Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Series DIRT TRACK e e Will Davis (21) led winner George Roeder II (66) and runner-up Steve Beattie (26) at the start of the main event. Davis eventually slipped to a third-place finish. George Roeder (center) celebrates with his father George Sr. (left) and other admirers. By Bert Shepard DAYTON, OH JUNE 12 , " w e got all o f the .ca s h ! Well , m ost of it, a t least," said George Roe d e r II after wi nning the 750cc and 883 class main events at the 23rd Old Time Newsies race for charity, held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. As usual, the race feat ure d the largest non-National d irt track payoff o f th e ye ar a nd it wa s ind ee d Roeder who walked away with the lion's sha re. For h is w in in the 750cc m a in , Roed er earned $1250 of the $7000, and another $700 for top pi ng the 883 featu re. But w ha t mad e Roed er' s w ins even m ore rewarding was $3500 in contingencies that was awarded to him by area dealers and others. In all, Roeder's day of racing ne tted him $5650. . "Hey, th at' s mo re than I've e ver m a d e at a Na tional, " said Mike's Harley-Davidson /Roeder H -D / KK / Herb Harris/Fric-n-Frac Tru ckin g / Bell /S teele La ndscap in g /Sherm an Farms/Johnson Body Shop /Southeast H-D/ SuperTra pp-sponsored Roeder. Will Davis turned in the day's fastest qu alifyin g la p of 26.564 seconds, fa r .short o f Roeder's 1992 re co rd la p Df 25.992. Davis was mount ed ab oard the Sk ip Eake n- tu ned Te xa s H arl e yDav id son XR750 usually pilot ed b y either Kevin Atherton or Larry Pegram. "Skip asked me if I'd like to ride the bike because Larry's hurt and Kevin's road racing . I didn't th ink twice - I haven't forgotten the last time that Skip lent me a bike," said Davis in reference to his 1989 Lima Half Mile win aboard Steve Morehead's Skip-Eaken-tuned Harley. . Morehead and Roeder also turned in sub -26 second lap s to round out the top three fastest qu alifiers. Davis holeshot the first heat race, but it took Roed er onl y one lap to shoot into the lead. Roeder's younger brother, Jess, held down third and had his hands full with Darren Erichsen. Roed er held on for the win ahead of Davis, brother Jess and Erichsen, while Dann y Koelsch and Chance Darling nabbed .the last tw o tra ns fers to the main afte r Ted Ta ylor broke and Scott Stump cras hed . Canadian National Champion Steve Bea ttie led th e seco nd hea t race fro m start to fin ish. Morehead would ha ve the first of an evening-full of mishaps, as his front carburetor fell Dff and left him on the side of the track and ou t of the main. Don Estep kep t Beattie honest and finished a close second, while Dave Rayburn and Greg Sims finished a 'close third a nd fourth, re spective ly. Da vid Lloyd and Darren Erichsen scored the last two tickets to the main. Davis g ra bbed the ho lesho t' a t th e sta r t of the m ain event, b u t Roed e r squared turns three and four on lap one and zipped into the lead. Once into the lead, Roed er p u t his consid erable pea g r a vel ex perience to good use a nd p ulled away with a commanding lead. Nex t to s ta lk Da v is was Beattie. Using the same line that Roeder had on the first lap, Beattie dove und er Dav is as they blasted out of four an d took ov er second . Not one to give up easily, Davis hounde d Beattie to th e chec ke red flag. Beattie held tough, th ough, and sped acro ss th e fin ish line second ahead of Dav is. Estep held down fourth, with Rayburn and Erichsen in his shadow. Roeder grabbed the holeshot in the 883 ma in event, but ·Paul Morg an su rprised him and took over the lead as they blasted out of turn four. Morgan held the lead for three laps before surrendering it to a ha rd -charging Roeder, and a few laps later was also passed by James Hart. "I started to get tired," said Morgan. Morehead ran near the leaders in the early going, but dropped o u t at the halfway point with handling problems. At the finish, it was Roeder w it a commanding win over Hart and Morgan, while Tim [ohnson nab bed fourth. Morgan caught his breath an d headed for the outside pole for the Pro-Am m ain. The Illinois racer was able to duplicate his 883 ho lesh ot and led the race all the way o n his Ha rt Racing/Dale's H-D /M&D/Zach/Bech / Green Grill/ D-K-D-backed Rotax. Ken Coolbe th circulated in second a nd finished there, unable to catch Morgan , James Hart picked up wh ere he left off a t Dayton las t year as a Junior and blasted in to the lead at the s tart of th e 600cc main. Hart, mounted aboard Will Davis' Rotax, disappeared from the rest of the pack. Mike Hacker settled in to second and ci rcu la ted the track 10-bike lengths ahead Dfthe rest of the field . Brett Beyer worked into third ahead of Ian Seged y, whil e Jim Sumner, AI Eadi e and J.J. McDowell battled over fifth. With five lap s to go, McDowell got off hard in tum three and brought out the red flag. Hart had the single file restart wired and rode away from the field . Beyer benefitted the most from the res tart and went to th e wall s and sq ua red off the facility. Beyer caugh t up to Ha cker for seco nd , who opted to run a more-conservative low line. Their lines in tersected on the last la p a nd Beyer cli pped Ha cke r 's fro n t end as he wen t by, alm ost putting him d own, At th e ch ecker ed flag it was H art w ith an easy w in ov er Beyer and Hacker. "I chopped down from the top , but I never saw him," sai d Beyer. CN Resul ts 750: 1. Geo rge Roed er 11 (H-D); 2 Steve Beattie (H D); 3. Will Davis (H-D); 4. Don Estep (H- D); 5. Darren Erichse n (H-D); 6. Greg Sim s (H-D); 7. Dave Rayburn (H-D); 8.. Danny Koelsch (H-D); 9. David Uo yd (H-D); 10. Jess Roed er (H-D ). 600: I. Jam es Ha rt (W- R); 2. Brett Beyer (H- D); 3. Mike Hacker (Rtx); 4. Ian Segedy (H· D); 5. AI Eadi e (HD); 6. Jim Su mner (H·D); 7. Will Kinsey (Rtx); 8. Go rdo n Sch opiera y (H -D) ; 9. Jerry Va n der kooi (Rtx) ; 10. J. McDowell (Rtx). . 883, 1. Geo rge Roed er II (H-D); 2. James Hart (H· D); 3. Paul Morg an (H-D); 4. Tim Johnson (H-O); 5. Steve Moreh ead (H-D). PRO.AM, I. Pa ul Morg an (Rtx); 2. Ken Coolbeth (Rtx); 3. Chris Ha rt (Rtx) ; 4. Mike Warn er (Rtx); 5. Sha wn Clark (Rtx); 6. Brian Knippenburg (Rtx); 7. Ryan Brown (Rtx); 8. Gary Cla rk (Rtx); 9. Steve Ryde r (Rtx); 10. Gary Stogsdill (Hen). 31

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