Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

:'D TTR·ACK :.·.. :':':'.. ... Round 18: Springfield Mile IR AMA Gfan~Natio nal Cham'pionshlp Series . By Dave Hoenig . Photos by Bert Shepard "1 1' SPRINGFIELD, IL, SEPT. 5 e carne here to win this thin g I and take the points lead, and f tha t's just w hat h appened . Now it's on to Castle Rock," said fourtime Grand National Cham pi on Scott Par ker, after edging out F&S HarleyDavidson's Steve Morehead and Bartels' Harley-Davidson-sponso red Mike Hale in a typically exciting Springfield Mile race on a ve ry untyp ical Sprin gfield Mile track. . Rains mo ved in to the Sp ringfield area just after the qualifying heats were comp leted, an d after all hope was exhausted to get the race track ready for Sunday, the AMA decided to corne back on Monday afternoon and try to resu me the program. A full afternoon and evenin g of rain left the fast mile track a mess. By early .afternoon, truc ks were trying to wheelpack the clay back into shape. The result was a very tacky and uneven surface, eJ:. that left many riders unsure if th ey 0\ wanted to race. A rid ers-only meeting ...... w as h eld, w ith a vo te taken as to whether or not they would ride. The majority decided to ride, so the race was on. What had been an overflow crowd on Sunday dwindled to abo ut threequarters of the large grandstands on Monday. They were treated to exciting, although somewhat scary racing. "(I) think the track got better as the day we nt on," Parker said. "The top ' dried out and that's where. I went. Early 8 (Above) Mike Hale (32), Stev e Morehead (42), Chris Carr (4) and Scott Parker (2) battled for the lead. Parker edged Moreh ead at the finish, while Hale was a distant th ird. Carr dropped to fifth. (Below) Scott Parker barely edged out Steve Morehead at the end of the 25-lap National. on it was pr etty spooky. I tried do wn low but didn't feel comfortable there at . all. ."1 really thought 1 was going to win that one," Morehead said. "I felt 1 could draft him, but then on that last lap, after I got by Hale, I thou ght I wa s ri ght where I wanted to be. Then Scotty bobbled just a little coming out of four and got his foot beh ind him. It wa s ju st enough. I hesitated just an instant, and it was enough to miss the draft pass." HEATS The largest field of 750s th is year required nine qualifying heats and three second cha nce races to trim th e 62 entries down to a 48-rider field. Davey Camlin, Larry Pegram, Ken Coolbeth, Rich King, Kevin Atherton, Chris Carr, Ronnie Jones, Morehead and Will Davis were all winners. Carr's 2:25.41/ 99.09- . mph four-lap run was the fastest. Carr sat on the pole for heat one after winning the fastest race in the previous day's qualifying heats on a completely d ifferent race track. Davis and Carr jumped into the lead as the light flashed gr een. Th ey were edging aw ay wh en disaster struck for Gee Roeder. Roeder was charging through the field on lap two, only to have the rear end step out between turns three and fou r. The momentary sli de turned spectacular whenRoeder's bike grabbed hold of the tacky clay and sent him car twheeling down the track and into the hay bales and wall. Reeder suffered a broken wrist in the incident. The race was immediately red-flagged with a complete restart. Davis and Carr picked up where they left off, only now with the company of Mike Hacker. Davis and Carr exchanged the lead several times with Hacker right on their . heels. Hacker dropped off the pace a little, and Davis broke free on lap seven. "Will broke the draft," Carr said . "I stayed with him as long as I could. 1 knew second was good enough to make the National. It should be a front-row position because Will was flying, he was unbelievably fast through the turns ." Davis' trip to the checkered flag was not altogether uneventful. "1 stuck my foot towards the end," Davis said. "I thought 1 tore my leg off. I'm going to have to get back to my pit and get some ice on it. 1know a lot guys

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