Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

event's co-promoter , was better abl e to do something about i t. Immediately after practice, two local sprint car racers took to the track in their ca rs and circ ulated the course for a considerable amount of tim e, blowing off the dust Carr sp oke of and laying down some additional rubber from their tires as well. " It was an idea I came up with a while ago," said Jones. "We'll have to . see how well it works out." As it turns out, the idea was a good one, as mos t racers agreed th a t the track provided a number of different lines and got better an d better as the night wore on. Lately, it has become a us ual sig ht to see G r aha m 's na me atop the ti med qua lifying list, and tonight was no d iffere nt. Graha m sped around the course in 24.119 sec onds on his first attempt and a lt ho ugh h e w a s well off Larry Pe gram' s 1991 track re cord of 23.992 seconds, h is ti me 'w o u ld remain th e fastest of the d ay . A&R Racing's Will Davis was second -fas tes t wi th a 24.150, also posting his tim e on the first try . The th ird fas tes t qu ali fi er of the n i ght w a s Harley-Da v idson of Sacramento-sponsored Aaron H ill with a 24.172, and the mild-mannered rider would a ls o com pete in h is firs t-ever Camel Challenge. " I' ve m is s ed b e ing in th e Camel Cha llen ge by one or two sp ots before, this is exciting," said Hill. HI just hope the rest of the n ight goes as well." Rounding out th e six -fastest qualifi ers w ho would co m pe t e in the Challenge were Carr, Hud Racing's Billy He rndon and Morehead. Heats Fas t-qualifier Graham ch ose to start the firs t la-lap heat race on the outside pole, bu t found that the groove was n't the pl ace to s ta rt w h en h e su ffered a terrible s tart and entered turn one midp ack. Texas Harley-Da vidson 's Kevin A ther to n grab bed the h ol e sh ot a n d cont rolled th e first hal f of j he race with Bartels" Ha rley rider Mi ke Hale on his ta il, but neither ri der co ul d h old off Graham. By lap six, Graham had muscled his way into the lead and w ould enjoy a com fortable lead over Atherton and Hale a t the finish. Hale, ~Iong wi th the rest, would return in a semi. "I wheelied off the line because there was too much tra c t io n , " said Graham . "The .groove is getting slip pery out there, yo u can't go in too ho t or you 'll slide rig ht off." After watching Graham's poor start in heat one Davis chose to sta rt on the inside pole, b u t s till fou n d h imse lf chasing after fast-s tarter Jones for the majority of the race. With th e h ighlypartisan crowd behind him, Jones showed the speed that has carried hi m to nine-career-National wins, b u t h e would need more than that to hold off the charging Davis. Davis was able to sneak in to the lead on lap seven, and notched the w in inches ahead of Jones. Larry Pegram was a distant th ir d , b u t out of lu ck. • "I'm running pretty fast in turns one and two, I had a little on Ronnie there," said Davis. Morehead ripped off the line in heat th ree and led Hill and Farris throu gh the first two turns, b ut as h e en te re d tu m three both of his air filte rs flew off and the after effec ts slowed him long enough to allow Hill past. " We forgot to tighten up the hose clam ps after we put the restrictors in," sa id Morehead. "After they fell off, the front carburetor sucked my leathers in and it startled me." Hill controlled the race for four laps before Morehead learned to alter his Steve Morehead (42), Chris Carr (1) and Will Davis (21) battled over the lead until Graham came along and passed them all . The racing action was close and exciting, as demonstrated b y Billy Hemdon (19), Jay Springsteen (9), Rodney Farris (92), ra ce promoter Ronnie Jones (16) and eventual winner Ricky Graham (3). Farris worked up to fourth at the finish. ridi ng s ty le - r igh t knee ou t - a nd swooped back into the lead. Mo rehead raced a way with a com man ding win ov er Farris, who nipped Hill late in the race for the second direct transfer position: Ca rr flat-out spanked the field in the fourth and fmal heat race. Right from the start, Carr put his factory XR750 out front and pulled away with each and every lap, leaving Parker and Herndon to do battle ove r second. Herndon showed little respect for the winningest rider in di rt track and challenged him re peatedly, bu t was never able to work past the 52-time National winner. Carr and Parke r headed for the National, while Herndon a nd the rest readied themselves for the semis. Semis The wa ter truck, grad er and sp rint cars returned to the track in the br eak be tween th e h eats an d se mis, and an even fas ter track was the result. Poove y bolted in to the lead at the start of the fi rs t eight-lap semi, but Herndon took over on lap three and waved goodbye. Poovey fin ished a s ecu r e s e co n d, while Babe Dema y / MBL/Nichols/Beli/SpectTo/K&N/Dia- mond/ Midwes t Roofi ng-s po nsored Tommy C o ls on finish e d thi rd a nd earned a spot in the Na tional. Hill and Jay Springsteen led th e way in semi two, but the red flag came ou t the second lap when Jess Roeder, son of eight-time National winner George Roeder Sr., crashed and cut his hand in turn three. Roeder was unable to make the complete restart that again saw Hill out front, this time ahead of Willie McCoy and Don Estep. Springsteen started poorly, but eventually worked his way into second be hind winner Hill. Estep got past McCoy for the final transfer position. Pegram and Hale scrapped for the lead the entire way in the thi rd a nd final semi, while Roeder Sr.'s other son, George Roeder II, he ld d ow n third. Hale challenged Pegra m repeatedly, bu t w as n ev er a b le to fin d th e edge need ed to s neak past. Pegram, Hale and Roeder would round out th e 17rider National. Camel Challenge Three Hondas and three HarleyDav idsons lined up a t the s tart of the five- lap Camel Challenge - Graham, Davis and Herndon aboard the Japanese mach ines and Hill, Mo rehead and Carr aboard the American-made racers. Taking his hea t race start into consideration, fast-qualifier Gra ham chose to s tart the dash in the m iddle of the line with Carr and Hill to his left, and Davis, Herndon and Morehead to his right. Mo rehead must ha ve chuckled when he grabbed the holeshot from the outside pole - the same spot tha t Graham avoided - and led Hill, Graham, Davis, Herndon and an uncharacteristically slow Carr thro ugh turns one and two. "We tried a brand new tire in the Challenge," said Carr. "I was slipping and sliding all over the place." With the lead in ha nd , Morehead 's eyes " tu rn ed in to silver d oll ars," and th e KK M otorcy cle Su pply /She p erd Chemi ca l C ompan y / F&S H arl e yDavidson/Storz Performance /Dragoo z' Bell /SuperTrapp /M otion Pro /Zoom Cycle-sponsored rid er held on to th e lead fo r the en ti re fiv e la ps, d espite heavy challe nges on th e las t lap fro m ru nner-up Graham. After starting second, Hill fell victim to Graham, then Da v is, but held off Herndon to fini sh fourt h. Carr was 17

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