Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; DIRT TRACK AM! Grand National Cham~ionshi~_C_am_el_Pr_o_Ser_ies_:R_o_un_d6 / e Scott Parker scor ed his 40th career wi n at the Lo uisv ille H alf Mile, tying Jay Spri ngsteen 's all-time win record. Parker led Steve Morehead (42), Ricky Graham (3) and Chris Carr (20) off the line. Parker ties Springsteen with L ouisville w in By Bert Shepard "T 10 LOUISV ILLE, KY, JUNE 8 alk abou t 401 T alk ab ou t 401," shouted Scott Parker, . a fter scori ng hi s 40th Nat ional win . "It's on to Lim a and 41!" Parker 's third Louisvill e Half Mile win tied him for first on the all'.. time win list with the legendary Jay Springsteen. Although h e is . still active, Springsteen 's mo st recent win came 10 1985 at the Syracuse Mile. Parker's wi n o n the Louisvill e Downs oval was his 12th on a half mile, and he is one win away from tyin g Steve Morehead fo r third on the all- time half mi le win list. Springsteen holds th e record with 19 wi ns, and Bart Markel is second with 18. _ After fin ishing second to H ar leyDavidson teammate Chris Carr in the last two visits to Louisvill e, Parker turned the ta bles and led Carr across the finish line by a slim margin. Carr started in ' fo u rth , and passed the .vetera n Morehead a t the halfway point to sco re th e runner-up positipn. Alt hough Carr maintains th e series poi nt lead, Parker ha s closed th e gap to two po ints , 91-to-89. Alt ho ug h he failed to score points at the last two Nationals, Mor ehead 's third place finish has mov ed him into fifth in the points chase with 38 points, behind Ronn ie Jones who has 6 1 poin ts, and R icky G raham with 55. Parker ea rned $5795 of the $38,000 purse, while Carr went ho me. $3840 rich er. Mo reh ead earned $2880 for h is third pl ace finis h. Fifty-two riders took tim ed laps on the crus hed limesto ne track, hoping to be among the 42 rid ers who would ma ke up the field. George Roeder II was the fastest qualifier , ro u nd in g th e trac k in 24.582 seconds a t an avera ge speed 73.224 mph . Alt hou gh Roed er 's time was the fastest of the day, it was well off the track record of 22.263/ 80.852, set by Steve Eklund in 1981. Postin g the second fastest lap, 24.695/ 72.889, was two- tim e Gr a nd National Champion Ricky Graham, just ahead of Rusty Rogers' 24.751/72.724. Parker turned in a 24.813/72.543 for fourth fas test, while Davey Durell e was fifth fa ste st with a 24.8 15/72.536 . Ca rr clock ed in a t 24.838/72.469 to grab th e fi na l spo t in th e $ 17,500 Camel Cha llenge. " My dad and Stevie (Morehead) told me how to rid e turns o ne 'and two," said fast qua lifier Roeder. "The lap fel t good, so I took it." Heats Scott Stum p was fastest off the line in th e first of thr ee 10-lap hea t races, a nd he led Billy Herndon, Carr and Roeder through the first tu rn . Stump quickl y dropped off the pace, and H erndon inherited the lead. Ca rr swoo ped past St ump and set after Herndon. On the fourth lap, Carr dove under the Texan as they entered turn three a nd took over the lead . Roede r was next to displace Herndon, as' he muscled his way in to second a t th e ha lfway po in t. Carr scor ed the win _ aboa rd his HOG/ ArailITT/ Su pertrapp / Alpi nes tars/Yoko /Su noco/ Hap Jones-sponsored, Kenny Tolberttuned factory Harley-Davidson, by a co mforta ble margin over runner-u p Roeder. . H erndon h eld on to third place, a nd ea rned t he last' d ir ec t transfer to the final. R iders wh o finished fourt h through ninth headed . for o ne of two semi -Iinals, " There was n't much to get a hol d of on th e first few laps," said Carr . " But then I sta rted picki ng up tim e going in and comi ng off of the turns." " The tra ck started to groove up ," said Roeder . "And I had to corne dow n (fro m the cus hion to the groov e)." , Sprin gsteen go t the j ump on the second heat, but Graham stol e the lead as they exited turn two. Once ou t front , th e Ea ken-Sponse ller Racing/ Ara i/ Hondalin elTX- IO/LMF Enterprises! Matt's Mufflers/Yamaha of Salinasbacked rider proceeded to run and hide from th e rest of the field. Springsteen cruised aro und th e track in an unchallen ged second pos ition, wh ile Can ad ian Steve Aseltine ran third and fou ght off the ch arges of Larry Pegram and Dure lle. Graha m score d an easy wi n, a hea d o f Springsteen a nd Asel tine. " It was fun for the first few laps," m used G raham. " Bu t the n it was back to the groove, typical Louisvill e." " I'm riding my back-up bi ke," said Springsteen . " I broke a valve sp rin g in my number-one bike earl ier in the da y." Parker sped off th e line in the th ird hea t, ahead of Mor ehead , Kevin Ath erton and Rogers. Athe rto n took his H 0 G /ITT / Arai /S u pertra ppsponsored, AI Sta ngler-t uned factory H arl ey up high on the trac k, and proceeded to run down bo th Morehead and Pa rker within four laps. O nce into the lead, Atherton pulled ou t to a com mandin g lead and scor ed the win . over Park er a nd Morehead. " I. said to hell with the groove and stayed up there," sai d Atherton, who was rid in g with a badly swo llen knee tha t he inj ured in a cras h at th e Springfield Mile. " I went to a local hospital to see if they co uld drain it or some th ing, but they said to stay off it and get some crutches." " We' re having some problems go ing into the corn ers," 'said Parker. "We're working on it, th ough, . . . a t least . we're in the main. " " For the first few laps I didn 't have a n y brakes!" said More head. "They finally pumped up, though." Semis T erry Poovey ri p ped off the line in th e first of two' 10-lap semi-fin als that would ad vance the top th ree finis hers to the main . Behind Poovey , Stump, Ro nnie J ones and Dan Ingra m argu ed over the run ner-u p spot . J ones won that ba ttle , and set out after Poovey and on the fourth lap, J ones put his Garvis Honda/ Missile Engineering/ MC St u ff/Honda line/TX-IO/ Arail H ickm an R aci ng /Re n t h al- back ed Honda RS750 into the po int positio n. Poovey maintai ned second, well ahead of Stump, Durell e and Ingram. The th ree riders swapped pos itions consta n tly, but it was Du relle who crossed the finish line in third, behind J on es and Poov ey. Mich igan rid er Greg Simms ti med the sta rt perfectly, and led Rogers, Pegram and Mik e Hale around the half m ile course. Simms had th e tra ck wired, and pu lled away fro m the field ab oard hi s Cummings H -D/ Shoeil Motion Pro/ Sp roc ket Speciahies/Tex P ee l/K&N / Mi ke Stauffer /Lee Schoom/New T ech / Proffer's-bac ked Harley. Behind the leader, Rogers rode

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