Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Heats Parker served notice that the even ing was his in the first IO-lap heat race by grabbing the holesh ot and never looki ng back. "Once I got ou t fro nt , I just put 'er up high and stayed there," said Parker, who along the way earned the pole in the main. Parker's heat race would be the fastes t of the evening's four. Do na hue Harley-David son's Davey Dure lle gated second and challenged Parker for th e firs t few laps but dropped off the cham p 's pace and fin ishe d a lon ely second, 12 bikeleng th s beh ind. Finishing clo se beh ind Durell e, but faili ng to qual ify for th e ma in were Terry Poovey and Mik e Hale. "I didn't expect to finish second so eas i ly ," said Durelle. " I thought Poovey and H ale would be pushing me ha rd er, but I 'm no t o ne to ' com p lain. " Heat two belonged to Graham, aboa rd the Goad/lrby Honda RS750. G ra ha m chose to ride th e mo respectacular high line and slid to th e win and into the main. "J'rn pumped, th e bike's good , th e track's good and I feel good," said Graham. " Let's get it on!" The second direct transfer spot went to veteran Steve Morehead, who pressured Graham for the first four lap s. Morehead opted to ride ' the more conservative low line and stayed on the .groove, finishi ng approximately two seconds behind Graham. " T ha t was a lot of fun ," mused Morehead. "Ricky was way up there, wasn't he?" Among thos e who wou ld head for one of the three semi-finals were Dan Ingram and Rusty Rogers, who finished third and fourth, resp ectivel y, five seconds behind Morehead . Aaron Hill holeshot th e third heat but was quickly gobbled up by Harley teamsters Carr and Ath erton. Carr led the way until the halfway £lags cam e out. Atherton kicked it into overdr ive on lap six and stol e th e iead for good . Carr held on to a close second, while a dista nt Ronnie J ones, Hill and La rry Pegra m would have to try again in a semi for a spot in the ma in. "I ha d actua lly gotten the lead o n the first lap , but I went too h igh in the cu shion in three and four and dro p ped to mi dpack ," sai d Atherton. " I had to rea ll y go for it to catc h back up ." " I feel good tonight," sai d Car r. "T h is track ha sn 't been too good to me i n the past, so I' m ta king what I . can. " Roeder put his cushioned half mile exper ience to good use in the fourth an d final heat race. R oeder swa pped the lead with Will Davis a few tim es before edging away a nd winning with a five-bike length lead . Davis held on to seco nd, but had a ha rd-chargin g Springsteen breathing down his neck . as h e crossed the finish lin e. Rodney Farris fin ished a dista nt fourt h , and along with Springsteen , would head for a semi . " I like these types of tracks ," said Roeder, wh o hails from Monroevill e, Ohio. " This is wha t I race on back home." " I was trying, bu t I cou ld n ' t seem to find a way pa st," said Davis. "We'll get 'em in the main." Semis H ill grabbed another holeshot in th e first eigh t-la p semi and cont ro lled th e poi n t position ahea d o f Rogers until lap four when both of them went too wide in turns three and four and allo wed Poov ey to sneak pas t. The order remained the same to the finish Ath erton (23) p asse d Carr (20) for the win in thei r hea t race, bu t couldn't do the same in the main and finished third. - Poovey, Hill and Rogers - and all three riders headed for the main event . "Hell, I'll take it," said Poovey. "I was j u st waiting, and all of a sudden they both went too high and left a big ho le." Jones had con tro l of the second semi from the £lash of th e green light. Kiser H onda /Hart Ra cing/ Ara i/Drum mo nd Lubricants-backed Kris Kiser, who is now making his horn e in Virginia, got away in second but cou ld n 't fend off the charges of Farris. Jones motored horne th e winner, well ahead of Farris and Kiser. Fin ishi ng a clo se fourt h and spectating for the re st of the n ig ht was H al e, wh o struggl ed to adapt to a new frame. "Thi s is only my second race on the Harley," said J o nes abou t the Gardner Ra cin g XR7 50. "I actually feel bett er o n it than I did on my Honda last year (at Pom on a )." Flo ridian Marti n Lavoie led the way early in the last semi, bu t Springsteen blasted into the poi nt position on la p two a nd j ever loo ked ba ck. Dave Cam li n also ' edged pas t th e early lead er, dr