Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Opposite page) canadian rider Steve Beattie hurlad his XR750 around 1-96 Speedway en route to his first Grand NatIonal victory at the Lake Odessa Ha" Mlle. (Right) Early In the main event, Beallie (26) found hlmse" behind a lraln of riders that included Rich King (80), Kevin Atherton (23), Kevin Varnes (89), Joe Kopp (43), Chris Carr (4) Scott Parker (1). (Below) Will Davis (21), Larry Pegram (72) and Atherton (23) battled for the remaining podium positions as the main event unwound. Pegram would go on to finish second and Atherton third while Davis ended up fifth behind Kopp (not shown). teammate (Fletcher) snuck up on me. 1 guess if 1 had to lose second, 1 would rather have it be to a teammate:' "Awesome, that was really fun," Fletcher said. "1 really like Mike a lot, but 1 got him this time:' Price finished a solid fourth with Ben and Eric Bostrom close behind. GRAND NATlONAL By virtue of his fast heat win Kevin Varnes had first choice on the starting line. He picked third from the top with Carr and Atherton to his right. Jones, Pegram and Davis flanked him to the left. Kopp, Parker, Springsteen, Beattie, Coo1beth and King settled into the second row. Butler, Hacker, Poovey, Fletcher and Landes comprised the last row. Kenny C001beth were all in a tight group chasing Jones. By the halfway point, Atherton and King were the only remaining challengers. King then also dropped back into a battle with Coolbeth for fourth while Jones edged Atherton at the line. "1 had to keep my momentum up, 1 knew there were some fast guys behind me:' Jones said. "1 flew into South Bend yesterday and stayed at (Atherton's) last night. He came home last night after winning the Regional and told me the fast line, He probably wishes he hadn't done that now:' The last heat went to LA Racing's Larry Pegram, who pulled off an early , lead, but a pack made up of Dan Butler, Brett Landes and Jay Springsteen closed at the midway point. , "Sometimes When you are leading you can't see the fast line," Pegram said. "1 kept moving up, then about four laps from the end 1 looked back and saw everyone running low, so 1 got back down on the bottom and pulled it off:' In one of the most popular moves of the night Springsteen pulled off a la-lap, last-tum pass of fellow Michigander Butler for the last direct transfer, SEMIS Hacker led the first semi into tum one, but was gobbled up by both Landes and Ken Coolbeth, All three broke away and would transfer to the main. Coolbeth, once again back aboard Randy Texter's Lancaster Harley-Davidson-backed XR75O, edged out Ha<;ker for the win. King grabbed the early lead in the second semi with Jason Fletcher and Joe Kopp giving chase. King began to pull out a lead, but a miscue let Fletcher close to the Garvis Honda rider's back wheel. "1 found that hole in turn two and thought 1 was going off the back straight:' King said. "There's not a lot of room back there:' Kopp took over second but couldn't wrestle first from King. Fletcher held on for the last ticket to the National. The last semi was led into tum one by Georgie Price IV and Poovey, Price led lap one but fell prey to Poovey, Dan Butler and Steve Beattie. All four riders were intertwined for most of the race, but Beattie put his Harley up front at the halfway mark and pulled a small lead at the checkered flag, 883 NATlONAL A good field of 28 Harley-Davdson 883s were divided into three heats with wins going to Mike Hacker, Jay Springsteen and Price. Much tp the delight of the partisan Michigan crowd, Springsteen took total control over the R.K. Stratrnan/HarleyDavidson 883 National, "Get a good start and never look back, That's my normal plan," Springsteen said. "You really have to keep your momentum up on a track like this. We only have one National in Michigan, so it's great to win this one. About halfway 1 peeked back and, wow, 1had a good lead. Then 1just had to run consistent laps:' Eric Bostrom and Price disputed second as Springer pulled away, On lap four both Hacker and Fletcher got by their Moroney's Harley-Davidson teammate Price. The four riders were then joined by Ben Bostrom, making it a battle between the Harley shops of California's Bartels' H-D, and New York's Moroney's H-D. On lap eight, Hacker was chased by the Bostrom brothers with Fletcher and Price right behind him, Eric Bostrom was on his way down the standings as fletcher was making his way to the front. Hacker was settling into second, but on the last lap he fell victim to Fletcher's charge. "1 didn't get a good start and had to work my way up," Hacker said. "By the time 1 got second, Jay was long gone. My ..' f I',y.' iii"• '"Ie', ,I'"' "' Br ,, ' Pegram was quickest off the line with Carr, Varnes, Davis and King on his trail. Varnes took second for one lap then started slipping back, "1 don't know what happened; it was really working early," Varnes said, "Then, maybe it was brain fade, 1 lost traction and nothing worked until the last few laps, It was too late then:' Carr was also slipping back quickly, unable to get a handle on the rapidly changing track. No two laps remained the same as the race broke up into several packs of as many as five riders running shoulder to shoulder. The fifth lap saw Pegram holding a slender lead over Davis, King, Atherton, Varnes, Kopp, Parker, Carr, Beattie and Springsteen, who were in the top 10 positions, 'the~e frpm ,up' h~e, !ItA this really' spec~l: wiSh my mom was !:lere." ", , ",I have to,dedicate this race,10 my dad, MlWbe ,-----:~, ...,...,--=-,.:,----;.."'''.,.',,:-,~ ..-'--'-;---,--:--,--'-- ,'now'he'l~ get, up and get back to the 'race Besit;les 'th/i obvious, $4,500 that ,Steve ~. trad<, He had a strOke 'a cOupl,e ,of years'ago tie collected fr

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