Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Springsteen swapped th e lead back and forth until Farris took it for good when he passed Springsteen on th e back straight on lap five. Farris, aboard th e Gard ner Racing Harle y, proceeded to open up a com fortable winning mar gin, wh ile Davis cha rged up from fou rth on la p five to tak e second away from Springsteen on lap seven. The three rode unchallenged the remainder of th e race. Crai g Estell e, wh o had led off th e line, finished fourth. " I was forced to use different lines on the first few laps," said Farris. " It took a coup le of laps to figure it ou t th at the bottom line was where to be." Tim Mertens pulled th e holes hot at the start of the third heat race, but by lap th ree Ronnie Jones had put hi s Garv is Honda into the lead for good. While the low line worked for Farris, Jones op ted to run the h igh groove. "We were set up to run high so we ra n there," said the Oklahoma rider. " Everybody else was stayi ng down low , bu t we stayed with it. I'll watch the lo ther races and decide what to do in the main. You have tim e in th e main to ma ke changes, whi ch you don 't have in a heat race or a five-lap Camel Ch allenge." While Jones was romping horne unchallenged, nobody was secure in the two advancement spots behind h im as veterans Terry Poovey and Tim Mertens were to discover. Scott Saunders, a Penn Sta te graduate who lik e Rodney Farri s hai ls from Cockeysville, Maryland, and belon gs I to the , same club as Farris th e Baltimore County Trail Rid ers, was running in fourth on the th ird lap but on the following lap he began to pressure Poovey, wh o was running third. Two la p s later Saunders dropped Poovey to fourth with a drive off tu rn four. At first it ap peared as th ou gh the ' fin ishin g order would read J ones, Mertens and Sau nders, but Sau nde rs kept charging and narrowed the gap between himself and Mertens. On the 10th and fin al lap Saun ders moved by Mertens to take over second belJ.i!1d wi nner J ones. Mertens, who h ung on to third over Poovey, coasted into his pit area with -a n a t'rear tire. " It started going dow n four laps from the end," said Mertens, wfib had mo u nted a' new tire, relieved in the fact that he had sal vaged third to ·advance to the Nat ional. " At least I had buil t u p enough of a lead that I. cou ld get third," said Mertens. Poov ey, wh o faced a semi, said h is bike adn 't work ed no matter where Iiei tried to ride it and changes would be'niade for th e semi. ;t, ESAB Airco Arc Equipmen t/T aylor , Whi te Ra cin g /S I OO /Zoom Cycl e Accessories / Shoei / D ia mon d/ Ma i n Cine Automotive/BCTRA-backed Saunders was obviously pl eased with Ilis performance. He had qualified for his first -ever National at the same track the previous year. The fourth and final heat had Carr, Morehead and Parker, arguably the three finest half mile racers in th e country, gridded side -by-side on the front row and when the green light flashed that trio jetted off the line in a clump. Carr pulled the holeshot, but it was Morehead who worked the high line through turns one and two and held the lead down the backstraight and across th e line on lap on e. Morehead never looked back as he left Carr and Park er in h is dust and eventually 'finished with a half a straightaway margin of victory over runner-up Carr and Parker, .who finished a distant third. "That Rogers Honda and its super Rodney Farris (92) finished sixth in the Na tional, Terry Poovey (18) fifth, Tim Mertens (53) 12th and Robert Lewis 13th. suspe nsion is really working good, but we'll be right there in th e main," said Morehead, who referred to hi s Harley as "Old Paint with new paint." Dan Ingram (31) pursues three-time Grand National champ J ay Springsteen (9) down Hagerstown's back straight. Ingram finished ninth, Springsteen seventh. Semis On ly the win ner of each of the two 10-lap semi -final races would advance directl y to the main even t, and the first semi sa w Curt Rehrnert pull the ho leshot and do his best to grab th at spot. But tha t was not to be as R&I Mfg. Co.lSo T ier H -D/Binghamton Chap ter HOG /Bell -b a cked Cr ai g Estelle too k over th e lead for good o n lap three, successfully holding off cha llenges from .Robert Lewis, who fin ished second . Poo vey p ut his Mar iou neaux Racing Honda into the lead on th e first lap of the second semi and stayed there to score the win . Michael Scott turned in a last lap effort to take the win away from Poovey, but after charging up to th e Texan's rear fender, Scott got off the groove in turns th ree and four and Poovey was horne free. Camel Challenge Ronnie Jo nes describ ed the upcoming Camel Cha llenge as "a five-lap free-for-all." Asked what it took to win one, Will Davis said, "Get off the lin e first and hope the line you pick is the right one. You don' t have tim e to pick ano ther _one." And how was pole-sitter Rusty Rogers going to run th e race? "Wide open all the way." Rogers wasn't the only rider with that strategy as the fireworks began immediatel y with Carr, Merten s, Morehead and Davis crossing the fini sh line at the end of the open ing lap after having run four abreas t through turns three and four. Carr, Mertens and Morehead turned in a three-abreast charge through on e and two on the second lap and then repeated that on lap three. Lap four saw Moreh ead put a move on Carr in turns th ree and four to take th e lead. And for all practical purposes, th e lap four move was the race as Morehead opened up a small gap over Carr on the fifth and final lap and the win was his. Carr finished second with Jones p lacing third after having taken away tha t spot from Mertens on the last lap. Rogers was a distant fifth and Davis finished sixth. "I wanted to win it," said Jones . " But keeping in min d the fact th at Scott and Chris get a salary, since I didn't win it I'm glad to see Steve ge t iL" " I got outsmarted by th e old man," said Car r. " He got right there with me and the way he was riding I said to myself, 'U h, oh. He really wants that money.' n H olding the r eplica ch eck fo r $10,000 abov e his head, Morehead said, "T h is is all mi ne!" referri ng to th e fact th at he was riding his ow n bike and didn't hav e to split the prize money with som eone else. He added, " He (Carr ) bobbled and when I saw him stand on th e gas tank, I made my move." Last Chance Qualifier The 10-lap race tha t would advance the last rider of th e day to the Nati onal was a two-part battle between two riders carry ing the number '88: #88 Rob ert Lewis and #88A Micha el Scott. The only ride r who challenged either was Don Estep and his ra ce came to an end when he cras hed on lap five; bringi ng out the red flag and causing a restar t. Estep wal ked a way from the accide nt, but did not ma ke the resta rt whi ch saw Lewis leave Sco tt behind as h e went on to win and qual ify for his first-ever Nat ional final. " Hap py? Am I ha ppy? Sure, I'm happy," said JL&H Sales/Lewis Gr ocery /Bell/Cox H-D /Eddie Adkin s/ Edgecombe Electri c-sponsored Lewis. Junior National Forty-six yello w plate riders showed up at H ager stown Speedwa y, all seeking one of the 24 spots open in the two qual ifying heat s and hopefully one of the 12 spots on the Junior National final's starting grid. For Edmonds Racing/Spectro/Wil cox M.C.lR&1 Mfg.lFat City Printing/Bob's Sho p-backed Jason Fletcher of Warren , Co n nect icu t, it was a perfect day. Riding a Wood-Rotax prepared by form er dirt tracker Gary Edmonds w ho last ra ced in 1979, Fletcher po sted fast time with a lap of 24.871 seconds, won the fast heat, and then added th e Junior National win, h is second of the year, to his perfect performance. Fletcher led each an d every la p of both his heat race and the fina l. 7

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