Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eDIRT TRACK e AMA Grand National Championship_ /C_am_el_Pr_o_Sen_'es_:R_O_UD_d1_3 Poo vey, who finished sevent h. " Everytime I wanted to pa ss someone, there was somebody else'in the way!" 01 Resul ts Parker (I), Atherton (23), Jones (16) Carr (20), Du rell e (58), R icky Graham (3) and Poovey (18) stayed this .close fo r most of the 25-lap main event. (Left to right) Carr, Parker an d J on es celebrate in the winner's circle. Danny Koelsch scored the win in the l a-lap J unior N ational. Gary Nixon was on hand to celebrate th e 25th anniversary of the last 50la p Sp ri ngfield Mil e, wh ich he won. National 10 Fast heat winner Durelle chose to start the main on the outside po le. Next to Durelle, sat J o nes, Atherton, Par ker and Poo vey, ahea d of Pegram, Hale, G raham , More head, Brow and Farr is on row two. Start ing at th e back were In gram , Herndon, Canil in , Day and ' Sims. Wi th h is 42nd win on his mind , Parker stormed off the lin e and led Atherton, Durelle, Poovey and Carr into turn one, but exited turn two in second, beh ind Durelle. Du relle sped dow n the back straig h t wit h the lead , and held it for two laps. " My bike really gets going down the straights," said Durelle. " I got on the scale this morning and tho ught, 'Whoa , I only weigh 115 pounds!' " Ath ert on drafted into the lead on lap four , and led Durelle and Par ker around th e track. The trio of rid ers began to open a lead on Jones, Carr, Hale and Poo vey, wh o argued over fourth, while Graham pi cked hi s way th rough the field after a di smal start. After gaining a firm hold on fourth, J ones began to eat away at the distance betw een himself and the top three, who repeatedly traded the lead amo ngs t themselves. At the halfway point of the 25-lap race, Ath erton held the point po sition ahead of Pa r ker , Du rell e , J o n es, Poovey, Carr and Graha m. A seven way battle for the lead ens ued, as no more than a few inches separated the ri ders in the lead pack. Half a stra ig ht beh in d the to p seven , H al e rode a lo nely eig hth , while Pegram , Farris and Morehead wag ed the ir own war a few bi ke lengths back . Herndo n , Bro w and Day scrambled for positions even further back , wh ile Ingram , Camlin and Sims brought up the rear. " I think the lower end started to tie _ up," said Morehead . " I started up front, bu t I j ust worked my way back. I like raci ng with Rod ney though, he's a lot of fu n!" " I j ust couldn't get hooked up," said Pegr am, who in the last five races, has finished in the top four all bu t once. " Once tha t lead pack got away, we (Farr is and Mor ehead ) just cou ldn 't catch back up ." O n lap 18, Hal e closed the gap on the lead pack an d made it an eig htma n race for firs t, despite riding wit h only o ne shock. "The top bracket o n my left shock snapped around the sixth lap ," said the 1990Ca mel Pro Roo kie of the Year. "It started to sq uat rea l bad in the turns, bu t I just hung on and did the best I could. " Par ker, Jones and Carr becam e the dominant riders in the gr oup, as each rider led the main at various times in the closing laps. With two laps to go, Parker dropped the hammer and attem pted to break away, but Carr and Jon es would have none of that, and q ui ckly reeled the defending Grand Nation al Cha m pion back in. Carr swooped past Parker in turns three and four and was the first to pass the white flag, but as they entered tum one Parker regained the lead. J ones o pened up h is H on da o n th e back stra ig ht, and drafted into the lead as the y entered tum three for the last tim e, and led Parker and Carr in the dash to the finish . As he exi ted turn four, Jones gu arded the groove, expecting Parker to a ttem p t a dr aft pass on th e inside. Parker however, had other plans, and zipped to th e outside to draft past Jones, only inch es away from the fence. Par ker's Bill Werner-tu ned XR7 50 flew across the fini sh line first, ahead o f J ones, Carr, Du rell e, Ath ert on, Gr ah am , Poovey and Hale, all in tight formation. . " Every t hi n g we nt just . like I want ed," said a jubilant Parker. " I got into th e lead group and just hung there unti l the last lap , then I made my move. I saw where Ro nnie was gonna go , I kn ew he'd block the groove and leave no room for a pass. There was a little room on the o utside, and I didn't think twice about taking it ! By the tim e I thought, ' Hey, that's a litt le close,' I had won !" " Nobod y's more disappointed than me, I thought I saw tha t first mi le wi n coming," said J ones, who has yet to win a mile Natio nal. " I was surprised when Scotty went outside, as a mat ter of fact, I had just sta rted d rifting up there whe n all of a sud den , there he was! I reall y want ed to be in second coming out of four, bu t there were so man y people Tight th ere, th at I knew if I didn't make my move I'd get pa ssed." " When Parker went wide it broke my draft," said Carr. " It was a good race , thou gh . I was tryin g to conserve my tire a t the start, th en all of a sudden, six guys went by me. T hen I had to ba nzai it back towards the fro nt , and I used up my tire catching up. I didn 't have as good a tire at the end as I wanted, as a matter of fact, I had th e wors t tire in the lead bunch ." Whe n asked if he had any scary encounters wh ile wo rking his way back through the p ack, Carr replied, " No t as scary as when Scotty almost hit the fence! No w that was scary!" " What a heck of a race!" said fourth place finisher Durelle, "This is defini tely the funnest thing about Springfield, a lot of pas sing. That seemed like the shortest race ever." " Aw, I'm happy wit h fifth, " said Ath erton. " It was a real fun race, everybod y gave you the room you needed. I actua lly passed everyo o n the outs ide of turns three and four on the last lap, bu t I just coul dn 't get.back on the groove. Oh well, I still ha ve my Camel Ch all en ge check!" " No excuses," said Graha m of his sixth place fin ish . Although he won · the May ru nn ing of the Sprin gfield Mile aboard an ESP Racin g Honda, Graham is still tryi ng to sort ou t hi s new J oh nny Goad -tuned Honda on the mile tracks. " I' rn j ust not on top of it li ke I sho uld be, but the n look at the ro llercoas ter summer I've had. Gold's Gym, here I come!" "Man there was nowhere to go,': said TIME T RIALS: 1. T erry Poovey (35.227) ; 2. Kevin Ath ert on (35 .256); 3. Sco tt Park er (35.470); 4. Chris Ca rr (35.532); 5. Dave Durell e (35.600); 6. S,

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