Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK . ' . A Grand National C MA hampionshipSeries ' Round 1: Municipal Stadium I By Don n Maeda Photos by Kinne y Jo nes DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 11 ay tona Beach's Municipa l Sta d ium means diffe rent thin gs to diffe re nt rid e rs . To Tea m Ha rley- Davidson's Ch ris Carr , th e th ou gh t of th e s lippe ry sho rt track brings to mem ory a nu mb er of im pressive wins . For five-time Gran d N ational Cha m pion Sco tt Parker, the facili ty brings nothing bu t b ad memories - the season opener has neve r been kin d to the spo rt's winn ingest rider. But for 24-year-old Brett Lan des, the two words "Munici pa l Sta di u m" w ill always send a shiver up and down his spi ne. From the flash of the green light, the Team Un do rid er set a pace that no one co u ld mat ch , and the personable Californ ian raced on to the first Grand Na tio na l w in of hi s relativel y yo u ng p rofessional career. "I can' t beli eve it," sai d an ecs ta tic La n des . " I was n erv ou s all d ay long because I fini sh ed third here last ye ar and there was a bit of pressure. I knew I wo uld b e a con tender, but I d id n't expec t to wi n!" And boy, d id Landes wi n. By th e time the checkered flag fell for Landes, he had stre tched his lead to over a full straightaway an d had lapped up to 12th place, As a matter of fact, Landes just D missed out on lapping 11th-placed Parker. And how many rid ers can claim that they nearly lapp ed the living legend ? A di stan t se co n d wen t to Ga rvis Hon d a's Ri ch Kin g . The often overlooked ' rider sta rted second and d id all he could to match Landes' pace, but was forced to settle for the runner-up spot at the black-and-white. "Brett was jus t getting hooked up too good," said King, who turned in the best Gra nd Nationa l finish of his career. "I started to close up on him a bit in the midd le of the race, but he just got away again." Of the top three finishers, Loral Lake Racing's Ronnie Jon es had to work the h a rd es t fo r h is spot on the podiu m. Jones sta r ted th e race in seventh, and had to hu stl e to work his way into thir d. Alo ng th e way, h e p assed defending race cha m pion Chris Carr, who ended up a distan t four th. In wi nning, Landes also earned the G ra nd Na tiona l Cham pi on sh ip Series point lead. Lan des, King and Jones boast 20, 16 and 13 poi n ts, respectively.. "I don ' t thin k it has sunk in yet," said Lan des. "I'Il probab ly be on the pla ne ride home when I realize that I actually won this thing." Light rain de laye d the program several times througho u t the evening, but th a t didn't d ampen th e spirits of the near-capacity crowd of an estimated 12,000. A healthy turnout of 105 riders req uire d 17 sc ra t ch h e ats a n d nin e scratch semis to th in the field do wn to the 60 riders who wo uld compete in the six 10-lap heat races . Thanks to a ligh t s howe r th a t required a quick lap around th e track with the tractor b la d e, th e fi rst he a t didn't get underway u ntil 9:30 p.m. The race was actually started befo re the rain began to fall, but Jones slid ou t in the first tu rn unhurt and brough t ou t th e red flag. The rain began just as the riders lined up for the resta rt. On the rain- de layed res ta rt, Kris Kiser stole the holesh ot bu t was qu ickly ' displaced by the low-line-rid ing Jon es. Davis also sneaked past Kise r, but he ditched his u sua l lo w -lin e choice in favor of the cushio n. "I was hoping that it wou ld w ork and I'd catch Ron n ie," said Davis. "It wasn't working so goo d, so I we nt back to the bottom." Davis close d to wit hi n fiv e bi ke len gth s of Jo nes at th e finish, an d in doing so earned a d irect tran sfer to the main . "The track is p retty slippery," sa id Jones . "But the tra ck work mad e fo r traction everywhere. I' m su re there wa s traction up top also, but I didn't wa nt to try to find it." Seve ral cras hes in heat tw o required . two res tarts - Kevin At herton and Jay Rich King (80), Kevin Varnes (89), Ronnie Jones (1 6), Brett Landes (41), Chris Carr (4) and Jay Sprinsgtee n (9) rip off the line in the first Grand National of 1995. Sp rin gsteen were amo ngst the riders to h it th e d irt. Sp ri nger proved to b e unsh aken by h is cras h, and we n t on to sou nd ly trounce the field by over a full straightaway. Willie McCoy nabbed the second transfer position . Carr abso lutely demolished the competition in the third hea t race, and gave every indica tion th at he wo u ld do the same in the National. "The track is slick, but I feel p retty good," sa id Carr. "If I can get a good start in the Na tional, I'll be okay. Before the rain you could hook up, but now it's slip pery all the way aro und . It's like riding high -pow ered speed way bikes." Tomm y Colson and Lars Trul son battled over second th roughout the race, but both ride rs go t a little squ irrelly in th e la st corner a n d s li p pe d o ff th e groove. Bart els' Harley-Dav idso n's Eric Bostro m w a s q u ick t o p o un ce, a nd q u ickl y tu rned w ha t looked to be a fourt h-place finish into a ticket into the National. "I can' t believe ho w lucky I am," said th e likable Ca lifo rnian. " I was sitting back there in fou rth, and on the last lap this big doo r opens up."

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