Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·D GraridTR Championship .Series . Round 20: Sacramento Mile IR National K·.: l AC .. AMA out a comfortable five-bi kelength lead that he would ma intain to the finish. Morehead barel y e d ge d Camlin for second. "I came int o th is race kno wing that I had to wi n, and tha t' s wha t I di d, " said Pa rker . "I d idn 't even kn ow that Chris had dropped ou t, bu t Morehead signa lIed it to me on the cool-off lap. I th ought, ' H ot damn! I'm ba ck in the hunt! ' " "I got really close to Scotty in th e last tum, but I broke loose com ing out of four,". said Morehead . "I could ha ve maybe run it in hard and low and stuffed him going in, but I decided to try and draft him. It didn't work." Atherton was a lonely fourth, while Durelle got th e better of Jones and Coolbeth for fifth . Springs teen, H al e and Pegram round ed ou t th e top 10, while Landes an d Wait we re the only tw o remaining finishers. "This was my firs t National m a in even t," said Wait, wh o lives in nearby Lod i, Ca lif ornia . "Sacrame n to is like m y h om e to w n event. It w as aw eso me." ex Cal Expo State Fairgroun ds Sacramento , California 'Res ults : Octobe r 1, 1994 (Round 20 of 22 ) (Above) Kevin Atherton (23) battled for the lead w~h Steve Morehead (42), and Chris Carr (4) ea rly Inthe main event. Atherton eventuallyfinis hed a distant fourth. (Left) DaveyCamlln came from behind to secure third place. He was Impressive all night long. . H EAT 1 no l,1, p s; 9 r id ers. top 2 lun sfe r ): l. Da ve y Camli n (H- D); 2. Aar on Hill (H-D); 3. Mike Hale (H- D); 4. Jay Springst ee n (H-D); 5. Ma tt Wait (H· D); 6. Chance Darling (H- D); 7. Dale Jennema n Sr. (H-D); 8. Jam es Hart (H-D); 9. Ronnie Jones (Han). Ti me: 6 min.• 10.42 sec . HEAT 2 no la p s; 9 r iders. lo p 2 lran sfe r) : l. Terry Poove y (Han); 2. Dav e Durelle (H-D ); 3. Larry Pegram (Ho n); 4. Joe Kopp (H· D) ; 5. Jimmy Filice (HD ); 6. Ted Ta yl or (H- D); 7. Ben Bos trom (H- D); 8. Allan McBee (H- D); 9. Eric Bostro m (H- D). Time: 6:12.96. HEAT 3 (10 bps; 8 riders. lo p 2 tra nsfer): 1. Steve Moreh ead (H-D) ; 2. Scali Par ker (H·D); 3. Chris Carr Filice.returns to his roots I pack fo r a few lap s, but eventually pulled off when the pain b ecam e unbea rab le. By lap five, Carr had raced through th e field and joined th e lead pack of Mo r ehead, Parker and Athe rton. About 10 b ike lengths back, Ha le, Camlin and Du relIe ar gued over fifth . Slowly but su rely, Camlin broke free of Hal e and Du relIe and began to close ~ in on the lead er s. Camlin's great cor0\ ner speed was obvious, and he joine d ~ th e lead quartet on lap 10. " I wanted to ge t in th ere with the leader s," said Cam lin. " I got s uch a bad start - them gu ys know what' s up with the starts, d on ' t the y? Actu ally, it may have been good that I got a bad sta r t. If I wa s u p fro n t I m ight have burned up my tire." Lap 15 ma r ked the beginning o f Carr' s demise. Parker led Morehea d , Atherton, Carr and CarnIin across the line in close forma tion, bu t the lead pack would soon be red uced to four when C arr began to s lo w. "I kep t thin kin g, 'Just get as many po in ts as yo u ca n : but when so many g u ys star ted passing me I go t frust ra ted:' said Carr. "I guess it was about time we ha ven 't h ad a mechan ic a l in years." Parker and Mo rehead managed to brea k awa y from Ather ton and Camlin on lap 16, but after s ha ki ng fr ee of Ath e rton on la p 19 , Ca m li n closed back in . "The rac e was wearing d ow n, and that's w he n Morehead wan ts to s tart racing ha rd and might stu ff yo u:' said Atherton. "The track was a little inconsisten t, and I wasn' t comfort able with that po ssibility." At herton would finish a d istant, ye t solid fourth. Th e final five lap s. saw Parker pull t' s been six years since Jimmy Filice has thrown a leg over a dirt track motorcycle, but that didn't stop the amiable 31-year-old from donning his steel shoe at the Sacramento Mile. In the years since he left the AMA Grand National Championship Series, Filice has made a successful transition in to road racing - racking up 20 250cc National wins en route to a pair of AMA 250cc Grand Prix Championships in '91 and '93, while also winning the United States Grand Prix in 1988. Despite his complete domination of the '93 AMA 250cc series, a ride failed to materialize for the all-time winningest 250cc National racer, an d he foun d himself id le when the '94 series began. . "I ha ven't been doing much racing lately," said Filice, who earlier in the year contested the Spanish Ducados Cup road race se ries and selected rounds of the 250cc World Championship Series. "I figured, What the hell? There's a race going on down the street from my house and there's no reason that I shouldn't race it:" said Filice, who calls nearby Modesto, California, home. During his "active" Grand National career, Filice racked up four Grand National win s - one half mile and three miles - the last three coming aboard the HarleyDavidsons of engine-builder Eddie Adkins. HI called Edd ie up on the Monday before the race and asked his if I could ride:' said Filice. "He was happy to provide a bike for me, and here I am ." Filice competed aboard Rodney Farris' back-up machine, with the number .92zon the number plates. Though he looked a bit shaky in the first practice Session, Filice quickly settled into an impressive pace. . Filice finished fifth in his heat race, and battled with the likes of Ronnie Jones, Jay Springsteen , Brett Landes and Will Davis in his semi. Filice sat in qualifying position through parts of the semi, but eventually pulled off the track on the penultimate lap. "We were trying all sorts of stu ff to get the bike set up for me," said Filice. "The suspension and frame geometry were a bit off, but I was really happy with the way things went. It's been a long time since I had to start like that!In the semi, we were tryi ng some new shock springs, and they were bouncing me alI ove r the place . I fig~ ured tha t I had my share of fun, and I should pull off before I got tossed or somethin g." "Jimmy needs to gain about 30 pounds to make that bike work right," joked Adkins, who was delighted to have him back in his pits. "I've been telling Jimmy all along that he's welcome to come back for a ride. I'm glad that he finally took me up on it."

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