Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In it iall y, Atherton was credi ted wi th first, bu t af ter reviewin g photos of the fin ish , AMA officials awarded the win to Donahue H -D/Suburban H -D/ H- D Inc.lBeli / Genera l En gineering/Tsu baki / Storz/ Al Muth H -D/Maxima/ Yoko-backed Durelle. " I knew I had wo n, and the AMA kn ew they screwed up the decisio n," said Durelle. " It 's a rea l narrow groove o ut there, I hope it widens up for th e main ." " I missed a sh ift a t th e start ," Pegra m said. "T he track is su per fast, it' s great. I was just in the wro ng pl ace before the finish ." Will Davis sped off th e lin e in the final heat ahead of Parker, Carr and Garth Bro w, wh o was again aboard Pegram 's back-u p ESP Honda. " I go t the itch to race again ," said Bro w of his recen t return to racing after making o n ly token appearances in th e pa st few years. Brow drafted past Davi s on the ba ck straigh t, bu t on ly held th e lead for one corner, as Parker zipped into the lead as th ey entered tu rn o ne. Bartel s' H arl ey-Davidson-backed Mike H al e wo rked into fourth beh ind Carr, wh ile Davis rod e to the side of the track wit h a slowing machine. " I do n ' t have a cl ue wha t happened," said Davis, who continued to circle the o utsi de of the track in ho pes of fin ishing II th o" It j ust sta rted goin g real slo w. I stayed o ut th ere in case so meo ne else broke, then I would have made it to a sem i." , Parker, Bro w an d Carr each took turns at the head of the pack, but as' they crossed th e fin ish line, the or der read: Car r, Parker, Hale and Brow. " I was having a problem with my tire bli stering," said Carr. "T he tra ck is real o ne-li ne, I just stayed close and ma de my move at the end. " " I had to bide my time," sa id Hale, who also tried to conserve hi s rear tire . "T hat was a prett y close fin ish , we were all wit hin inc hes of eac h o ther ." " Man, it was wild," sai d Parker, who seemed just as happy wi th th ird as he would ha ve been with first. "Tha t's th e great th in g abou t Sp ri ng field, there's always a ton of pa ssing." Semis Morehead got th e j um p on the pack in the first 10-lap sem i, but Ingram sha do wed the veteran's every move. Whil e th e tw o fr o n t- r u n ne rs excha nged the lead, Dave Camlin and Greg Sims argued over th ird. Morehead foll owed Ingram as th ey raced o u t o f turn fo ur for the last time, and performed a p icture -perfect draft pass just before they crossed the finis h line. Moreh ead, In gram , Camlin and Sims headed for the main event , while the o ther riders would fin ish the day as spectators. " Oh, I jus t go t n ip ped in th at heat race, so I wanted to make sure I was go nna wi n tha t sem i," Morehead said wit h a sm ile. Bro w led G raham , Keith Day an d Bill y H erndon off th e line in th e second semi with th e same intentions as Moreh ead. Graham however, had different ideas and la tched o nto th e rear of Bro w 's machi ne . Oddl y en o u g h , the H on da that Graham chased, was the same machi ne that he wo n the May Springfield Mile on. " Aw, I d idn 't really think abou t tha t o ut there," said Graha m. " I was just concerned with getting arou nd it." Graham powered past Brow as they sped down the back straight , but Brow retal iated in the followi ng tum. At the finish, thou gh , it was the two-time Grand Na tional Champion scoring the win. Brow was credited with second, while Herndon and Ingra m would fill the last two spots at the start of the final. Pooveyback 01 Honda A £ter spending the last five seasons abo,ard Honda RS750s, Terry Poovey made a drastic change at the start of the.-I991 season, one that prooved to be a bit too drastic. Poovey parked his {amiliar Honda, and beganrthe season aboard a Texas Harley-Davidson-backed XR750. Although seven of Poovey's nine career National wins came aboard Harleys, the Euless, Texas, resident could never seem to find the speed this year that carried him to those wins. "Right after the season o pene r at Sacramento, l knew I couldn't rid e it," Poovey said " Oh , I tried to make myself like it , but I guess yo u can 't teach an old dog new tric ks." Poovey's bes t finish of the seaso n was at the Hagerstown Half Mile, wh ere he finished fourth , but has broken into the tOP 10 only three o ther times. Shortly after the Au gust 7 Rapid City Half Mil e, Poo vey recieved a ca ll fro m three-time Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert , wh o had an offer th at was too good {or Poovey to refu se. "Bubba wanted to gi ve some thi ng back to the spo rt th at gave him so mu ch , and he offered to let me ride h is Honda RS750," explained Poovey. "I'Il be making my debut ride on his bike at the Septem ber 15 San J ose Mile." Although we were un abl e to contact Shobert at press time, Poovey informed us th at Shobert's effort will be backed