Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Scott Stump, the 1989 Rookie of the Year, topped the 15-lap Harley-Davidson 883 National. (Below) Four-time Grand National Champion SCottParker scored a very popular win In the 25-lap National. It was Parker's first win in over a year. Farris was fast down the back chute . A textbook d raft out of tum four saw Farris nab the win, while Carr was forced to settle for second. "I had a lot of fun ou t the re," said Farris. "Chris and I had a real clean race, bu t on th e last lap, he got out in th e loose stuff going into three and I almost ass-end ed him." SEMIS Three eight-lap semis would determine who else would race in the ma in ' an d w h o w o u ld spectate. We ib ler 's Harley- Da vidson-sponsored Da ve y Camlin raced away with the win in the first semi ov er George Roed er II an d Sprin gsteen, whil e Plano Honda's Billy Herndon edged out Team Undo's Larry Pegram and Team Wickersham's Rusty Rog ers in semi tw o. Hale topped th e third - and fastest - semi, beating out Hill and A&R Racing's Davis. Amongst those just missing the cut for the National were Team Undo 's Bre tt Landes, M&M Racing 's Scott Stump, Southeast Harley 's Ch ance Darling, and 1993 Rookie of the Year Ben Bostrom. HARLEY-DAVIDSON 883 NATIONAL Only 14 en tr ant s showed up to d o battle in round two of the H arleyDavidson 883 National Championship Series , but the race was action-packed , nonetheless. With the absence of last year's clas s cham pion Ricky Graham, man y expec ted the win to go to threeti me Grand N ational Cham p io n Ja y Springsteen, but the po pu lar rider wa s relegated to fourth when the checkered flag flew. So who was it that topped the IS-lap 883 ma in? Wimer's Cycle/Slatz / Hogwash/ Bieffe/ F&S Harley- Davidson/ M& M Racing-backed Scott Stu m p jumped in to th e lead when the gr een light flashe d and made it clear that he was bound and determ ined to score his first-ever 883 National win . Springsteen, Daytona Short Track winner Steve Aselti ne , Ma tt Wait and Jaso n Fle tcher trailed Sturnp on the opening lap, and it was n't long before Springsteen made his bid for the lead . St u m p stru ck ba ck , th ough, an d showed no ,res p ect for . the 40-t im e Grand National winner as he raced,back into the point position. Springsteen and St ump tr ad ed the lead se ve ra l times du rin g th e first five laps, and were joined by Fletcher on lap six. Springsteen seemed to slow, and lost touch wit h the two youngsters on lap ei gh t, th en s u d denly found h im se lf under attack by Aselt ine . Dogging Springsteen, Aseltine made the pass for third on lap nine. Meanwhile, up front , Fletche r and Stump too k turns d rafti ng p ast ea ch other, but with three laps to go, Stump . decided that th e fun and games were over and made a break for it. "I didn't want to give him the chance to d raft me out of turn fou r at th e fin ish," said Stump. "So I hamm ered it and got away from him with a perfect lap." "I wa s trying to set him up, but I , wen t in to turn one too ha rd an d dragged the cases," said Fletcher. "That str aightened me up and I lost a lot of ground on him." Stump's lap was perfect, indeed, as he pulled out an immediate lea d that grew to be quite comfortab le by the time he reached the checkered flag. At the finish, Stump enjoye d a twa-second lead over Fletcher, while Aseltine followed 20 bike lengths furth er behind . Springsteen followed equa lly alone in fourth, while Wait completed the top five finishers. "This is really exciting to win my first 883 National," said Sturnp . "There's no comparison between th ese bikes and 750s - they're so much slower. It would be like comparing an 80cc bike to a 500cc bike. In this cla ss, the riding is more important becau se everyone ha s the same power. I lost 30 pounds th is w inter, and th at ' s h elp ed me out a w hole lo t in th e power-to-we ight department. " Aseltine was glad to finish third, and wore an ear-to-ear grin under a face full of dirt. "Man, I have dirt in places that I didn' t know I had," said Aseltine. "I saw Fletcher screw up in tum one, but I ran out of time before I could catch up and challenge him." 25-LAP NATIONAL An unusu al, yet sensible ritual took place as the 17 racers