Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eFL~~CKM~~ili~p_ha_ll'_Ra_cin~g_Se_rie_sH~~_fM_i_e~~~~~~~~~ l ~ Will Davis earned $300 for his Hooter's/ WKlQ King of the Hill Shootout win. Defending MARS Champion Rusty Rogers won the eight-lap Expert main event. Chuck Blackmon (7) passed Guy Stuart (152) en route to the 883 main event win. Rogers burns rubber at Myrtle Beach By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Fotos MYRTLE B EACH,SC, MAY15 usty Rogers , th e winner o f th e Myrtl e Beach Half Mil e, had th e following to say follow in g th e race: " It sca red me and I guess that's some thing, for me." Wh at scared Rogers, a nd was the maj or conce rn of all th e co mpe titors was tire wea r. T wo riders su ffered tire failure o n the hi gh-sp eed banked fiveeigh ths m ile pave d oval during p reliminary events, a nd as a result th e main events were shorte ned to eigh t laps. Rogers, aboard th e Phil Wicker sha m / Airco /L Tec h / Esab / Broa d Rock T owing/Red Line Cycle/ Pro Class Cycle/J&N Racing/Carl Pa trick/ J ohnny Walk er/Jimmy Lofton/Bell/ Moti on Pro-spon sored H arl eyDavidson XR 750, stor med to a con vincing win in th e Exper t main event. Harley GOO-mounted Will Davis was seco nd with Wood- Rotax- mo u nted Eri k Graybeal third. " You ca n 't look at th e tires and tell R 2 wh en th ey're worn out, bu t you can feel th em wiggle when they're close. I bac ked way o ff," said Rogers, who pocketed in excess o f $2000 for h is performa nce. In ot her main event action, James H a rt rode his H art Raci ng/ Neil Keen / Bell / Lou 's Lea the rs/ Da le's H -D/ Hog Wash -backed Wood -Ro ta x to a co nvinci ng win in th e J u nior/ P ro -Am main for a $900-p lus payday. R o ad ra cer s-tu rned -flat trackers Chu ck Blackmon a nd Nige l Ga le finish ed 1-2 in th e MAR S version o f th e U.S. T winSp orts race, both aboard 883 H arley-Davidsons. Defending MARS champ Rogers set th e to ne for th e ni ght in time trials, turning the fastest lap a t 21.64 seco nds. Former MARS champ Davis was th e on ly o the r rid er in th e 21-second range with a 21.83 aboard h is 600 H arley. T ime trial s also set th e li ne up for th e H ooter 's/WKZQ King of th e H ill Challenge, a n event th a t wo uld pi t th e fast est fiv e qu al i fiers agai ns t o ne ano ther in two -m an m atch races. Bryan Villella was to ug h, toppin g Er ik Graybeal and Brian Tillson before falling to Davis. Then the curren t MAR S n u mb er one rid er a nd th e 1990 champ faced o ff in a tire-sm oking three la p dash. Davis' came o u t on top o f th e race th at left a blue haze a ll arou nd the track. T hat ea rned hi m a tri p to the winner's circle wit h th e H oot er 's girls and $300. The Junior/ Pro-Am heats wo u ld move the firs t two in to the main wi th everyone else go ing to a sem i. H art a nd J ess Roeder sq uared o ff in th e fir st heat rac e, exchanging th e lead several times before H art was able to slide into th e lead for good. The second heat was all Brian , Strong's as the P ro- Am rider topped Juniors Donald Paul and Mi ke Klo p p. The Ex pert heat s al so ad vanced th e top two to th e fea ture a nd it was Rogers running away with th e first go . T he race for second was the real crowd pleaser as Graybea l, Tillson, Mark Co rsett i and Steve Burkholder a ll ba tt led for the one remaining tra ns fer position. Graybea l got it. Heat number two was won easi ly by Davis, but Villella a nd Georgie Price hooked up in a du el over second. Villella came fro m well back to ta ke th e transfer. The J u n ior/Pro -Am semi went to Klo p p over J ames Haas a nd Bob by Myers. The race was red-fl agged a nd ca lled com p lete on la p seven when Dayne P iera ntoni fell in turn three. P ira nt on i was uninjured a nd able to ma ke it ba ck to action in th e m ain. The Expert semis saw Tillson run away wit h the fir st o ne while Mike Scott edged o u t Burkholder for seco nd, the last transfer spot. The seco nd sem i produced the best race o f th e ni ght. Ro bert Lewis, H arold Do rsey a n d Corsetti were th e early lead ers. Pri ce moved up a nd joined th e fray a nd a t ti mes they were four w ide in th e tu rn s. Lewi s faded and a three-rider war developed for th e lead . Suddenly, o n lap nine Pri ce bl ew a rea r tire, a lmost high-sided, sa ved it, th rew a chain, fell all but tot ally o ff th e bik e, saved it again, a nd fina lly coas ted into th e in