Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; DIRTTRACK_AMA Grand National.Championship_S_eri_es_:R_ou-- ,- n_l_3 d e ----- - -y (Left to right) Ronnie Jones, Chris Carr and Mike Hale cut loose on the podium. nevertheless finished third and assured himself a spot in the main. Three-time Grand National Champ ion Jay Springsteen finished a painfully-close fourth and would spend the rest of the day spectating. California neighbors Bostrom and Tresser engaged in an all-out war for top honors in the second semi and pulled well clear of the rest of the field . Despite Tresser's numerous challenges, Bostrom held on for the win with only inches to spare. After starting fourth, Landes displaced Davey Camlin for the third ticket to the main. . Heath Specialties/Dirt Track Plates/Hart Racing/England Sign Co. /Bell /Motion Pro/Oury-sponsored Rex Fisher led the way in the final semi, but,the red flag came out on lap three when Erick Gruber and L.J . Schaid t got together in tum four and crashed into the chain-link fence lining the track. Though neither rider was seriously injured , two spectators, young boys, were taken to the hospital for stitches. Fisher found himself at the point of the single-file restart with Parker right behind him. At the flash of the green, Fisher was all business and fended off Parker's repeated attacks for the remainde r of the race. Davis finished a d istant third, and earned the last transfer po sition of the day. 14 Camel Challenge The five-lap Camel Challenge provided plenty of thrills, as well as a preview of things to come in the National. Fast qualifier Carr sat on the inside pole with Hale, Jones, Estep, Bostrom and Graham to his right. The smell of money proved to be too strong for all but Hale, a s Carr, Bostrom, Jones, Estep a n d Graham all jumped th e gun and were sen t to the penalty line. With that, Hale looked to be sitting pretty> all alone on the front row, but Graham sped off the second row at the start and pulled alongside Hale as they entered tum one. A sligh t bobble caused Hale to strai gh ten up sli ghtly in the middle of the turn, and Graham locked handlebars wi th him . Ha le tumbled to the ground and thou gh he was basically unhurt, his riding gear was tattered and tom as he lined up for the restart. Once again, he sat alone on row one. ' Hale again led the way into tum one, but Graham dove to the lo w line and took over the lead in tum two. Carr was third ahead of Bostrom, Jones and Estep . Hale motored back past Graham as they raced down the front s trai g h t, but Graham would not give up that easily. The two riders circula ted the track only a hair apart, but un fortunately for Graham, he charged in to turn one too hot on lap three and slipped off the groove. Carr and Bostrom slid past Graham ashe floundered in the loose dirt near the hay bales, and Carr set out to catch ' Hale. On the white fla g lap, Carr rode through turns three and four far lower than usual and outpowered Hale as they raced for the line. Bostrom finished a close third, just ahead of Graham, Jones and Estep. "Chris went low and came up to take my line," said runner-up Ha le. " It was basically a motocross-type move, but I guess this is the track to do motocrosstype stuff." "I found some traction on the very bottom of the track," said w inner Carr. "Mike's bike seems to be really fast, so I tried to take up as mu ch roo m as possible as we came out of four. " National Fast heat winner Hale se t his Bob Hal e-tuned Rota x on the ou tside pole at the start of the N at ion al , while Graham; Estep, Hill, Jones and Carr filed in next to him. Row two con sisted of Bostrom, Fay, Tr esse r, Fis h e r, Stanley and Annen , whi le Landes, Davis, Morehead, Parker and Athe rton sat on the back row . Carr carried hi s Camel Cha llenge momentum into th e N a ti onal and ripped off of the inside po le w ith th e holeshot. Hale was second, but only for a few moments befor e Graha m ra ced past in turn two. 