Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

to pull a way with every passin g la p, wh ile H al e was never threat en ed for second. " O nce I go t out front, I really poured it on," said Roeder. "T hen I tr ied to slow down a nd pace myself , but it was hard." " Yo u rea lly have to co nce ntrate on staying smooth," said H al e, the 1990 Ca m el P r o Rook ie o f the Yea r. " George was a ll over th e p lace o u t there! " Durell e became th e first vict im o f the ro ug h track , as he p u lled off o n th e fou rth la p wi th a dislocat ed shou lder. " It 's rea lly ro ugh o u t the re," said a n obvious ly di sappo inted Du rell e. " I j ust hit a bump wrong, a nd th a t was it - it just popped ri gh t o ut. " Follow in g Durell e's demise, Farris LOo k o ver the la st di rect transfer posid on, and greeted th e chec kere d flag in third. "Man, I had to ca lm mysel f down , I did a bunch of tank-slappers before I realiz ed th at I was 'go n n a have to tak e i t easy, " said Farris in his u su al , lighthearted manner. T erry Poov ey led th e charge in th e seco nd heat , but o n ly enjoyed th e lead for a lap before th e red flag ca me ou t. Three-time Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen cras he d hard as th e pack exited turn two, a nd la y on th e track for a few minu tes before returning to th e sta rting line. " So mebod y swap ped right in front of me," said Springsteen. "I plowed right into him and high-sided , I had nowhere to go. " Springsteen made th e restart, but was in obvious pain and co u ld only muster a sixth pl ace finish . , "T ha t's it , I'm done for tonight, " he said. " I don't see a ny reason in going out in a sem i and ge tt ing hun o n this tra ck." Atherton took co ntrol of th e lead a t th e rest art, a nd seeme d to be th e o n ly rid er able to find a 'sm oo th line as h e pulled a way fro m h is co m pe titors. Atherton , known for h is love of th e cus h io n, rod e th e high line and pulled out to a five-second lead at th e fin ish. " T he o u ts ide wo rk s real g o od tonight," said Ath enon . " I gre w up o u t 't here, it 's fun LO rid e a nd rig ht now it looks like th e hot line." Following Ath ert on acr oss th e fini sh lin e a nd transferrin g d irectly to th e m ain event were Carr and Dan In gram. " Kevin really has this pl ace dial ed in ," sai d Carr. " I just was n 't co m forta ble sett ing th at kind o f pace th is early in th e even ing. T hat's wh a t it 's go ing to take to win tho ugh, a nd I' ll po ur it on in the main ." " Boy, whe n Springsteen fell , he was right in front o f met I had big eyes fo r a secon d," sai d Ingra m , n o w ca m pa ig n ing an Eaken -Spo nse ller Racing H onda, " After my bike blew up a t San J ose, it d idn't look like we'd have it back together, so I gav e Skip (Eaken) a ca ll, and we worked it ou t." G ra ham a nd Parker argued over the, lea d at th e start of th e th ird heat , b u t G ra ham sudde nly dropped o ff th e p ace at th e sta n o f lap two. " It felt like it was sta rving for fue l," said Graham . Morehead scooted into seco nd, while J ones and Will Da vis battled for third. T he race was brought to a sto p o n th e fifth lap, when Bobby McDonnell lost control in turn three. Parker pi cked up where he left off a t the , single-file resta rt, a lthough Morehead shadowed the defending Grand National Champion for th e remainder of the rac e. Parker scored the win ahead of Morehead, while J ones topped Davis in their battle for third. ' "I just rode my lines and figured out Atherton (23) led nearly every lap of the 20-lap National that required three restarts. where I was gonna be, come the main event," said Parker. " I' m having trouble down low," said Moreh ead. "S o I'm j us t letting th e bike take a bigger arc. It seem s to be working." ' Chris Carr was plagued by bad luck in the main, yet managed to finish fourth. Semis Sp ok ane, Washin gton 's Ron Yamamoto grabbed the hol esh ot in th e first IO-Iap sem i-final, but su rr endered th e lead to Poovey as th ey blasted down th e back stra ig h t. Yamamoto str uc k back as th ey entered turn one for th e first time and dov e under Poovey to stea l th e lead. Seconds after Yamamot o mo tored past, Poovey coasted to a sto p with a bro ken cha in. T exan Billy H erndon avoided Poovey a nd railed past Yamamoto on th e th ird lap, as di d rookie expert Steve Beattie on th e next lap. Aar on Hill scoo ted i nto the fourth and fin al transfer posit ion, a nd the fin ishing po si ti on s wer e se t. H ernd on le d Beattie, Yamam oto and Hill across th e fin ish lin e a nd into th e main . Ohioan Don Estep took con tro l o f th e ea rly lead in sem i two, a nd managed to hold onto th e lead for six laps wh ile Pegram fought hi s way through th e field. Once into second, however, Pegram reeled Estep in a nd sli d in to th e lea d. Estep held onto seco nd a nd a trip to th e m ain , as did hi s fell ow O h ioa n , Ch ance Darling, and Ca nad ian Ch ris Evans, who fini sh ed th ird a nd fourth , resp ectively. Junior Invitational Alt ho ugh th e Junior Nati on a lseaso n is well over, 31 Juniors showed up to co m pete a t th e Pomona Half Mile. Allon McBee, Cory Perrault and Mik e Dill on topped th e three six-la p heat races, a nd filled th e front row a t th e start of th e lfl-Iap final. Dillon timed th e light perfectl y and led th e 12 o ther Juniors into turn o ne. He then gave his com pe titors little op port u n ity to pass as he began to steadily pull away from th e field. J eff Eklund led th e charge after Dillon, while Stephen Mayf ield and Jeff Annen banged bars over third. Dillon contin ued to ex tend his lead and greeted th e checkered flag aboard hi s Argyle Welding and Medical/Sign Shop / Ro n Wood/Motion Pro-backed Wo od-Rotax well ahead o f Annen, who had worked his way past Mayfi eld in th e closing laps. Mayfi eld held on to finish third. " My bike ran so well, all I had to do was ride it," said a n exci ted Dillon afterwa rd. "My mom cou ld have won o n i t. I'm really excit ed, this is my first big winl" National In th e first of what would be four s ta rt s, Moreh ead found the most tra ction and led Parker and Hale into 19

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