Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK Round 5: Barberville Speedway .F lorida Flat Track Series ore vents on ship Series gets into full swi ng as he piloted hi s Team Sad dlemen Honda , RS750 to a soli d se cond- p lace finish . after taking ad va n tage of a lat e-race bobble by Geo Roeder II. "Mr . Consisten cy" then only needed to keep a little cu shion bet w een himself a nd thirdpla ce finisher Kevin Varnes in orde r to lock up the spo t. In doing .so, he sen t a mess age to de tra ctors wh o would argu e that th e unfamiliarity of his new team wo u ld hamper his performance early in the season . "I thi nk it' s gonna work ou t," King said . "We' ve got to get a little m o re organ ized , but Craig's (team owner Craig Rogers ) de termined, and Saddlemen is behind us 100 percent. " (Left) Steve Mor ad vented his ehe frust rations out on the track at the Barberville HalfMile and came away a winner. (Below) Johnny Murphree scored a wireto-wire win Inthe 883 feature . (Bottom) Rich King sco red the win In the 600cc Expert class over Morehead, who was hampered by a st icking brake. By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fotos BARBERVILLE, FL, MAR. 4 teve Morehead was already frustr at ed , an d perh ap s a bit ang ry, w hen he climbed aboard his Harley-Davidson prior to th e 750cc Expert main event at Barberville Speedway. The "Findlay Flyer, " like the rest of his dirt track compatriots, had yet to com p e te in a main ev en t on dirt as moth er na t ure h a d stepped i n and forced the cancellation of the first thr ee dirt eve n ts on the Florida Flat Track Series sc h ed u le; the o nly round th a t had been run thus far was the MARS as p ha lt even t. To further darken his mood, Morehead himself had to cancel round fou r atBarberville Speedway an eve nt of hi s ow n promotion - after repeat ed attem p ts to s mooth out the wet , so ft. ru tted s u rf a ce were to no avail. Needless to say, wh en he climbed onto th e seat of his motorcycle Morehead was hot. And when the 12-lap, 12-rid er main eve n t was over, hi s competitors ha d learned something - never, eve r make More hea d mad. Mor eh ead stayed hot as he put hi s F&S H arley-Da vid son /KK Motor cycle Supply XR into the lead right from the sta rt and showed the field hi s backsid e for the entire d istance to claim the first 750cc d ir t track m ain event o f 1996. Morehead found happiness o n the wet, slip pery Barb erville half mile, and used it to his advanta ge as he put more than 10 len gth s on second-p lace fi nis her Rich King before th e checkere d flag halted th e rout. "It's nice to get tha t first win," Morehead sa id . "This is the firs t weeken d that I've thrown a leg over a motorcycle since Del Ma r. I just trained over th e wi nter and stayed in shape. I already knew how to race the motorcycle." Despit e b ei ng ou td is ta n ce d b y Moreh ead, Kin g m ay h av e gi ven hi s pee rs a pr eview of thing s to come when the AM A Grand N ati on al Ch ampi- S Wit h hi s third -place fini sh, Varnes showed that he too will be a forc e to reckon wit h in '96. The yo ung Pennsylva nian and two-time National w inner struggled a bit off th e start bu t wa s able to cla im fou rth af ter th e firs t la p. He was u ns uccessful in his attempt to reel in Kin g, but Varnes was ab le to keep his USC Racing Ho nda close eno ug h to slip into third place w hen Roed er bob bled. "The st a rt was everything tonight, and I d idn't get off as good as I need ed to," Varnes' said . "But we got rollin.' I wanted to wi n, but third place isn 't a bad wa y to start the ye ar." MAIN S Th e 750cc show was ju st pa rt of a tr ipl e-feature program that includ ed 600cc Exp erts and 883s with severa l riders taking part in at least two classes . Th e 600 and 750cc clas se s tran sferred two rid er s from each of four h eat s a nd th en fo ur more fr om two se mis to fill the 12-rider fields, while the 883 class ran only two heats, directly tr ansferring si x from each to th e main event. Passing proved to be difficult on the Barbervill e su rface, making the start a crucial key to success in all three main eve n ts . Ki ng was a p pa ren tly well aware of this as he jetted from the outside o f row one in the 600c mai n event, ta ki ng ou tsi de polesitter Moreh ead a bit w ide as the two fough t for control of th e groove in turn one . Winchester Ha rley -Davi dson/ Ed d ie Adkin s Racin g's Ken Co o lbeth Jr. d r op ped in behind th e tw o ri ders to claim th ir d aboard his personal Wood Rotax. Team Corb in's Lonnie Pauley was also hanging to ugh in four th ahead of Tex a n Ch arlie Orr. King, w ho was aboard a brand-new Missile Engineering-built Rotax, was flat hooked up better th an anyone else, though, op ting to stay right in the midd le of the groove as he motored away from Morehead in the 12-lap dash to claim victory . "Tha t's a brand-new fram e," King sai d . "Ir's the fir st one ou t of the jig, and now it has won its very first race. It wa s running like a missile." " My br akes were lo ckin g up o u t th er e," Mor eh ead sai d afte r finishing second. "Th is thing will h ardly roll. Th e brak e ped al was all pumped up, and every time I backed it in, the rea r wh eel wou ld lock up." Pauley raised a few eyebrows when he go t an exce llent drive off turn two on lap seve n and sneaked underneath Coolbeth to grab third and hold it all the way to the finish. "The key was coming off the tu rns ," Pauley said. "I had to stay smoo th and roll th e th rottle on. I got by Coolbeth running low th at way." Coolbeth was four th, while Pau ley's Corb in sta b le ma te D a v e y Ca rnl iri ch arged from th e back to fifth a t the finish. Californi a's John ny Murphree must have been paying attention to Kin g 's starting-li ne p rowess, because w he n th e 883cc mai n event steamed off th e line, Mu rphree p u t hi s Bart els' Spo rts te r in fro n t of the pack a nd ke p t it th e re fro m start to fin ish . O nce out front, there was no stoppi ng the young cha rger. "I was real comfortable on the bike," Murphree said . "Either I'm getti ng really lucky or this is comi ng eas y to me. I had noth ing to lose unless I rod e like an idi ot and crashed. And I did n't want to do th at and lose the rid e, becau se Bill Bar tels is probabl y the nices t guy I've ever worked wi th ."

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