Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,D T-TR K,,:, IR AC ", AMA Grand National Championship5eries' Round 21: Pomona Half Mile (Left) Scott Parker was well on his way to a runaway victory. but a blown motor sent him to the pits after only eight laps. high, that they bog d own in the comers w hen th ey ' re d eep like that." Springsteen crossed the finis h lin e with a half straigh taway to spa re over W ait, w ho i n tum h ad t he same lea d over third-p laced Stump. NATIONAL distant third, an d w ould round out the 17-rider National field. 883 NATIONAL Modesto Harley-Davidson's Matt Wait jumped into the lead at the start of the IS-lap Harley-Davidson 883 National and established an immediate lead over Doug Bea ttie, James Hart, newl y crowned champion Scott Stump and Springsteen. While Wait pulled out a 20bike-length lead, Springsteen slow ly but su r ely w orked past his y ou n ger competitors and into second by lap five. In only two laps, Wait saw his le ad shrink away as Springsteen closed in at .. an al arming r ate. By lap seven, Springsteen h ad cl osed the g ap and the w ar was on. As is usually the case, y ou th and enthusiasm lost out to age an d guile. After shadowing Wait for sev era l laps, Springsteen made the pass for the lead on lap 10 and that was all she wrote. " I knew he was coming," said Wa it. " When he went b y m e, I saw th at he was downshifting i n th e corners . I thought, ' W h at ' s he d oing? W e don't shift these things!' By the time I realized what he was doing, it was too la te." 'The cushion w as so deep, that I had to downshift to get the power on," said Springsteen. " These 883s are geared so Shortl y a f te r his w in in the 883 N ational, Springsteen again became the victim of the strange stomach ailmen t tha t h as h aunted h i m t hroughout h i s caree r, and the Nationa l got underway minus th e sport's most pop u lar rider. A t the flash of the green ligh t, C arr r aced off th e line like a man possessed and l ed th e ch arge into tum one. Carr m issed several shifts, though, an d threw his a r m in the air as the en t i re fi eld raced p ast. "I w as so excited ab o u t getting my first holeshot of the y ear, that 1 missed a bunch of shifts," said Carr. "I was thinking, 'Why is all this happening to m e?' I knew that the bottom of the track would be ja m -pack ed, so 1 headed up to the cushion. That would be the only place to pass." M ean while, Parker was happy to slip into the point position, and easily began to o u t distan ce Davi s, Morehead, Hill and Farris. B y l ap t wo, Pa rker had already pulled ou t a 25-bike-length lead, an d i t would grow and grow with each comer . By the fateful eighth lap , Parker w as over a straightaway ahead . " I w as jus t cruisin', yo u know?" said Parker. "Everything was goin g fine, and then 'Pow !' th e m otor goes ." At the time of Parker's engine failure, D avis h eld a firm grip on second, com fortably ahead of Morehead. "I go t into second an d figured that I ' d try to hold on to Scotty, but man - he w as haul in' ass," said D av is . "He ke pt p ulling further and further away . Man, he was gone. I thought he was gon na lap us all." At th e hal fway point, M orehead had reel ed in Da vis an d bega n to challenge him fo r the lead . The two riders' lines d i ffe r ed g r eatl y . Wh il e Da vis ro d e stead ily th rough th e middle o f each corn er, Moreh ead w o u ld en te r h i gh an d wide before squaring th e comers off. "It w as w or king great, b u t I was right in D av is ' spray," said Morehead. "All of m y tearoffs we re used up, and his roost was packing m y air fil ter s full of d irt. M y bike started to cu t o u t, so I d ecided , to settle down an d get third." Davis again pulled away from Morehead, finally greeting the checkered flag with a half straightaway to spare. '1 had no idea that I was winning. believe me," said Davis. "lf I did, I probablywould have crashed or s0me- thing. It was great." But what about Carr? After botching the start and dropping to dead last, Carr rode like a madman en route to the front of the pack. On th e fi rst lap, Carr's wild rid e carried him pa st ei gh t riders and into eighth. He was si xth by lap three, fifth by lap ei gh t an d fourth by the 14th lap. Hill had controlled