Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.·21~~~sertes· Round 15: Rocky Mountain Speedway Mllut HlIcker (67) rebounded from a bad cl'lUlh In the 7SOcc program to overtake Steve Aaeltlne (36) and win his flrst-ever AMA 883 National. Aaeltlne finished second but w!IS later disqualified. for Steve Morehead," King said. "There isn't a better guy in the world you can beat." After making the pass, King was simply too strong, and he cut three nearly flawless laps in his final quest for the checkers, finishing ahead of Morehead by little over one second. Kopp, Jones and Varnes all came across the line together. Price finished seventh over Davis and Parker, both of whom missed the all-important start. . King's win vaulted him back into second place in the series points standings behind Parker, who leads the series over King, 182-144. Davis now sits third with 138 points. Chris Carr and Kevin Atherton are fourth and fifth with 131 and 102 points, respectiv~y. way toward the front after dicing with McBee and Price. He then caught up to Jones, and the two Honda riders battled behind Kopp while King and Morehead got away. Jones appeared to struggle a bit, dropping behind Varnes at the halfway point before remounting a charge and retaking the fourth spot. "This track had everything but a jump," Jones said. "You weren't going to win this race if you couldn't get off the start. It didn't matter how fast you were." "It didn't turn out too bad," Varnes said. "It was like a nighttime race on a daytime track. That's what I started racing on, so it didn't bother me too bad." Kopp still ran in no-man's land, unable to catch Morehead and King, but just quick enough off the turns to keep Jones and Varnes in check. '1 still knew I couldn't make a mistake, Kopp said. Up front, King was camping out just off Morehead's rear wheel, and the Iowan began to pull the trigger hard off the fourth corner, showing a wheel to the inside and the ou tside down the front straight. Morehead was well aware of the threat, and he finally gave way on lap 17. But, irpnically, it was on the opposite end of the track. "He was just killing me off turn four," Morehead said. "I just left the door open in one and two. I got sloppy." "I have all the respect in the world H AMA 883 NATIONAL The entire AMA 883 National pro- gram was run after the completion of the 750 schedule and featured a rather unlikely winner. Battered and bruised after his grinding crash with Don Estep in the first Grand National semi, 19-year-old Mike Hacker had pulled off his leathers and was ready to call it a night. But when series points leader Jay Springsteen left the event (see box), the young Virginian - currently second in the series standings - was handed a golden opportunity to catch up to "Springer." Despite being in obvious pain, Hacker elected to saddle up. Riders hot over "Rocky" Mountain .Speedway conditions A iter the first practice session eDded at Rocky MountaiD Speedway several of the top competitors got together and lt1reatIened to boycott the Deswer Half Mile in prote!lt of what they thought were terrible track amdiIiom - wone than last year when the Rolling Thunder Show visited the track. Among their COIoCEillS were an appuently ungraded track - as there were severaI holes on the entry to tum one and the exit at tum four - a lad of moisture, and the several roclcs that lay on the surface. '1 think we ought to just pack up our stuff and get the beD out of here, three-time Grand Natianal Champion Jay Springsteen said. "There's no reason we should have to ride on s0mething like this. Sure, everybody has got to ride the same track, but I ain't as dumb as everyone eIee. rve been doing this for a long time, but this is stupid. We've already lost a couple of racers this year:' "I want to ride/ Kevin Varnes said. "But Johnny Goad doesn't want us (Varnes and USC Racing teammate Terry Poovey) to go out:' "I don't want·them to ride," Goad said_ "Because it's too rough. It's not a race track." After several riders voiced their complaints, rider reps Will Davis, Steve Morehead and Scott Parker took the matter to Bruce Bober, and a second rider's meeting was held while a sweeper was ordered in from nearby Second Creek Raceway, a road racing facility located adjacent to Rocky Mountain Speedway. The riders continued to practice in the meantime, but according to Morehead, the track did not shape up. "It's the same," Morehead said. "It's ridable, but I'm not sure N . WsmreW~" At the second rider's meeting, several riders