Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

," IR .:; D TTRACK:::::.:"." ' ' -;':: .: ' , . ' . ' , " .. ' ... ' A AGraridNatioilal Cha~~~~~p~ M , Round 8: Williams Grove Half Mile Dav is bl ast b y. Dav is wasn 't d o n e maneu verin g his A&R Racin g Ho nda, though, and took over the lead on lap six. "1 had to find a line. I couldn't make the bo tto m work, so [ was running around the top making a big arc out of the turns. It's just rough everywhere," said Davis . Varnes was a solid second, while Farris held off Colson for the last transfer posi tion. In th e last semi, Roeder led fellow Ohio racer Chance Darling into tum one. Darling lit his lire up in tum two, allowing Parker and Herndon to flash by. By th e halfway point, Roeder and Pa rker had pulled away, but Kevin Varnes was closing in on Herndon. By lap six, Varnes had pushed Hern don up to the leaders. With two laps left, Park er took over the lead. "1 had to ride conservative. The wa y the tra ck is if you press too ha rd you'd be on yo u r butt," said Parker. Roeder finished second, while Herndon kept Kevin from being th e se co nd Varnes in the National. HARLEY-DAVIDSON 883 NATIONAL Local favorite Randy Texter led the IS-lap National into turn one, but -was qu ick ly relegated back to se ven th. Stump, Springsteen and Fletcher turned it in to a three-rider war as they pulled away. Stump and Springstee n waged an intense struggle for the lead, with Fletcher lurking just behind. On lap four, Sp ringsteen blasted around the outside of Stump in turn two . On the next lap, Stump returned the fav or, then on e lap later, Fletcher wo rked his way insid e of Springer for second. "1 slipped a coupl e of times, and once you lose ground on a track like this, it's really hard to make it up. My knee's a little sore from the 750 crash, but I'm okay," said Sprin ger of his slide to third. Fletcher began to put the pressure on Stump and pa ssed him as th e halfway sign al cam e out. "1 passed him on the outside in turn two . I had tried the inside coming out of turn four, but ran out of room and we touched. It wasn' t ma jor , but I had to have patience and wait for my time," said the victorious Moroney's H-D/Gary Edmonds /Spectro / Bell / Wo r ksPer fo rm a nce / Motion Pro / Power Mist/Fog City /American Iron Magazine-sponsored Fletcher. "Great race; I loved it. We touched a little coming out of four on one lap, but it was no big thing," said Stump. NATIONAL As the checkered flag flew on the last se mi, what had been an oppress ively hot and humid da y w as sudd enly chilled by a strong wind and the threat of rain. The riders were quickly called to th e ~i ne to choose their al1-impo rta n t starting spo ts, and opinion varied as to the best area. Fastest-qualifier Peg ram op ted for th e inside, so that he could start on wha t m oisture th ere was left. Second-fastest qu alifier Atherton looked fo r the t rac tion of the g roove and parked his bike on the ou tside. Between the two ride rs sat Morehead, Hill, Cool?eth and Jone.s. Davis was on the groove m row two WIth Parker, Varnes, Carnlin, Fletcher and Stump to his left. Roeder was flanked by Farris, Herndon, Carr and Landes - riders that are not often seen on row three . When the ligh t flashed green, Morehead was first off the line, while Athe r- 12 (Left) Se r ies po in t lea der Chr is Ca r r suffe red a rare crash In his heat race. The f o rm e r Gran d National Champ i o n recovered to finish ni nth In th e National. ton sp un his lire, slipping to the ou tside off the groove and, for all practical purposes, saw his chances of victory disa ppear. Morehead led as the pack exited tu rn two, but bo unce d violently to the ou tsid e when he hit one of the numerous holes that littered the track. Morehead saved it, but in no time dropped back to seven th. , Pegram held his inside line and took over th e lead d own the back straigh t. "After a few lap s I looked back and saw that I was pul1ing away from Aaron," said Pegram. "Then I checked every few lap s and saw that my lead was growing. I thought I was trying to slow down, bu t my lap times actually got better. On tha t last lap , I damn near stopped. " Hi l1 kept in close co ntac t w i th Pegram ea rly in th e r ace. "1 though t maybe [ had a shot at Larry early on, bu t then he started gai n ing abo ut a b ike len gth a lap. It see me d all I co uld see was his back whee l going into the tum as I was exiting," said Hill. Coolb eth mad e several unsuccessful , runs at Hill earl y on, while he had Jones on h is rear wheel. "1 jus t wasn ' t real consistent. Late in the race, I thi nk he might have been getting tired . [ gained o~ him aga in, but [ kep t messing up and hitting that hole exiting tum four," said the Gardner Racing /Walter Bros. HD/ R&IManufacturing/Bell/Spectro / GI e n' s Auto Bod y / H o use of Powde r / Motion Pro /Wilcox MC /Hawg Wildbacked Coolbeth . "By losing ground to Larry, it forced me to se t m y own pace. [ could see Kenny and Jason ga ini ng the last two laps and [ almost bailed off .in tum two. I had to settle myself d own and not do anythi ng stupid," said Hill. Fletcher moved around Jones onlap 15 and reached a plateau. "I got just so close to Kenny, then [ cou ld n't get any closer. He wou ld mess up and I would think, 'Okay, now I've got him: then I'd hit the sa me hole and be back whe re,[ started," said Fletcher. Jones set tled into fifth in his first race back from hi s Parkersburg Half-Mile crash. "I just wasn't fast enough," said Jo nes . "1 d idn't real1y get tired , bu t I ha ven 't been able to train and I could be in better shape. It's good to be back." After struggling earl y in the race and dropping to as low as lOth, Farris may have been the second-fastest r ider on the track . "We s trugg le d a l1 n ight. Something was alwa ys go ing w rong," said Farris. "Finall y com ing from row thr ee to sixth in the Na tional wasn 't too bad ." , Bu t what abou t the big three in the point standi ngs? Parker was a d istant sev enth. "1 just wasn't as fast as those guys:' said Parker . "I just put it on the pole arid said: 'If they are goin g to come aroun d, they' ll have to do it on the ou tside: Morehea d got around, but I got him back; then Rodney got me. Hell, I'm just glad I finished. I beat the guy [ needed to - in fact , I beat both gu ys th a t I needed to beat." Park er pic ked up two points on Carr, and four on Morehead. Morehead ha d other p roblems after surviving his near crash in the first tum. "Scotty got inside of me in tum two on lap 17 and he brought the Land es kid wi th him. He hit me and knocked me off the groove. I lost a lot and could never make it up:' explained Morehead. Carr made a strong run off row three, but the charge unraveled quickly. "1 got to the outside on the first lap and p assed a bunch of guys, but I just couldn 't hold it:' said ninth-placed Carr. "When [ did get down, I would have had to s tuff a few gu ys to move up and I just have never ridden tha t way:' Pegram's Undo Racing teammate,

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