Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Californian Keith Da y on h is H on da a t 37.446 with Moreh ead rounding o ut th e top fiv e q u alfi er s o n h is KK Motorcycle Supply-sponso red H arleyDavid son a t 37.573. Ru sty Rogers, Dav id Du rell e, Ather- ' ton , Springsteen a nd Dan Ingra m rounded o ut th e to p 10 qualifiers. Durelle definitely needed th e ex tra time that th e dela y in the p rogram p rovided. A piston failed in m e front cylinder of his Harley-D a vidson d uring th e first lap o f practice, a nd hi s crew was forced to drive across town .to get a no the r motor. Easier sa id than done. With the gates to th e infield closed , one of Durelle's crew had to go into th e grandstands to borrow a truck from a spectator in order to get the new " old" motor. Durelle and crew then had to replace th e clutch a nd gas tank, which had split, a nd completed th e task only moments before time tr ia ls finished. H e then went out and qualified seven th after never turning a wh eel o n th e repaired trac k. Heats The Le gend led th e new AMA Superbike Ch ampion into turn o ne as heat race ac tio n go t underwa y so me tw o hours late with S p ri ngs tee n leading Doug Chandler. It wasn ' t lon g, how ever , before Ath erton bl asted his Al Stangl er-tuned Ha rley past th e leading duo a t the end of the backstraight. As the pack completed th e first o f 10 laps, Par ker held down fourth. A lap la ter, though, a nd Parker was on Atherton as the two teamma tes bauled for th e lead. Those two pulled o u t a sligh t adva ntage o n the Springsteen /Cha nd ler battl e, with Pa rker taking the lead for the first time o n the sixth la p. The two Mich iga n riders took the ba ttl e to the flag with Parker taking his second step toward th e title by edgi ng his young teammat e. Chandler, riding a Mert Lawwilltu ned Harley-Davidson in what was likely to be his last dirt track pending eit her a full-tim e Grand Prix or World Superbike road race ca m paign in 1991, and Springsteen mat ch ed wits to th e fini sh with th e three-tim e G rand Nati onal Ch ampion taking third a nd - the direct transfer to the National. L a rr y Pegram , rode h is Eak enSponseller H on da to fift h. Hal e led the second hea trace into tu m one, but slipped off th e g roo ve a lap later, dropping back to fifth a nd handing the lead to Durell e. " I hi t a hole going into (turn) three and it a bou t put me off ," H al e said lat er. " I had to p lay ca tch-u p." And catch up he did. The Carrollton, Texas, resident reeled in Du relle and beat him to the flag . Ingram rode his La wwill/Gardn er H arley to third place wit h Tim Mert ens a nd Brya n McDo well ro u nding o ut the top five. " T wen ty-fi ve laps to go," said Durell e, wh o was having a busy night, The th ird heat race ended with Carr mak ing it m e fastest of th e night as he ra n away and hid from th e rest of th e field, It began, though , with Rodney Farris a n d Jon Cornwell leading the pack into turn one. Carr was second as they completed me first lap an d was leading at th e end of the second go-around. Jones, meanwhile, fought through to to make me fight for second a three-rider duel between himself, Farris and Rogers. Rogers was the first to go, slipping off me groove on th e sixth lap, and Jones held on to beat Farris. T ed Taylor finished fourth with Rogers taking fifth ; Cornwell slipped to six th . Jones and his Garvis Honda crew went immediately to work on the Honda: " It 's the same old Honda problem," Jones said. " Getting it to l-04 Q.) ..0 o .... u o Keith Day (22), Rodney Farris (92), Jay Springs teen and Steve Morehead battled for fifth for most of m e ra ce. Ca rr , Parker and Ath ert on in close formation during th e National; Jones is just out of th e p icture, come off th e comers. Rodney (Farr is) said he almost ran m e over, and 'I believe him. The engine's running good, but we have to make so me changes or we can't beat 'em. If we leave it lik e it is, it will be a struggle just to stay clos e." Shortening th e wheelbase would be the key to Jones doing as well as he did in th e National. Wild Will Davi s led the fourth hea t race fra y into turn one with Poovey and Morehead in tow . They completed the first lap in that order with Steve Rasmussen, in his second race as an Expert, and Day tucking in behind Morehead . Davis and Poovey got a little breath ing room on Morehead when Ra smussen sho ved his way under the veteran and ran him off the groove in turns on e and two on the third lap. By thi s time, Day had moved into third and he soon tagged onto the leading duo. Moreh ead hadn 't giv en up, and he q u ickly go t by Rasmussen and set off after m e o the rs. By th e seventh lap, th e cagey Moreh ead had joined the battle for th e lead a nd was at th e tail end of th e Davi s, Day a nd Poovey group. At th e finish it was Day tak in g th e win o ver Moreh ead with Davis and Poov ey in tow . Ra smussen rounded o u t th e top five, Semis Chandler's d irt tra ck career came to a premature close in the fir st sem i as the brakes failed on the fifth lap. At this point Curt Rehmert had esta blished himself as th e rider to beat, leading the first seven laps over a closely-knit group made up of Pegram, Mertens and McDowell. 7

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