Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127781
with it," Springsteen said. "It handles really well and hooks up. If I get a good ho lesh ot, I think I can run righ t wi th 'em tonight.". . Graham, Atherton and Varnes collaborated for th e m ost thrillin g heat of th e night as they battled hammer-and-tongs for the win . Varnes led for two lap s with h is teammate running se con d before Atherton sho t und er Graham to take the runner -up spot aw ay . Atherton th en raced back and forth w ith Varnes for the lead on the back straight before grabbing it for good off tum four on lap four . But Grah am wasn't through yet as he passed Va rnes and ra n down Atherton in the final tum before pulling off the win . . "1 was just trying to use the ou tside, and I was runn in g a littl e too hi gh," Gr aham said . " 50 I se tt led down an d started concentrating on getting a goo d dri ve com in' ou t ins tead of going in so fast. Bu t th ere ' s so many th in gs that could happen ou t ther e in the main. The lines are always changing. The key is to be smooth." HEATS Some 4S ride rs trekked to Southern California to.do battle on Pomona's fast, tight 5 / S-mile ho rse track, necessit ating four full heats of 12 with each transferring three riders instead o f two as pe r the n ew AMA rule which will b e in effect at all miles, ha lf miles, and TIs. Parker w a s the fir st r ider to take horne a heat-race win, and he provided the Pomona crowd with a preview of things to corne ashe slammed his factory XR int o the d eep ou ts id e dirt and drov e round the ou tside of turn one to g ra b the point whil e Da v is s li d in . behind h im ahea d of Deel ey H arleyDavid son ' s Stev e Beattie as well as USC Ra cin g ' s Terry Po ov e y . Pa rke r w a s un catchabl e, th ough, as he posted th e fastest he at-race w in of the nig ht at five minutes and six seconds, towin g Davis and th en Poo vey in to the feature after Beattie slip ped off the pac e. "W e just went ou t there and bumped th e cush ion, " Par ke r sa id of th e sta rt. "A fte r that, I ju st ro d e as hard as I could." King sl app ed th e t h ro tt le on h is Craig Rogers-owned, Ricky Smith -tuned ' H onda in the second ma in ev ent and virtu ally mirrored Parker' s performance after ta king contro l over th e tightly bunched back as they hi t turn one . The 32-yea r-old Iow an went on to stre tch his lead over Camlin and S&B Racing's Bret Beyer, w ho also earn ed tr ansfers after dicing back and fort h with each other . Kin g grabbed the win but was ve ry quiet afterward as he turned his attention to the m ain. " It felt good," King said . "Those guys just shu t off ou t there in the firs t turn, so I sq uare d it off an d carne underneath the m. We're ge tting th in gs dialed i n , an d we're hoping th at the tr a ck will corne to us . We're a very determined team right now ." Bartels Harley-David s on 's Jay Springsteen was looking to recapture the m agic that had propelled him to victory at Pomona one year ago as he rocketed off the starting line w ith Kopp and F&S Harl ey-Da vidson' s St e ve Morehead . The three riders put so me room on a clo se ba ttl e between Loral Lake Racing's Aaron Hill and White' s H-D rider Mike Varnes before Springer pulled clear for good on about lap three. Kopp gra bbed the second trans fer and H ill the third afte r sneaking under Morehead on the low line. "We've got a new Kenny Tolbert chassis and we're pretty comfortab le SEMIS I.M . Lea thers' Chri s Evans se tt led down and grabbed a sp ot in the main event via a win in the first semi of the night.' H e was follow ed in by fe llow Canadian Scott Buchan. Beattie, ano ther Canadian, rebounded from his d isappointing heat race to. grab a spot in the feature a ft e r topping Team Undo / Audiovox /Quaker State's Brett Landes. "Fin dlay Flyer" Mor ehead grabbe d the win in the third s em i whil e Eddi e Ad kins Racin g / Winche ster Harl e y Da vidson' s Kenny Co olbet h to ok th e fin al spot in th e IS -ri der m ai n even t with a second-p lace .finish , GRAND NATIONAL ' Pa rker was the fastest of th e fastest when the gree n light flashed to send the I S best dirt track racers in the cou ntry on th eir w a y in t he first 750cc Gr and N ation al of the year. Davis and Graham jumped in right beh ind the champion as th e field powered off turn one. Th ey w er e followed by secon d -row starters (Above) "It's down here": Will Davis (21) had no cho ice but to show Parker (1) the low line through the turns while cha llenging for the lead. Once Parker picked up on them, Davis was in trouble. (Right) Kevin Atherton (23), Kevin Varnes (89) and Joe Kopp (partially hidden) raced for the fourth through s ixth positions. Atherton took fourth and Kopp fifth after a clos e call in the final corner. (Below) No roses: J ay Spr ingstee n failed to repea t his magical . Pomona win of one year ago . The age less veteran still turned in a respectable 10th. Kopp and Varnes, then Camlin, Ath er ton and Springsteen. King got the worst st art from th e fron t row a s h e found himself lost in 11th p lace on the opening lap. The Iowan would soldier his way to eighth; finishing just behind Camlin in the fina l order after passing Springsteen, Mo re head and early fro nt -runner Hill, who later fell off the pace. " 1 sho ul d ha v e d on e b e tt e r th a n that," King sa id . "The motorcycl e was run ning p e rf ectl y . I jus t d id n 't get going." Up front, Davis took his first shot at Pa rke r by di vin g low off turn two and running alongside him briefly before the Locomo tive hooked up and spit Park er ba ck into the lea d . Davis was inside on ce again in tum three only to meet the same fate against the champion's longlegged, sick-calf-sou nd ing XR750. "That was scarin' me," Davis said. "1 knew right then that I couldn't do an ything with him on the straigh taways . We had a bit of a problem with our mo torcy cle, and we knew it. We've got one p ipe that's black and one pipe that chalks up, and w e couldn't seem to figure it out. But even then it was one hell of a bike. This whole TCR team is fan tastic. They will fix it. I can gu arantee you tha t." Gra ha m stayed close but see med to be fin d in g h is s ha re o f h o le s' on th e ;