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Round 6: Dallas Half Mile One more for Morehead By Donn Maeda Photos by Dave Hoeni g DALLAS, TX,]UNE 18 he last 20 years have been good to Steve Morehead. Good times , good friends, and a fair share of wins fill the Findl ay Flyer 's memories from his long and illustrious racing career. The past three years, however, ha ve been long and dry for the Ohioan, as he has endured the longest winless streak of his career since earning his first National victory at the Meadowlands Half Mile in 1978 at th e age of 23. Not that he hadn't been a threat, mind you. On the contrary, Morehe ad has remained one of the most respected riders on the circuit. At the series-opening Daytona Short Track, Morehead debuted a special 20th a nniversary, helme t paint job a nd promised that he would celebrat e his second complete decade of racing with anothe r win. And tr ue to his w ord, Morehead turn ed in a masterful performance at the rain -delayed Dallas Half Mile and notched the 18th win of his career. "1 told you!" sa id a de light ed Morehead, after the race. "Now tha t I've finally bagged another one, maybe I can keep my momentum and go for 19!" Chasing Morehead home, after running third and fourth for most of the race, was four-time Grand National Champion Scott Parker. After overtaking third-place finisher Will Davis late in the 25-lap National, Parker closed the 0\ gap on Morehead and came up only a .-l few inches short when the black and white flew. "1 ran her wide open, but Stevie held on," said Parke r. "1could see him gettin' a little wobbly towards the end, but hell - he held on. If I have to lose to som eone, I'm glad it was him." Davis - the winner of last year's Dal- T s 4 las Half Mile - was happy with third, even though he held second for quite a few laps. "1 flew right off the track on the first lap," said Davis, referrin g to an off-track excurs ion that he took in tum two on the secon d lap of the National. "I'm lucky to have made it on the box tonight after that." But what about series po in ts leader Chris Carr? The Team Harley-Davidson rid er wa s right behind Davis when he decided to take a tour of the wo ode d . area that lines the track, following him right up and over the banked turn. Carr put on an equally impres sive charge th ro u gh th e pack, and end ed the evening fourth. In winning, Morehead vaulted into third in the series point standings with 54 points, bu t all eyes remain focused on the Carr/Parker d uel for the championsh ip . Thanks to his runner-up finish, Parker gained five po ints on Carr and h a s now close d the gap to 10 points, 85-95. Temperatures in the Dallas area hovered in the high 90s, but a steady rain that began to fall just as the riders ' meeting began, dela yed the evening's program by th ree . hours. When the skies finally let up, an extensive gra ting and wheel-packing session read ied the track before a few volunteer riders tested the course . "It's just like Ascot used to be," said Carr, after taking a few laps. "The track is real chunky, but man , it 's a blast. I think it might get slicker as the night goes on, though." A quick insp ection of Carr's muddy machine revealed a bashed-in left num ber plate. "That's fr om my foo t!" laughed Carr. "The ground is so sticky right now, that when I put my fo ot down it got kicked back up at me." HEATS Once again, scratch heats were used to determine the starting positions in the four Io-Iap heat races. Though several riders had signed a petition promising not to compete at Dallas if the scratch heats weren't eliminated, they all agreed that a protest was not the proper way to make a statement. "We're trying to sched ule a meeting between the rider rep s and myself, Roy Janso n and Ed Youngblood, before Lima," said Referee Bruce Bober. "We should finally have a solution by then ." Heat one got underway at 9:15 p.m., and saw no surp rise. A&R Racing /Max Lea thers / Road Rider-sponsored Davis jetted into the lead and raced away with a co mmand ing lead over Penn Sta te Cycles' Kevin Varnes . Rich King and Andy Tresser broke the ice in turns one and two as they flew off the track and w ere momen tarily o u t of sigh t. Jay Springsteen followed their lead a few laps later, but was able to recover much bette r than the other two. Still, Springsteen's sixt h-place finis h wasn 't good enough for a direct transfer. Varnes hel d onto se cond ahead of TCR Racing's Kevin Ather ton, w hile Morehead finished an awkwa rd-looking fourth. "We came here all set up for a d ry, slippery black groove," said Morehead. " We .can' t get th e bike to steer right. We're way off, but we're gonna make some changes before the semis." "Yeah, that tum is a little dark, and a little slippery," said Davis, when asked about his rivals' crazy antics. "You can get to charging into tum one real hard, and it tightens up quite a bit. I love this p lace, and I love the extra water. I'm glad it rained. " Like the first race, the second heat produ ced no real surprises . Factory Harley teammates Parker and Carr blasted into the top two positions at the get-go, leaving George Roeder II and Georgie Price to do battle over third. Parker led the way for five laps, but an in-high-out-low line in turns one and two saw Carr slip past for the win. Once overtaken by Carr, Parker saw the line and began to do the same. "I'm having a hard time turning the bike," said Parker. "Chris is getting the bike turned a little easier and sooner." Heat three produced quite a bit of excitement, with hometown favorites Terry Poovey and Billy Herndon zipping in to the top two po si tions ahead of Aaron Hill and Scott Stump. Team Undo's Brett Land es suffered a miserable sta rt, but sliced through the field quickly. By lap three, Landes had displaced all but Poovey, an d slowly but s u re ly be gan to reel him in . Land es shadowed the ve tera n for three laps before diving low in turns three and four on lap six to tak e the lea d. Once past Poovey, Landes opened up an immediat e le ad and ra ced on to h is second career heat-race win . Poovey held on to second, ahead of Hill and Herndon. "I've been getting bad starts all year," said Landes. "1 bogg ed the engine and started about sixth, but I was lucky to get past everyone real quick. I knew I could get past Terry; I was feeling good." Winchester Harley-Davidson's Rodney Farris took control of the fourth and final heat race, but there would be no . holding back hard-charging rookie Expert Kenny Coolbeth Jr. Th e qu iet Connecticut rider di splayed the form that has made him the most highly touted rookie in years, and steadily began to reel in Farris after s ta r tin g the rac e fourth. Farris and Coolbeth battled tooth and nail for several comers before CooIbeth made a low pass stick as he exited tum four. Farris trailed the rookie by 10 bike lengths at the fmish. 'That was awesome!" said Coolbeth, who lists Gardner Racing, Walter Bros.