Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

gDIRT TRACK e AMA Grand N ationalChampionship/Camel Pro Series: Round 14 .... Q.) ..0 o .... u o Ronnie Jones (16) rode around Steve Morehead (42) to win heat race four. and learned that th e high line was the right line. Teammates and championship rivals Scott Parker (1) and Chris Carr (20) raced for second. Parker passed Ca rr with one lap to go but a red flag reversed th e order. ones runs away with final Ascot Half Mile By Bri an Catterson P ho tos by Mitch Friedma n GARDENA CA, SEPT. 29 , he 31-year history O(A MA G ra nd . Na tio na l Ch a m pi o n sh i p din track raci ng a t Ascot Park ended symbolica lly when a red n ag halted th e .. last-ever H alf Mil e Nat io nal on the 19th of 20 scheduled laps. Garvis Honda 's Ron nie Jones was running away wit h the ra ce when Will Da vis cra shed u n hurt on th e fro nt straightaway, bringing out the red flag . T he race was called complete and Jones was credited with h is six th ca reer T 6 w i n , hi s second a t th e legen dary Ga rdena . Ca lifornia facil it y. But beh ind J ones there was a tinge o f co ntroversy as H arl ey-Davi dson facto ry teammates Chris Carr a nd Scott Parker did bat tle not jus t for seco nd p lace, but for the National Championship. Pa rker had pas sed Carr o n lap 19. but with the red flag halting th e ra ce o n th a t la p , the results were ba cked up to th e p revio us lap. giving seco nd place to Carr. H owever. Parker didn 't see it that wa y. " I do n 't know. I thou ght I pa ssed Carr the la p before the red fla g," Pa rker said, with tuner Bill Werner nodding in agreeme nt . The finish ing order tigh tened up th e point standings. a nd th e cham pionship will now be decid ed in the fin al round o f the seri es next weeke nd a t th e Sacramento Mile. At p resent, Par ker leads Carr, 229 to 218, so Carr will have to win with Parker finishi ng no bett er tha n seventh in o rder for Carrto cla im the title. Oklhoman J ones pocketed 5390 o f th e $35.000 purse as a sta nding-roomo n ly crowd of 11,032 watched th e proceedings - the largest cro wd ever for an event a t Asco t Park. Time Trials A total o f 43 experts wen t up aga ins t th e clocks in qualifyin g, a nd again it was H ar ley-Da vid son factory rider Chris Carr who turned th e q ui ckest la p a t 22.249 seconds, some ways orr his record of 21.175 set in September o f 1989. In a typ ica l fashi on , th e usu all y mo ist and loam y Ascot half-m ile o val was grooving up, a nd the riders were find in g the dry. slick groove difficult to cope with. eco nd-Ias test in qualifying was Carr's tea m ma te Par ker. wh o clocked a 22.28 1-seco nd la p . FI G Ra cin g Honda rider R usty Rogers qualified third with a 22.320. and th ose three wo u ld be joined in the lu cra tive Camel Challe nge by by Bartel s H arl ey's J ay Springsteen, H arley rider Steve Morehead. a nd Mo th er Fletcher Racing Team's Will Davis. Aa ron H ill , Tim Mert en s, Mike H ale and Rodney Farris rou nded ou t th e top 10. J o nes qualified a lowl y 13th with a time o f 22.706-seco nds, sayi ng la ter th a t no t q ualif ying for th e Camel Cha lle nge was h is on ly di sappoin tmen t of th e ni ght. T he top- 25 riders were all in the 22-second bracket. Heats Fast quali fier Carr sa t o n the pole for th e firs t of th e four five-lap hea t races th at wou ld send the top-three finis hers d irectl y to th e ma in , a nd he used that position to hi s advan tage as he followed the Bell eville H on da of Mer tens into turn o ne. By the end of lap o ne Ca rr had pas sed Mertens and gradually pulled away to a n easy win, setting the fastest heat race tim e o f the ni ght to earn th e pole for th e final. Merten s rod e h is ow n race to fin ish seco nd. while veteran Terry Poo vey finis hed third on his Ma ri onea u x R a ci n g H o n d a after fend i ng o rr Na tiona l Superbike Champion Doug Cha nd ler , who was experiencing brake problems wi th h is Storz H arl ey. and Roo kie o f the Yea r Mik e H al e. Hal e used Chandler as a ber m going into turn o ne for the fina l ti me to make the p~ss for fourth: bo th advanced to a sem t. . J H eat race two was another factory H arl ey runaway as two- time G rand Na tio nal Champion Parker led from start to finish . Gard ne r Racing 's Farris follow ed Pa rker home in second, while Ca na dia n J Oll Co rn well passed Mik e Inderbitzen , Larry Pegra m a nd Aar on H ill to earn th e fina l tra nsfer posit ion. Hill a nd Peg ra m co m p leted the top five in tha t order. T he third hea t was perhaps the best race of th e ni ght as four riders went at it hammer a nd to ngs for th e lead. Da vis, In gram , Atherton a nd Rogers traded posi tio ns back a nd forth, with a ll b ut R o g ers ta k i ng th ei r turn leadi ng until the final la p. It was th en th a t Rogers took the lead for th e first time, a nd held o n to tak e the win. Athert on finished a close second: with Davis taking third p lace a nd th e fin a l tra nsfer. Ingra m blew a n o il line on the rig ht side of hi s H arley's motor and cruised home in fourth. Bob by McDo well ro unded out th e to p five and wo u ld join In gram in the semis. For Ath er ton , it was his first ra ce since being injured a t the Peoria T'T, Atherton's wrist a nd co lla rbo ne were botheri ng him a bit, but he ad mitted that th e wrist hurt m ore fro m mountai n bi king with Ch andler than fro m rid ing the heat race . H eat race fou r provided the best p review o f the fin al. J ones a nd Morehead battled back a nd forth u ntil J ones went high arou nd Moreh ead , found th a t he lik ed th e cu sh io n, and stormed a wa y to the win . " I moved o ut wide and i t wor ked rea lly well so I just sta yed u p th ere," J o nes said. . Moreh ead ska ted h is wa y arou nd the groove to finish seco nd, with Sprin gsteen running a lo nel y race to Iiriish thi rd, victim of a sticking th ro ttle, to grab the last transfer to th e National from the hea t races. Pete H a mes came ou t o n top o f hi s battle wi th Keith Day and Steve Rasm ussen to fin ish fourth th rough sixth, respectively. Semis Dona h ue H -D's Da vey Durelle, who had cla imed Ca rr's mot or at San J ose. -m ad e it look easy as he defea ted Chandler and H al e in th e first semi to earn the o ne a nd only tra nsfer. It was Durell e's second time ever at Ascot , his fir st being fou r years ago whe n he was still a roo kie. " I didn 't lik e it th en , so I never ca rne back," Du relle said. " Bu t I'm do ing go od in th e points now so I th ought I'd better co me o u t here" H a le a nd Chandler sq uared orr in a rematch from th eir hea t ra ce. H ale led most of th e wa y, whi le Cha ndl er reco vered from a firs t-lap tanks lapper , then tried H al e bot h hi gh and low before sq uari ng o rr turn two and making a n inside pass stick. Ca nadian Ch ris Evans and Hill ro u nded out th e top five. Ingram led the seco nd sem i start to fin is h , tak i ng the w in by a w id e marg in . Keith Day passed Stephen Beattie on lap th ree to ta ke second, wh il e Ch ance Darl ing edged Bobby McDow ell for fou rth,

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