lined up for the start of the 25-lap Na tional. Rather than pickin g a poor starting position on the first row, Parke r and Carr chose to sta rt the contest on the groove on row two . After considerable shuffling in the starting area, it wa s Jones who sat on the outside pole of row one w ith Farris , Morehead, Poovey, Fletcher and Atherton to his left. Parker, Carr, Hal e, Hill, Pegram and Roeder filled out row two, while Davis, Camlin, Herndon, Springsteen and Rogers sat on row three. All the fuss over an on-the -gro ove starting slot was for nau ght, however, as Morehead raced off the middle of row on e with the holeshot, lead in g Jones, Poovey and the rest into tum one. "Hey, I've been doing this for 20 years now of course I can get a holesho t," joked Morehead later. ' Carr enjoyed ,a fou rth- p la ce s tart, while Parker was mired back in the pack and comp leted lap one in ninth. "I got a stinky holeshot, but 25 laps is a long time," sa id Parker . "I was afraid that someone migh t get awa y out front, but I just kept plugging away. " Farris, Jones, Mo reh ead an d Ca rr made an early break, and together the four rid ers see me d to pull away from the field as they trade d the lea d back and forth. "I had n' t been up front in a mile in so long that I was a little nervous," sai d Jones . "I finall y calmed down and got going . I felt really good - I think I had the fastes t bike on the track - I could pass all of those guys, easily." " I was just sit ting there with those guys," said Morehead. "I think we wen t with too Iowa gear . I could run wit h ,them, bu t I could n' t double draft them . They woul d have had to make an awful mistake for me to pass them all." Meanwhile, Parke r slowly, but sure1y, began to gain confide nce and pick u p his pace. Even so , he h a d o nly worked up to seventh by lap 12. "The track was a little different in the main," sa id Pa rker. "I was getting a feel for things an d finding the good lines. I sta rted to feel great about the halfway point." At the halfway point, the quartet of Carr, Jones, Mor ehead an d Farris was s u d denly joi ne d by rPoov ey , Hale, At h er to n and Pa rker, making it an eight-rider freight train. To the de light of the crowd and dismay of the racers, Parker came to life on lap 15 and blasted from sixth to third on the front straight. Carr, Farris and Parker contro lled the top three positions from there on out. " Whe n Scotty ra ced p ast me I thou ght, 'Oh no, here we go. Don 't let him get away , don ' t let him get away!'" said Jones, who dropped from fourth to eighth at the finish. "Then I sta rted to ride too hard and I used up my tire." Ha le's cha rge was foiled by a bogging motor. "I was charging pretty hard, but then all of a sudden it felt like something was stuck in my ca rburetor or something, " said Hale. "The bike ran on one cylinder d own the stra ights for abo u t th ree laps." Hale wo ul d finish fifth. Once into th ir d , Pa r ke r sme ll ed blood. "I was cha rgin', chargin', chargin', and all of a sudden I was in thir d," said Parker. "I sw ear, I never sa w the halfway flags . I just saw the five-to-go sign and said, 'Okay, it's time to rock and roll, let's get it on!'" Parker disp laced Farris, then set his sights on Carr, and th e two assumed their usual roles as d rafter and draftee throughou t the remaining laps. Parker elected to zip into the lead as they began the last lap, and was able to stay out of Carr's reach throughout the last mile. At the finis h, Carr came up ha lf a b ike length short, while Farris rode home a few feet back in third. "lknew that I had to cut a perfect lap on the last lap," said Parke r. "Chris had been able to draft me pretty well out of turn four and I wa sn 't able to do the same to him." "I just couldn't catch his draft," said Carr. "Scotty rode good ." Morehead won the battle for fourth, while Hale, Poovey, Atherton and Jones followe d in close formati on. After running last early in the race, Pegram managed to work into 10th by the end of the race. "I'm just not used to the bike yet. It's the bike that Ricky Graham rode last yea r an d it's set up for him, not me. I jus t need so me time to ad ap t, " said ·Pegram. (N

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