Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127590
eDIRT TRACK AMA Grand National Championship _es:_R_ou_fld_15 _S_eri ~ Th ou gh he was visi bly s h ake n a nd d izz y, Graham was allowed to retu rn to his mot orhorne, where he app lied ice to his sho ulder and head. "I tho ug h t I dis located my sho ulder, but it feels okay , I guess," sa id Gra ham. Be fore th e sta rt o f the G r and Nation al, Graham und ressed and tD a ok IS-min ute nap. r. Jason Fletch er scored h is firs t-ever 883 Nati onal win in grand style. Will Davis was presented with a h uge number one plate in th e winner's circle . After the rac e, Da vis took h is sponsor Craig Rogers fo r a lap around the track. Fletcher sho wed the other 11 riders who was boss by gra bbi ng the holesho t and establishing a n im med ia te le a d that he wou ld a t one li me stre tch to nearly a full s t ra ig h taway. C r abb e, Springsteen and G ra ha m chased Fletcher off the line, and it took little time for Graha m to move into second . Once into the r u nne r - u p posi tion, though, Graham was no t able to gain any ground o n Fletcher and he appeared to settle in to a steady pace ahead of Springsteen. To Fletche r's dismay, Ty Howard lost control of his Harley in turn one on lap 11 and the re d flag came out. Fletcher sa t at the front of the single-file r e start w i th Gra ham, Sp rings teen, Cr abb e and Sumner to h is rear, and on the restart he jumped out to an immedia te fi ve-bike le n g th lead over Graham. Just when it looked like Fletc her had the win in the bag, Graham twisted his th rottle a little harder and ree led th e leader in . On the last lap , Graham d ove hard into turn three and p u lled along the ou tside of Fletcher as the y entered turn four. Graham 's front wheel caught a rut jus t as his rear end began to break loose, and the tw o-time Grand Na tiorial Champion was sen t over the high side and onto his head while Fletcher race d across the finish line. Wh ile G raham crumpled in to a ball on the side of the track, Springsteen and Crabbe raced past on int o second and third . "I never even saw Ricky, but I could hear him there," said Fletcher. "After the finish I looked back and he wasn ' t there." 16 _ G raham stood up, then fell back to the ground before his pit cre w and the paramedics on h and reached h im. Na tion al Whil e the rid ers were in trod uced to the crowd and wheeled their mach in es to the starting line, Graham remained o u t of sig h t an d e lecte d to sit on th e side of the tra ck. "I was really d izzy, I gues s I hit my h e a d p re t ty h ar d ," sa id G ra ha m . It . wasn't un til t h e la st m in u t e that Graham rose an d took his pla ce on row one. Fas t hea t winner Carr chose to start the 2S-lap National on the inside po le with Atherton, Graham, Davis, Pegram and Parker to h is left , bu t at the flash o f th e gree n ligh t it wa s Dav is who bol ted into the lead . Parker, Pegram, Graham a n d Carr filed in beh ind Dav is, b ut as they negotiated turn two, Pe gram hit a s lick spot and ne arly cr a s he d. Graham was ab le to avoid Pe g ram with lit tl e incident, but Carr was no t as fortunate. " I had to swerve way to the left to miss Larry, " sai d Carr. "I end ed up go ing into the infield and I dropped way back." Carr dropped to ninth, bu t regained hi s co m p os u re q u ickly a nd began to work b ack to w a r d s the fr on t o f the pack. Pe gram , o n the other h a n d , d rop ped off the pace an d finished an eventual 11th . "Time tria ls a n d a la-lap heat are ea sy ," said Pegra m . " Bu t I'm n ot in shape to race a 2S-lap main yet. I'm in th er a p y a ll week, a rid I can' t really train." W h il e Da vi s p ulle d fur ther away w ith eac h passing lap, Gra ham began to pressure Parker for seco nd. "O nce 1 go t go ing, I did n' t eve n th ink abo u t the pain in my shoulder," said Graham. "I jus t w an ted to ma ke sure tha t I didn't cras h aga in ." On lap five, Davis enjoyed a Ifl-bike le ngth lead ov er Pa rker, w ho had h is h a n d s . full w i th Gra h a m . Carr h a d al rea dy worked up to fou rt h and se t a bli ster ing pace tha t carried h im to Graham's rea r wheel by lap seven. Carr must have smiled on the next lap when he passed Graham wi th relativ e ease in turns one and tw o . That done, he q uickl y closed in on Pa rk er an d used the sa me line to mot or int o second on the following lap. "I had a good lin e d own low," sa id Carr. "There was a slick spot tha t gavea lot of gu ys tro ubl e. I think it's the same area where ca rs wer e allowed to cross the track earlier today." On ly half a lap after being passed by Ca rr in turns one and two, Parker found h imself pa ssed by Gr aha m on the ou tsides of three and four. " I co u ldn' t seem to s tay w he re I wanted to," sa id Parker. "I was having trouble staying down low on the gro ov e in turns on e and tWD an d I wa sn ' t real , ly fast in three and four." When the cro ssed flags came out at th e h alfway p oint, Davis led a ha rdcharging Carr b y 10 b ike lengths . Graham foll owed at a di stance, w ell ahead of Pa rker. Slowly but su rely, Carr began to cut int o Davis' lead and by lap 19 ha d eliminated the leader's advantage. "I saw that I had a big lead , but then 1 made a couple mistakes," said Davis . "I knew that 1 could go fas ter, bu t if I did 1 wou ld start to ma ke even more mistakes. That 's when 1 decided to find