Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.DIRTTRACK Round 23: Pomona Fairplex AMA Grand National Championship .Series ,. e s so IDe Parker's advantage proved to be the difference. "I would have liked to give Scott a bit of a run for it," Carr said. "But when you lose time on a track that's slippery like this one was, it's hard to make it up. You have to use a lot of finesse on this track. He had better finesse than 1 did." Still, the 28-year-old Californian picked up valuable points on King. and is now poised to take over second place in the championship-series standings as he trails the Honda rider by only 11 points, 215-204, with one round .remaining. Unlike Carr and Parker, Will Davis had no time to cruise as he flogged his R&R Racing/Tea.j1\ SaddJemen Honda RS750 to a third-place fini h after starting on the penalty Hne. The friendly North Carolinian had been extremely strong all evening and could certainly be considered among the favorites for victory, but - in a rare miscue - Davis jumped the start and was ent to the rear of the field. Seventh on the opening lap, Davis u ed the low line to vault to third place by only the seventh lap. By then, he was too far behind Parker and Carr to advance his position. Afterward, he reflected on what might have been. "That was stupid," the 32-year-old Davis said of his starting-line faux pas. "1 think that we were faster than they (parker and Carr) were in the first part of the race, but 1 almost era hed in tum one and 1 had to take a minute to calm down." With the finish, Davis remained in fourth place in the eries standings with 190 points. 'Tm happy with third," Davis said. (Left) Stili the one: Team HarleyDavidson's Scott Parker steamrolled the competition en route to his 69th career victory at the Pomona Half Mile. l>arker has won the event five times. (Below) Chris Carr (4) put an early pass on Rich King (80) to finish In second place while King dropped to fourth. Carr, now third In the series standings, trails the second· placed King by a mere 11 points. By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Track Fotos POMONA, CA, OCT. 7 here was nothing extraordinary about Scott Parker's victory before the 9270 fans at the Pomona Fairplex during the fall running of the Pomona Half Mile, and yet the Team Harley-Davidson rider and now sixtime AMA Grand National Champion couldn't heIp but crack an extraordinarily wide smile in the victory circle. It wasn't the victory alone in the penultimate round of the 24-race series that had the 32-year-old Swartz Creek, Michigander gaping. Nor was it the way in which he won, as Parker scored a rather ordinary flag-to-flag victory on the cushioned five-eighths-mile horse track. It was simple numerology that gave Parker a reason to chuckle as he steamed to his fifth Pomona victory, his ninth win of the 1995 season and his 69th career Grand National victory to eclipse the 3OO-point mark in the series standings. And with tongue in cheek, Parker admitted that it was a little more. "Sixty-nine - that's Ont; of my favorite numbers, said Parker on the victory podium. "This was just one those races T l!') 0\ 0\ ,..... 00' ,..... I-< Q) ..0 o .... u o 10 N where you had to crui e in there and turn the motorcycle lap after lap. You had to take the good laps with the bad and hope that everyone behind you was doing the same." And everyone one was, as Parker took the lead right off the start of the 25-lap main event and then rolled out to an invincible two-second lead on Harley factory teammate Chris Carr before practically setting his Bill Werner-wrenched XR750 on autopilot to take home the lion's share of the $31,000 purse. Carr, too, appeared to cruise his Kenny Tolbert-tuned factory mount on his way to the runner-up spot after a brief tussle with Rich. King in the opening laps of what was essentially a follow-the-leader affair. The former Grand National Champion appeared to make up a little time on Parker in the middle stages of the event, but the few bobbles that he did make while attempting to whittle away at

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