly two, said foll owing the Na tional. "The bikes are rea lly close th is year and min e was just working excelle nt. These guys are tough and th ey want to beat me as badly as I want to beat th em. I'm out there to win, and every thi ng just went . perfect all day." Time Trials Cloud cover and coo l tem pera tures kept the almost-sq ua rely configurated Sarita Clara County Fairgr ounds race track moist and had riders chomping a t the bi t over a race track they knew wou ld be fast. Thus, with a goal of break ing a lap record that ha d been in the books for nearl y eight years, 36 riders too k to wha t is oneof only a few " true" mi le ovals o n the sched u le with the added T he first of fo ur, 1O-la p heat races that wou ld send the top th ree fin ishers directly to the 25,lap Na tional go t un derway wit h Don Wilson sliding hi s Ho nd a RS750 into tu rn o ne with the lead. Leading th e way as the pa ck crossed the stri pe for the first time, however, was H arley-mo unt ed David Du relle , who was being ho unded by P oo vey a nd Park er. Wilson h ad slipped to fourth an d wou ld eventually drop to sixth. Durelle would lead for five of the 10 lap s before giving way to first Parker and th en Poovey. " I was j ust biding my ti me, getting a feel for the. race trac k," Parker sai d lat er. At the flag it wa s Parker, Poovey and Durelle taking th e direct tra nsfers to th e Natio na l. Tim Mertens and Mike Inderbitzen rounded out th e top five finis hers. Former Grand National Ch am pion and San Jose resident Steve Eklund's . day ende d prem aturel y wh en his H arl ey-Davidson 's val ve train seized up: ''I'm totally disgu sted," Eklund said. T he second heat race turne d out to be a Carr /Ingra m battle wit h th e H arl ey-Davidson rider just nipp ing the H onda pilot at the completion of 10 laps. Third place went to Day with Ingram 's Canad ian teammat e Jon Cornwell beatin g Will Davis after their n ear- race-l ong struggle for fourth place. With the first two heat races already some nine seconds under the 1989 heatrace pace, Springsteen really upped the ante with a ru na way win in the fastest 10 lapper of the day, T he former threeti me Grand National Cham pion and perennial crowd favorite led into tum one and was never headed as he turned the 10 lap s in six 'm in u tes, 9.470 seconds. " I loo ked back one time, but other than that I did n't look ba ck," Spri ngsteen said. "I just wanted to be on the pole for the Nat ional. " The battle for second was a six-rider

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