Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~. DIRT TRACK AM! Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 13 ~ Pole sitter Mike Hale (l2N), Rusty Rogers (57), Ronnie J ones (16), Scott Parker (I ) Chris Carr (20) an d Rodn ey Farris (92) blast off the San Jose Mile starting lin e. Parker makes it four straight at San Jose Mile By J ack Mangus P hotos by Mitch Friedman SAN JOSE, CA, SEPT. 16 he j uggern au t team of dirt track racing, Grand .Na tional Champion Scott· Parker and tu ner Bill Werner, un leash ed its might iest displ ay of force at the San J ose Mile. After H arl ey-Davidson factory rider Park er went dow n in a first lap cras h that sent former champ Ricky Grah am 10 the hospita l with a brok en forearm , Werner attacked Parker's ba ttered bik e and got . it back together in time for his rid er to make the restart. Wern er had do ne his thing - " I was wor king so fast I do n 't even kn ow wh o was helping" - and it was then tim e for Parker, who had entered' the race 10 points up on team mate Chris Carr with just two rounds remaini ng after San Jose, to do his thing, and he did. Pa rker hooked up in a nearl y racelong lead swapping du el with Carr and Garvis Honda 's .Ronnie J on es tha t ended with Parker first across th e finis h line after a draft pass attemp t by Carr came up short. After taking a ' victor y lap in fron t of a crowd of 9600 dirt track fans , Parker ap proached Ca rr and thi rd p lace fini sher Ronnie Jones, and shook his head after accept in g th eir congratu la tions. " T ha t was reall y some thi ng," said Pa rker: who is now I4 points ahead of Carr , 216 to 202, in the Cam el Pro Series po int stand in gs. "You'd (Carr) get sideways and we'd get by and then you 'd (Jon es) get sideways and we'd get by and then I'd get sideways and you 'd get by. " I' ve got so many people to thank, " said Par ker, " tha t I don't know where T 6 to start. Of course, I've 'got to thank Bill Werner for what he did. After the crash he rep laced the exhaust pipes, the handlebars, a shock absorber, the steering da mper, a wheel and . . . I asked him if the fram e was bent and he said, ' Don 't worry abo ut that!' " Carr, who suffered an at tack of di a rrh ea imm edi a tel y a fter th e winner's circle ceremony, was pale and subdued. " I haven 't given up. T here 's still two races to go and as you saw today, anyt hi ng can happen," said Carr. "T h at was one of th e most int ense races I' ve ever been in . The track was slippery and you rea lly had to work." J on es received praised from H arley team ma nager Bob Con way: "That was really somet h ing the way Jones worked that H o nd a toda y," sa id .Conway, referring to th e fact that th e H onda NS750 requires mo re fin esse wi th the th rot tle in the corne rs than do es th e . H a rl ey XR 750 a n d the slippe ry groove track put a.d ded demands on the Oklahoma rider. For J ones it marked yet ano ther race in which he followed the Harley team riders across the fin ish line. " I' ve been chasi ng these guys all year and here I am again today - chasing them." J ones has been mathematicall y elim ina ted from the title chase , but has a strong grip on third place wh ich is worth $20,000 in Cam el po int fund money (first pays $100,000 and second $30,000). For his win Park er received $4420 of th e $33 ,000 purse, wh i le Carr collected $2935 and J ones $1910. T ime T ria ls A slim turnout of 37 riders posted for time trial laps and the fastest of th ose was Carr, who turned in a 36.751second, 97.956 mph lap that while it earn ed him the pole pos iti on for th e first heat race was shy of the 36.196/ 99.46 lap record set by Graham in 1982. Second fastes t was FIG Racing's Ru sty Rogers at 36.753 and J on es was the on ly other rider in the 36-second bracket with a 36.997 tour of the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds ova l. Kevin Atherton, th e j unior memb er of the H arley factory team , was the fourth fastest qual ifier and Parker was fifth. Veterans Terry Poovey and Steve Morehead, Rookie of th e Year Mike Hale, th ree- ti me G ra n d Na tional Champion J ay Sp ringsteen, and Rodney Farri s rounded out the top 10. Hea ts The first of four heat races, each of which wou ld advance the top three finishers to the main event, featured a three-rider pos it ion swapping duel involving po le-sitter Hal e, Carr and Bartels' Harley-Davidson-sponsored Springsteen, who was wal king wi th a limp. " I was racing with Sco tty (Parker) in practi ce and stuck my foot in a hole and wrenched my knee," said Sp ri ngsteen. After Springsteen peeled off into turn on e in the lead, the race saw Carr lead the ope ning la p at the start/ finish line. Springsteen was in front at the line on the next two laps and Carr was at the po int at th e end of lap four . At th at point Carr , Springsteen an d 18year-old Hal e had pulled away from Dave Hebb , wh o was running fourth and would finish there - semi bound - after holding off repeat ed pass attemp ts from Scott Stu mp , and th e rest of the field. . H ale was more often than not the mea t in the Carr-Springsteen san dwich as the trio crossed the line in the first half of the race, bu t over 'the next few laps he and Carr broke away from Springsteen. Hale repeatedl y drafted pas t Carr after they crossed the line and too k th e lead goin g into turn one only to see Carr draft by on the back strai gh t an d hold the lead aro und 10 the line. But on the final lap H ale held the lead com ing ou t of turn four and Ca rr 's attemp t at a dra ft pass came up inches short and the win went 10 the rookie. Hal e was as excited as a racer can be as he pulled up in front of the grandstands and accep ted th e cheers of the ap preciat ive crowd. T he first hea t race wou ld prove to be th e fastest of th e day as the track "s lowed" as the groove becam e more pronounced as the day progressed. Heat race number two tu rn ed into romp for Rogers after the youngster from Virginia took over the lead from Morehead down the backstra ight on the opening lap. Rogers len gthened his lead over the nex t several laps while Morehead and Farris con ducted a figh t over second p lace. Farris eventuall y broke away from Morehead and gained a littl e ground on Rogers bu t coul dn 't hook up with his draft and had to sett le for second. Moreh ead fin ished th ird, a

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