Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127381
GDIRT TRACK AM! Grand National Championship_/C_am_el_Pr_oSe _'es_:ll_ound _n _3 ~ Scott Pa rker (1) scored his first National win of the year in fro nt of 11,323 spectators. Steve Morehead (42) finished third. Kevin Atherton closed on teammate Parker in the la te stages of the main, but settlCd for second place after nearly crashing. Parkrstrikesback atPomona H M e alf ile By Donn Maeda Photos by Mitch Friedman 6 POMONA, CA, MAY II " y eo o ww l" bell ow ed Scott Park er after scoring his 38th career Na tional wi n on the unusually shaped ha lf-mi le track at the Po mona Fairplex. Alt hough Parker 's trademark victory yelp has 'become q uite a familiar sou nd over the past three year s, Pom ona mark ed the first time th at th e th ree-time defendin g Grand National Champion has let it sound in the 1991 season. After scoring no points due to a m ech ani cal failur e at the season opener in Daytona, a nd a third-p lace fin ish at the Sacramento Mile, Parker 's win at Pom ona moved him into fourth in the series points sta ndi ngs. The Harley-Davi dso n factory team rid er's _ winning share of the $28,000 purse was $3985. "The year go t off to a slow stan," said Parker. " No w I' ve got my first win, and hopefully there's 14 more. Yeah, I know that's greedy!" Follow ing P a r ke r and his Bill Werner-tuned XR750 across the line was teammate 20-year-old Kevin Atherton aboard the AI Stangler-tuned factory Harley-Davidson. Atherton 's second place finish earned him $2640 in purse money, and moved him into fifth in the series point standings. Filli ng the third space on the podium was Steve More hea d, who rode a bi ke similar to . h is " O ld Paint" Harley-Davi dson of many years. While Morehea d pocketed $1980 for his third place finish, a win in the Camel Challenge earned the Findlay Flyer an extra $ 10,000 from Camel. Bo th Chris Carr a nd Ronnie Jones, who were tied for the series points lead going into the event, struggled wit h improper bike setup and turned in less than stellar performances. Carr finished fifth, but held on to the series points lead, 46-39, over Jones, who finished 12th. Mysteri ousl y missing from t h event, Ricky Graham dropped fro fourth to seventh in the point stand ings. (see sidebar). Georgie Price ca p tured the win in the Jun ior National main after sta rti ng from the pena lty line , after most of the front row was sent to the back after two false sta rts. J ames Hart fin ished a distant second, just inches ahead of former-Expert competitor Wink Freitas, who was also sent to the third row for jumping the gun. Wh ile many riders struggled to ge their bikes set u p for the long stra ig h and tight turns o n the Fairplex trac k Par ker served notice that the night wa his by posting the fastest qualifyin tim e of 30.514 seconds. "I got a good pi ck for qualifying,' said Parker. " When I got o ut there th e track was in good shape and m bike was worki ng gr eat ." Rusty Rogers was second fastest p osting a 31.092 tim e a bo ard hi J oh n ny Goad -tuned Honda, ahead 0 Will Davis, who tu rned in a 31.335 0 h is Eddie Adkins-tuned Har ley. - P a r ker ' s H a r ley-D a vidso n team mate, Carr, turned in the fourth Iastes time o f 31.360. Har le y-mounte Ch ance Darl ing surprised him self wi a 31.426 time, whi ch qual ified him fo his firs t-ever Ca mel Chall en ge, whic is co m posed of the day's six fastes q ualifiers. "I'm really excited," said Darl ing 0 Northfield, O hio. " I thi n k I kinda go lucky, but we're gonna go out ther a nd give 'em hell." Mo rehead rounded ou t the six fastes qualifiers with a time of 31.473. Only 37 riders took ti me trial lap a nd thus all qualified for what i designed to be a 42-rider progra Mik e McDonnell had the dubiou honor of being the slo west qualifie with a lap at 33.884 seconds. Morehead got the jump on the pac in the first of three 10-lap heat race in which the top three finishers woul transfer directly into the main even with the fourth through II th finisher transferring to a semi-final rac Parker, Atherton and Don Estep trail Morehead through turn one, but it wa Parker who led the way as the fiel began lap two. Once in front, Parke immediatel y began to establish a lea that he woul d stretch to 10 bike length a t th e finish. Morehead seemed conte in second with a comfortable lead ov At herton, who spent th e race tryi n different lines on th e race track. Behin Atherton, Ba rt els' H ar ley-Davidso