Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

David Durelle had quietly snuck up on Springsteen in a late race driv e. Grah am got a good drive coming o ut of tum two on th e last lap and cou ld have easil y passed J ones o n the back straig h t. In stead th e crafty veteran decid ed to sit back and wait, hoping to make hi s move o ut of th e las t turn. Graham pulled o ut of Jones' draft coming down the fro nt stra ight, but came up short in a pho to fin ish. Sp ringsteen kep t Durelle at bay to finish a clos e th ird . Semis T he top two finishers fro m each of th e 10-la p semi-final .races wou ld get a spo t o n th e Nati onal gr id. Rogers pu t his fiG Racing Honda o ut front ear ly, but aggr essive riding by Brian Ath erton on th e Phil Darcy Racing H onda earne d him th e lead . Atherton an d R ogers were soo n separated from the rest of the field , but you would never kn ow it by the way the two were going at each o ther. Curt Rehrnert and La rry Pegram were well back in th e battle for third, hoping perhaps for a mistake by o ne of th e two lead in g riders. Even though th ey battled tooth and nail to the finish with Atherton getting the nod over Rogers, both riders were safel y in the main. Tim Mertens, Rich King, David Camlin and George Roeder II, took off from the rest of the pack in the final semi . Day, wh o had bro ken a finger in hi s heat race crash, started down in the loos e di rt an d was dead las t on th e first la p. Day pass ed one rider aft er another until the leadi ng four were in hi s sights. Announcer Dave Despain had kep t a clo se eye on Day and had the crowd watchin g his progress. A big cheer cou ld be heard fro m th e grandstands wh en Day passed Cam lin and joined the leaders wit h three lap s to go . U n fortu na te ly, a sto ryboo k endi ng was no t in store for ' Day" for th is race. O n th e last lap he wen t a littl e too high in tu rn three and had to settle for third behind Mertens and King. Day would have on e more go at making the mai n in th e Las t Chance Qualifier. Camel Challenge A total of $ 17,500 was up for grabs in the five lap Camel Challenge. The top six qualifi ers lined up for th e start with fast qualifier Carr ch oosing hi s starting sp ot ri gh t o n th e tigh tl y pa cked narrow gr oove. At the flash of the gr een start ing light Parker sort of nudged hi s way over o n Carr to ge t a p iece of th e good line. The move paid off as the number on e plate ho lder led go ing into turn on e. Parker led Carr, Graham and Springsteen in a tight formation at th e end of the first lap. Carr then drafted by his teammate on the back straight to take over the lead. On the next lap Carr looked like he got off the racing line in tum two and he dropped all the way back to fifth. After the race , Carr said that his crew was experiment ing with taller gearing, " It didn 't work, but I'd rather do some ex peri m en ti n g during th e Camel Ch a llenge than to wait for the fin al to trv a new settine." From that po in t on it becam e a dog fight between Parker and Graham. On the whi te flag lap G raham set up on Parker's rear whee l, bu t Parker went thro ugh tu rn th ree like he was on rails to p ull away fro m Graham for the win and the $10,000 chec k. " I would never count R icky out. I don 't care if he hasn't raced for a year ," said Parker o n the winner's podium . Graham was extremely pleased with Ro nnie Jones (16) had a moment in th e lead in front of everitual win ner Scott Parker (I ) an d runner-up Chris Carr (20). his performance, " at bad for a guy co ming out of sem i-reti rement. " TWO-lime Grand National Cha m pion Ricky Graham celebra ted his return 10 raci ng by topping three-tim e cha mp Jay Springstee in the ir fight for fourth place. Last Chance Q ualifier It was do wn to o ne last race before the main even t. On ly one of the 10 wo u ld go on to the Na tio nal from th e IO- Iap Last Cha nce Qua lifier. After su ffering through a hea t race cras h, th en coming up jus t short in the semi , it seemed noth ing would stop Day tror completing hi s mission of making the fina l. Sure eno ugh, Day p ut his Honda in the lead a nd never loo ked back, Cu rt Rehrner t gave it all he had on h is Union Ci ty Cycle Ha rle y an d gO! close to Day with two laps to go . o nt y to wat ch the Ca liforn ia rider turn o n th.e after-burner to pull away for the wm . Na tion a l On a warm and humid In dia na nig h t, wit h the bright lig hts of the fa ir mid way in the background, th e large gra ndstand cro wd rose to th eir feet for the start of the 25-lap fina l. Parker dashed into the earl y lead , follo wed by Ingram, J on es and an d Graham . Ca rr got a terrific drive heading on to the back strai ght and moved all th e way up to second pl ace by turn three. It was Parker, Carr an d Jones in a' mini-breakaw ay at the end of th e first , lap. Springsteen moved up to fourth and was holdin g off th e rest of th e field o n hi s Bartels' Harley-Davidso n. It became o bvio us early o n tha t Park er and Carr's factor y Harl eys and Jones ' Garvis H on da were set u p perfectly fo r the track condi tio ns. With th e narrow gr oo ve lim itin g lin es in the turn s, mo st of the pas sing was taking pla ce on the straight s, or en tering th e turns. J ones made a beautiful inside move o n both Park er and Carr to take the lead on lap three. The Oklahoma City rider's lead was sho rt-lived however, as the power of th e factory bik es came into pl ay down the back straight. The real dicing was going on in a battle for fourth and Springsteen seem ed to hav e th e early advantage. / T hen it was Poovey wh o moved into the spo t on lap four with Graham and Farris also involved in the battle. On lap five it was Graham wh o forged hi s way to the front of th e pa ck. Quick starting Ingram was falling bac k ear ly, then seem ed to halt his fall in the standings when he got back to eig h th pl ace. The on ly Hoosier in th e field was obvio usly having a laugh tim e adjusting to th e feel of a Harley after riding Ho ndas for two years. Parker began to gradually pull away from Jones and Carr and by la p nine he had built up a 2.5 seco nd lead over the second pl ace ' battle. Mor ehead 's evening came to a disa ppo int ing end wh en he pulled his Harley into the pits on lap five. " My ign itio n went right at the start," said Mor ehead , who had

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