Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·D TRACK · . . IRT AMAG dN tionalC ran a hampionshipSeries. Round 3: Delaware S Fairgrounds tate to borrow a Harley -Davids on from Skip Eaken to compete at Pom ona . And like Morehead, Dav is w as unable to better his finish of one race ago. Davis figure d into the National early as he go t off to a se cond- p lace sta rt behind Parker, but the No rth Carolinan fell behind More head and Farri s after five lap s and was forced to d efend his positi on ag ainst a charging Springsteen on lap s 10, 14 and 19-25 jus t to keep it. "We got on th e groove in the heat, an d I thought it was going to be the fast w ay around the race track," Davis said . "Bu t the track was wetter in the main event, and I wish I'd have gone up high. The new bike worked grea t right out of the box ." HEATS Cookin'wifh Porker By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Photos HARRINGTON, DE, MAY6 ith tw o rounds of the '95 Grand Nation al Championship Series in th e record book s, Scott Pa rke r h ad yet to as u me h is all-too famili ar spo t at the front of the pack. On e could safely assume, howe ver, that the wi nningest racer in the histo ry of the spo rt would soon cook up one of his patented recipes for victory . And that' s exactl y what he did . All of th e b a s ic ingred ients fo r a Parker cook off were in pl ac e a t th e Dela ware State Fairgrounds: Tak e one short, cush ion ed, pea gravel hal f mil e ov al that rew ards courage , not cau tion, mix it with a Lou isville-style groove to keep things sp icy, throw in one fivetim e Grand Na tio nal Ch ampion who ha s yet to score his first win of the year, and then bring him to a boiL That was all it took, as Parker - wh o was angered over the starting procedure at the start of the National - grabb ed the hol esh ot and proceeded to blow awa y the field en ro ute to his 61st National win in front of an estimated 4000 fans. Parker was u pse t be fo re the 25-lap Nation al eve r left the line. The trouble s tarted wh en three contenders on th e front row - Kev in Varnes, Will Dav is and Rodney Fa rris - as w ell as Steve Beattie from the second row, jumped the start before the green light came on. Initially, AMA referee Bruce Bober ordered the offending parties to the penalty line, leaving Parker to face off against "only" Steve Morehea d an d Rusty Rogers in the drag race to tu m one. But whe n officials d iscovered that the light had malfuncti oned, Bober allowed all the riders to return to their original places. Parker was in cens ed, and left h is place at the starting line to argu e the call wi th Bober. "Everybody is out there tryin' to race their butt off, then somebody jumps the star t and the AMA puts them back on W th e li n e," Park er s a id afte rwa r d. "Whether or not the light is malfunctioning doesn't matter . If you cross the line any other tim e yo u ge t pu t back. Why shou ld anyone be all ow ed ba ck up on the line? The light never turned green." After a brief bu t heated debate, Parker lost the argument. He then returned to his starting position, and whe n the light turned green, he never lost agai n for the rest of the night. He made the start, built up an early ad vantage, an d flat left his competition behind. The Flint, Michigan, rider was abs olu tely unstoppable as he roosted around on the cushi on to bu ild h is ad van tage bef or e dropping to th e groo ve and cru ising. " I looked b ack abo u t 1000 tim es," Parker said. "Abou t 12 or 15 laps into the main I saw that no one was catching me, so I dropped down on the bo ttom. I saw Morehead down there." Besid es boostin g h is Nati ona l w in tally - and thu s moving back to an even 20 wins more than Jay Spri ngs teen, who now has 41 - Parker also gained a Jot of ground in the race to the cham pionship by jumping from fifth to seco nd in the points standings with a 37-point tally. He now sits tw o poin ts behin d fellow Michigander and three-time champion Springstee n, who finished fifth at Harring ton and still lead s the series with 39 poin ts. Though Springsteen won a Na tional at Harrington in 1983, he failed to recaptu re the magic of that victory or of h is most recent win at Pom ona. The likeable 37-year-old from Lap eer, Michigan still put in a strong showing, finis hi ng fifth behind Will Davis and s ile nci ng a ny doubters who may have though t that his Pom ona performance was a fluke . "I thought I was going to catch (Will) Davis, th en I th ough t we wou ld both catch Rodney (Farris)," Springsteen said. "I think I was going faster than they were, but I couldn't put a good lap together. I was righ t on Davis on the last lap." Sandwiched b etw een Parker and Springsteen were thr ee of AMA Grand Nati onal racing' s toughest