third throu ghout most of the r ace, but Carr began to steadily cl o se i n on h is fr iend and Northern Cal ifornia neighbor. " 1 was so tired by th e time Chris caught m e," sai d a drag-race bike: and joked that, r~ might be the most sophisticat- ' poked a hole in his thigh, and he's been undergoing intensive, 'ed piece 01 equipmeni on the' bike." So , you ask, did the shiller .intensive therapy all week long. He's gonna take" easy tonight, work? Pegram holeshOl both his scratch heat and heat nice ; but. but novi we know that we can run up front - he's going to win the • Ii. ., 'failed to qualify lor the National. "The. shiller worked great," said , Del Mar Mile." Should Wiilsion III delive'r, he will no doubt make A crowd 01 10,81S spectators showedup at the Race West ' the always straightforward Pegram. "I just sucked tonight." , ' , his sponsors at Skip ,Fonlyce Harley-Davidson'very happy. Winston IIl linished 10th at Pomona. · Prodlictlons-promoteif event , and all agreed that the ' 25-lap Steve Morehead and the F&S Harh~y-Davidson cr"ew we're Seen National was amongst the best they'd ever seen: Once a Chris Chris' Carr took delivery.ol" his championsh ip-winning Honda · Agajan ian Presents-promoted event , the annual stop 'on the ' ' scrambling to piece together a bike in between pract ice sessions. Apparently, the' exhaust system on his number-one bike XR100 mini dirt tracker at the Pomona Hall Mile and almost Grand National Championship Series schedule wili now be part 01 a Race West doubleheader weekend. According to Race 'split open, and the' Findlay Flyer was lorced to ride his back-up , seemed more excited about that than his newly acquired series point lead. "It's bad; .isn't it?", said Carr. "Frank Nye at Engines West's Bill Marcel, next year's sp.ring running will be held jn con- ,machine. "I lelt a lot laster on my riumber-one bike, but Gary Stolzenburg said that I was laster on . he other bike," said More- Only did the motor, and White Bros, did all of the chassis work. t junction with the Los Angeles round of the AMA U.S. Superbike It's about 1S'0Cc now, and the thing has real suspension on it National Championship Series. "The possibilities are very excit- , head, as he switched the Iront suspension components from now." Carr is the defending ,l00cc National Champion and, obviing," said Marcel. "What we hope to produce is a Daytona 01 the ,. bike to bike-. "We'll just have to make due." Morehead reported that during practice, the track was, "already' rougher than it's ously, plans to retain his.title at the October 22-23 100cc Nationwest - the ultimate motorcycle racing weekend." ,. . '," ever been. The ground is so soft that we're just digging huge , ai, held at the Lodi Cycle Bowl in Lodi, Calilomia. "It should be a " " blast," he said, "Scott Russell and Rich Oliver are supposed to : As promised , reigning .Grand National Champion RickY Gra- " ruts everywhere." . be there this year." hamsnowed up.at Pomona, ready"to do battle, but the threeAt the spring running 01 the Pomona Half Mile, Steve Morehead time 'champ saw his eVE lnirig come toa painfutend only three laps into the first practice session. As has become the norm at . looked' well on his way to a command ing win, but a broken , Irony ol .the evening:' When Chris Carr's Kenny Tolbert-tuned Harley-Davidson XR750 coasted to a stop at the previous round ' the Los ' Angeles County Fairplex and Exposition Center race swingarm ' drew his eve ning to an early end. When heckled t rack, the first practice session was held in dusty conditions. about a second chance, Morehead replied , "Well , we're not , with loose carburetor manifolds,' Scott Parker's tuner, Bill Wemgonna be breaking any swingarms tonight. I took my Carrera car er , had said , "I can empathize with Kenny. That's the kind of ' U.nable to see the track, Graham put his foot in a hole on the thing that can haunt you. When you' DNF, you sort 01 want the track as he slid into tum one. 