'Jones started fou r th ahead of Hill, Bostro m and Sta nl ey. Parker and Atherton completed the first lap in 15th and 16th, resp ectively. Carr, Graham, Hale, Jones and Hill began to pull aw ay from the res t of the . field almost im m ed iate ly, a n d Carr began to inch aw ay from Graham on lap four . "I knew tha t I was going a bit faster than Ricky today," said Carr. "I knew th at if I cou ld break away ea rly, he might hold the other guys up . I figured Fourth-placed Ricky Graham was glad to see the checkered flag after a few scares. that Hale would be a force to deal with and I wanted to get a lead on him." Just as Carr had hoped , Graham h e ld u p Hale, Jones and Hill and allowed Carr to inch away. Usually one of the more graceful jumpers, Gra ham on several occasions looked as if he might "loop out" over the back straight jump. "I just couldn't get my rhythm goin g," said Graham. With an obvious horsepower advanta ge, Hale repeatedly drove past Graham on the front straight, only to ha v e th e two-time Grand National Champ ion blaze into turn one and retake second with spectacular outside passes. "I knew that I could pass him out of four an d I did, but I wasn't willing to run it in as hard as Ricky was," said Hale . Hale finally made a pass stick on lap 13 and once .into second, looked ahead to see how far Carr had pulled away. He found himself faced with a substantial gap between himself and Carr, but lap by lap, Ha le man aged to close in. Jones, meanwhile, glued himself to Grah am 's rear wheel after Hale found a wa y past, but didn't have very long wait for his tum to ad vance as well. Like he ha d done ea rli e r in the Camel Challenge, Graham entered tum one too fast and slip ped off the groove. Jone s said thank you and goodbye, and tried in va in to keep pace with Ha le. "We never did get the brake to work like it sho uld have," said Jones. "I was just waiting for someone to make a mistake, and I was in the right place when Ricky finally d id." When th e five-laps -to -go sig n a l ca me o ut, Ca rr enjo y ed a 10-bike len gth lead ov er Hale, but the challenger was closing in qu ickly. By lap 22, Hal e had closed to within five bik e leng th s, a nd w as ev e n closer on the ne xt go-rou nd. "From abo u t the ha lfwa y mark I seemed to hav e trouble wi th the jump," said Ca rr, who repeatedly looked over his shou lde r to monitor Hale's progre ss. "We set up the shocks softer before the main an d it wo rked great in the turns, but lousy over the jump. I started to bottom." H ale shadowed Carr as they raced past the white flag, and on the last lap he tried to use the same low line in turns _ three and four th a t he used to zap Graham. "I went low , but Chris wa s there too," said Hale , who came up a few feet short at the fini sh. "But I would gues s he should have been , he's the one that showed me that low line!" " I was lookin g back a nd tr ying to keep my eye on Ha le," said Carr. "He was starting to make me nervou s." Jones finish ed a so lid third, 10 bike lengths ahea d of Gra ham. "I' m d efinitely ha ppy wi th third ," said Jones. "This is the firs t tim e I'v e been on the box in a while." Afte r starting fifth , H ill s talk ed the fron t four for th e firs t half of the race before he began to hea r odd noises coming from his engine. , "I was right there wi th them, bu t on about the 10th lap the top end started to tie up," said Hill. "Afte r tha t sta rted I just tried to nurse it home and it barely mad e it." Hill sp u ttered across the finish line a di st ant fifth, w ell ahead of Bo st rom, Estep, Stanley, Parker and Fay, who rounded out the top 10. "I can't explain it," said Parker of his recent lack of success. "I'm doing all of the same things that I alwa ys have . If [ knew what to d o to go faster, I'd be doing it - believe me. " ~ Results TIME TRIALS: 1. C h r is Ca rr (26.628); 2. Mik e Hal e (26 .752); 3. Ron n ie Jon es (27.049); 4. Ben Bostr o m (27. 