Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; DIRT TRACK AMA Grand National ChamJ!ionshiJ!_C_am_el_Pr_oSen_'es_:' R_ou_nd_4 / _ e SCOII Parker (1) I~ Ri cky G raham (3), Mike Hale (32), J ay Springsteen (9) an d Chris Carr (20) at the start ol the main event. Parker merciless at San ose Mile By Donn Maed a Pho tos by Mi tch Fri edma n SAN JOSE, CA, MAY 17 sk an y dirt track Ian what draw s th em 10 th e sport, and th ey'll probably tell you that they love the close racing. Unfortuna tely, ScOIl Park er does not share that same love. For the second race in a row , the lourtime Grand Nati on al Champion played . the role of the magician and performed a disappearing act a t the 40th running of the Hap Jon es Memorial San Jose Mil e a boa rd hi s Bill Werner-tuned H arl ey-Davidson XR750. Unlike last fall 's San Jose race that featured 42 lead cha nges, this contest a t the San ta Clara County Fairgrounds was a sleeper. With an estima ted 12,600 spectators looking on, Parker wro te his 45th career win into the record books with a five-second margin of victory; nearly a full straightawa y ahead of his nearest competitor. "Go sh, I hat e when they're boring like that ," joked Parker, who earn ed $6250 of the $40,000 purse. " I got the holeshot and thought, 'Hey, this is gonna be a hell o f a race,' but I didn 't see nobody." In winning, Parker notched h is sevent h-consecu tive San Jose Mile win , and padded hi s leads on the mile and all-time win lists, both of which he broke last year. Second on the all-time win list is the legendary Jay Springsteen, wh o boasts 40 career win s to Park er's 45, whil e non- active two-time Grand Nation al Champion Bubba Sho bert trails Parker on the mil e-win list, 25-30. Saving the show in the main event were Parker's factory Harle y-Davidson teammates Kevin Ather ton and Chri s Carr, and two-time G rand Nat ion al Champion Ricky Graham . They disputed the runner-up spo t through out the 25-lap main event, and their position s weren 't decided until the last few inches o f th e race. At he rton perfo rm ed a dazzling, last-cha nce draft pass on Carr a t the finish line to earn the second-place honors. " I was j ust wa iting it ou t," said Atherton. "I knew where, wh en and how I wanted to pass those gu ys." A 6 Carr crossed the finish line inches behind Atherton, and only a hair ahead of Honda-mounted G rah am to complete the second-straight team H arley sweep of the top three position s. "I was expecting someone to draft me," said Carr. "But I was surprised that it was Kevin, I thought it was goi ng to be Ricky." "I couldn' t draft anyone today, the bike wasn 't up to it" said Graham, who earned his third-straight fou rth-place finish of the season. "I had to do all my passing go ing into the turns, I couldn't get a nyone a t the line." Carr con tinues to lead the series po int standings, but in the last two races has watched his point lead d'find le from 16 to four. Parker trails Carr 64 to 69, but both riders agree that it's too early in . the series to be worryin g about po in ts. Atherton (47 po ints ) and Graham (33) are third and fourth, respectively, in the standings. Though Park er was glad to win, the happiest rider of the day was Davey Durelle, who scored the win in the Camel Challenge. Durelle diced with Graham for the first two laps of the five-lap dash before pullin g away from the field , which was com posed of the day's six fastest qualifiers. . " Well it's about time. I've been trying for SO long, and I finall y did it," hooted Durelle in the winner's circle. "I wish I had don e it last year, though, when first place paid 10 gra nd." Nevertheless, Durelle was thrilled to take the $5000first-place prize back ho me to Minneapolis, Minnesota. T im e trials "If" alw ays nice to win a lillie extra mon ey," said Carr. who was presented with a check for $100 for turning in the day's fastest qualifying lap of 36.719 seconds at 98.042 mph. Whil e Carr's time was the fastest of the day, it was well off the record of 36.076/99.789 set by Parker in 1990. "I don', thi nk we'll ever break that record ," said Carr. "They just don't prepare tracks like they used to." Current track prep procedures aside, once agai n Sunday's race was said to be the last dirt track National run at the famed oval as the track will reportedly soon be paved. Also q ualifying in the 36-secondbracket and rounding out the Camel Challenge field were 1990 Camel Rookie of the Year Mike Hale, Durelle, Atherton, Graham and Jay Springsteen. Missin g from the Cam el Challenge lin eup was Parker, whose 37.185 lap was only ninth fastest. "I knew exactl y what