Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Parker (1) stayed on the low line while Varnes found greener pastures up high. Vames used the line to pass Psrker on lap 12 and King on lap 16 before cruising to victory. (Right) Jay Sprlngs1een wheelles In celebration of yet another victory In the AMA 883cc Netlonal class. Springer was unstoppable at Knoxville. But with 264 points to date, Parker has once again won the war, and as the series heads to California to close out with a three-race swing. the only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not he can eclipse his own record of 10 wins in a single season. Only time will tell. HEATS TCR/Joe Bisha/Motion Pro rider Brent Annbruster raised a few eyebrows by grabbing the holeshot in the first of the four lo-lap, 12-rider heat races, but local boy King took up the slack and more to lead the pack off the fourth turn on lap one. King diced briefly with H-D Central/Frontier Harley-Davidson's Dale Jenneman before putting about 10 lengths on the field en route to an easy victory. "I kept trying different lines, but nothing other than what 1 started with worked," King said. "Hopefully, it will work in the main, although 1 may still be trying a few different things there too." Armbruster and Jenneman then fell into the clutches of Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson/Motion Pro rider Bret Beyer, who went on to take second for direct passage to the main event. Varnes then gave the Knoxville spectators a preview of coming attractions by thundering off the starting line aboard his Johnny Goad-tuned RS750 "twingle" and pulling away from his competitors. The young Pennsylvanian was never really challenged as he put together 10 flawless laps to win the fastest heat race of the night. "1 like it," Varnes said of his big-bang motor configuration. "1 could tell that it was bitin' a little harder than our regular bike. We're not going to change a thing. 1 figure if I can win the hottest race of the year, then 1 can win the coldest one too." After Varnes pulled clear, a war raged over the second transfer position. It would be won by TCR/Ben Ford/Supertrapp's Kevin Atherton. who took soLe possession of second place for the duration on lap six after battling with Mike Hacker, Steve Beattie a'nd Garth Brow. Heat three provided a surprise winner as Team Undo/ Audiovox/Quaker State's Brett Landes, the 1995 Daytona Short Track winner, grabbed the early lead on his Rick Canode-tuned Honda and held off the Low-Line attacks of St:eve Morehead before settling into a winning pace. [t was a meaningful victory for Landes, who has struggled with a knee injury for most of the year and - by his own admission - lost confidence in himself. '1t's been a long time since 1 won a heat race - 1 think since Daytona," Landes said. "It was tough, but my confidence is back up. We haven't been running real well, and with the injuries I've had, this really helps. 1 know I'm one of the top-five fastest guys here." Morehead lost ground to Landes and would fare even worse as both Jones and Butler slipped by him before the checkered flag fell. Jones claimed the second spot, leaving Butler and Morehead to search for a main-event berth through the semis. Parker was the only heat winner to be Harley-Davidson-mounted, and it was all the five-time champion could do to hold off a charging Ken CooLbeth Jr. on the Winchester Harley-Davidson/ Eddie Adkins Racing XR750 at the line for victory. Parker led the heat wire-towire while Coolbeth tangled with Bartels' Harley-Davidson/ American Rider's Jay Springsteen for the first five laps before squaring it off undemeath Springer and going after Parker. The former Rookie of the Year pulled up to Parker's rear fender on Lap eight and then followed him under the white flag. gunning it to the outside off turn four in an attempt to rob the champ at the line. Parker had command of the low line, however, and that was enough to claim the win. "He (Coolbeth) was comin'," Parker said. "1 wanted to go higher on the race track, but 1 also wanted to make sure that 1 got a front-row start. 1 got a bad holeshot, then 1 found some traction on the bottom and said, 'Let's get it on.'" SEMIS Annbruster and fellow Michigander Danny Koelsch, the Latest of the young hotshots to crack the code for success in Grand National competition, ,both powered their way into the main event with a 1-2 finish in the first semi while Beattie pulled into third over SpectroMoroney's rider Jason Fletcher just in time to secure the final transfer spot. The race also proved to be the undoing of F&S/KK Motorcycle Supply's Steve Morehead, who could do no better than a frustrating eighth. "We couldn't hit our butt with either hand," Morehead said. "I was just a duck. We tried a whoLe bunch of different stuff. 