Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GDIRT TRACK Series: R ound15 ~ Will Davis (21) grabbed the holeshot at the start an d was never headed. Scott Parke~ (2), Larry' Pegram (72), Chris Carr (1), Ricky Graham (3) and Aaron Hill (17) gave chase• • aVIS oes a as • Ie By Donn Maeda Photos by Dan Mahony DALLAS, TX, AUG. 14 ntil n ow , th e 1993 AMA G rand Na tional Ch am pionship Series has been one to forge t for Honda rider Will Davis. No matter what Davis and the A&R Racing crew did, a dark cloud seemed to loom over their pits and terrible luck haunted their every move. But just when Davis tho ught his chances of ever wi n ni ng another National w er e over, th e sto rm cleared and his luck took a turn for the better. At the Dallas Half Mile, there were no car acci den ts , mechanical fa ilures, or unid en tified flyi ng objects to stand in Da v is ' w ay . In the fi rst-ever Grand N a tio nal r a ce 'a t De v il ' s Bow l Spee d w a y , Da v is go t a good s tart, found a good line , and turned in a startto- fin ish romp th at yielded th e fou rth National win of his career . "I started the season off with my jaw wired shu t after I go t in a head-on car ac cid ent, a nd fr om th en on thing s haven't been m uch better," said Davis, who took h ome $4000 of the $28,000 purse. "I've been fast enough to win at a lot of races thi s year, but eac h time som ethi n g w ould h appen. Eit he r the track wo uld change, or my bike would U 14 break and le ave me on the sideli nes. Then at Syracu se, so me thi ng - maybe a rock - got kicked up and split my chin wide o pen. H e ll, I even shaved my moustache off after that, hoping that it would change my luck ." Right fro m the start, a sharp-eyed observer at the Mike Kidd Promotions Inc.-p romoted event might have picked Davis as the winn er. While many of his competitors stru ggl ed to find tra cti on on the slippery high- banked oval, Davis stuck to the tra ck like glue aboa rd his A &R Racin g / Mother Fletcher's/Fu n Pro du c ts/ Bell/ Mo tion Pro/ Road Rider /Lou ie ' s /C. A.R. Constructionsponsored , Dennis To wn- tu ned Honda RS750. The o n ly o ther rider wh o appeared to have a handle on the track conditions w as Grand N a tional Champion Chris C arr . The fa c to ry H arley-Davidson rid er s ta r te d the National ins id e the top five, bu t w as sent bobbling to the mi ddl e of the pack when a rid er lost control in front of him on the opening lap . After running as far back as ninth, Ca rr worked up to second' and slowly but surely ate away at th e command ing lead tha t Da v is en joyed . Carr and Davis en gaged in a nose- to-tail battle to the fini sh , and to the delight of th e 7145 fa ns on h an d , Davis held on for his first win of th e year in an even t tha t wa s orig in ally scheduled for June 19 b ut was ra ined out. But wha t abo u t se ries point leader Ricky Graham? Th e Team Undo rid er was happy to finish a distant third after crashing ha rd only minutes before the sta rt o f the National. G rah am 's fall ca me on the final lap of th e Harley Davidson 883 Nationa l, and it wa s on extremely wobbly legs that he return ed to his p its. "I just couldn't lea ve w ell en ough a lon e , " s a id Graham, who crashed w h ile battling for the lea d in the 883 National. "I should have settled for second but I didn't want to." Graham suspected a d islocated sho ulder, but put the pain out of hi s head we ll enough to hold on to third. Ca rr gained three p oints on Graham, but the Honda rider continues to en joy a com ma n di ng 32-p oi n t lead in th e series poin t s tan di ngs, 244-21 1. Fourtime G rand National Champion Scott Parker fin ished fourth in Dallas and maintains third with 162. Jason Fle tche r sco re d his first -ever 883 Nation al w in over thr ee-time Grand Na tional Ch amp ion Jay Sprin gs teen and Robert Crabbe - an d like Davis did in the 750cc class - Fletcher appea red to be th e b e st-ho o ke d- u p in h is class. Fletcher enjoyed a com ma ndi ng lead in the m ain eve n t, but when a r id er cra sh ed and brou ght out the flag with onl y five lap s to go, Fletcher found himself at the head of the sing le-file restart onl y inches ahead of Graham. No p roblem, thou gh , Fletcher ke p t his cool and led the rem ai ni ng laps while Graham pushed too hard and went down. " Fi n a lly!" sh outed an overjo yed Fletcher, who lists Moroney's HarleyDavidson, Gary Edmonds, Bell, Spectro, Motion Pro, Works Performance, Fog City, Am erican Iron and Fat City as his spons ors. " I've been second and third, th ird and second all year long . It' s about tim e." Time trials Durin g the la te-afternoon practice ses sions, the track was dry, rough and

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