Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

the ch eckered flag, but it wa s to no avail. "Skip Eaken ha s aways been real good to me , and he put me on a goo d horse," Davis said. "Bu t the line 1 was u sing jus t sta rte d go ing away, th en I messed up and Morehead cau ght me. The track was just getting so slick. Once Pa rker ca u ght -me I was definitely in charge mode, but he pu lled a draft pass on me. 1just came up short." Loral Lake Racing's Ronnie Jo nes also played th e rol e o f a spoiler by sn eaking up to snatch fifth pl ace aw ay from TCR-backed Kevin Atherton two laps from the finish . With his 41st victory, Springsteen not only shoo k the d ust of an untamish able leg end , b ut he furt her so lidified his second -p lace sta tus on the all-time Gra nd Nationa l win list. Parker remains on top with 60 wins, bu t Sp ringsteen's 41 now place him two wins ahea d of fellow three-time Gra nd Na tional Champion Ricky Gra ha m, who has tallied 39 victories. Springer has also assumed the GNC points lead over Brett Landes, 29~28. HEATS A surprisingly high 50 entries were divi ded into seven qualifying heats with the top six riders in each advancing to the regular heats in the pro gram. Two more last-cha nce qualifiers filled ou t the fo u r 10-la p heat roste rs, and after a slight delay for some pre-race festivities, the first heat rolled to the line shortly after 8 p.m. Davis got things started by leading Ronnie Jones and Rusty Rogers off the line. Davis cruised up front for the first five laps while Rogers and Jones went at it for th e seco n d transfer pos ition . Rogers wasted no time slin gs hot ting past Jones on the front straight but was only able to hold position on the wily Oklahoman for three laps before Jones found the dri ve off tum two to reclaim second place on lap six. Jones then started pressi ng Davis hard on lap seven and continued to take shots at h im for the remainder of the heat - the best being a draft pass dow n the back straight on the last lap. But Dav is had th e juice to cut back under Jones off tum four and claim the win by 10 feet. "Jones gave me a heck of a battle," Davis said. An anxious Jess Roeder gained attention by jumping the start twice in heat two and was sen t to the pena lty line, but once underway, Atherton and Garvis Honda rider Rich King were the key principals. King stormed off the line, towing Atherton and Jeff Eklund, but Eklund quickly fell behind down the backstretch while Atherton closed up the gap on the lead er going into turn three. King briefly opened u p a couple bike-length margin until lap five whe n fo rmer facto ry Harley-David son teamster Athe rton, easily reeled in King and then snatched the lead with a draft pass on the fro n t st raig ht on lap six . Fro m there, At herto n si m ply checke d ou t, leaving King alone in second un til race's end. Afterward, Atherton sa id th at he was me re ly play ing a waiting game early in the heat. . " 1 knew that I could beat him (King)," Atherton sai d. "I jus t d idn't want to do anything stupid and risk a crash or some thing that would cost me the transfer.". Rod ney Farris crossed the start line too soon in heat three, and referee Bruce Bober ordered him back to the penalty line. When the green light flashed, Geo Roeder II appeared to have the ad vantage while Morehead appeared to be buried in the pack - which included Parker - off the line. But the eldest rider on the circuit gave no quarter and quickly forced his way to the front of the field th ro ugh turn one and d own the back straigh t to lead the first lap over Parker and Roed er II. Morehead and Pa rker eased into the top two tr an sfer spots almost immediately, and all that was left to settle was which rider would take the win. Just a few laps into the heat, Park er began toying with Morehead, waving to the veteran p rivateer as he drafted by down the back straight, and then just for a cheap, lID-mph thrill, tapping him on the elbow. Bad move. Morehead pulled the trigger and dropped low in tum four to dump Parker back to second for good on lap four, pulling ou t a six- le ng th advantage at the wire . "He just pissed me off and got"me motivated," Morehead joked . "We was just cruisin' down the back straight, an d I got a good d rive on him, so 1 th ou gh t I'd have a little fu n with him by wavi ng." Park er said. "He paid me back, though. He waved at me after he took the checkered flag." Springsteen gave a pre view of things to come b y lead ing mo st of heat four. Even so, the former champ had to de al with so me early-race pressure from a rather unexpected source, Kevin Varnes . The you ngs ter put hi s Johnny Goad tu ned, USC Racing-backed H ond a RS750 b y Springst een briefly on lap thr ee and then shadowed the veteran for nea rl y fo u r laps before Springer was able to build a three-second lead on the final threecircuits. "I had a little higher lin e that I was rid in '." Springsteen sai d . "Then once (Top) Steve Morehead (42) ran do wn on the po le wh ile Scott Park er (1) expe rimented on the cushi on. Morehead cou ldn't catch Springsteen and settled for second while Parker fell back to th ird . (Above) Will Davis (21) led nine 01the first 10 laps In the National before fading back to fourth on a borrowed Harlay-Davidson. Springsteen (g) hou nded DavIs and took over on lap 11. he (Va rne s) got by me low , I thought, ' We ll, hell, I can rid e down there too.'" . Varnes held on to seco nd for th e direct transfer. "I felt pretty good o u t th ere for a while," Varnes sa id. "Bu t he (Sp ringsteen ) was really rnovin'." U") 0\ 0\ ,...... N ,...... ....... ..... I-< 0.. -e 17 '

• Cover