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/127670
exciting. Last week's big winner, Davey Ca rnlin, broke awa y on the high line, but Rogers took over on his Team Wickersham-sponsored Harl ey on lap three. Fletcher worked his way from deep in the field to take second from Camlin on the las t lap. Hea t four saw Aaron Hill slide his HD of Sacram ento-sponsored Harley past Farris on lap two and rid e on to the win. James Hart came from way back to challenge Scott Stump for third, bu t both were headed to the sem is, as Farris held on for second. SEMIS Kris Kiser pushed his Kiser Hondasponsored RS750 out front in semi one, but Gre g Sims worked his wa y around secon d -p laced Ja y Springsteen, th en closed rapidly on Kiser. As the two leaders battled over first, Springsteen was joined by Varn es and Hart. On lap five of the eight-lap race, Hart stormed into third . As lap six started, Brett Landes s pun down in' turn o ne . H e w as u p qu ick ly, but hi s d owned Hond a remain ed on the groove. The race was red-flagged and called comp lete, with Kiser, Sims and H art headed to the National. The second sem i saw Will Davis break away on the top of the track, but he was quickly sh uffled back by first Geo Roeder, then Camlin. Roeder held the point the rest of the wa yan his Mike's H-D-sponsored Harl ey. (Above) Scott Parker (2), Chrls Carr (4), Steve Morehead (42) and Rodney Farrls (92) battled In the 25ยท lap main. (Left) Harley-Davidson of Sacramento's Aaron Hill led early In the main, but .dropped to fifth. Trying to overcome a bad start, Kenny Coolbeth Jr. was charging through the pack and took the last transfer from Davis with two laps to go. He then pushed Caml in into a battle with Roeder, but the final positions were set Morehead 's crew fin ished making repairs to his F&S Harley in time for him to take his spot on row two of the last semi. Stump, Colson and Wait hit tum one first, but it was Morehead, on the outside, who led lap one and all the remaining laps. Mike Varnes applied early pressure to Morehead, but then settled into a solid second over Stump. 883 NATIONAL The start of the IS-lap 883 National saw 17 Sportsters attempting toenter tum one together. Fletcher, Price and Ha rt hit it first, but Wait blasted to a momentary lead at the end of lap one. Fletcher was back in front on lap two with Wait lurking close behind. Hart, Price and Springsteen were locked in a ba ttle for third. Things started to settle into a groove, with Fletcher comfortably ahead as Hart closed in on Wait. Price was alo n e in fou rth over Springsteen . The closest racing on the tr ack was for sixth, as Beattie held Beyer, Sumner and Aseltine at bay. Then, on lap seven, the red flag flew as Tim Johnson fell hard in tu rn four. Springsteen made the most of th e restart by moving into third , whil e Wait led briefly on lap eig h t. By lap nin e, Fletcher was back up front , but on lap 10 Wait fell in tum three and brought ou t another red flag. Springsteen wa s second on the .secand restart, but it was Aselt in e w ho made the biggest jump. He moved from ninth to sixth on the first resta rt, then from si xth to third to solidify the top three. Price got around Hart for fourth, with Doug Beattie and Rich King fol- lowing in sixth and seventh, resp ectively. NATIONAL Giv en first choice of starting positions, Parker picked the middle of row one. The front row, from the ou tside in, consisted of Butler, Hill , Carr, Parker, Rogers and Fletcher. Row two held Farris, Morehe ad, Roed er , Lloyd, Varnes and Kiser. The back row was filled with Camlin, Stump, H a r t, Cool beth a nd Sims. At the flash of the green ligh t, Hill got ano ther one of his outs tand ing starts an d led the th ro ng around lap o ne . Parker too k over on lap two, but Hill was no t easily put awa y and was back in front on lap three. Morehead moved into second, as Parker was having proble m s with his throttle cables. " Th e ca bles we re twiste d a n d sometimes when I trie d to sh ut off going into the turns, it would stick. I had to use the kill switch to get through the turns, bu t that was working," said Parker of his dilemma, which d ropped him to thi rd, then fifth behind Carr and Farris. As lap eight sta rted, Morehead dove un der Hill exiting turn two and took the lead, but as the pair entered tum thr ee, roo kie Coo lbeth slid ha rd into the hay bales in tum one. The red flag was out for the final time of the nigh t. People swarmed all over Parker's XR during the brief break in the pr ogram, While attempts were made to free the th rottles, Werner was back in th e pit stripping the carburetors and th rottle assemblies from the back-up bike. When he raced back to the work area and sta rted disassembling the carbure tors, Parker questioned the time limit. "We d on't have time, I can make it the way it is," said Par ker. But when informed by tech official Greg Crow that there were thr ee of the eigh t minu tes left, Warner said "We can do it in three min utes, no problem." He then went throug h a mental check list as he finished the repairs. At Crow's order to fire up, Parker's bike rumbled to life with everyone else's. Hill lit up his rear tire on the restart. "I really blew the restart. It just jumped sideways, then I got excited and missed a gear," said Hill. Morehead took over the lead from Parker, who had taken full advantage of the restart. Carr pressed the issue and moved by Parker for second, and the Carr/Parker battl e carried them around Morehead on lap IS . Carr did all he could to challenge Parker , but th e re would be no den ying him of the win ton ight. Pa rker nabbed the win with a comfortable lead over Carr. After being passed by the lead duo, Morehead quickly faded and even tually succumbed to Farris. "I jus t fell out of the saddle tonight. I wore out after the cras h and riding the se mi. I'm glad I was able to hold on as long as I did," said Morehead.