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.D TTRSeries Round 4: Thunder Valley Raceway IR rackAC K FloridaRat T By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Fotos SATSUMA, FLMAR. 7 ou nd four of the the Florida HarleyDa v id s on De al ers / W iseco / Drag Specia lties-s ponsored Florid a Flat Track Series at Thunder Valley Raceway fell to the first d iffer ent winner si nce th e se r ies opened up Ca mel Mot orcycl e We ek - and p erhap s a n . unl ikely winner at that. With m an y o f the top Experts o n h and vy in g for a share of the $10,000 p oint fu n d in th e seven- ra ce series, Kevin Varnes ste p ped up to claim th e 600cc Expert wi n, and in the p ro cess, ended Will Davis' series win stre ak. Da v is was o n a roll co m ing into toni gh t' s action wi th three consecu tive wins, but tha t would change ea rly . As Davis' qualifying heat left the line , h is number-21 Rotax sa t motionless. "It blew the bottom dear out," said a dejected Davi s. Varne s , on the other h a n d , had everything going his wa y as he won the second fastest q ualifier, fas test h eat, fastest sem i an d the main . "We were fas t w hen we unloaded this afternoon, and i ~ anyth ing, it just got better," said Varnes. .After lead ing the main into turn one, Rich Kin g fini shed a distant second in the main. " I tri ed to protect the inside, but Ke vin just rod e around on the damn outside, " said King. Third pl a ce w ent to veteran short tracker Roger Durkee; a good advertisment for th e dirt track sc hool he was ho lding the next day on the Thund er Valley quarter mile. Steve Mo rehead was he ld to fou rth in the m ain, taking so me of the sting out of Davis' misfortune. Davis still m ain tains h is points lead, now down to a m ere seven p oints over Mo rehead. Varnes jumped all the wa y up to third with the win, which was worth $1()()(). Ken Cool bet h was unable to make the sho w for the second vear in a row . This y ear m echanical p roblems si delined him before th e qualifiers. With 72 Experts shooting for spots in th e six 10m an h eats, the 11 q ualifiers were a ll important. The six Expert heats went to Mo reh ead , Ke v in Va rnes, Du ane Veeder, Mike Varnes, Steve Beattie and King. Four 12-man se m is na rrowed th e field for th e main, as only the top three riders wo uld move on. Kevin Varnes led se mi one into the fir st tu rn and was never cha llenged . Morehead settl ed into se cond with Matt Wait holding third . Wait h eld off th e a dvan ces of Bill Newkirk an d James Hart for the la st trans fer . The se cond semi bel on ged to Mike Ha cker, wh o pull ed aw ay as Veeder, Georgie Price, Ch arli e O rr and Kevi n A therto n battled o ve r secon d. Vee der and Price ga ine d a sma ll cus hio n; but co n ti n ued to battle each o ther. Price m ade a last-ditch effort to pass Veed er in turns three and four, and in doin g so he slip ped the groove and let Athe rton int o the main. Durke e ran a way with the th ird se m i whil e Da v e Cam li n a n d M ike Varnes fou ght over second . Varnes hit Camlin ' s rear wheel in turn two and bounced off th e groove, slipping to ~ \ fifth. Rob Ge tte finishe d th ird to tran sfer to the main . • The last sem i was Rich King's wi re to wire. Beattie, Kris Kiser an d Ch ris Hart wer e running wheel to wheel for se co nd . Hart even tu ally dropped off th e pace, and the main event lineup was se t. 12 Expe rts blasted off th e line in