by All Amer ican H onda, a dealership in Santa Cruz, Californ ia. Ray Plumb will be spin ning th e wrenches, and additional sup po rt will come fro m roa d race Wo rld Cha m pion Wayne Rainey, himself a former dirt tracker. At the Indy and Springfi eld Miles, Poo vey competed aboard hi s personal RS750, backed by Mari oneaux Racing, H ap J ones, Dall as H ond a, Bell and J im Sisemore. " I can't wait to ride Bubba 's bike, mine's pretty tir ed, an d I kn ow his will be really fast ," Poo vey said. Aboard his " tired" bike, Poovey blasted to the fourth fastest qua lifying tim e at the In dy Mile and led a portion of the main event , but a loose gas line pu t an end to hi s cha rge . At Springfield , Poo vey bounced back by posting th e day's fastest q ua lifying time. He then went on to score th ird in the Camel Ch all en ge: and sevent h in the mai n. " I can ' t begi n to tell you how good it feels to be back o n my Honda," sa id Poo vey. " I really feel li ke I can win ag-ain. " Whi le I love H arley-Davidson, and espe cially the H arley people, I just cou ldn't make the switch . I hav e to go to the bank. you know. " (Above) Harley-Davidson teammates Atherton (23) and Carr (20) finished sideby-side in the Camel Challenge, and (below) neither rider knew who had won. Atherton was declared the winner, and the ~O-year-old was $10,000 richer. Atherton occupied the outside po le at the start of th e Camel Challe nge, a five-lap das h for cash sponsored by R.]. Reynolds that awards the winner $10,000, next to fast-qual ifier Poovey, Par ker, Carr, Du relle and Mor ehead. At th e flash of the green lig h t, Ath erton leap t off the line and fended off the cha rges of Carr, Poovey, Durelle and Morehead in the fir st turn. Parker looked un chara cteri sti cly slow and brought up the rear. " We tried a wh ole different setup fo r the Camel Challen ge, bu t it didn 't work at a ll," explained Parker. " We're defini tely go nn a cha nge it back for the main. But , hey, better to find o u t that it di dn ' t work in th e Challen ge than in th e fina l; it'd be n ice to win $ 10,000, but I'v e go t my eyes on tha t $ 100,000 bonus for the cha mpionsh ip !" Poovey charged to the fro nt of the pack at the start of la p three, bu t Atherton drafted back int o the lead as they entered tu rn one. Ca rr was next to displace Poovey, as he 'edged the Texa n through turns th ree a nd four on lap three. Carr carried hi s momentum past Atherton as they recieved th e white flag, and th e dash to the checkers was on. Athe rton overtook his team mate o n the back stretch and led thefield towards the checkered flag, while Carr tuck ed in behind and read ied him self to draft past at the fin ish. Atherton and Carr greeted the check ered flag side by side ahead of Poo vey, Durelle, Parker and More hea d. Each un certain wh ether he had won, Atherton and Carr wai ted an xio usly for nearly 10 minutes, as AMA officials R o y J a nson a n d G il Dosmagen reviewed ph ot os of the fin ish tak en by th e finish lin e camera. Atherton raised his fist in the air and rod e a quick parad e lap when Janson signa led that he was th e victor. " It 's a close o ne to call by eye, good th in g we had the camera," said AMA Dirt Track Man ager Janso n. " At the line, Ath erton was a coup le inche s ahead, and in th e next fram e, Ca rr was first. " . " Oh well , I gu ess that 's why th ey call it a fin ish li ne," jok ed Carr. "Second is better than third l" " It was so dose, neither of us kn ew who won," said Ath ert on, who scored th e second Camel Challenge win of his . career, th e first also comi ng at Springfiel d. " I wanted to lead off of four, becau se I'v e been havin g a problem h ooking up in th e draft down th e straigh ts all da y." Junior N ation a l J ess Roeder, Danny Koelsch and Wink Freitas topped the three six-lap Junior heat races and occup ied the fron t ro w a t the sta rt of the 10-lap final. Frietas led the field for the first four la ps, but the newly crowned J un ior Nationa l Champi on could n't hold off the adva nces of Koelsch and Brett Beyer. Koel sch and Beyer ' sped pa st Freitas on lap five and began to open up a small lead . Just af ter they recieved the white flag, J ames H art twisted the thro ttle on his Harley-Davidson an d scoo ted past Frietas on the bac k straig ht to take o ver th ird . Beyer fou nd his way past Koelsch in turns th ree and four, bu t Mich igan 's Koel sch wo u ld not be denied; Koelsch dr afted pas t Beyer at the fini sh to score his second Junior National win of th e season. " It was a dream of mine to win the Springfield Mile," said Koelsch, who lists his sponsors as Tex Peel Racing, Bell , Oury, Diamond and Koelsch Farms. " No w, incl udi ng yesterday's Regional, I've done it three times! This is great, they sure gave me a helluva run." 9

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