field a t the sta rti ng line wh ere he collapsed. Whi le all th is was go ing o n, Corsett i took th e win over Dorsey. The last cha nce qualfier for the Experts was a nother dandy. Burkholder led initia lly over Bob Sweeten, Charlie Orr, Rob ert Lewi s a nd Price. Bu rk holder looked to hav e thin gs under co n trol u ntil Sweeten ca ugh t h im on the fifth lap . Price the n mad e h is charge to th e front two la ps lat er with his uncle, Swee ten, tak ing over second on la p eight. Entering tu rn o ne, Sweeten 's rea r tire gave u p th e fight, sending him in to th e hay ba les which brought out both the red and checkered fla gs. The first main event brought to the line was the 883 U.S. Twin Sp orts go. Ro ad ra cers Chuck Blackmon and Nigel G ale du eled, with Low Country H-D/Scott Shitson/H.O.G . of GreenwoodiDunlop/SBS Brak es-sp onsored Blackmon holding off Gale' s rep eated challenges to win with Gale second a nd T illson a distant third over Gu y St uart. " I like this (paved oval racing). I won, so I really like it. Once you get a few laps in , it 's really fun ," said Blackmon. The Junior/Pro-Am m a in wa s decided q uickly as Hart blast ed into the lead and stayed there. " Whe n they sai d eig ht laps, I was afraid if Roeder did ge t the drag, it wou ld take me at least th at long to get by him," said H art. I kept see i ng shadows a nd hearing no ises o ff the wall, so I just kept go ing fas ter and faster . Tha t last lap I sa w a shado w go ing into turn three. I abo ut burned it into th e ground trying to get out of that tu rn ." H art's worries were unfounded as he was well a hea d o f a tigh t race for seco nd betw een Strong and Roeder. Strong wa s able to hold off Roed er until the seventh la p wh en Roeder charged arou nd on th e outside and went on to take the runner-up hon ors behind H art. " It's har d to beat a 600 on a 750. Well, if I was my brother (Expert George Roeder II ), maybe not , bu t he's g o t a lot m ore ex perience," sa id Roeder. " I knew fro m th e hea t race tha t I had to ge t off th e li ne with H art to beat him, but I go t sandwiched off the start. Once I go t around Strong, I o nly had o ne lap left , so th ere was no way." The Expert main even t shaped u p as a battle bet ween Da vis a nd Roger, but when Rogers got th e hol esh ot , it was pretty well sett led. "T he 750 was j us t too much , bu t Rusty was just riding th e wheels off it," sa id Dav is, who finishe d second. " He got a good lead , th en I scraped my cases and th a t scared the dayli ghts ou t of m e. I sai d to m yself , 'WilI, you' ve go t to ca lm down. You 've got to race Su nday,' " said Davis, who flew to Ca lifornia after th e race for th e Ca mel Pro Seri es Sa n J ose Mil e. " We definitely had tire problems. We co uld have go ne 10, ma ybe 12 laps. H ere tonight and a t Ashev ille last year is th e o n ly time we've had tire problems ," sai d winner Rogers. Graybeal put in a stro ng rid e for th ird. " I didn't think I'd do this well, " sa id Graybeal. I ca me to th e line hoping to salvage a fifth or so. ' I th ought those guys were ri ght on my tail, so I jus t kept running it into the corn ers harder a nd harder. I looked back lat e a nd saw I had a lead , but I'm glad I th ought th ey were there. I m ig h t have let up. " G ray bea l was one o f th e few rid ers who ex perienced no tire p rob lems. " We ran th e sa me tire a ll da y a nd it was a lready worn." Fo u rt h place finish er Corsetti led a close pack home with Tillson ta king fifth, Villell a six th, Burkho lder seventh a nd Mike Sco tt eigh th . aI Results EX: I. Rusty Rogers (H -D); 2. Will Davis (H -D); 3. Erik G raybea l (W· R ); 4. Mark Co rsetti (W-R); 5. Brian T illson (H · D); 6. Bryan Villella (H-D); 7. Steve Burkhol der (H- D); 8. Mike Sco tt (Hon) ; 9. Harold Dorsey, Jr. (H · D); 10. Rob ert Lewis, Jr. (H -D); II . Georgie Price (H -D); 12. Ia n Segedv (H- D). JRlP-A: I. Jam es Hart (W· R ); 2. Jess Roeder (H D); 3. Bria n Strong (W· R); 4. Mike Klo p p (W· R ); 5. Don al d Paul (W-R ); 6. Bobby Myers (Yam); 7. James H aa s (Rue); 8. Da llas Baer (R tx); 9. Keith MiBer (R ue); 10. Donn ie Krusinski (Ya m); II. Dayne Piera nto ni (R tx); 12. Ja mes Berry (R tx). 883: I. Ch uck Blackmo n (H -D); 2. N igel Gale (H D); 3. Brian T illson (H -D); 4. G uy Stuart (H -D); 5. Ri chard Bell (H -D); 6. J o n Stauffer (H -D).

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