Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

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. ~ • rrrm ... a not drink and ride. It is iIIeg~1 and dangerous. Spec~ications subject to change without nOlice. ACi'Qi) ~ ~_ ~ CJJ..IJ 1993 Yamaha Molar CorporallOn, U.SA (Cypress, CA 9(630) .• ~ -- DID WfZI!II r

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