Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·DIRT TRACK ionshi Series . Round 2: Pomona Fairplex AMA Grand National Cham By Scott Rousseau Photos by Kinney Jones POMONA, CA, APR. 20 s the AMA d irt track teams rolled nt o th e Pomo na Fairpl ex, all but ne had the same simple mission get ott Parker and get him good . Infused with new spo nsorshi p money, the top privateer campaigners were looking for a chance.to strut their stuff against the benchmark H a rl eyDavidson factory team of Parker and tuner Bill Werner. But none of them did , for when the smoke cleared at the 11th running of the Pomona Half Mile, Parker had notched his 71st career victory and once again sprung back from the disappointment that was the Daytona Short Track one month ago. Parker's message? Jus t as simple - you can try and take the title away from me, bu t it's no t goi ng to be easy. "H arley-David son pays Scott Parker to win races," Parker sai d after taking the win. "That's what me and Bill Werner come here to do. This was number 71, but we want more than that. We want at leas t 83 by the e nd of th is ye ar a n d se ven in a row. Those ar e Ricky Graha m's records, and that's what we're going for." Aboard the Werner-tuned "Locomo tive" tw ing le, Parker gra bbed the lead righ t off th e s ta rt o f the 25-l ap m ain eve nt and that' s rig ht where he stayed w ith little interruption unti l starter Scott Zimmerman threw th e checkered flag. Pa rk e r was able to use th e superio r hooku p of the twi ng le to drive off th e some times sli ppery corners and p u ll away from Total Control Racing's Will Davis after the North Carolinian issued a few challenges on abo u t laps seven through 10. Davis made a strong bid for the lead by using a lower line than Parker t hrough turns th ree and four for much of the race and actually got by him off tum two, but he made the mistake of showing the turn-three line to the reigning champion too earl y in the final. Parker capitalized on the disco very and pulled farther ahead. Davis was still satisified with second place as it kept him in the points lead for the time being . "I had some better lines than he did ," Davis said. "Going into three he was hit ting a rut that was throwin' him wide. He m u s t have thought it was slick where I was running or something. but after he saw me go through there, he said, 'Aha.' I had to show it to him sometime, and he picked right up on it. I . wan ted to win this, but we're gonna keep pluggi ng away at it." Third place went to none other than retu rni ng USC Racing rider Ricky Graham. The former three-time champion came to Pomona looking fresh afte r jus t recently having the cast removed from ' his right wrist as a result of his crash at the Da y ton a Short Track. Graha m looke d ext remely fast righ t from early practice and stayed that way th rough out th e evening on his Johnny Goadwre nched Honda RS750. But come main even t time, Gra ham struggled a bit with the power that the bike was maki ng on the slimier-tha n-usua l Pomona sur face. H e ra n th ird fo r m o s t o f th e Gr a n d National, ru nning rig ht beh ind Davis before slipping backw ard after appearing to hi t so me of th e ruts tha t we re developing in the comers. "There's a reason tha t Bill Werner made a twingle out of thei r bike," Gra ham said. "A Harley-Davidson to a Honda is like the difference betw een a four-stroke and a two-stroke already. I was just having trouble with the way that the power was hitting. I don't know what e lse is going to happen (this year), but I know that I'm gonna have some fun . I feel really good right now." TCR 's Kevin Atherton pu t on a strong ride to finish fourth after corning from the second row. The 24-year-old Michigander suffered a bad start and was mired in seventh-place off the line, but Atherton went to work qu ickly, dis placing Team Corbin's Davey Camlin, USC Racing's Kevin Var nes and Harley-Davidson o f Sacramen to's Joe Kopp to gra b four th and challenge Graha m by lap eight. But Atherton wo ul d adva nce no further on hi s Tom Cu mm ings'-tu ne d XR750. Time simply ra n ou t. "Everything was working good, but I ma de a few too many m istakes:' Atherton said. "I was able to catch Ricky, and I was ma king one mista ke to his tw o. But I kept tearing myself down an d having to p u t myself back together . You (Above) Scott P ~rker (1) leads the charge off the line to start the 25-lap main event at the Pomona Half Mlle . The six-time champion went on to land his sixth Pomona win and 71st career victory. gotta be on the front row here anyway, but it's a good start because we moved up in the points. I want to be on top of that box, though ." Atherton was followed home by the ever-improving Kopp, who seemed to actually enjoy the track more and more as the main event wore on and the bumps got worse. The Washington rider spent much of the race dicing with Varnes after Atherton rode past both of them, and he finally overtook Varnes with th ree laps to go to secure fifth place, almost catching Atherton for fourth on the final lap. "For the first half of the race, all I did was follow Kevin and Kev in (Varnes and A therton)," Kopp said. "The n I sta rted going low in turns one and two and turn ing into three a lo t sooner. Those guys started getting tired in one and tw o because th e re were a lot of ho les the r e. I lo ve the h ol es - the roughe r the better." With jus t two of the 24 rou nds now completed, Davis leads the points stand ings with 42 over Team Sad d leme ri's Rich Kin g, w ho was ninth a t Pomo na and now h as 30. Team ma tes Gra ha m an d Varnes are deadlocked for th ird w ith 29 points each, and Parker sits in fifth with 28.

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