Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Steve Morehead (42) and Chris Carr (20) didn't see the move ScOIl Parker (1) made to avoid Rusty Rogers (57) in the Hagerstown National. Ronnie Jones (16) did. Morehead strikes gold at Hagerstown By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard HAGERSTOWN, MD, AUG. 19 rivateer Steve Morehead, riding the Harley-Davidson XR750 he calls' Old Paint, won the lOth Annual Hub City Classic Half Mile at Hagerstown Speedway, logging the biggest pa yday of his lengthy racing career. "This is the happiest day of my life - no , make that the second happiest day ," said Morehead after he had topped Harley factory riders Scott Parker and Chris Carr in the 2Q-lap National final. "The happiest day was the one my daughter was born on, but this is by far the happiest day I've had in racing. A $20,000 happy day!" Morehead, who would celebrate his 35th birthday just four days after the event (on August 23), did indeed give himself a $20,000 birthday present, He won the day's Camel Challenge race, earning $10,000, then added the $4000 National winner's share of the $29,500 purse to his day's take, the $5000 Harley-Davidson contingency award for a National win, plus lap leader money and additional contingency prizes . For Morehead, his third National victory at Hagerstown (prior wins coming in 1987 and 1988) was his second National win of the year and th e 17th of his career which moves him into a four-way tie with road racer Mike Baldwin and fellow dirt trackers Hank Scott and Steve Eklund for 12th place on the all-time National win list. P 6 Defending Grand National Champion Parker finished second whil e points leader Carr was third. "Steve did a tremendous job ," said Carr who had twice seen Morehead take the lead away from him during the day (in the Camel Challenge and later in the National). "I tried everything I could to get by that old guy, but I just couldn't do it," Having finished a distant third in his heat race, Parker started the National final from the second row, a handicap on the sun-baked narrow groove track. He turned in a spectacular early lap ride that saw him move into third on the fourth lap and into second to stay on the 13th lap. Parker earned 16 points, three more than Carr, but he is still 14 points down, 170to 156, with six rounds remaining in the series. "We're feeling a little deficit right now," said Parker, "but at the end of the year we'll be a positive." A fourth place finish by Ronnie Jones moved him into a tie for third in the point standings with Dan Ingram, who finished ninth. Time Trials Only 34 Experts posted for the Sunday afternoon race and the fastest of those in time trials was Ru sty Rogers. The rider from Virginia rode the Johnny Goad Honda RS750 to a new track record with a 24.092 seco nd lap, breaking the mark of 24.259 seconds which Doug Chandler turned in last year. Joining Rogers in earning a starting slot in the lucrative Camel Challenge were Will Davis, who was racing with a sore foot that he injured in the Peoria TT, with a lap at 24.330, Jones, Carr. Morehead and Tim Mertens. Jay Springsteen, Ingram, rookie Expert Mike Hale and Marylander Rodney Farris rounded out the top 10 qualifiers. Heats After a traditional night running had been rained out on July 14, Hagerstown Speedway owner Frank Plessinger and the AMA rescheduled the race for a Sunday afternoon with a start time of 3 p.m. Showers the night before the race did little to put moisture into the surface of the often used track and the surface that was offered to the Camel Pro Series competitors was a slippery and occasionally dusty one. Fast qualifier Rogers made the mistake of choosing the outside pole position for the first of four IO-Iap heats, each of which would advance the top three finishers to the National. Curt Rehmert jelled away from his inside pole position and led the field onto and around the low groove in turns one and two at the stan. Rehmert led the first lap but on lap two Rogers slipped by and that was that. The Fie Racing/Bell/lnge Decals-backed youngster stretched his lead on every lap and eventually won with a foursecond margin over runner-up Ingram, who had moved into second on the third lap, and George Roeder who had fought for second with Ingram in the middle portion of the race before dropping back to third. Rehrnert finished fourth, semi bound. " It's real slippery," said Rogers, " Yo u have to control it with the throttle. " Davis put the Eddie Adkins-tuned Harley on the inside pole for thestart of the second heat race, but that didn't equate into the lead at the stan of the race as three-time Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen, much to the delight of the crowd, pulled the holeshot and led the field away only tobe greeted by a red £lag when he led the field around the oval and back to the start/finish line. The officials had called for a restart due to an uneven start. While Springsteen didn't quite repeat his great anticipation of the green light the second time it came on, he did lead the field across the line at the end of lap one. The race developed into a three-rider fight that saw Springsteen, Farris and Davis go at it hammer and tong until Davis bobbled in tum three and the other two broke away. Farris and

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