Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIR1TRACK: ' Round 1: Daytona Muncipal Stadium AMA Grand National Championship Series ' multi-rid er battle in the m idd le of the pack- tll a t in clu d ed 'Graha m; ,va rnes, . Athe rton and King , a nd had also ru n down Landes to m ove' wi thi n s triki ng di stance of Kopp . Davisshot by Kopp, who appeared to be fighting the roug h race track, with a front-straight pass on lap 12. "I wa nted to go hi gher , because I knew there was a good line up there," Kopp said. "But I was afrai d to move off the low line. I should have." Kopp would drop to seve nth at the finish. King and Varnes got going, however, and par ad ed toward the front. Varnes said that the key for his forward surge came after a nea r-disastrous mistake . paying ma in eve n t. Bob Norflee t Racing / Pop Sweeten Racing's Georgie Price IV was the first to gain en try after faltering a bit on the sta rt and then putting forth a Hercul ean effort to blow by the field on the outsi de of tum four an d sail awa y. Lo ral Lak e Racing ' s Ronnie Jo nes picked up the wi n in hea t two a fter fending off First Klass Glass rider Doug O'Boyle, and Grah am gained entry in to th e main even t in sem i three after bat tlin g ea rly with Team KTM's Mi ke Hacker. White' s Ha rley-David son rider Mike Vames earne d th e final spot in the m ain after ru n ning und erneath Tea m , Corbin's Dav ey Camlin in turns three an d four to po st the semi-fou r win . (Above) Davis (center) parties It up with Varnes (left) and King (right) on the podium : (Right) Rude welcome: Former Grand National champion Ricky Graham (3) shook off the effects of a gr inding crash in his heat race. Graham fin ished sixth In the main event and then was later diagnosed with a broken right arm. ;B riefly·.:.·~ " , " " , . " , , " . Will Davis 'earned $4', 05 for Jii~ victory ~t .the Dayt ona Short Track. Rich ' King picked up $3 135 for ,second place. and ,Kevin Varnes tallied $ 19 1 : " 0 " , GRAND NATIONAL Lande s was the first to roll up to the sta rting line as th e rid ers go t ready to square off in the first Grand Nati on al feature of the year . After carefully su rveying th e starting line, Landes 'chose the seco nd slo t from the insi de . Coolbe th started on the in sid e pole while Kop p, Atherton, Poovey a nd Parker flanked Land es on th e ri gh t. Varnes, King and Davis were scattered throughout row tw o. When the green ligh t flash ed , Kop p stormed to the front wi th Landes, Ath erton and Poovey hot on his heels, Parker, meanwhile, d ropped to the back after failing to get any traction off the line. Poov ey then d ropped Atherton third whil e Land es and Kopp closed together up fro n t . La n des was t r yin g hi s da rne des t to find a way around Kopp, bu t his best efforts we re frustrated, and he was forced into a wa iting mode. , "I felt like I was a lot faster than Joe, but I sho u ld ha ve m ad e m y m o ve early," Landes said. "Every time I'd get u p there, he' d get a little sideways, and I'd have to back off. Then my face shield started fogging up." That was all the advantage tha t the cagey Poovey woul d need to wrestle second place away from Landes after brief dices with the young Californian in turns one and two and then on the front straight. Poovey then ran Kopp do wn and eased by to head the pack on lap 10. In the meantime, Davis had cleared a USC R a~i n9 h ead wni n'ch ' John ny Goad look s set to have more ,work than:ever on his hands ' as he will field .a three-rider team that' 'consists of Ricq-"Graham : Kevin Varnes and Terry Poo'vey. espec ially in light of the -fact that it appeared as tho'ugh Varnes would be theony rider r ei urnirig in 1996.'."We·lI be all ' righi;" the ' Virginia·based tuner ,said. ,"All I can, .dois. pray ih at they go out there and ,do the '~ery best they can." So far so good. asall three teammates 'w ere [n the "main event. . ' .. ,Can adian National .Champion ,S t e v e BeaUie Though not much ,could 'be, gleaned from the : performance of ,new ,Gardner RaCi g rider Dan n , B u~ l e r at D aytona : it does appear .that the ' young M ichigander will once again be part 01. a .formidable team" The former TCR rider reported , . , . ,' ' , ' , , . "Wh at happened was going into tum three I hit the hay bale," Varnes said. " It m ad e me go wide. That's wh en I foun d that good line." King was also on rails, however, and the re was no slowi ng the icy veteran as he ultima tely p ut Kopp away on lap 15. "Everyone was ju st riding so tentatively," King said. "So was I, but once I got moving, it seemed that I could pass on the high line, the low line - wh erever I wanted." Davis ran Poovey down on lap 15 and wa ited but one more circuit before stuffing it past the Texan in tum one to claim the lead. "I knew that once Terry passed Brett,

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