Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ DIRT TRACK AMA Grand National Chameionshie~/C_m_e_P_ro_Se_ie_s: a l r R _O_UD_d3 _ ~ Chris Carr "(20) led Scott Parker ( I), Kevin Atherton (23), George Roeder II (66) and Ricky Graham (behind Carr) at the start of the 25-lap main event. After taking the lead , Parker kept an eye on Carr throughout the race. Parker spanks 'em at PomonaHalf Mile By Do n n Maeda Photos by Mitch Friedman POMONA, CA, MAY 9 6 hen four- tim e Grand Nati on a l Champion Scott Parker does som ething, he beli eves in doing W it ri gh t. And he may have wai ted until the third race of the 17-round series to do it, but Pa rker scored hi s first win of th e seaso n in grand style by turning in an even ing of perfect performan ces at the Pomona Half Mile, held at th e Los Angeles County Fair and Exposition Complex. " Yea h , I guess I pretty much spanked 'em tonight," said Parker. " I co uld n' t really ask for more." Parker turned in the fastest qualifying time, won his heat race, won the Camel Challenge and went on to win the main event in front of the 6744 spectators. While on the tra ck, Parker wore a pair of pr escription glasses inside his h elmet and attributed his st ellar performances to his new-found vision. " I' ve had them fo r quite a while, but I never wear them ," said Parker. "I tri ed wearing them once during practice at Syracuse a long tim e ago, but I haven 't worn them since. Then, two weeks ago at the Sacra mento Mile, I co u ldn' t see a thing, so I decided to bust th em bac k o ut, I co u ld see everyth ing tonight, though!" Although Pomon a, which is east of th e ci ty o f Los Ange les , es ca pe d virtuall y u nscathed durin g the recent civil unrest in the area , the promo ter attributed the small crowd to th at probl em . "A tte n da nce ju st went 'thunk,' '' sai d Chr is Agaja n ia n, pr omoter of the even t. " I had people call ing me up saying, 'O h , I'm not com ing, ther e's still riots go ing o n out there.' " "T he cro wd did seem sparse wh en co mpared to last fall's turnout of more than 11 ,000, but th e racin g actio n proved to be as hot as ever. Chris Carr, P a r ke r' s fact ory H arl ey-D avid son tea m ma te a nd bigg est rival, finished second an d saw his seri es point standin gs lead drop to a 12-point advantage over Parker, 56-44. " I' ve improved with every visit to this track, " said Carr, wh o was pleased with second. " Last year I had a fifth a nd a fourth here, so this is like a bonus. It's too earl y to be loo king at points, though." Completing the Harley factory team sweep of the top three positions was young Kevin Atherton , winner of last year 's fall even t. "I tried to run 'er high like I did i last time, but it was Scotty who did it this time, not me," said Atherton. "I'm happy with third - a Harley sweep." Parker's win aboard the Bill Werner-' tuned, Harley-Davidson/ Bell/SBS/ H .O.G ./TsubakiiSupertrapp-backed XR750 moved him further ahead on the all-time win list, bri nging his record number of career National wins to 44. Parker also moved into a tie with Steve Morehead for third on the alltime half mil e win list with 13. Only Jay Springsteen (19) and Bart Markel (18) h av e a massed m ore National victories in half mil e races. Last fall , rid ers stru gg led to circulate around the unusuall y shaped - lon g stra ig h ta ways and tight turns - ho rse racin g track th at became rutted and ro ug h , a n d multipl e cras hes a nd subseq ue nt restarts marred the evening's pro gra m. THi s year, ri ders were pleased wi th the track a nd man y felt that th e Steve Wood- prepa red course was the best th ey had ridde n on at the Fa irpl ex. No "cras hes occu rred through out the even ing's race program, which ra n on schedu le. " It was so fun o u t th ere," said Parker , wh o ea rned $4000 of th e $28,000 purse, alo ng with a no ther $5000 for winning the $10,000 Cam el Ch all enge. " You co uld go high, you cou ld go low.. . it was bitchin '." Time trials Parker went to work o n th e "bitchin' " track by turning in the evening's fastest qualifying lap of 29.581 seconds, ecli psing the tra ck record of 29.920 seconds, set by George Roeder last year. Also qualifying fast an d joining Parker in th e five-lap Camel Chall enge were tw o-time Grand National Ch ampion Ri cky Graham , Carr, Roeder, three-time Grand National Ch ampion Springsteen and Atherton, in that order. ,

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