Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eDIRT TRACK AMA Grand National/Camel Pro Series: Round 15 ~ so'" ~ ~ (1) ..0 o ..... u o Rodney Fa rri s (92) and Dan Ingram (31) ba ttled throug hou t the race . Fa rris was fifth, while Ingram dropped to' seventh. Parker gained control of the series points lead with his runner-u p finish . Morehead suffered a first -tu m cras h, bu t recovered to cross the finish line in third. 20 turn o ne. Atherton ra iled past on the outside o f tu rns one and two, a nd began to establish an immediate lead. By the third lap , Atherton had pulled ou t to a five bike-length lead , b ut met th e red flag on his fou rt h go -round when Bea n ie, J ones, Darling a nd Estep tangled in turns three and four. " I' m not sure what happen ed ," said J on es. " So meo ne swa p ped ou t, and th e n ext thi ng I knew I was o n the ground." Although th ree full laps were co m p leted, a full restart was call ed for, and th e rid ers assumed their sam e starting po si tions. Carr was fastest wh en the green ligh t flashed again, a nd led the way 'into turn one. O nce aga in, Ath erton rail ed the outs ides of one and two , a nd assu med th e point position. All eyes focused on Carr, wh o suddenly slo wed and dropped to mid-pack . Parker muscl ed his way into second; ahe ad of Morehead , Farris and Roeder. By th e complet ion of the fou rt h lap, Carr had dropped to last with an ill soundi ng mach in e. O n the following circui t, Beanie was th rown from hi s H arley-Davids on as h e n eg otiated tur,n tw o a nd his machine burst into flames as it slid to a sto p. " I hit a rut a nd swapped ou t," said a sha ken Beanie. Mu ch to Ath erton's dismay, but to Carr 's ap p ro val, th e red flag ap peared once again. Carr immed iat ely sped to th e sid e o f th e tra ck , wh er e ' his mech anic Kenny Tolbert, al ong with a slew of others, set to work on the factory XR750 . Carr 's machine was restor ed to race cond itio n before th e resta rt , and Carr assumed the tail position at th e single-file restart. " So me dirt worked it s way into th e m ain j et s in th e ca r b u re to rs ," exp lai ned Carr. " T hat caused th e bik e to run on o nly one cylinder. All we had to do was drain th e floats and get everyth ing all clea ned up, wh ew l" Ather ton m ainta in ed th e p oint position as th e field stormed into tu rn on e, bu t was once agai n greeted by th e red flag as he began hi s second la p. As he was enteri ng turn one, Roeder clipped a rut and swa pped vio lent ly in fro n t of Moreh ead , wh o sla m med int o Roed er 's machine a nd was sent flying into the hay bal es. "I h it a bi g hol e, a nd th e next th in g I knew I was pi ckin g straw ou t o f my teet h ," said Roeder. " As soo n as I h it Roeder 's bike, I wa s ejecte d in to the hay bal es ." explaine d Moreh ead . Next to go down was J on es, as he slid down in order to avoid th e tangle, bu t in turn left Carr with nowhere to go . Carr proved to be th e la st rider inv olv ed in th e tu rn one cras h, bu t as th e rest of the riders nego tiat ed three a n d fou r , H al e was s pit off hi ~ machine. "T here 's some real lon g grooves in three, a nd I h it o ne wrong a nd highsided," sai d H a le.Jwho was unab le to restar t. Once again, a ma d das h was made to repair the da mage sustained by Carr 's mo tor cycle before th e restart o f, th e race . Perhaps th e most notable o f th e helping hand s, were th a t of Carr's cha m p io nsh ip r ival Pa rk er , as he push ed Carr's H arl ey back to th e pi ts to be repaired. " He ll, it 's a race , Chris deserves a cha nce," said Parker. " If 1 didn' t help him , so meo ne else would. H ell , I'm hi s teamma te, so it m igh t as well be me." "It's like a damn soap opera, a in 't'; it?" said Carr as he anxiously wat ch ed th e handlebars and brake pedal being rep laced. I Missing from the final single-file I lineup was Jones, who opted to take a trip in the am bulance beca use of back pa ins. H e was later diagnosed as having a minor concussion a nd was relea~ed from the hospital la ter tl.!at everung, Atherton headed th e field as they saw their fourth green light of th e evening" and led Parker, Morehead and Farris for th e following two laps. Carr dove to th e inside o f turn one a t th e restart, a n d m an aged to sco ot into fifth , beh ind Farris. _ Ca rr disp laced Farris on the third lap, an d set o u t after Moreh ead. Meanwhile, Atherton rode the hi gh lines as if they were smoo th ; a nd began to p ull awa y from the field. " I would shut off earlier, b u t man; I cou ld get on the th rot tle so much ea rl ier," said Atherton. Pa rker rode a steady pa ce in second, never gaining or losing time to Morehead , who sa t in th ird. "Kevin rea lly had th e place di al ed ," said Pa rker o f his you ng tea m mate. " I co u l d n ' t seem to make up a ny gro u nd." Ca rr closed the ga p betw een himself and Moreh ead, but was never a serious threat to the Findlay Flyer a nd eventually dropped a few bike leng ths back. On th e 15th lap, Atherton held a fi ve-second lea d over Parker, who circl ed th e track a few bike lengths ahead of Morehead a nd Carr. A few seco nd s back , Ingr a m , Farris and Pegram waged war , as they rep eatedly swap ped positions with every lap, " I would pass Farris, and think I was gonna pull a way," said Ingram, "T he n I'd hit a hole and he'd go righ t back by me. " • " I was a ll over! There wasn 't a smoo th line on the wh ol e damn tra ck !" sa id Farris. As th e laps wound down, Atherton managed to add yet a no ther second to hi s lead, a nd greeted th e checkered flag six seco nds ahea d of Parker. Moreh ead ' ca me home third, just a head o f a ' rel ieved Ca rr . " Right fro m th e first start, 1 knew I had thi s thing won ," said Ath erton. HI just felt so goo d, I kn ew no one was go n na catch me . H ell , 1 even ga ve th em three cha nces to !" " Kevin rea lly had his starts di aled in tonight," sai d Parker, exci ted for his Michigan neighbor, "I tho ugh t he was sick, o r something. It 's a shame th e track was so cra p py tonight; this is ' su p posed to be a Na tio nal. " "T here' re defini tely no babies here tonight," Morehe ad said. " Bu t I guess it was the same for everybo dy. . . '.'

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