veteran compe t ito rs . Ste ve More h e ad put in a pa tente d, gritty-but-consistent ride for a soli d runner-up finish so me di stance behind Parker; Farris rebounded from a d is astrous ou ting a t th e Pomona Half Mile to gra b third place; and Davis mana ged to barely fend off Springsteen for fourth p lace at the line. The KK M otorcycle Supply / F&S Harl ey-David son -backed Morehead was we ll off Pa rker's pace, com pleting the race some four to five second s be hi nd the Harley -Davidso n factory star. But Morehe ad didn't appear to be struggling as much as tryin g to decide the best wa y to track d own the fleeing Parker. . "Scotty go t off to a great start, and I knew that if he go t goi n' he wa s gone," Mo re head sai d . "I wen t high and low just lookin' for some thing to work, but I flat-ass go t beat. He wa s pissed an yw ay, and we don' t need Scott Pa rk er to be pissed off." Th e 39 -yea r-,! ld Oh ioa n's fini sh m atch e s h is re su lt a t Pomo n a , a n d Morehead rema ins in third place in the champion ship stand ings with 32 points. Farris' third-place finish was a refreshing chan ge of pace from Pomona, where th e Ed die Ad kins Racing/Winch ester Ha rley-Davidson-bac ked Virgi nian finished out of the top 10. But Farris debuted a brand new C&J-framed XR750 and pu t it on the box after dicing with Morehead in the early stages then sett ling in to a comfortable pace on the groove to finish ou t the National. Farris appeared to be quite happy with the finish. "We' re inchi n' closer (to a win)," Farr is sa id . " It' s h a r d to say whe n it 's gonna come, but I feel good. We knew tha t the new bike worked best on th e cushion, bu t we pu t it on the groove and it worked jus t as good. We didn't have to change a lat." Like Farris, the A&R Racing / Mother Fletcher's-sponsored Davis was also on a new motor cycle; he was back aboa rd a Ho nda RS750 after ha ving been forced Some 39 entrants sho wed up to contest the 750cc class, guaranteein g that all wo uld qu alify for the heat races. But the s tan d a rd se ries of scratch qu alify ing heats were run an yway, an d it wa s on th e last lap durin g one o f th ose he ats that Park er su ffered a rather embarrassingmomen t. " I pull ed off thinkin g it wa s the che ckered flag," Parker said. "I slowed d own, and th en I saw Terry (Poovey) run it in there like he was doin' a plug check. He run it in ther e, and I thought, 'Ma n, that' s the longest plug check I've eve r seen: Then I thought, 'He ain't gettin no plug check, he's still racin .' What the hell' s wrong with me? I pulled off on the white flag!'" Th e mi stake dropped Parker fro m second to fifth in the qualifier and cost him little more than a front-row star ting positio n for heat two. Ride rs w ere too anxious to get the ball rolling in heat one, and no less than four men jumped the start. TCR Racing's Dan Butl er, LA-Racing's Larry Pegram, GNC returnee Jason Fletcher (see sidebar) and Farris were all sent back to the pen alty line . Canadian Chris Evans led at the start, with Georgie Price and Farris in tow . Farris came to life after a few laps and tracked down the leaders. The two swapped places several time s, but it was Farri s wh o preva iled at the fin ish after a scary moment that saw the two fro ntrun ners touch elbows on lap six. "He (Evans) got a little high and we bumped, " Farris said afterward. "We talked ab ou t it , a n d th ere wa sn't no hard feelings:' Parker and Morehead were the prima ry combatants in heat two, and they put on quite a show as they fou ght to se e who could run closer to the hay b al es. M orehead took th e e a rly lead with Spring steen and Harley-D avidson fa ctory ride r Chris Ca rr - on h and to compete due to a break in h is road racing sche du le - giving chase, bu t Parker charged up from his back-row starting position and displaced both Sp ringsteen and Morehead with a wild outsid e pass in turns three a nd four, powering his Bill Werner -tuned XR off the fourth corner to grab the lead with a big wh eelie that brought the fans to their feel. Morehead wasn't content to sit in second place, and the "Find lay Flyer" soon left Springs teen behind to pursue Parker, heading up towa rd th e ha y bales and findi ng eno ugh trac tio n to get the job done. Morehead caught Parker on lap six, and the two then diced on the high line with Parker trying to square off the turns and drop below Morehea d to regain the lead . Ultima tely, it was a last-di tch, lastlap pass on the outsi de in turns one and two tha t netted Parker the lead for good. Morehead had one more chan ce to catch Parker, and he dropped to the groove to make the effort. But the Ohioan got out of sha pe, and Parker got away.

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