the main with King leading into turn on e. Th en Varnes took over going into turn three, and th e race quickly became a battl e for second place. That did n't last lon g eith er, as King picked up the pace an d got away from the pack. Durkee se ttled in to third as Morehead, Kiser and Cam lin battled over fourth . Although th ere was a lot of probing, no positions changed han ds until Kiser 's brake locked, dropping h im two positions to seventh. Varnes sailed on for the d ear victory, while Hacker finis hed second and then had hi s race come to a n abrupt sto p, when he lost his brakes and had to lay it down in tum one after the checkered flag. T he Spectro-Moroney ' s Harl ey Da vidson team swep t th e 883 Harl eyDavid son main. Georgie Price led all the way w h ile hi s teammates excha nged second and third, w ith Hacker mo ving aro u nd Gette for seco nd. Scott Stu mp was . fourth with Ben Bost rom movi ng up to fifth. California's Johnny Murphree su rvived a restart to win the 600cc Pro-Am mai n . Mu rph ree w as holding a co mma nding lead whe n Shawn Mobl ey fell ha rd on the back straight, bringing ou t the red flag. Murphree picked up whe re he left off, and he easily wo n over John Winsett Sr. and Morgan Coolbeth. Eddie Dixon and Stepha n Duc haine rounded out the tcp five . Tim Eades ra n away w ith the 250cc Pro-Am main: we ll ahead of a battle for sec on d that we nt to Scott Shinn ov er Bob Weiss and Garth Bastain. 1'N Thunder Valley Raceway Satsuma, Florida, Results: March 7, 1995 Pro 600 EX: 1. Kevin Varnes (Rtx ); 2. Rich King (Rtx ); 3. Roger Du rkee (Rtx); 4. Steve Moreh ea d (Rtx); 5. Dave Cam lin (RlX); 6. Matt Wait (Rtx); 7. Kris Kiser (Rtx); B. Kevin At he rto n (Rtx); 9. Mike H acker (Rtx); 10. Duane Veeder (Rtx); 11. Rob Gette (Rtx); 12. Steve Beattie (Rtx). 883 H-O: 1. Geo rgie Pri ce; 2. Mik e Hacker; 3. Rob Ct.>tte; 4. Scott Stump; 5. Ben Bostro m; 6. Jam es Ha rt; 7. Eric Bostro m; 8. Jim Sumner; 9. Cary Rog ers; 10: Dav e Hebb; 11. Jim McDva na; 12. Eddi e Dixon. (Right) Goad Racing's KeVIn Varnes snapped Will Davis's win streak by topping the 600cc Expert class at Thunde r Valley. (Below) Rodney Farris slid to the 750Cc Expert victory during round five of the Florida Flat Track Series at St. Augustine Speedway, becom ing only the third different "premier class" winner In the series. 600 PRO-AM: 1. Johnny Mu rph ree (Rtx ); 2. John Winsett (Rtx); 3. Morgan Coo lbe th (Rtx); 4. Edd ie Dixon (Yam ); 5. Stephan Du ch aine (Rtx) ; 6. Marco Morell o (Rtx); 7. Rob ert Wei ss (Rtx) ; 8 . Jam es Dean Fau lkner (Rtx); 9. ROll Cochran (Rtx): 10. Nick Daniel s (Rtx); 11. Sha w n Mobley (Ho n ); 12. Jason Lorge (Rtx ). 2SO PRO-AM: 1. Tim Eade s (Ho n); 2. Sco tt Shinn (Hon ); 3. Robe rt Weiss (Ho n); 4. Garth Bastia n (H o n); 5. Ro y Mill er (Hon) ; 6. Marco Morello (lio n ); 7. Ben Knig ht (H on ); 8. Ken Lilly (H un ); 9. Sco tt Cleve nger (8 u l); 10. Charlotte Waldbucsser (Yam) ; 11. Rich ard Jon es (Yam); 12. Casey Burt on (Hon ). ... Ama te ur 50: 1. Eric Kvinlang (Yam ). 60: 1. Rob Pears on (Kaw); 2. To m Link ( Ka w ); 3. Dan Guiseppc (Kaw); 4. Ben G lisso n (Kaw ). 80: 1. M ike Mashews ke (Yam); 2. Roger Lee Hayden (Yam); 3. To m Link (Yam) ; 4. Rob Pearson (Ka w ); 5. Scott Morri son (Kaw). US , 1. Joe Eades (Ho n); 2. Jerem y Thompson (Hon); 3. Joe Zydiris ky (H o n); 4. Ben Mill e r (Hon); 5. Bryan Sh irley (Yam) . 