Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.D Grarid National Championship .Series . Final round: Del Mar Mile IRT-TRACK·:. .. AMA (Abo ve left) Steve Morehead (42) and Rodney Ferri s (92) swapped po sitio ns throughout the Nati onal (Above) Joe Kopp (43) rode to an Impressive eighthplace finish. (Left) Chris Carr struggled around the new track and finished a disappointing fifth. races. Starting on row two at a mile isn't all that bad." Hale and Durelle had an exciting battl e in the second semi, b ut just as Durelle took over the point, his Jim and Linda Eastlee-supported Ha rley gave out and left him stranded. Hale went on to score an easy win over Rookie of the Year Kenny Coolbeth and Pegram. Davis ran away with the win in the fi nal semi aboard his Honda RS750 , leaving M&M Racing's Scott Stump to finish a lonely second. Custom Floor Covering's Ricky Smith nab bed the third and final transfer posit ion , and would round out the 17-rider main. 883 NATIONAL Springst een, Modesto Harley-Davidson's Matt ·Wait, Wim e r' s H-D ri der Scott Stump a n d GP Racing's Doug "d' Beattie ra n in formation at the head of 0\ the 17-rider field during the opening ~ four laps of the 15-tap Harley-Davidson 883 National, until Bea tt ie nearly ~ crashed in tum one and fell off the pace. N Stump also faded a bit, leaving Springl-< Q) steen and Wait to scra p over the lead. Several puffs of sm oke bellowed from Springsteen' s machine, and it looked as u if Wait would na 6 his first win of the season, but the rac e was brought to a halt on lap nine when Beattie fell off in turn two. During the break, Spring- E o 8 stee n's crew scrambled to ma ke a few repairs to his street bike. " I lost the brakes on the second lap ," sai d Springsteen. "The cap fell off th e mast er cylinder and the brake fluid was goin g on the pipes and smokin g. It was a little hairy with no brakes, that's for sure ." The Bartels' Harley crew was able to replace the cap on Springsteen 's brakes , and the four-time Grand Na tional Champion had brakes for the single-file restart. When the race got back underway, Springsteen bolted from the rest of the field . Wait was unable to duplicate his challenges for the lead, and eventually finished some five bike lengths behind the vic torious Sp ringsteen . Stump was third, 15 bike lengths behind. NATIONAL Before the start of the National, both Parker and Carr discussed their strategies . " I' m go n na try to get to th e fron t, then go like hell," said Carr. "Tire wear will not be a problem, so it's going to be 'open it up and hang on' time." "I think I rod e on the worst track all day," said Parker of his heat-race track cond itions. "They ha ve worked on it a lot since then, so it can only be better. The start will be my d ecision maker - if I get a good start, I'll drop the hammer. If not, ma ybe I'll try to keep more riders involved." Parker grabbed the holeshot and led the field down the back straight for the first time, but was greeted with the red flag as he crossed the start/finish line. Ap pa rently, Smi th was ra mmed from behind as he powered down the back stra ight, and fle w up over the dirt embankment tha t lined the course. His machine cartwheeled into the fence and got stuck several feet above the ground before burs ting into flam es. Smith suffere d a broken leg and arm, and was transported to the hospital for surgery. A le ng thy dela y foll owed wh ile Smith was transported, and man y racers scrambled to clean their bikes and face shields. With the exception of leader Parker, all were covered head to toe with a thick layer of dirt. " It's d angerous as hell go ing into three," said Carr, who had started fifth. "The roost is terrible, a nd th e s u n is righ t in your eyes. I used two tear offs in one lap." While most racers switched their helmet face shields from dark to clear and in stalled many tear offs, Coolbeth 's crew fou nd themselves repl acing the motorcycle's n umberplat e. "My fron t numberplate got roosted off in the first tum!" said Coolbeth. "The blas t from a rear tire can alm ost knock you off your bike." Onc e the ambulances left the track, the remaining 16 riders took a warm-up lap and requested a further delay to let the su n se t. "It's too dangerous right now," sai d Morehead. "The s u n is in your eyes going into tum three, an d you can ' t tell where to shut off for the tum. If we wait five minutes, the sun should be dowp far enough." Th e racers agreed that cond itions we.re safe shortly after 6:00 p.m., and the National would have no more delays. Poovey and Hill proved to be too anxious at the start, and were sent to the penal ty line. "1 was hoping to somehow help out Chris, but I guess I blew my chance," said Hill, who would even tually finish 10th. Farris got the initial jump on the field, but Morehead rode the high line in turns one and two and took over the lead. Parker started third, but mo ved into the lead down the ba ck stra ight. Carr was fifth , behind Atherton and Davis. The first three laps were wild, as Morehead, A th er to n and Parker exchanged the lead severa l times each lap . . But that was as long as Parker was willing to stay and play. By lap four , Parker had gained full control of the lead , and began to outdistance the pack with apparent ease. While the rest seemed to s truggle with the rough conditi ons, Park er looked as if he were ice rid ing back home in Michigan. "I was just hammerin'," said Parker. " I knew going into the th ing that all 1 could do was split, and the rest would be left up to Chris. I just had to wa it and see what happened beh ind me." Parker added to his lead with each passing lap, eventually greeting the checkered flag with over a straightaway between himself and the rest. Carr controlled second for a brief mom en t on the third lap , but couldn't hold back the spectacular Morehe ad, w ho rod e past, high in the cushion. "I would cut two good laps, then two bad ones," said Carr. " I just couldn 't get comfortable." Once pas t Carr, Morehead seemed to gai n full control of second, and rode unc hallenged th roughout the meat of the race. Carr held down third for several laps , but Farris wa s hot on his tail. After trading pa sses with Carr, Farris motored past for good on lap 12 and set his sigh ts on Morehead. Atherton, meanwhile, had se ttl ed into a battle over fifth with Davis, bu t be gan to come alive at the halfwa y point.

• Cover