Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Whi le Parker pulled away, Gardner Racing's Ro d n ey Farris stormed throughthe pack after a poor start, and jo ined the battle for second that J ones, Morehead and Ather ton engaged in. Farr is was able to snea k past the three ri ders, and "finished second, while J on es edged Morehead for the last direct transfer. "Those guys were so busy raci ng wit h each other, that I just sn uck on by," said Farr is wit h a laugh. "That was pre tty close o ut there," said J ones. " Kevin and I came together and he slipped off th e groove, but other th an that , i t was j us t good racing." Semis Herndon and hi s i tchy clutch hand returned in the first 10-lap semi, and he was again sent to the back row . Dan Ingram sped off the line and assumed th e early lead, but th e Cl erm ont, Indiana, resident fell prey to North Carolinan Will Davis and Morehead in turn one. Wh ile Moreh ead , Davis and Ingram took turns leading th e race, Herndon p lu gged away a n d began to close on the leaders, jo ining the fray on lap eight. Just as the whi te flag flew, Ingram dropped fro m the lead group wi th an ail ing motorcycle. "The lower end jus t started to tie up," said an obviously disappointed Ingram, , Morehead ou t-foxed Davis at the finish line to score th e win , whi le Herndon followed on ly inches behi nd. With th e dem ise of Ingra m , Oh ioa n Scott Stump inherited the fourth, and final transfer to the main. "That was a good 01' time," said KK Motorcycle Supply/Sheperd Chemical . Co.lF&S H -D/ HSR/ J ohn Dragoo/ Storz-backed Morehead. " But I ble w an oil line just as I cro ssed the finish lin e. Boy, the track keeps getting faster and faster I" T rack workers attended to the oil spill that Morehead referred to, and race action was delayed for nearly an ho ur as turn s three and four were cleaned up. Wh en the green light flashed for the second semi, Atherton wasted lit tle tim e taking con trol, and wen t on to score a runaway win aboard hi s AIStangler-tuned XR750. Beh ind Ath erton; Graham, Dave Camlin and J ay Davey Durelle (58) greeted the checkered flag in third, while Terry Poovey (18) crossed the finish line in seventh place, Springsteen ba tt led fo r pos i tion . Graham won that battle, and crossed the fin ish line just jnches ah ead of Springsteen , who had two bike lengths on Camlin. ' "We made a couple of changes for the semi, and they worked great," said Atherton. "While I don't like having to ride 'em (semis), I guess they 're good when you have to make adjustments. " "Man it's great to be back in the action," sai d Spri ngsteen, who had failed to q ua lify for the las t seven National main events. " I've had some hard times, bu t I'm gonna put those behind me now." , Atherton (23~ led th e early laps of the main event before being passed by Carr (20). Junior Invitationa l Wink Freitas, Michael Dillon and Alio n McBee topped the three six-lap ' Junior heat races, and sat on the front row at the start of the 10-lap Junior Invitationa l race. Just as he did in his heat race, Freitas stormed off the line and rod e uncontested to the finish . Ch asing Freitas on the opening laps, were Dill on, McBee and Cory Perrault, and they were la ter joined by James Han. i th his mO,~t recent win, defending Grand National Champion SCOtt Parker has cloSeliwithin one point of his teammate, Chris Carr, who has held the series points lead since round two of the '91 Camel Pro Series. Entering the San Jose Mile, Parker trailed Carr by five points, 178-173, but at the day 's end the spread was only 194-193. Beginning with his win at the spring Sacramento Mile , Carr has held control of the points lead for the past 13 races. "I've never held the lead this late in the season, so I'm optimistic," said Carr. In 1990, Carr led the points chase until the fall Springfield Mile, where he was black-flagged du~ to oil spewing from a cracked oil tank. At the following race, the San Jose Mile , an . upset Carr saw Parker pull even further ahead in the point standings with yetanother win; This year, however, Carr seems to have put less pressure on himself, and approaches the end of the season with a different attitude. "What I have to do now is stay positive, and give these last two races all I' ve got - 100%," said Carr. "There's no sense i n getting down on myself. I have to stay in the right state of mind, that's what it 's gonna tak e to win the championship." . . . Parker, on the other hand, seems to have a different attitude th an exp ressed in the past. . " I feel good; I' ye come back from a bad start, and closed the points gap," said Parker, who suffered a DNF at the season-opening Daytona Short T rack. " Now, m~>re than ever, the pressure of a fourth championship is on me. After tha t 41st wm at th e Indy Mile, it seems li ke the wins are coming easier, but there's still two .to go. I didn't come th is far for nothing, I can' t let myself down." Like Carr, Parker ha s an optimistic outlook for the final two races; the Pomona Half Mil e, and the Sacramento Mile. " I' ve won th e next two races before," said Park er, who scored a runaway win at th e Pomona Fairgrounds earlier in the year, and has won seven times at the Cal -Expo State Fairgrounds in Sacramento. " So I feel good. Hopefull y, a t th e end of the season, I'll have four championships, and 45 wins." W Avila Meat Co.lRon Wood/Scott Pearson/Mom/ Sh oei/TsubakilKalGardiHi Point/Hap Jones-sponsored Freitas gree ted the checkered flag well ahead of McBee, who drafted past Dillon at the fin ish to score runnerup ho nors. Dillon finished th ird, wh ile' Hart edged Perr au lt in th eir da sh for fourth place. "Everythi ng went smooth ly today," said recently crowned Junior National Champion Freitas. " I was able to win my heat, and the main pretty easily. Nothing could have been better." National Fast heat winner Parker chose to start on the outside pole position at the start of the 25·lap mai n event. Next to the defending cham p, sat fast qualifier Hale, Farris, Durelle, Pegram and Carr, while Jones , Morehead, Atherton, Day, Poovey and Graham made up the second row. Da vis, Springsteen, H erndo n, Stump and Camlin hoped to ma ke the most of their third-row starting po sition. Parker led the Rolling Thunder Show through turn one, while Carr, Pegram, Hale and Atherton scrambled into a single-file line behind him. Hale forced his way into the point position on the third lap, only to relinq u ish it to At herto n two tu rns later. Together, Ather ton and Hale team ed up and began to pull away from the field. By the eighth lap, Atherton enjoyed-..----a three-bike length lead over Hale, wh o circled th e track lO-bike lengths ahead of Carr. Parker and Durelle were joined by J ones and Poovey, who rounded o ut the top seven. Sudden ly, on lap II, Atherton's lead began to shrink, as Carr dis placed Hale and closed the gap Atherton had built. Beh ind Carr, Parker, Durelle, J ones and Poovey had al so closed in . " I wanted to get out front early, so I put in a coup le of real hard laps, " exp lained Atherton. "My tire started to slide a lit tle, and I thought, 'Vh oh, it's blistering,' so I backed off a li ttle." Carr too k control of the point position on lap 13, but Park er smoked past on the back straight one lap later. Carr retaliated two laps later, but Parker would have none of that. The three-time Grand National Champion once again forced his way into th e lead and began to break away from the pack on the 17th lap. "When Chris passed me, I figured that I'd better pick up the pace ," said Parker. "We were both haulin' ass, then the next thing I knew, I was alone." ' "I think some of the oil that More head dumped in three and four started to resurface, and Scotty was able to 9

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