Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ LOCAL EVENTS ~ Ri cky Graham (3) leads Davey Durelle (58), Scott Stump (77) and the rest of the pa ck at the IMDA Sp ringfield Mile. Warren Diem (cen ter), Brian Dail ey (r ig h t) and Russ Cornell (left) fin ishe d 1-2-3 at the Ohio State Sp eed wa y Championship at Bear Cre ek Speedway. AMA Eastern Regional DirtTrack Championship Series Graham returns, wins at Springfield Mile By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat T rak Fotos SPRINGFlELD, IL,SEPT. 1 he Illinois Mot orcycle Dealers Association (IMDA) opened up th e famed Springfield Mile for an Eastern Regional Ch ampionsh ip on Sat urday of L abo r Da y wee ke n d preceding th e Camel Pro ra ce on Sunday. Former Grand National Champion and master of th e Springfield Mile, Ricky Grah am , used the event to sha ke down his new ride on the Eaken/ Sponsell er Racing Honda. The Arai / Yoko/O'Brien /Yamaha of Salinas/ .Kushitani/ AlpineStar -sponsored Graham topped the close, exciting Expert m ain ' ove r Will Da vis a n d Tim 'Mertens. The track was extremely smoo th and fast, con tribu ting to clo se racing in all three cla sses. Tony " T. ]." Burnett came fro m third to first down the front straight to win th e P ro-Am class. Steve Rasmussen also drafted to the win in the J unior main, moving by Steve Beatti e by inches. The quality of the tra ck .was confirmed by the Expert time trials as seven riders turned 100 mph laps. Mertens hustled his Bellevill e Honda around quickest at 35.18 seconds, T 6 wh ile Grah am was secon d at 35.27. Rodney Farr is, Davis, Larry Pegram and Rusty Rogers were all under 36 seconds', The big surprise was Davey Du rell e fl ying h is Donahue H- D spon sored Wood -Rotax 600 aro und a t more than 100 mph wi th a la pof 35.73 seconds. Rasmussen topped J unior qualifying with a 36.62-second run . Gre g Sim s and Beattie were just a breath behi nd with 36.65 and 36.66-second laps: Th irty-six Pro -Am riders wer e divided into four heats. Scott Huff, Burnett, P at Buchanan and Kevin Olliges were the winners. Forty -two juniors filled out their four heats. Rasmussen a nd J a son Fletcher had a race-lon g battle over th e first heat. Rasmussen drafted by for th e win on th e last lap. Cory Perreault cruised al on e in third for the last transfer. The second Junior heat was unbelievab le as n ine rid ers still had a sho t at the win at the end of the race. H arold Dorsey came out on top over traveling mate, Georgie Price, and Greg Sims . Paul Pol hem us, Bart Schmulbach , Larry Davis, Mike Patterson , Scott Sehl and Scott Buchanan were all close, but headed for their van s. J ames Hart used an excellent holeshot to win hea t three over Beattie. Roy H art , Jr. moved by Tony Donahue to take the last transfer. Pole-sitter Bret Beyer shot into the lead of heat four only to have mechanical problems sidel ine him. Fellow Wisconsin Junior, Brian Krornroy, took over and ran away. J ohn Resso took over second wi th Vern Browne and Mike Varne s close behi nd. Browne he l? on for the last spot in the J un ior main. Four riders wo uld advance to the Expe rt main fro m four , nine-man heats. Mertens led a six-rider battle in heat one with Ran dy Texter taking over just p ast th e halfway poin t. Mertens wo u ld have non e of th at, retak in g the lead and p ulling away. T exter held o n for second ahead of Dave Cam li n. J im Sumner worked his 600cc Harley into the main with a lastsecond pass on Curt Rehmert. Pole-sitt er Graham sho t into the lead of heat two, but he coul dn ' t sha ke the strong-ru nni ng 600cc Wood Ro tax of Durelle. The.lead du o pulled away as Scott Stu m p held off the 600s o f Aud ie Huff, Willie McCoy, Dave Hebb and And y T resser. The races kept getting better and better as Farris and Rogers locked into a race that pulled them well ou t front of heat three. T he race ended in a near dead heat with Rogers get ting the win. Brian Atherton held off Eric k Gruber a nd Robert Lewis for third. The last hea t was another two-rider battle wi th Davi s and Pegram the comba tants. Pegram edged by for first, whi le Mike Reid rode alone in th ird o n h is 600cc Rotax. G eo ff Clark wor ked his way ahead of a four rider ba ttle for the last tran sfer over Bryan Ville lla , Kris Kiser a nd Erik Graybea l. T he Pro-Am main was the first of three fina ls. Unfortunately for polesitter Huff, a brok en throttle cabl e ended