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National
Graham had the fastest reactions at
the start of the 25-lap main, but the twotime Grand National Champion rode
high in turns one and two and allow~
Atherton, Carr, Farris and Springsteen
to motor past on the inside.
Once into the lead, Atherton headed
straight for the line he had mentioned
earlier, and immediately began to pull
away from Farris.
"I knew that the line would be
there," said Atherton of the high line, up
above the cushion. "You could just see it
developing all night long, but 1 had to
resist the temptation to go up there. "
Atherton squirted around the outsides of all four turns and lap after lap,
eased away from Farris until.his lead
had stretched to nearly a full straight.
Farris, meanwhile, rode an extremely
smooth race and held a firm grip on second while Graham struggled to recover
from his poor first turn line ¥!lection.
Graham motored past Springsteen on
the second lap and began to work on
Carr shortly thereafter. After hounding
Carr for four of five laps, Graham made
the pass low in turns three and four on
lap nine and would never be rechallenged for the position.
"Ricky was riding well tonight," said
the ever-gracious Carr. "I can't deny
him that. The cushion got blown away
real fast and you had to go in real hard.
1 started to diamond turns one and two,
but I just didn't have it going tonight."
After Graham passed Carr for third,
he began to close the distance between
himself and Farris, but suddenly
seemed to drop off the pace a bit near
the1talfway point of the race.
"I was riding so hard that I started to
fog up my shield," said Graham. "The
humidity back here always seems to be
a problem."
For the moment, Farris was safe in
second, but his biggest opponent in the
remaining laps would turn out to be not
Graham, but a mechanical gremlin.
"I felt so good out there," said
Farris."I've been workin,g my butt off
and things are really starting to come
together. But then all of a sudden the
bike died. There was no warning. I went
into turn one and it shut off, and I
. thought, 'Hey, I didn't shut off yet: and
cracked the throttle open but there was
nothing."
Farris coasted to a stop with only six
laps to go and bumped the entire field
up a notch.
Meanwhile, Atherton continued to
maintain his torrid pace, and squared
off tum two a few times in order to get a
glimpse behind him. Atherton, aboard
his Texas Harley-Davidson/Workman
Ha rley- Da v idson / Sponseller
Racing/ Arai/Motion Pro/KK-backed
Harley, went on to greet the checkered
flag a full straightaway ahead of
Graham.
"My Pomona (1991) win will always
be special to me because it was my first,
but this one sure feels good. I think that
a lot of people thought 1 wouldn't do
anything without the factory support,
and it feels great to prove them wrong."
Graham finished a lonely, rather
uneventful second, while Parker and
Carr crossed the line in close forma tion
in third and fourth, respectively. On the
first and second laps, Parker was stuck
back in 12th plac~ but methodically
Rusty Rogers (57) finished a steady fifth. Rodney Farris (92) ran second and was set to
post the best Grand National finish of his career, but his bike broke with six laps to go.
essional rider depicted during cIosed-eourse event Do not attempt these maneuvers. Dress properly for your ride with a helmet, eye protection,long-sleeved slirt,long trousers, gloves and boots. Yamaha and the Motorcycle satety Foundalioo encourage you to ride safely and
respecllhe environment. For further informalion regarding the MSF rider course, please cali HOO-447-4700.
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a not drink and ride. It is iIIeg~1 and dangerous. Spec~ications subject to change without nOlice.
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1993 Yamaha Molar CorporallOn, U.SA (Cypress, CA 9(630)
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