Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Will Davis (21), Ronnie Jon es (16) and Scott Parker (2) ran this close throughout much of the National. They finished In the same order. (Below) Garv ls Honda's Rich King finished a lo nely, yet so lid fourth. To wn ' s Rich King to o k over. Kin g looked a s if he were on rails as he ripped away from the field, and enjoyed a comfortable margin of victory at the race's end. Springsteen d isplayed hi s fo rm of old as he foiled the repea ted passing attempts of Carr, who had suffered a terrible start before mo ving up to thi rd. Ca rr d id everything he could bu t was forced to settle for third and a trip to the semis. Aaron Hill grabbed his usual holeshot in the second heat, but was surprised by an aggressive low-line pass from Pegram as he entered tum one. Pegram took the lead momentarily, but was stuffed in a similar fashion by Parker in tum two. Meanwhile, Kelly Larkin lost con trol of his Harley and flew over the banking in tum one and crashed unhurt.Though Larkin was not on the track, the red flag flew and everyone - including Larkin made the complete restart. Parker nabbed the holeshot and that was all she wrote. Pegram gated second and held the position throughout the race, but coul d do little to keep Parker in his sigh ts . Pa rker e n joyed a h alfstraightaway's lead over Pegram at the finish, who in tum enjoyed only a few inch es between himself and a hard charging Billy Herndon. Morehead led th e w ay in the third heat, but a slip in tum one saw the veteran drop to second. Jones was quic k to take over, and once out front, pulled out a commanding lead that would stretch to a full straightaway by the race's end. Morehead was surprised on lap six, when he was dropped to third by none other than his young teammate, James Hart. The second-year Expert sn uck past his elder and went on to earn the second direct transfer. Morehead and the rest would have to try again. Davis wasted little time establishing an immediate lead in the final heat race, but all eyes were focused on the battle for second. TCR Racing 's Kevin Atherto n was second, but Win chester Harley' s Rodney Farris was hot on his tail. Farris do ve under Atherton in turn t w o, but the form er fact ory HarleyDavidson rid er moved down and the two made contact. Atherton tumbled to the ground and the red flag brought the race to a halt. "Kevin left a little room, and I went under him," said Farris. "He came down on me and his handlebar caught my leg." "Yeah, I was trying to lean on him a bit," admitted Atherton, who was able to make the complete restart. "I thought I coul d pressure him into backing off. My wrist is a little banged up - 111 have to grow some skin." Davis performed another disappear- ing ac t w he n the g re en light flashed, and on ce ag ain, it was Atherton and Farris battling over second. Farris held the position initia lly, but Atherton zipped pa st on the front straight and the finishing order was set. . SEMIS Th e th ree eight -lap semis incl uded so me unfam iliar faces, as man y of the usual "direct transfer" riders had found themselves shut out in the heat races. Penn State Cycles rider Kevin Varnes led the opening semi initially, bu t Sacra. mento Harley rider Hill took over and ran away with a co m m a n d in g win . M&M Raci n g ' s Scott St u m p , Tea m Undo's Brett Landes and Morehead battled over the re maining tw o transfer positions . Stu mp held on to second, and Morehead made it to the mainby the slimmest of margins when he passed Landes in the last tum of the last lap . "I don't know how he found traction on the outsides of three and four," said an astonished Landes. It would be the first time of the series that a Team Undo rider was not in the main. For the third Nati onal in a row, d ef end ing Grand National Champion Ricky Graham was not on hand. A huge crash in turn one tha t invol ved Steve Aseltine, George Roeder II , Jeff Ek lund and Terry Poo ve y delayed the second semi. All riders were unhurt and able to make the restart. Poovey was the fastest off the line, but Farris was the fastest on the track and took over on the first lap. Farris es tablished a commanding lead, but a sli p late in the race allowed Poovey to close in. At the finish, Farris held off Poovey and Harley-Davidson of Dallas-sponsored Willie McCoy for the win. Carr led the third and final semi from start to finish, and along the wa y turned in some of the fastest lap tim es of the da y. Things looked good for the series po int lead er, as it appeared that he finally had the sli p pery track figu re d out. Barte ls' rid er H ale fe nd ed o ff Plano Honda's Billy Herndon for second, bu t both would go to the National. "1 ad ap ted pretty well," said Carr. "We made a few changes after the heat, and if I can get a decent start from the second row, I think I'll be in the hunt." 600 SUPPORT Kris Armentrout led every inch of the IS-lap 600 Support class final aboard his Snyder's Honda/Hot Jarnrnin /Truett & Osborn/ Al Muth Harley -Davidson / H ickman Leathers-sponsored Honda, but it was in no way a cakewalk for the Kansan. Behind him, a fierce battle for second raged on, and even the smallest of slips would ha ve dropped Armentrout into the pack behind him . Jesse Sanchez held down second in the earl y going. but a hard-eharging Ty Howard took over on the front straight on lap six. Sanchez later slipped off the groove and dropped as far back as fifth. Adam Sabedra Jr. was the next to chase the leader, as he dove underneath Howard with two laps to go and assumed the runner-up position. With that , things looked set, but fourthplaced Paul Morgan III was not content w ith his po sition and tried a last-ditch effort to overtake Howard for third. Mo rga n p lowed onto Howard as they entered turn 'one, sending Howard reeling off the track. Morgan then could not maintain control of his machine, and low-sided in tum two . Sanchez was the benefa ctor of the clash and crash, and slipped into third behind winner Armentrout and runnerup Sabedra. Howard recovered in time to sa lvag e sixth, but was obviously upset with the outcome. NATIONAL Davis led the charge into turn one, wi th Jones, King. Parker, Hale, Atherton and Hart in tow . Carr suffered a miserable start, and led onl y three riders as he exited tum two. " I went in to turn one ea sy , so I wouldn't ram anyone," sai d Carr. "But sure enough, I got bumped further out by rider after rider after rider." Davis, however, was delighted with his start. "I knew tha t a holeshot would be the biggest key to winning this race," said Davis. "It would be hard to pass on a track like this, and I was jus t praying .lor a holeshot . When I g ot it , I just thought, 'Okay, now don't do an ything ign orant!'" Jones latched on to Davis' rea r end and together, the t w o bega n to p u ll a wa y from the rest. " I kn ew that it would take a mistake from Davis: said Jones. "I jus t had to sit behind him and wa it for a mistake. Th ere wer e a few times that I cou ld have bumped him off the groove, but that's not my style. I figured I'd just try to pressure him into making his own mistake, but that never happened." Jones would shadow Davis throughout the race, but a mistake never came and he finished a painfully close second. King held down third for only one lap before Parker sl ip ped past, but stayed on Parker's tail for the first eigh t la ps before d ropping ba ck with rear brake problems. "My brake was sticking," said King. "Th e motor felt sluggish for the first few

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