Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127717
PREVIEW · 1995 AMA Grand National Championship Series Steve Morehead • #42• Age: 39 Hometown: Findlay, Ohio 20 National wins, ranked third in'94GNC Series Sco Parker· #1• Age: 33 tt Hometown: Swartz Creek, Michigan Five-time Grand.,NationaiChampion, 60 N ational wins _ - ..- the By Donn Maeda his is it - my dre am season. After three yea rs of pred icting the outco me of the up com in g AM A Gr and Nati on al Ch ampionsh ip Series and failin g mi serabl y, 1 ha ve fina lly found myself faced with a seeming sure thing. Last year, I pred icted that alth ough defend ing Gr and Nation al Cham pion Ricky Grah am was wit ho u t a m ajor sponso r, he would rise to the occasion and successfully defend his num ber-one plate. Common sense told me that the odds were stacked against Graham , but I stuck my neck out anyw ay and picked the Californian as the winner. And man, did 1get my head chopped off. Tho ugh Graham made amends with tu ner Johnny Goa d and Tea m Undo making a bri ef ap pearance du ring the midd le of the seaso n and winning the Hagerstown Half Mile - the three-time champ missed the majority of the series because of a nagging staph infection in his recently opera ted-on ankles. Graham showed his face lat e in the season in good spirits, but wa s quickly knocked back o nto th e disabled list wh en he brok e his ankl e during practice at the fall Pomona Half Mile. In s tead, it wa s four-time Grand Na tio na l Ch ampion Scott Parker who caught fire and raced on to the title, edging ou t his fac tory Harley-D avid son teammat e Chris Carr in a battl e th at went to the wire. Parker was masterfu l as he took contro l of th e se ries point lead early in the season and overcame a few bad breaks late in the year. Parke r handled the pressure of the title chase like the true champion he is, and when . the dust settled, it was just he, his tuner Bill Werner, an d a long list of reco rds that were left standing. And to think - I predicted that Parker would lack the drive and ambition that had carried him to his first four lil Ies . and finish fourth behi nd Graham, Carr and Larry Pegram. "Blasphemy," said a good friend of mine, a die-ha rd Parker fan, upon read in g last ye ar's pred ictions. "I hope you don't make the same mistake next year. Maybe you ha d bet- T ter check with me before your next preview goes to the presses." Not to worry. I have seen the light. I am a believer. Scott Parker will win the 1995 AMA Grand Na tio nal Champ ionsh ip Series. Scott Parker will become the first rider in the hi st or y of the sport to win six titles, Scott Parker will bring his career win tot al to well ove r 70, and in turn bring his tuner Bill Werner's win total to 100. And you can take that to the bank. I~ Only a fool would bet against Scott Parker in '95. Think about it. Parker is the only factOl)! rider who will contest the entire series, and in addition to haVing more career wins than most of his compen put together, has the tion sport's winningest tuner in his comer as well. The team of Scott Parker and Bill Werner is unrivaled when ijcomes time to finding the proper bike and racing line combination for each track, and barring injury, Parker should have little trouble prancing to his sixth Grand National Championship. Some skeptics say that Parker may become lazy, expecting a shoo-in, andget caught off guard by hiscom. petfion, Yeah, right. Go ahead and get lazy, Scotty, you should be able to win the '95 tiIle wijh one hand behind your back. There are 29 GrandNationals this year - expect to hear Parker's familiar 'Woo woo woo,"victory yelp at a lotof them. Brett Landes · #41 • Age: 25 Hometown: Campbell, Cal~omia Ranked seventh in '94GNC Series Davey Camlin • #27 • Age: 25 Hometown: Rock Island, Illinois One National win, ranked 10t in '94GNC h Kenny Coolbeth•#31 • Age: 18 Hometown: Warren. Connecticut Ranked 13th in '94GNC Series Series Davey Camlin realized a dream in '94 when he won his firstever National at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. A strong mile track racer, Camlin admits that his weaknesses are centered around the bump-and-grind half mile courses. This winter, the fl amboyant rider spent a great deal of time on the ice in hopes offurtherdeveloping his ha~ mile skills. "Instead of coming down when the ice got rough, I stayed up high in the bumps," he said. Camlin can be a hot-and-cold racer, but we feel that he will emerge more consistent in '95. This will be his second season mounted aboard Skip Eaken's potent Harley-Davidsons, and with any luck, the two should return to the highest step on the winner's podium. Put Camlin down for seventh and a win or two. After three winless seasons, series veteran Steve M orehead bounced back with a vengeance in '94. The old man of the Grand National Championship Series, Morehead spanked ~i s younger rivals at three races last season and brought his career win total to 20. Coincidentally, last year was Morehead's 20th seasonas a GNC Exper1, and ij w his personal goal to "get as his 20th, in his 20th." So, what might Morehead's goals be this year? "Hell, I M the 20 mark, how about 25? says the Findlay Flier. " When ij comes to ha~ mile ovals, Morehead is one of the best in the business · don't mess with him when the series vis~ some of the stock car racing facilijies. Morehead also knows the fast way around the longer mile tracks - had ij not been lor Parker, he would have won last year's Springfield and Sacramento M Morehead is on fire, and more iles. detenmined than ever in '95. Skip Eilkenwill build Morehead's F&S Harley-Davidson engines, and Gary Stolzenburg and Phil Darcy wm keep them pumng. Count on the ageless racer tofinish second. In his sophomore season, Brett Landes broke into the GNC Series top 10 by turning in a number of consistent top 10 and midpack finishes. Once consideredto be his ex-teammate Ricky Graham's protege, Landes possesses a smooth and calculated style that is well-suijed to the more technical hall mile races. Rick Canade will tune the Honda RS750s that Landes races, and together, thetwo should have little trouble improving upon Landes' '94 season ranking. If Landes has a weakness, ij is one and the same as his strength - his smooth, calculated style. When push comes to shove, Landes needs to hang it out and throw caution to the wind.now and then. K an eye eep on Landes at the Dayton and laSalle Short Track N ationals - he can scoot around the small tracks with the best of them. Eighth overall sounds about right. Ke nny Coolbeth was the runaway winner of last year's Rookie of the Year honors. The quiet high school student from Connecticut struggled early in the season, but quickly adapted to the high speeds and close racing of the Grand N ational Championship circuit. Coolbeth was impressive, and manyofthe series veterans took notice of the GardnerlWalter Bros. Harley-Davidson rider, especially when he finished third at the Mechanicsburg Half Mile. So what is preventing us from picking Coolbeth tofinish higher? Ahairycrash at the fall Springfield Mile saw Coolbeth suffer only minor injuries, but we feel that the scare of the spill may bring on a sophomore slump. Top 10? Definttely. Top five? Probably not.