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/127675
Farris led Graham an d Price into turn on e. Mike's H arley-sponsored Roeder blasted into the lead on lap two as Graham maintained second. On the las t lap , Graham mad e a run at Roeder, but came up just short. Farris moved back around Kevin Varnes to take a close race for the last transfer. Carr wasted no time taking control of semi two, leadin g Coolbeth and Andy Tresser into turn one. The Harley-David son fa ctory r ider ro d e seven more perfect laps for the fastest semi win. Gardner/Walters Bros. Racing's Coolbeth held off the fast-dosing Brett Landes, who put the third Team Undo Honda in to the National. Steve Beattie, Hart, Terry Poovey and Greg Sims had a spirited battle over fourth, but all were done for the night. The la st sem i was a dandy . Stump led Fletche r, Hill and Springsteen into tum one, and kept his Honda up fron t until lap three. Then Fletch er then took over, and a p peared to have thin gs under cont rol, w hile Stump held d own second over Hill, Sp ringsteen and the fastmoving Chris Evans. By lap five , Evans had pushed h is I.M. Leathers-sponsored H arley into second, an d on the last la p took the w in from Fle tche r. Most of the crowd's attention was focused on the battle for the last transfer , w ith Stump p utting crowd-favori te Springsteen in the van. became a race for second. Pegram led the parade of Hale , Davis, Parker, Coolbeth, Jones, Evans, Roeder an d Carr. "I started thinking about how much fun I was having an d almost ran off the back straight," said Morehead. "I had to keep m y con ce n t ra tion . I was h o p in g I wouldn't have to go any faster. It all just came together. Everything was pe rfect. It's a dream come true, to win my 20th. I'm just sorry it took so long." Morehead had first locked up, but behind him it was a madhouse. Pegram held second early on . "Morehead wa s just too fast . I tried to run up top with Steve a co uple of laps, but I couldn't keep the pa ce . I had to drop ba ck d own, then Davis got b y, too," said Pegram. Positions we re swapped all around the track" with riders hitting turns three and four wid e. Lap four found Davis in second over Hale, Coolbeth, Parker and Pegram. Just o ne slip would drop a rid er five or six places, then jus t a lap later, someone else would slip and after the running order again. Davis settled into second as Pegram and Parker diced it out for third. At the crossed flags, Parker held third over Pegram, Carr, King, Eva ns, Coolbeth, Roeder, H ale, Graham, Jones, Farris, Landes, Stump, Camlin and Fletcher. Parker caught Davis on lap 18 and afte r stalking him for several laps , finally stormed by. " I just keep pounding away," said Parker. "I ride as ha rd as I can the whole race , but it all seems to come together late in the race." With three laps left, Parker slipped high in tum one. "Sco tt went high in tum one and I thought I had a shot, but he got a better drive out of two and I never go t another chance," sai d Davis, who ended up third. NATIONAL Parker picked th e groove to start from , with the remainder of the front row filled out, in order, to his left Davis, Jo nes, H ale, Mo reh ea d a nd Pe gram. Row two stayed in order as well, wi th Carnlin, King, Carr, Evans, Roeder and Coolbeth. The last row was the only one ยท to alter the line u p order. Fletcher and Gra ha m se t up on th e ou ts id e, while Landes was on the pole. Farris and Stum p filled the hole in the middle. Hale was the fastest off the line and led Morehead a nd Peg ram into turn one . Moreh ea d was in first before the lap was over - and for everyone else, it (Oppos ite page) Mike Hale (32) led Will Davis (21), Steve Morehead (42), Larry Pegram (72), Ric h King (80) and Chris Carr (4) off the line at the stert of the 25-lap Nationa l. Morehead took over on lap one and that was all she wrote. (Above) Scott Parker took over the series point lead by fi nish ing a distant seco nd. (Below) Larry Pegram (72) finished fourth, while Mike Hale (32) faded to 14th. Parker (2) passed them both and raced on to second . (Right) Grand National Champion Ricky Graham made his fi rst 750 race appearance of the series and fi nis hed ninth. 7