Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Ronnie Jones played it cool and moved forward late in the race to net fifth place two laps before the checkered fl ag fell. (Left below) Mr. Conservative ?: Kev in Atherton displayed none of the go-forbroke antics which he is famous for, and it may have cost him as he was relegated to sixth place by Jones. SEMIS The three eight-lap semis no t only served to round out the National field, but they gave several of the top competitors a much need ed chance to sort out their combi na tions . Team Undo rider Brett Landes stepped up and pu t toge ther eigh t nearly flawless laps to top the first semi wh ile Rogers, who challenged Landes briefly, and Davey Cam lin also got their acts togeth er an d land ed spots in the mai n. Semi tw o fe ature d a great batt le ' between Roeder II and Steve Beattie. The Canadian Beattie led Roeder II for the first three laps befor e drifting high and wide into turn one and letting Roeder II drop under him for the lead. ' Beattie dogged Roeder II fo r another two laps before charging up the inside going into turn one on lap five and pulling off a ballsy, inside, head-overthe-railing pass on the lanky Ohioan, who was on the groove. Beattie then ran away with the win. "It was tight. I scraped my shoulder on the railing when I went by him," Beattie said . "I just wanted him (Roeder II) to know that I had something for him." "That pass didn't bother me ," said Roeder II, who was back in his first ride since breaking both of his wrists in a crash at the Springfield Mile last season. "It was just good racing. That's all part of the game." Chris Evans led Farris for three laps in the final sem i before th e Eddie Adkins/ Winchester Harley-Davidsonbacked Virginian uncorked it and pulled comfortably ahead . Evans and ve teran Terry Poovey, the latter another rider in the USC Racing stable, grabbed the final two spots in the Natio nal. 883 NATIONAL ..... I-< 0... -< 18 Though he had easily won his heat earlier, Springsteen came closer to being defeated in the 12-lap "Sportster class" main event tha n he d id during any of his previous outings. As the field rumbled into turn one, Springsteen misseda shift and slowed temporarily, allowing reigning 883 National Champion -Scott Stump to get a good jump on the field and take a commanding lead. While Stump settled into a fast pace, Springsteen quickly recovered from his mishap, picked off seco nd-placed Pete Hames, and set about method ically running down the fleeing Stu mp. "I missed a gea r off th e start," Springsteen said . "I thou gh t to myself, 'Man you ain't never gonna catch him : " But Springsteen d id ca tch Stu mp, and the' cagey Michigand er wailed un til the refe ree flew the w h ile flag before d iving under Stump in tu rn one an d t hen p u lli n g o u t just e nough of a n advan tage to land th e vic tory . Stu mp, James Hart , Georgie Price IV and Mike , Hacker ro u nde d ou t th e top five, but Stu mp's machin e was later found to be illegal during th e po st-r ace teardown and was dis qualified. NATIONAL Morehea d 's win in the fastest heat of the' night afforded him first choice of starting positions, and he elected to start righ t in the middle of row one. Springsteen and Davis lined up inside of More- head while Varnes, Ronnie Jon es and Parker wound up on the outside of the front row. Davis was gone at the fir st hint of green and had his Skip Eaken -prepared Harley-Davidson sailing in the point position. Though Davis says that riding the Harley-Davidson is different than competing on a Honda, the change in machinery really wasn't a contributing factor in his fall from the lead. "I don't want to make any excuses," Davissaid. "It's got two wheels and a set of hand lebars just like my bike. If you don't think that you can win on what's un der you, then you can't ." While Morehead elec ted to stay on the tried-an d-tru e blue groove, Parker hea ded way outside - especially in turris one and two - in search of greener pas tures. He found no ne. "I tho ught I coul d pick the pace up, bu t I cou ld n't go forward," Parker said. "I was just spi nning the rear w heel. There was a fast line down low, but if you came in too h ot, you jus t slipped ou tside. Both of us (Parker and Morehead) we re getting in the corner an d missing our points where you would sta rt drivin' . I was just spinning my wheels:' "I went from second to fourth back to the front again," Morehead said. "By the time I got back to second again, Jay was in his rhythm. There was just no catching him." Atherton had gotten a good jump in the main and appeared to be edging his way forward while maintaining fifth place. Atherton was once again in waiting mode, but Jones came into the picture and ended up giving Atherton a taste of his own medicine. "Morehead and Parker started racing each other, and I thought, 'All right! I'm going to get by both of them," Atherton said. "Then I fell off the groove. Ronnie doesn't screw up, and I just ke p t bobb ling ." "We were hoping to get into the top three bu t we got fifth," Jones said. "For th is pl ace, we feel pretty good abou t tha t:' Landes finally appeared to overcome his earlier ha ndli ng problems once and for all. The Northern Californian found a good line and put in a smooth ride that wo uld culminate in a rather lonely seve nth-place performance. . "I tried," Landes said. "All in all I' m ha ppy with seventh because if we can ru n seventh here when we're struggling, then I think that I'm going to be someone tha t they' re going to have to beat every week." Further back, Roeder II battled with King and Camlin for the eighth position, coming out on top at the flag. "We had carbureto r p rob lem s all nigh t," Roed er II said. "We switched to different ones in the semi, but then we foun d water in those so we went back to the first set for the main : ' Camlin also drop ped King, pu tt ing his Wieb ler's H arley-David son / Eaken Racin g-bu ilt XR into ninth place before the checkered flag fell. "This isn't my best half mil e finis h eve r, but it is by far my best lea rn ing ex perience eve r," Ca mli n sa id . "Once we got thin gs figu red ou t, it was just a matter of using my head ." The night clearly belonged to Springsteen, however, wh o ran in second and then railed around the ou tside of Davis, 'Parker an d Mor eh ead comi ng off turn fou r on the third lap to tak e a "token" o ne-la p le ad - as h e d o es at sever al Nation als du ring the yea r - before falling back to se cond . But wh en Springsteen held his ground in second and then ree m er g ed from the fray again with

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