complained about the conditions and uestic:med the requirements for h0lding a Grand National put in the AMA sanctioning appIic:ation. Ronnie Jones was among tile more boisterous in his ~ sition to the track. . '7here's no excuse for Ibis, Jones told AMA referee Bruce Bober. "And tbis is not the first time that this bas Uppened C N You can't just keep expecti11g us to show up and cover everyone's ass, because ours is getting Ihin. Jones, who promoted the Oklahoma City Half Mile, told Bober that everybody involved knows what it take to tum a car N track like R.odcy Mountain Speedway into a motoI'cyde track, and that he was disappointted that tbere were 110 1l!pet'CUSSion8 in the case that a track is considered unsafe. "You make us riders follow the rules," Jones said. "You disqualified me at Du Quoin for being half-a-pound light. This deal is worse than being half-a-pound light. How about disqualifying some of these promotersr Ironically, the promoter in question, Chris Agajanian, was in agreement with the riders, and he shouldered responsibility for the conditions. "We have been trying to work the track," Agajanian said. '1 know that it doesn't look like it, but we have put in 10 straight days on it. But we don't have all the equipment at our disposal like we do at the fairgrounds that we go to. "We're not happy with the track we're giving to them." Agajanian's Vice President of Marketing, Gene Romero - himself a former Grand National Champion, added. "But we gave it the 200-percent effort just like we do at all the other tracks like Del Mar and Sacramento:' • 'Tm all for rider safety," Agajanian said. "And I don't want any of these guys to go out on the track if they don't think it's going to be OK." After the track was swept, most of the riders agreed to stay and put on the show, which was enthusiastically received by the Colorado fans. For his part, however, Springer stuck to his N guns. "I'm not riding, I don't feel safe," Springsteen said. '1'm just gonna go out there and take a couple of laps to collect my hundred bucks for attempting to qualify, then I'm going to head for home." True to his word, Springsteen raced for a few laps in the fourth heat race before backing off and then pulling off the track. He loaded up his Bartels'-spOIIllOIed XR750 and was on his way to Midrigan before the night was 1Wf over. "Springer's not here," Hacker said. "We need to pick up some points on him." The move paid off in spades as the Spectro/Moroney's H-D/Vanson/ Motion Pro/DunIop/Shoei/Works Performance-backed Hacker charged through pack after a fifth-place start and then picked off Doug Beattie, Keith Jacobsen and Nate Wait before catching leader Steve Aseltine and grabbing the lead on lap nine of the 12-lap main. Hacker never looked back as he went on to score his first National win. "Since I was hurt, I was just going to go out and ride around," Hacker said. "But then I started·passing guys. Now we're 51 points ahead of third place, and only 13 points out of first." Aseltine finished second in the race over Wait and Jacobsen, but Aseltine's machine was found to be illegal in the post-race inspection, and he was disqualified. Wait was then credited with second place, and Jacobsen third. (N Rocky Mountain Speedway Denver, Colorado Results: August 12, 1994 (Round 15 of 24) REAT 1 (10 l~ps; 8 riders, top 2 transfer): 1. Davey Camlin (H-D); 2. Scott Parker (H-D); 3. Paul Morgan 01 (H-D); 4. Brett Landes (Han); 5. Steve Aseltine (H-D); 6. Jason fletcher Oi-D); 7. Brian Anderson (H-D); B. Devon Pritchard (H-D). Time: 3 min., 58.01 sec. HEAT 2 (10 laps; 8 riders, top 2 t:ra:mfed: 1. Ronnie Jones CHon); 2. Will Davis (Hon); 3. Terry Poovey (Hon); 4. Dale Jenneman (H-D); 5. Chance Darling (H-D); 6. Jess Roeder (H-D); 7. Andy Tresser (Duel; 8. Lance Jones (H-D). Time: 3 m.in., 54.39 sec. HEAT 3 (10 laps; 8 riders, top 2 transfer); 1. Rich King (Han); 2. Joe Kopp (H-D); 3. Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (H-D); 4. Mike Hacker (H-D); 5. James Hart (H-D); 6. Clint Vahsholtz (Hon); 7. Jeff Dietz (H-D); 8. Kelly Larkin (H-D). Time: 3 min., 55.25 sec. MEAT 4 (10 laps; 8 riders, top 2 transfer): 1. Kevin Varnes (Han); 2. Allon McBee (H-D); 3. Dan Butler (HD); 4. Tommy Colson (H-D); 5. Willie McCoy (H-D); 6. Don Estep (H-D); 7. Steve Liberty (H-D); 8. Jay Springsteen (H-D). Time: 3 min., 51.68 sec. REAT 5 (10 l.po; 8 riden, top 2 transferr. 1. Steve Morehead (H-D); 2. Geo..g;e Price IV (H-D); 3. Kevin Atherton (H-D); 4. George Roeder JJ (H-D); 5. Paul Lynch

• Cover