opping hi m to thi rd. Pegr am tried h is best to steal the th ird and las t tran sfer position fro m Lavoie, but the rookie Expert held strong . Sp rings teen led Camlin an d La voie across the finish line by a large ma rgin and int o the 25-lap ma in event . Tim Merte n s, returning to racing aft er a year -layo ff du e to a broken leg, fin ished a dista nt fourth , ahea d of In gra m , who struggled th roughout the even ing wi th an ill -handling mach in e. "Oh man , th is is th e best I' ve felt in a wh ile," said a happy Springsteen. "Thi ng s are- lookin g good this year, everyth ing is clickin g together. " Camel Challenge Sp rings teen didn 't have lo ng to rest befo re the start of the six-man Camel Challenge. " T h is is the first Camel Challenge I' ve qualified for since 1990," sai d Springst een, who won th e Came l Cha lle nge at Daytona that year. " I sure am happy, I stru gg led all through last' year , but I'm really looking forward to the rest of 1992." Fast -quallifier Park er chose to start the five lap dash o n the outs ide pole and proved he had mad e a wise cho ice by 'grabbing th e holesho t and leading Roeder, Graham , Carr, Springsteen and Ath erton through turn one. Ro eder did hi s best to pressure Pa rker, but th e pace set by the cham p was too much and he inched away to an eventu a l 10 bike-length lead. Roeder held a firm grip on second, while Ath ert on scrambled though the pa ck and into third by lap two. Carr had other ideas, th ough, and passed Atherton o n the fifth and final lap to secure th ird. Parker no tched an easy win over Roeder, who in turn enj oyed a comfortable advantage over Carr, Ath ert on, Graham and Springsteen, wh o crossed the finish lin e only inches apart. " Bill (Werne r) sets th e bike up so good that it mak es it easy for me," said Parker. " All I hav e to do is get o n it and ride." N ation al By virtue of ha ving th e fastest heat, Parker was given firs t cho ice of starting positions o n the front ro w, and sat on J erryKennedy named National referee A fter the Ap ri l 22 release of Duke Olliges, former' Nat iona l sta rte r Jerry Kennedy made his debu t as Na tional dirt track referee at th e Po mona Fairplex. For th e pas t 13 years, 39year-old Kennedy ha s served as the National starter at all G ra nd National Cham pionsh ip events , and was surprised to be offered th e positi on of referee. " It took me by total su rp rise, "said Ken nedy , wh o spe nds his weekdays overlooking three San J ose-area businesses that he owns. " But i t's an opportunity that I'm glad to take." .. Along with Nat ional dirt track manager Mike Kidd , Kennedy would like to see a few changes in AMA National Dirt Track competition. "I'd like to see th e rela tionship between the riders a nd the AMA improve," said Kennedy. " O ver the pas t few years , it seems to hav e gotten wors e. I' d like to see th em become closer." " I al so want to provide a safe trac k for the racers to com pete o n, " added Kennedy. " We all need to work tog eth er to put on a good showIorthe fans, an d the races need to start and end on tim e. I'm going to put my all in to thi s job, a nd I expect the sam e from the people that I work with." At Pomona, o ne ch ange that Kennedy introd uced was a stricter time-limit for restar ts. T he AMA rulebook sta tes: Should a race be sto pped but no t completed , riders may return to the mechanic s sign al area to make min or repairs bu t. must not return to th e padd ock (pi ts). All 'riders must be in thei r assign ed positions and ready to race wit hin four minutes af ter th e red flag (eight mi nutes fo r all final ma in even tsjor a t a la ter ti me wh en thetrack is deemed safe. In the pas t, there haven 't been stri stan dards for th e "eight-m in u te rul e," and many rid ers feel that it c dependi ng o n wh o the tro ub led rider is. • At Pomona, Kenn edy a .IlI II U Ul l i L start th e minu te th e red flag ap pea red, an d that a ll.' repairs to the da maged mo torcycles must be mad e in a chalked-off area on the fronts traight. Riders wh o took longer than eigh t minutes to rep air their mach ines would still be allo wed to compete, but would have to start on a penalty line, app ro xima tely 100 feet beh ind the last row. There were no crashes or restarts at Pomona, so the new ru le has yet to be into pract ice. 7

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