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/127595
On lap nine, Strod e crashed al on e in tum one and was joined on the ground by Mike Hale and Russ Yamamoto, the pair tan gling a few seconds later in tu m two. The r ed fl a g m ad e it s seco n d ap pearance and the race was called with Ko p p the winner o ve r Eklu n d a nd Roose. "The track is good to nigh t, " sa id Kopp, who lis ts Denny Lo pp ,' Idah o Go ld, Da ve a n d Rota Ma nko, Jim P lunkett' s MC Su p p ly an d Alpi ne Ho m e Prod ucts as his sponsors. "I felt really good in the last half of the race, an d th at's when I w as able to break away." The th ir d h eat race saw a few m ishaps, but produ ced what w a s arguably the best action of the eveni ng. Stanl ey proved too anxious at th e st ar t and was sent to the penalty line, and on the s tarte r's second try, And y Tresser grabbed the hol eshot and led th e field on to the track. On the second go-round, Shane Butch art parted co mpany with his machine in turn o ne a nd r oll ed a ro und o n the tra ck as if he wer e in grea t pa in . Th e red flag ca me ou t and after a few adjustments to his machine, Butchart was able to ma ke the complete resta rt. Kris Kiser had the best rea ctions on the restart and led McDonnell, four-time Grand National Ch ampion Scott Parker and Tr esser . Stanley got an incre d ible drive from the penalty line and en tered tum one fourth. Kiser led the first ha lf of the race, but all eyes wer e focu sed on Stanl ey, as th e Brian Billings Racing Products / En ergy Rel ease Products / Bell/Ste ve Baker /Mills Electric / Dirt Track Numb er Plates /Idaho G o ld backed racer see med to find traction in pla ces where his rivals couldn't. "Everyone was riding the groove, but I was going just below it," said Stanley. In a rna tter o f th ree la ps, Stan ley passed Tresser, Parker and Kiser in d ifferent parts of the race track and went on to gree t the checkere d flag in first. Tresser lat ched on to Sta nley and was able to d ispl ace both Kiser and Parker for the seco nd di rect transfer . Kiser was thi rd ahe ad of Par ker, b u t bo th riders wo uld hav e to ride a semi . As us ual, H ill grab bed the holeshot in the fourth and final heat. Carr started close beh ind , and waited un til only the second tu m to motor in to the lead and begin his first lesso n. By lap three, Carr enjoyed a 20-bike length lead ove r Hill, who in tum enjoyed a comfortab le lead over three-time cham p Jay Spri ngs teen and Ronnie Jones. At the halfway point Jon es m ad e a pass on Springsteen for third, but the ru nning order remained the same from then ou t with Carr scoring a runaway win over H ill, Jone s and Springsteen . "I felt p retty good. I've been having trouble with s ta rts here latel y, and Aaron gave me a gi ft when he went w ide in tu m two," Carr said. " Ken ny Tolbert has my bike running good, and in the mai n my strategy will be to get a good start and wo rk to the front as soon as I can." Semis Four eigh t-la p semis tha teac h offere d th ree fina l transfer po sitions would d etermine who would race, and who would specta te for the rest of the eve ning . Bryan McDowell con trolled the firs t semi from sta rt to finish, althoug h Jones stayed in his sha d ow and K t him honep es t. After cra shing numerous times in his heat race, Strode found a set of lines that worked well enough to fi ish third n and earn the last transfer, jus t ahead of a frustrated Parker. Simonsen, son of Mt. StHelen 's M.e. president, put his considerable experi- Aaron Hill kept Carr in sight throughout the National and finished a strong second. It was HiII's best-ever National finish. Rex Fisher (12) ran third for most of the main, but couldn't hold off a hard-charging Dan Stanley (60). Fisher held on for fourth. ence at Cast le Rock to good use by nab bing the win in the star-stu dded second se mi . Sim onsen gra bbed the hol esh ot and led eve ry lap of the race tha t saw Spri ngste en, Rodney Fa rri s, Graham and Hale fail to qualify. Simonsen raced across the finish line the victor ahead of Yamaha-moun ted Ronnie Bro w n and Wait, and all three riders would race in the main. Keeping with the start-to-finish semi win tradition, Jeff Annen ripped off the line in the fina l semi and fought off the repeated challenges of Roose to earn the win. Roose and Don Wilson finished seco n d a nd third, respec tively, a nd wo uld join Annen in the main. National Hill and Carr sped off the line even ly m atch ed a t th e s ta r t o f the 25-l a p Na tional an d rubbed e lbo ws as th ey en tered tum one. "That was w ild," said Hill. "Chris and I were pr etty even goi ng into (tum) one, but you know '01 Chris - he's Mr . Experience wh en it comes to situations like that." With the insid e line in his favor, Carr ke p t the th rottl e on a tad longer than Hill and slid into the lead . "I had the inside going for me," Carr said. "I figured that Aaron would be up there at the start - he always is. I knew th at I would h a ve to g et past him because he'd be really hard to pass if 1 d idn't ." On ce past Hill, Carr waved goodbye to th e field and began to pull away, although Hill did his best to keep Carr in sight. "I kn ew the first few laps would be 5