Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

t;?ce, but I knew that I could draft by at the fin ish line for the win , so I waited it ou t." The fina l semi saw a three-way scrap for the lead between Morehead, A&R Racing's Davis and Brenny's Cyclesponsored Davey Camlin. Morehead held the early lead, bu t Davis and Camlin di sp laced their elder and left him behind. On the sixth lap, Morehead came alive an d closed the gap on the leaders. As they raced for the chec kered flag, Camlin led the charge but Morehead drafted by at the finish to steal the win . Carnl in was initially credited with first, but after reviewing a videotape of the finish, AMA Nationa l Dirt T rack Referee J err y Kennedy declared Moreh ead the winner. Davis finished th ird, only inches behind, whi le Ran dy Texter crossed the line a ,distan t four th and ou t of the show. r "I screwed up and lost a little ground, but after I regrou ped I went pretty fast," said Morehead . National Fastest heat win ner Graham cho se to start the 25-lap National on the ou tside Pole, closest to the grandstands. . "That's wh ere the tr action is," Graham said. Joining Graham on the from row were fellow heat -winners Carr, Parker and Poovey, as well as Jones and Springsteen , the runners-up in the two fastest hea ts. ~ Though Grah am s ta rted o n the groo ve, it was Poovey who hooked up thF best and snar ed the holeshot. Springsteen, Mertens and Carr chased Poovey into turn one, but Gr ham pi nned it and a swooped into second through turn s one a'n d two. Graham dove under Poovey as they en tered tum three and assumed the lead , whi le Carr found his way pas t Mertens and Springsteen to take over third. " " I knew that I would ha ve to ride aggressively on the first few laps so no on e woul d break away," said Carr. ' ~ Parker began the Na tional out of the top five, bu t by the start of lap two wor ked into fourth, behind Graham, Poovey and Carr. Morehead com pleted the first lap in 13th. "S tarting on the second row didn 't hel p, but I also sp un a lot off the lin e," said Morehead. Ca rr and Parker foun d their way past Poo vey on the second lap, an d set after Graha m. Carr was the first to swoop by, and Parker foll owed su it a few seconds biter. No t to be left out, Poovey also passed Gra ha m and for the next 10 laps the four riders each took turns in the point position. Mean while, Springsteen bega n to dro p off the pace with a leaking oil tank , and faded to an event ual nin th at the fin ish. " Man, [ go t a good start, but I sprung a leak real ear ly," said Springsteen. "The oil was gelling on my rear tire and I was slipping and sliding all over the place." Ath erton was the first rider to pass the ai ling Springsteen, and circu lated the track in fifth, 10 bike-lengths behind the lead quartet. After starting 12th , Morehead planted his Harley on the h igh lin e and drove around hi s rivals. " I rode the outside line and was able to just go right by," said Morehead, who closed to the rear tire of Ather ton by lap 12. "It was wild, you could feel chun ks of rubber and dirt hilling you in the chest." Pegram completed the first lap in nimh, and latched onto Morehead when he 'stormed past. : "When Steve go t by me, I saw his line in three and fou r," said Pegra m. "I tried it, and it worked great." While Morehead and Pegram worked on Atherton, Poovey began to fade an d slowly lost touch with Graham, Parker and Carr. "It's been so long sin ce I've been up from like that, I forgot how tiring it is," said Poovey. By lap 14, the Atherton/Morehead! Pegram battle had closed in on Poovey. Three seconds ba ck , S p ri n gst een , Mertens and Du relle battl ed over eight h. "We mad e some drastic chan ges for the main, and it took me abo ut five laps to get com fortable," said Durelle, " I had to star t the main with a new tire, and it took a while to scuff up. I was skidding around quite abit," said Mertens. Morehead and Pegra m forced their way past Poovey on the 17th lap, and set ou t after the thr ee front- run ners. Together, they set a torrid pace tha t carried them into the midst of the lead pack. "I was th inking that it was too late to catch up, they were so far ahead," said Pegra m. "Then all of a sudden I loo ked and Morehead and I were right there." Pegram dove to the in side of tum on e on the 18th lap and swooped past Carr, Parker and Graham to inherit the lead. Parker and Graham would have none of tha t, however, and promptl y sent Pegram back to thi rd. In the last five laps, Carr, Gra ha m, Parker an d Pegram each took turn s in the lead position, while Morehead lurked only inches behind. All the while, Carr didn't realize-that the end of the race was near. "I didn 't see the five-lap signa l," said Carr. "I was tak ing my time and getting a feel for everyone, and all of a sudden the white flag came ou t, " As the riders flew past the whi te flag, the order read: Park er, G raham, Mo rehead a nd Pegram, while Carr was caugh t off g ua rd a nd ran fifth . On the last lap, Moreh ead a nd Pegra m draft ed past G ra ha m o n the back straigh t, but Graham struck back as th ey ra ced in to turn three and stuc k to the rear fender of Parker, who led the dash ou t of turn four. Graham tri ed to dr aft past, b u t it was Park er who held o n for a narrow win over Graham; while Morehead a nd P eg ra m fo ll o wed onl y inc h es behind. " No one draf ted me all day, so I figured I'd go for it," said Parker. " I tried to break away abou t the fourth lap, bu t they wouldn't let mel" " I knew I couldn't draft Scott at the lin e, but I figu red that if I didn't try, Morehead might have snu ck by," said ' Grah am. "When Scotty couldn 't break away, I knew I'd have to ride aggressive the who le way." Carr fin ished a close fifth , well ahead of Poovey and Atherton, who finished in close formation. "T h is is my worst fini sh on a mi le in a whi le," said Carr. "But then agai n, I've never don e excep tionally well here." "I th ink I have the flu or someth ing," said Atherton. "I've felt terrible all week." Rounding ou t the top 10were Durelle, Springsteen a nd Mertens, wh ile Hale fini shed a disappointing I I tho "T he cam cover gasket started leaking, an d oil was dripping on my rear tire," said H ale. "That, paired with a blown fork seal, had me sliding all out of con trol." Jones ran as high as seventh, bu t was credi ted with 17th place after pu lling off the track on the ninth la p. "The footpeg bracket sp u n around and pointed straight down ," said Jones. "I had now here to put my foot, and my leg started to cramp u p. Then the bike star ted to wobble real bad on the straigh t because of it, and I figured I'd better p ull off before someone got hurt." Junior Nationa l Bret Beyer topped T y Howard and Larry Davis in the first six-lap heat race, while James Hart was the victor over Graham (3) tried to draft P arker (1) at the finish but came up a few inches short. Moreh ead's tuner, Gary Stolzenburg (left), watched in anticipation as Morehead's bike was weighed after th e race. It tipped the scales at 315 Ibs., right at the legal limit. (Left to ri ght) Morehead, Parker and Graham celebrated in th e wi n ne r' s circle. Cory Perrault and Allan McBee in the second heat. Joh n Resso III won the third and final heat, followed by J eff Eklund and Jess Roeder. Beyer grabbed the holeshot at the start of the 1O-lap main event , but Perra ult took con trol on the first lap. Beyerstalked Perrault, and retook the lead on the third lap, while Roeder made his way through the field after a bad start an d began to close in on the leaders. ' O n lap seven, Roeder pulled out the stops and smoked into the lead as the field crossed the start/finish lin e, and held on to the point for the next complete lap. On that lap, Hart tangled with ano ther rider on the back straigh t while running four th and was sen t cartwheeling down the track a t over 100 mph. Hart was shaken, but uninjured. The race was stop ped and called officia l, and Roeder - - -- - - Continued on page 23 7

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