Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Steve Liberty got tangled u p and also ended up in the hay bales. Fletcher was taken to the ho spital for a check up, while Liberty could not make repairs in time for the res tart. Farris led the res tart in to tum one, but Camlin was ahead at the end of lap one. The Eddie Adkins/Winchester HD-sponsored Farris was back in charge at the end of lap two, and Camlin settled into second on his Wiebler's H-D /Brenny's Cycle-sponsored Harley. Durelle fended off Tommy Colson a nd James Hart until lap seve n, when Colson slipped by. The last lap saw Camlin make a lastditch charge for th e wi n that fell jus t s ho r t. Co lson was alone in third as Durelle held off Mike Hacker, wh o had passed Hart on the last lap. The last heat was led into tum one by Ca rr, Aaron Hill and Morehead. The Fin dlay Flyer took over fo r th e fi rs t three laps, bu t Carr was back up fron t by lap four and pulling away. "We've bee n beating ou r hea d against a wall all nig ht, b ut we're ge tting it figured out," Carr said. "There's just so much traction, you 've got to run it in high and power out. We've finally got a track to race on this week ." Hill worked his Sacramento H- D XR750 aroun d Morehead in tum one on (Above· left to right) Third-placed Rich King, winner Scott Parker and runner-up Chris Carr were all smiles in winner's circle. (Left ) Race promoter Ronn ie Jones was fourth at hi s home venue . prove to be an accurate barometer of the upcoming National. Parker and Carr rac ed away fro m King an d Farris and pu t on an exciting show. Parker led the first two laps wi th Carr in front at th e end of th e th ird. "Scotty was on the outside and drove it into tum one deeper . There's a draft, even on the half miles, and I got sucked in too fa r. I had to really ge t on the brakes to keep from hitting him and that let him get awa y," said Carr. "I really want to thank Harold Murrell for giving us a track to race on, and RC Cola for their involvement, I hope th ey can come back some more," sai d Parker, holding his $1000 RC Cola check. 600 SUPPORT lap seven. Pole-sitter Atherton was a distant fourth over Geo Roeder and Jeff Eklund. Carr's time wa s just .019-of-a second behind Parker's. SEMIS Marc Gifford leapt to the lead of the first semi , but to the delight of the large cr owd, Jones pushed his Loral Lak e Honda to the fron t for good on lap two. Atherton g a in ed secon d a s G iffo rd slipped off th e gro ov e a nd fad ed to six th. Ather ton closed on Jones but couldn' t force a mistake. "I knew [ couldn't afford to slip off the groove at all or Kevin wo ul d ha ve peen right by me," said Jones. r Ath erton was an easy second, while Mike Hac ker struggled to keep h is Harley in front of Greg Sims. Hacke r held on to make his first Grand Na tional main. Mo re hea d wasted no tim e in semi number two . "We' re really lost tonight," Morehead said. "(yVe) just can 't seem to get our setup right We've got one more chance to get it right." Durelle and Herndon were staging quite a battle over second w ith the nod going to Donahue H -D-sponso r ed Durelle in a phot o finis h over Plano Honda's Herndon. Coolbeth ed ged Bret Beyer for fourth. Illino is r id ers Hart, Col son a n d Dave Hebb led the last semi into turn one, but it qu ickly turned into Colson 's .race. Colson left a n ex citi ng race for second bet ween Geo Roeder, Springsteen and Stump . "This is the fist time I' ve ev er won anything a t a Gr a n d National, I'm p u mped," said the excited Colson . Ga rne rin g second was Mike's H-Dsponsore d Roed e r ove r the Bartel s' Harley of Springsteen. Stump was odd man out. RC COLA CHALLE NGE The four heat-race winners rolled out for a four lap shoo to u t, and it wo u ld Twen ty-six rid ers signed up for the 600cc support cla ss, which was then di vided into three 'heats. Kris Armentrout topped the first heat, Charlie Orr th e second, and Al Ead ie preva iled in heat three. Armentrout's heat was the fastest, as he passed Mike Reid on the last lap for the win . Orr also used a lastlap pass to beat Justin Owenby in heat two, while Ead ie led his heat w ire to wire. Canadian John Par ker led Orr and Armen trout into tum one when the Support main got underway, but at the end of lap o ne, it w as the Scotty Adams/Truett & Osborn / Al Mu th HD /H ot Ja m m in/ Hick man Lea thersbac ked Armen tro ut ou t fro n t and pu lling away. " I changed gearing before th e hea t race and it didn 't work so we cha nged back for the main, and it was perfect" Armentro ut said. "After I got out front, I was te m p te d to look back, b ut the n I thought I heard an engi ne so I just concentrated on wha t I was doing." Armen tro u t built up almost a fu ll straightaway lead over an excellent race between Eadie and Orr for second . Eadie p ushed his Power Ta n/ Ea rl 's Marine/Burton Racing-sponsored WoodRotax by Orr for second an d was soo n joined by Reid and the Dale's H-D/The Wrench/Green Grill Poplar Place/Hart Racing-sponsored Paul Morgan. On lap 12, Reid look second, and lap 13 saw Morgan drop Eadie to fourth. " Kris just split and left us behind, " Reid said. "I wish we could have stayed with him bu t it was a fun race for second. I just kep t running it in harder and harder and wa s able to move up from sixth, but it took too long ." Armentrout celebrated the victory by thanking his bike owner. "I really want to thank Scotty Adams an d his parents," Armentrout said. "If it wasn't for them, I would be home cutting the grass." NATIONAL A very fast, almost perfect race track awaited the 17 remaining riders as they walked from the pits to pick their starling spots. In the only break with tradition Parker selected third from the outside. Carr and King were to his right with Farris, Landes and Hill to his left. Several usual front row starters filled the second row with Davis, Camlin, ·Morehead, Jones, Colson and Durelle occupying the line from the pole to the wall. The last row contained Atherton, Roeder. Herndon, Hacker and Springsteen. . As is norma lly th e case, whenever Hill sits on the front row he leads in to tum one . This time, how ever, it was the highlight of his race. "That was terr ible," sai d Hill, who would d rop to 15th place by the end of th e ra ce. "I g o t a good sta rt, then I couldn't do anything. The track changed so mu ch after the heats .. a nd I ju st couldn' t figure it out." Th e first lap saw Parker holding a narrow lead over King, Carr, Morehead, Far ris, Hill, Camlin, Landes, Jones and Springsteen, but by lap five Parker was pulling away, and it was obvious tha t, b arrin g p r obl e m s, the rac e w o u ld belong to Park er, the win ningest rider in AMA histo ry. Behind Parker , King and Carr were soon clear of the four-ride r war between Morehead, Farris, Land es and Jones. " On a track like this it's hard to pass

• Cover