my time was when I headed for the checkered flag," said Parker, referring to a new timing device that he and Springsteen now use . on their machines. "I didn 't wave it off, tho ugh , because I thought it was fast enough." '. H ea ts TI le first IO-Iap heat race saw a matchup between Carr and Parker. Sponseller Racin g 's Larry Pegram grabbed th e holeshot, bu t would on ly lead for two laps before being gobbled up by first Parker, then Carr. When Parker got around Pegram, he opened up a fivebike-length lead, but Carr quickly closed the gap after he too passed the early leader. Carr smo ked into the lead on the fifth lap , but Parker stuck to his rear fend er for the .remaining laps and wai ted. As the duo blasted out of turn four for the last time, Parker pulled out of the draft and slipstreamed past his teammate for the win. Pegram fini shed some 10 bikeleng ths behind in third , and, along with the rest o f the field, would ha ve to ride a semi in order to qualify for the main even t. " I figured L camp out and wait for 'd the rig ht moment," explained Parker. "I wasn't too worried about winning, as long as I made it into the main. At least now I know that I can draft Chris at the flag." _ "I was just in the wrong position at the wro ng time," said Carr. Sakaida & Sons -backed Terry Poovey out-started the pack in the second heat a nd led Dan Ingram, Hale and Ronnie Jones through turn one. Ingra m and Hale repeatedly traded second while Jones seemed content to sit in fourth. "There really wasn 't any room to draft, " said Jones. "Those guys were go ing back and forth and I didn't want to hit them." Ingram surprised Poovey on th e seven th lap when he drafted into the lead. "Man, I thou ght I had split," said Poovey. " I had no idea that they were so close." Jones came a live on th e next lap and smo ked past H ale, then Poovey. Hale la tched on to the back of Jon es' Gardner Racing Harley, and both riders drafted past Ingram on the back strai ght on the white flag lap. Just as Parker had don e to Carr in heat one, Hale tucked in behind Jones and snuck past for the win as they crossed the finish line. Finishing a close third and fourth were Ingram and ~oovey, ~ut both would have to compete III a semi . "I was getting a feel for the Hondas (Poovey and Ingram), then all of a sudden Jones came out of nowhere," said Bartels' Harley-Davidson-sponsored Hale. "It surprised me, but I went for it on the last lap and it worked." Durelle ripped off the line in the third heat and was never headed. Stev e Morehead chased Durell e throughout most of the race, but couldn't match Durel le's speed through turns three and four. " I could hear someone behind me as I'd go into three, but I could get away from them by the time we hit the front straight," said Durelle. Springsteen started fourth on th e Bartels' XR750, but passed Rusty Rogers and closed to Morehead's rear tire by lap eight. Springsteen dove to the inside of Morehead in turn one just after receiving the white flag, and proceeded to close on Durelle. Although he, too, closed on Durelle on the back straigh t, Springsteen cou ldn't match the leader's corner speed and was forced to settle for a close second. Morehead finished only inches behind, but out o f lu ck, while Rogers an a Rodney Farris were a distant fourth and fifth. "I didn't get a great start, but I jus t kept tryi ng a nd I worked my way through," said Springsteen. " Davey sure got hooked up in three and four." Atherton and Graham out-distanced the pack in the fourth and final heat. Graham repeatedly dove to the inside of turn three to steal the lead, but each time Atherton would respond by drafting past as they crossed the line on the front straight. "I couldn't 'get the drive off of four to hold him back," said Graham. "I could draft him at the end of the straights, but not at the lin e where it counted." On the wh ite flag lap, Atherton used Graha m's line on the back straig h t to take the lead , and Graham could do nothing to retake the point position on the front straight. Atherto n grabbed the win , inches ahead of Graham , while Dave Camlin and Steve Beattie followed 15 seconds beh ind. " My bike was a lo t fa st er th a n Ri ck y's," said Atherton. " I wasn ' t worried abou t leading ou t of four." Semis Riders wh o failed to qualify directly from a heat had a second chance in one of three eigh t-lap semis. Camlin was fastest off the line in the first semi and led for five laps before being h unted down by Belleville Hon- : da 's T im Mertens. George Roeder II followed Mertens past Camli n, and

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