't was a joke, you couldn't See a ' shocks off and put on regular old motorcycle shocks. The Carreras were bottoming out too much, that's why the 'swingarrn rods sticking out the'sides 01 the cases, so at least you can say thing,",said Graham. "It was so dusty thil t you were just going broke," : 'that you got your money's worth." Alter Parker pulled lrom the into the ,tum guessing." Witnesses reported that Graham was track with a blown motor at Pomona, Wemer lound pieces 01 a · nearly ripped off his Undo Racing Honda RS750. Though he piston in the carburetors. COmpleted the remaining practice taps, Graham was later taken .ls SCott Parke r a superstitious man? Just beiore the start 01 the to the hospi1allor 'examination. It was originally leared that ,Gra- , Scratch heats, Parker was spotted with a lemale member 01 ham broke his already tender left ankle, but X:rays revealed that " another pit crew, and the woman waved her hands around and , With only seven points separating seri es point leader Chris it was-instead a very severe' sprain. "I usually grin and bear 'it" about Parker's head and body in a mysterious lashion lor sever- Carr and Scott Parker, the October 16 Del Mar Mile series finale promises to be the race 01'the'year. The finale should see butmere was no laking this one," said Graham. "It really hurt," ,al seco nds. "Oh, she just said that it would give me 'extra , and it was swollen up like a basketball. We'll have to see how it power,~ said Parker with a smile: "Heck, "II never tum down no some interesting strategies, as Carr can clinCh the crown by finis on Thursday. If I think i can take it, '11 tape it up and try to " ,extra power." After his mi sfortune in the National, perhaps Park- ishing second to Parker. The acknowl~ed "King of the Miles," race at Del Mar.": . ' er was wondering il it had been a curse, not a blessin g. Parker seems to be the favorite to win the race, but not really. ' Since Del Mar ,is an all-new venue , everyone will be starting ' Will Davis was also the winner of a lili e-lap Harley-Davidson vs. Thanks to the weekly . 0/50 drawing, the People 's Point Fund ' Irom scratch and no adVantages will be had. 5 Honda Dash for 'C ash, wh ich was sponsored by Bartels' has grown to over S38,OOO. "The response has been great," Harley-Davidson and MldoCltles Honda/Kawasaki. The race, said Sarah ' Goad. "People Jump at the .cha nce to win some ' Should Scott Parker win his fifth Grand National Championship money and help out tne racers at the same time.~ Raffle tickets at Del Mar, he will break Iree 01 the tie that he currently sits in · which pitted the two Iastest qualifying Hondas against the two lastest HarleYS,·!lwarded a $1000 prize to the winner, Aaron Hill ' bOught prior to the race generate a weekly pot, and hall 01 it is " with fellow lour-time champion Carroll Resweber.and become . narrowly edged Scott Stump lor the runner-up position, ,while ' awarded to the lucky ticket holder, while the rest goes into the the first ride r in the nlstory 01 the sport to earn l ive Grand Scott Parker cruised home a distant"fourth. ' " point lund. A1terthe series finale, the point lund will be distribNational Championships. Parker already holds the record lor the , uted amongst the series' top 20 linishers, ' " " most race wins with a whopping,59. , ' Larry Pegram competed at Pomona .:...ilhanair,power~d, drag- ·: ' , ' , , race-style push-button 'shifter lilted :on his Erion Racing Honda 'Joe Winston II, lather 01 883 competitor Joe Winston III. made : But should Chris Ca;r earn the' iille, h'e ~iil jofri Randy G'oss, RS7S0.·"We're J having Iun,'try ing out some different stuff," , a bold prediction belore the start of the Harley-Davidson 883 ust Kenny Roberts,Dick Mann, Gary Nixon and Bobby Hill as two, said Kevin Erlon ,' "Skip Eaken handles all of the, engine timing" , National. At the previous Sacramento Mile round, the ,younger time Grand National Champions. Carr's first title came in 1992, ' we're just trying to help Larry out It's lunny, people ask, 'Now that Winston enjoyed the lead position at several points during the ' when, he edged Parker by a handfu l of poi nts , Th e iormer · the road racing season is Direr What do you do?' Heck; we go race belore crashing out in tum two. "Joe was going to win that Ch , amp lsanxious to trade in his number-lour plate lor the numraCing some morel" Erion reported that the shiller:was straight 011 race!~ said Winston II. -:VVhen he crashed, his steering stabilizer " ber one that he carried throughout 1993. ' .Briefl '

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