Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.9DIRT TRACK e ~_ _ AMA Grand National Championship_ --=-e_I_Pr_o_Se_rie_s:_R_oun_d_12 /C_am _ AMA offi cials sent Parker, Carr and Ronnie Jones out to test th e surface befo re practice was sched u led to sta rt , and the riders repon ed that the track surface needed to be packed down. So there was a furt her delay as trucks circulated, packin g do wn the dirt. T he resu lt of all of this prepar atio n was' a very wide groove ' th rough the turns. That wide groove would make for som e fine racing later in th e night. As the groups of riders went out for their ' tim e tri al runs, Harley teamster Kevin Ath erton bl istered the course earl y with a 35.940-second run. Ather.ton was running very' deep into th e turns, running higher than most of th e o ther riders. The fast time so early in the timed sessio ns gave some hope that the sixyear-old track record of 35.211 (102.241 mph) set by Bubba Shobert back in 1985 might be broken . . As qualify ing ca me to a close, however, no one was able to better Atherton' s ma rk. In fact, no one else man aged to get into the 35-second bracke t. .Carr wa s second fastest with a 36.494, folIo wed by Du relIe (3(i.501), Terry Poovey (36.558) and Parker with a 36.752. " Most of the guys were staying down on the groove," exp lained Atherton. " 1 was runn in g up on the cush io n. 1 was raised running on th e cu sh io n and th at 's wh ere I'm comfor table." Atherton, however, conceded that during th e races he would have to stay lower o n the groove in order to stay in th e draft. (Left to right) Runner-up David Durelle, Miss Camel Pro, winner Scott Parker, and third place finisher Chris Carr. Parker makeshistory atIndy Mile By Larry Lawrence P hotos by Bert Shepard INDIANAPOLIS, IN, AUG, 24 COlt Parker became the winningest rider in AMA G rand National Championship Series history by scoring his 41st National victory in th e Indianapolis Mile. On a steamy Saturday night at th e Indiana State Fairgrounds, an estimated 8000 enthusiastic fans watched Par ker chase down earl y leader Dave DurelIe and go on to a 2.36-second margin of victory over Durelle in the 25-lap main event. As Parker promised the Indy crowd las t year, he came back to win h is sixth Indy Mile. Parker 's win, combined with his factory Harley-Davidson tea mmate Chris Carr's third place finish, tightened up the points battle for the AMA G ra n d National Championship l Camel Pro title. Coming into Indy, S 10 Carr led Parker by 19 points bu t wh en the trucks were loaded the Ca liforn ian 's lead was whittled down to 12 points with four races remaining on th e schedule. Parker is gunning for a fourth straigh t Grand National titl e, • a feat previously accomp lished by only the legendary CarrolI Resweber. Since matching J ay Springsteen 's 40 career win mark six ra ces ag o at Louisville early in June, Parker has been the center of attention. " I haven't realIy put pressure on myself," said the Michigan rider. "But I gu ess I hav e been feeling th e pressure from alI my friends who have been pulIing for me to break the record. To set the record here at Indy is extra special. It 's almost like a home track to me. The fans are very good to me here." To say th at Parker feels right at hom e o n the Indy Mile is almost an understatement. He has won four st ra ig h t Nat ionals at the central Indiana oval. Parker pocketed $6120 of the $40,000 purse for his win. Little was heard at Indianapolis of the " illegal tire" controversy that surfaced at Rapid City. " I think that thing (the tire contro versy) was ' blown 'o ut of proportion," claimed Parker, who was not pan of the rancor. "It wou ld really be tough for someone to restamp a tire. I don't think people were cheating." Time T rials With horse races being held j ust prior to practice, the schedule at Indy was thrown off due to lengthy track preparation. ~ H ea ts There were som e gr umb lings at th e riders' meeting abo ut having o nly three heat races. The number of racers o n hand co uld have warranted a fourth heat , bu t the program was running late as it was and AMA officia ls took the riders ' com plaints under adviseme nt. Form er Grand Nati o nal Ch ampion Mike Kidd was hired by the AMA to talk to the rid ers and get th eir in put o n how the program is being run. Kidd said he would pas s ou t a questionnaire to the riders th e folIo wing weekend at Springfield wh ich in turn would be presented to the AMA. , Athert on held the pole for the first heat and chose to start o n th e outside of the track wh ere the dirt was hard packed. Larry Pegram, Garth Brow, Springsteen, Ricky Graham, George Roeder, Jr., and Greg Sims filled out the front row for the start. Brow .got the holeshot off the lin e, but was passed by Springsteen going into turn o ne. Heading on to the back straight for the first time, Atherton used h is factory Harley's power to move past Springer for the lead. Atherton showed that his qualifying time was no fluke as he began to stretch o ut a lead on th e rest of the field . A nice battle was shaping up for second place between Springsteen, Brow , Graham and Pegram. One of the three would get left ou t of a direct transfer to the main. As Atherton opened 'u p a lead half the length of the straightaway, Roeder was starting to reel in the second place battle. Roeder had gotten tangled up with another rider on the first lap and nearly crashed, now he was charging to make the main. With two lap s to go , a colIective moan could be heard from the grandstand as crowd favorite Springsteen coasted to a stop. A gear on the crank of his Harley had sheared and Springsteen wo uld be forced to sit out the rest of the night. It would be the sixth straight race tha t the former champion would miss the main.

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