his cha nces. When the race got underway, Buchanan, Kyle Long and Burnett brok e away. Olliges held down fourth, bu t couldn' t pick up th e draft of the lead trio. David Morgan , Chad Barth, Victor Hensl ey, Reed Bertol in o, ' Jim Hinthorn and Ned Storm ran tightl y bunched behind. Buchanan and Long swit ched positions repea tedly with Burnett holding the best seat in the hou se. T his race, as all the fin als would be, was decided in th e last few feet of race track. " I was just trying to work th e draft and see what I cou ld do. On the last lap, th ere wasn't anything else to do . I was th ird going into four, but I just locked ont o Buchanan and stayed with h im un til just before the li n e, " explai ned Hart Racing/ Bell / Burn ett Farms/Neil K een -spo nsored Burnett. It was hi s first ride on a mil e track. The Junior main was a 10-lap, ninerider war with at least four different leaders at the start/finish line and several more at different points on the track. At the halfway point it was Sim s, Beat tie, Rasmussen, J ames Hart, Price, Jason Tillson , Perreault, Kro mroy, Roy Hart, Resso and Browne. Beattie and Rasmu ssen moved to the fron t wi th two laps left, but it was still a tight pack. Deiss &Sons /Staab/Dave Bi rd / Mode sto H -D /D&K Cycl e/ Sh oe i / Rock Oi llO'N ei llTsubak ii K8CN-sponsored Rasmussen used the patented slingshot pass to take the win from Beattie. Fletcher worked hi s way up ' to th ird over Price, Sims, James H art, Roy Hart, Perreault, Kromroy and Browne. Rogers led th e 16-rider Expert main into tum one, but th e top five riders were running three wide through the turns and depending on where you were sta nding, the leader cou ld hav e been Rogers, Davis, G rah am, Mertens, Pegram , Farris or Durelle. On lap five, J im Su mner fell hard in tu m one, bringing out the red flag . Sum ner was shaken , but appeared to be all rig h I. Gra ham too k over at the restart, but couldn' t get away from Davis, Mertens, Pegram, Stump, Rogers, Farris and Dur elle. Dur elle was hampered by a painful left ank le which was struck by a loose ch ai n on th e track that had been kicked up by Graham. Davis appeared to have the best shot at victory but, as he said la ter, " I just · blew it. I was right where I wanted to be. Giv e Ri cky credit - he knew wha t he wanted to do and he did it, H e hooked . up off the fourth comer and I didn ' I." . Graham was glad just to be racing ' aga in. " O h man, it feels good. I wasn 't go ing to come back unless I had a ride that I thought would be abl e to win. T hen, Skip Eaken called and offered me th is ride. We put it togeth er and CN I couldn't be happier," he sai d. Resul ts PRO·AM : I. Tony Burn et! Jr. (Rtx); 2. Pat Buchan an (H·D) : 3. Kyle Long (Rtx); 4. Kevin O ll iges (H ·D); 5. Chad Barth (H ·D); 6. Victor Hensley (Ha n); 7. Reed Bertoli no (W·R); 8. David Morgan (H·D); 9. Jim H imhom (Ha n ); 10. Ned Stor m' (Han). . JR: I. Steve Rasmussen (H·D); 2. Steve Beattie (H ·D); 3. Jason Fletcher (RlX); 4. Geo rgie Price (WR): 5. Greg Sims (H· D): 6. J ames Hart (Rrx): 7. Roy Ha rt . Jr . (Rtx): 8. Gory Perreault (W· R): 9. Brian Kromroy (H- D); 10. Vern Browne (W· R). EX: 1. Ricky Graham (Hon ); 2. Will Davis (H 0 ); :i. Ti m Mertens (Hon); 4. Rodney Farris (H -D); 5. Rusty Rogers (Hon). Ohio State Speedway Championship Diem dominates at Bear Creek By Ellis Byrd . CANTON, OH, AUG. 18 ith a coo l and polished perfor mance, New Yorker Warren Diem cam e out on top of a competitive field to claim the win in th e Budwei ser /Shoei H el met/ A-A Tires Ohio State Speedway Champi onsh ip, h eld a t Bear Creek Speed way. . Diem , the current New York State Speedway Ch ampion, began the night from the very wet and muddy number one gate to lead Randy Gutshall, Kelvin H erala and Tim Matthewson to the first turn. Diem's Blendzall/ Di em Cycles/Ra ce T ech /"Speed y T om"-sponsored Godden was p erfectly tuned for the very wide and fast Bear -Creek Speedway, as he posted his first win of the night. Local favorite Bria n Daily started his ca mpa ign in heat three from a more favorab le gate two , and took a runaway Wi D.over former din tracker Rob Hodges and up -and-comer Mar k Maurer. Diem 's fellow New Yorker Russ Cornell took the final win in round on e following a four- lap, noseto-tail battle wi th loca l star John Racin, who was hoping to do well in W

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