104); 5 . Ricky Gr a h a m (27 .184); 6. Don Es te p (27 .185) ; 7. Sc o ll Par ker (27 .2 20 ); 8. Mi ckey Fa y (27.285); 9. Eri k Graybea l (27.333); 10. Aar on H ill (2 7.334 ); 11. C had 8a rth (2 7.34 4); 12. Re x Fish er (27.428); 13. Jay Sp rin gsteen (27.493); 14. And y Tre eser (27.502) ; 15. Da n Sta n ley (516); 16. Th om as Troud t (27.547); 17. W ill Dav is (27 .579); 18. 8re tt Land es (27.637); 19. L.). Schaid t (27.649); 20. Rodney Farris (27.662); 21. Jeff Ann en (27.674); 22. Steve Moreh ead (27.694); 23. Joe Kopp (27.728); 24. Kevin Ath e rton (27.736); 25. Rich King (27.798); 26. Matt Wait (27.836); 27. Eric k Gr ube r (27.848); 28. Terry Poov ey (27.898); 29. Ch arl ie Br own (2 7.911 ); 30 . Ru s s Ya mamo to (27.936) ; 3 1. Ke v in Va r nes (96 4); 32. Da ve Ca m li n (27.997); 33 . Willie McCoy (28.157); 34. Clay to n Huli (28 .1 58 ); 35. M iche al Dillo n (28 .233); 36 . Geo rge Roed er Ii (28.245); 37. Tom my Co lso n (28.260) ; 38. Fr ankie Kise r (28 .459) ; 39 . Bre t Beyer (28 .48 2); 40. Kenton Lon gk or (28 .572 ). HEAT 1: I. Chris Carr (H- D); 2. Mickey Fay (Rtx); 3. Will Dav is ( C~A ); 4. Dav ey Ca mlin (Rhc); 5. Thoma s T r oudt (W- R); 6. Kenton Lon g cor (Rtx) ; 7. Sha ne Bucha rt (Rtx): B. Ty How ar d (Rtx); 9. Erick Gra ybeal (W-R); 10. Kevin Athe rto n (Rtx); 11. Rich King (Rtx); 12. Willie McCoy (Rtx). Ti me : 4 minutes, 41.43 seco nds. HEAT 2: I. Mike Hale (Rtx); 2. Aaron Hill (Rtx); 3. Dan Stan ley (Rtx); 4. Brett Lan des (Rtx); S. Sco tt Parker (H-D); 6. Joe Kopp (Rtx); 7. Kevin Varnes (Rtx); 8. John Fa ul kn e r (Ya m ): 9. Bret Beye r (Rtx): 10. C hris ; Sch m u lba ch (Rtx); 11. Ma tt Wait (W.rR) 12. Cla yt on Hull (W-R). Time: 4:33.30. HEAT 3: 1. Ronnie Jon es (Rtx); 2. Don Estep (Rtx); 3. And y Tresser (W-R); 4. Steve Morehead (Rtx); 5. Erick Grube r (W-R); 6. C had Barth (Rrx): 7. Frankie Kaise r (W-R); 8. Steve Liberty (Rtx); 9. Ron Wa re", (Illx); 10. L.). Schaidt (W-R); 11. Mike Dillon (W· R); 1 2. Ron • Yamamoto (W-R). T ime: 4:39.26. HEA T 4: 1. Ricky Gra ha m (Rtx); 2. Jeff Annen (WR); 3. Re x Fis he r (Rtx ); 4. Ja y Sp r ingstee n (Rtx ); 5. Rod ne y Fa rris (Rtx); 6. Ben Bos trom (Rtx); 7. C ha rlie Brow n (W- R); 8. Geo rge Roder II (Rtx) ; 9. To m my Colso n (Rtx); 10. Robert Miller (H-D); 11. Jim Su mner (Rtx); 12. Terry Poo vey (Rtx). T im ee 4:40.18. SEM I 1: 1. Sta nley ; 2. Atherton ; 3. Mor eh ead ; 4. Springs tee n; 5. Kop p; 6. Hull; 7. Beyer ; 8. Sumne r; 9. Kaiser; 10. Brown; 11. Howa rd; 12. Troud t; 13. Wait. Time: 3:46.443. SEMI 2: 1. Bostrom; 2. Tresser; 3. Landes; 4. Farris; 5. Ca m lin; 6. Barth ; 7. Roed er II; 8. Butchart; 9. Dillon; 10. Miller; I t. Wat ers; 12. Poovey; 13. King. . Tim e: 3046.1% . SEMI 3: 1. Fisher; 2. Parker; 3. Davis; 4. Va rnes; 5. Graybeal; 6. Longkor; 7. McCoy; 8. Liberty; 9. Faulkner; 10. Sch m ul bach: 11. Colson . Time: (No time d ue to restart.) CAMEL CHA LLEN GE : 1. C hr is Ca rr (H-D ); 2. Mike Hale (Rtx); 3. Ben Bostro m (Rtx); 4. Ricky Graham (Rtx): 5. Ronnie Jon es (Rtx); 6. Don Estep (Rtx). Time: 2:20.281. 25-LAP N AT IO N AL: 1. Chris Carr (H-D) ; 2. Mike Hal e (Rtx); 3. Ro nn ie Jones (Rtx); 4. Riscy Gra ha m (Rtx); 5. Aa ron H ill (Rtx); 6. Ben Bostrom (Rtx); 7. Don Estep (Rt x); 8. Dan Stan ley (Rb. ); 9. Sco tt Parker (H -O) ; 10. Mickey Fay (Rtx) ; 11. An d y Tresse r ( W ~ R) ; 12. Jeff Annen (W-R); 13. Brett Landes (Rtx); 14. Kevin Athert on (Rtx); 15. Steve Morehead (Rtx); 16. Rex Fishe r (Rtx); 17. Will Da vis (C~A) . Time: 11:30.17. AMA G R A N D N ATI DN AL C HA M P IONSHI P SERIES POINT ST AN DI NGS (All er 13 of 21 rounds): I. Ricky Graham (211/7 wins); 2. Chris Carr (179/ 3); 3. Scott Par ker (138/1); 4. Steve Morehead (97); 5. Kevin Ath e rt on (88/ 1); 6. Rodney Farris (86); 7. Mike Ha le (82); 8. Jay Springsteen (68); 9. Ronnie Jon es (63); 10. Will Davi s (56); I I. (TIE) Terry Poovey / Don Estep (37); 13. Geo rge Roeder D (35); 14. (TIE) Steve Beattie/Aaron Hil l (33); 16. Rusty Rogers (32); 17. Dan Ingr am (29/ 1); 18. Davey Camlin (21); 19. Dave y Durelle (20); 20. Rich King (19).

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