1 just couldn't keep anything under me." Butler got a reprieve with his victory in semi number two, as did R&R Racing's WilL Davis, who was skating all over the race track in an attempt to find the hot line en route to finishing second. Donahue HarLey-Davidson/Lopko's Joe Kopp squeaked into the show with a third-place finish. Eaken'Racing/Wiebler's H-D rider Davey CarnIin showed some grit on the slick surface by clawing his way to victory over Springsteen and Jenneman in the last semi. GRAND NAlJONAL Parker blasted off the line at the start of the main event and appeared well on the way to his fourth-straight Grand National victory as Jones pulled in behind Parker but appeared unable to deal with him. "Scotty was riding the bottom, and it seemed like he would pull me a little bit. But 1 wasn't going to change lines. Then those guys went by me" Those guys induded King. who was hungry to pull off a victory in his home state as he passed Jones on lap three. Varnes, meanwhile, had left the line in fourth but was unsure of where he needed to be on the track in order to mount a charge to the front until Atherton went by him on the outside. "I have to thank Atherton," Varnes said. "He showed me that high line, and 1 knew right away that it was the way to go." Even so, Varnes didn't immediately make his presence felt. King did, however, when he slid under Parker off turn four to lead the race on the fourth lap. Atherton overtook Jones about the same time, but was clearly skating around on the hardened "black gumball" clay. While King attempted to stretch his lead, Atherton and Parker raced each other briefly before Atherton fell prey to the surging Varnes, who caught Parker on the 11th Lap and then made the pass for second around the outside two laps later. "Parker was hangin' on there," Varnes said. "But 1 think he was kind of messin' up. He wasn't getting as good a traction as I was." "Those Hondas were just hooked up a Ii ttle better," Parker said. They're good bikes, and they can really haul the mail on race tracks like these. They beat me, just like 1 beat them last week." Further back, Atherton found himself in a titanic struggle with Jones, CarnIin Imd a charging Butler, who dispensed all three riders and started coming after Parker on lap 15. King stayed on the low side of the groove and rode as steady as possibLe, but all eyes were on Varnes, who was charging on the high side and reeling off laps in the Low 24-second range before knocking on King's back door with nine laps to go. "1 was running really good, and then 1 smacked a pile of dirt down low," King said. "It threw my rhythm off. Kevin was really f1yin' around the top. 1 went up there and was able to go fast, but by then it was too late." Varnes steamed past King on lap 17 and remained out near the fence for the remaining eight laps. With a clear track in front of him, it was then just a matter of time before win number two was in the books. "This was great," Varnes said. "1 just stayed smooth and kept charging. It's kind of hard to think of what to say right now." But even as Varnes took the checkered flag with King several lengths back, third place was far from settled. Butler had pulled off a superhuman effort to reach Parker, and he was desperately hammering on the champ in search of a podium position while his TCR partner Atherton looked on from a distance. As the trio came under Steve Faraci's white flag. Butler elected to go for it and drove deep into turn one in an attempt to complete an outside pass on Parker. But the overzealous youngster drifted too far to the outside and smacked the guardrail, losing controL of his machine and drifting back into the groove halfway down the back stretch where he was inadvertently finished off by contact with his own teammate. Atherton was lucky enough to pull clear while Butler smacked the ground hard and slid to a stop just before the entrance to turn three. "I was just trying to beat Scotty," said Butler, who was in obvious pain from the severe Lacera tions to his Left hand and forearm. "I went outside and got high into the fuzzy stuff, then someone got my handLebar. All 1 remember is sliding down the back straight and seeing that number 27 coming down on me. I just got a little scraped up. We'll go home and take a rest, but we'll be back. We've got a week of healin'." Butler's crash moved Atherton to fourth and Jones to fifth. Camlin, CooL-

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