2SO: 1. Bryan Bige low (Yam); 2. Pau l Lynch (Ho n); 3. Tom Ske thway (Ya m); 4. Mik e Forro (lion) ; 5. Joe Eades (Kaw). OPEN , 1. Bryan Bigelow (Rtx); 2. Pau l Lynch (Rtx); 3. Jeff Rand olph (Rtx); 4. Tom Skcth way (Rtx), 5. G<'O'};e Richtmeyer (BSA). SR: 1. Tony Ma rtino (Rb); 2. Andrew Mi1I~ (Hon ); 3. Fran k Carpinello (Rtx); 4. Luthe r Allen (Yam); 5. Mike Wilson (KTM ). _ 100: 1. Roger Lee Hayden (Ha n) . 2. John H lebo 111 (H o n ); 3. Shawn Raggu (Ho n) ; 4. jeremy Thompson (Ho n ); 5. Frank Nye (Hon). SI. Augustine Speedway:R 5 ound f~rri~ ~il1l~~ i~ ~t. I~~~~[j~~ [mil . By Dave Hoeni g Phot os by Flat Trak Fotos ST. AUGUSTINE, FL MAR. 9 , odney Farris becam e th e th ird d iffe re n t premi er cl ass winner afte r t a kin g t op hon ors in th e 75 0c c Expert class w hen round five o f th e Flori da Harley-Da vid son Dea l e rs / Dra g Speci alt ie s / Wi s e co s ponso re d Florida Flat Track Series ~ headed ba ck to St. A ugu st ine Speedway. Farri s he ld o ff a n .a t ta c k by Dave Camli n for the v ict ory , with p o in t s leader Will Davis a close third. "I knew I h ad to get a goo d start, then just s tay smooth, sa id the Eddie A dki ns Ra ci n g / Winchester Harley Da vid so n- spo nso red Farris. "I a lm ost lost the front end, down in one, wi th a couple of laps to go . 1 thought, 'Oh no, not no w: but somehow we got it back. Som eb od y dropp ed oi l a ll the w a y around the track late in th e race." " Rod ney gave me an opening late in the race, but I cou ld n' t capi talize on it:' said runner-up Camlin . "Then o n th e last lap 1 hit that oil in tum four, and 1 thought su re Will wa s going to get by me. " "I guess 1 gave these guys too m uch of a wake up call early on , they really came out swinging tonight," said Davis, who had won the first three ro unds of the $10,000 seri es . " I tr ied too hard to get Rod ney ea rly on, m ad e a mistake an d Davey got by. Th en 1 really berzerked it and fell back. By the tim e 1 ca lmed down and closed back up o n him it was too late." Going into the final two rounds at Da ytona' s Municipal Stadium Davi s holds a 12-point lead, 73-61, over Steve Morehead, who is the only rider to qual- . ify for all five main even ts so far. Camlin and Farri s are a di st ant th ird and fourth with 46 and 42 points, respectively. Kevin Athe rton and Chris Evans are the only remainin g rid ers wi th a mathematical sho t at Davis. They are tied at 34 po ints ea ch. Toni gh t' s race format pla ced 33 750s in to s ix qualify in g h e ats, w ith th ree elimination heats to get the fina l 12 riders in to the m ain. Ca mlin led th e first heat after setting fast time in the qualifiers, wi th Steve Beattie and Joey Brock in tow. The race had to be red -flagged w he n Ch ris Wnuk fell hard in tum one. Wnuk was unhurt, but his Hond a was too ba d ly damaged to restart. Ca mlin p ic ke d up wh ere h e left o ff on the restart with Beatti e now fo rced to hold off ·Kenny Coolbeth for second. David Lloyd pi cked up the last tran sfer . The seco nd heat was all Davis', as he grabbed the ea rly lead over Ch ance Darling, Dan Butle r and Chris Evans. By th e white-flag lap, Evans had secu red seco nd, bu t all eyes were on a three -rid er battl e fo r the last tw o tran sfer slots. Darling, Georg ie Pri ce and Morehe ad dueled it out until the last comer when Moreh ead, who had come from deep in the pack, slipped by Price for a ticket to the main.

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