Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

p u rs u it of his former teamm ate Price. Anne n and Tresser also got th e rookie Butle r . W ith on e la p to go, Hacker caught Price but just couldn 't qu ite get by. Heat four also had to be red-flagged w hen Wa sh ington' s Eric Rickm an go t into the wall at the start/ finish line on lap two. The restart once again found Joe Kopp in front of Willie McCoy, Pau l Mo rga n and Scott Stevens . By th e secon d lap Morgan had pushed his DeMay Racing Rotax in to second, but Kop p was long go ne. Morgan fini sh ed a secure second w ith Ken Yoder slipping b y McCoy for third . Lo ng known for his s hort track expertise, Rich Kin g push ed hi s Team Saddlemen / Harris Racing Rotax to the fro nt of heat five. Oregon's Rex Fish er shadowed Kin g all the w ay on a H art Raci ng Wood-Rot ax. Jim Sumner ro de to a lonel y third . The red flags were out again in the last hea t as Ken Coo lb e th le d Kris Arme n t ro u t a nd Bre n t Ar mb r uster arou n d for la p o ne . Rob M ill e r fe ll h ard in turn one, forcin g a complete res ta rt. Coolbeth once again took comman d as he and Armentrout pulled away from Armb ruste r and Paul Lynch. Everyth ing was going along smoothly until lap five wh en Coolbeth ended u p on his head in A lon g wait w as in store for every on e as the AMA and track crew tried to salvage the race track. Tu rn s one and tw o prove d p articu larly troubleso me, an d m uch of the rest of the tr ack actually became dusty as th e rid ers fough t th e spongy sectio n of trac k. As is the case at m any car tracks w hen run in the daytim e, a slick groove de velop ed, making a good start cruci al. Then unbelievab ly dar k clouds rolled in, and yet ano the r Grand National w as under the thr eat of rain . HEATS Afte r the qua lifying heats wer e run, the first of six heats were brought to the line aro u nd 6 p.m. By virtue o f h is fast quali fyin g h eatrace tim e, USC Racing' s Kev in Varnes ro lle d h is Penn State Cycles' Rotax to th e pole for th e first of six l O-lap, 10rider h ea t s . Varnes chose th e insid e sta rtin g p os ition, and it wou ld prove to b e th e bi gge st m ist ak e th e yo u n g charger co u ld m a ke. With Va rnes on th e ins ide, th at p u t Da vi s - w ho held th e sixth sta rting spot - on th e groove. Davis rocke ted into the le ad ove r M ike Va rn es and Dave Carn lin wi th Kevin Varnes mired in ninth position on a track th at w as ve ry h ard to p ass on. But Audiov ox /Team Und o's Brett Landes sh owed th a t yo u co u ld im p rove you r position as he moved to a solid second from fourth, drop ping Mike Varnes to a lone ly third . Wash i ngton ' s J.P . Simons en outdu el e d Terry Po o ve y, Cam lin and Kevin Varnes for fou rth , but they were all semi bou nd . In the second h eat, Firs t Klass Glas s' Doug O'Boyle go t the drag on secondfastes t qu alifier John Hlebo and Deeley Harley-Da v ids on's St e v e Beattie . O 'Boyle cruised along, but H leb o was und er siege from short track speci alist Rog er Du rkee, who took second on lap four an d surp rised O'Boyle just pa st the half w ay p oint. O'Boyle d idn't give in easily, bu t Du rkee came away with the w in . Hlebo held off Beattie for second wh ile Steve Moreh ead overcame a poor start from row tw o and took fifth from Recil H art on the last lap. The third heat was a true adventure. First, a light sp rinkle started to fall, and th e riders were sen t back to the p its as (Oppos ite page) Will Davis proved that he stili has the hot hand In dlrtlrack as the TeR rider took home his second Grand National victory of the yea r at the La Salle Sho rt Track. (Above) HarleyDavidso n of Sacramento rider Joe Kopp appea red to be headed for his first ca reer Grand National victo ry at La Salle, but the youngster from Washington wound up seco nd. (Right) Georgie Price IV charged to third place and landed atop a Grand National podium for the first time In his career. the alr eady-slick groove becam e treacherou s. After a short delay the sprinkl es stopped, and the ride rs were called ou t. The action wa s abou t to tu m nasty. Jeff Annen got the first h oleshot wi th Price a nd Te am H arl e y -D a vid son ' s Sc ott Park er right behind him, but the red flag came out quickly as Ch an ce Darling fell in tu rn two. Price led Team KTM's Mike Hacker and Dave Hebb off the next tim e as several riders, including Parker, tangled off the line and into tum on e. But th e red was once again ou t. O nce again Pri ce led th e field in to turn o ne, but t his ti me it was Andy Tresser stepping u p to challenge for the lead. The only d rawback w as that Tresser h ad been m ak ing repairs a t th e pit ga te and w as head ed back to th e lin e w he n the gree n light flashed, giving him qu ite a ro lling sta r t. Th e re d flag was ba ck. The sta rt that fina lly took h ad Price leading Josh Butler and Hacker around th e first tim e as Parke r pulled in to the pits, don e for the nig ht. Hacker quickl y d isp os ed of Butler a nd h eaded off in tum one . Starter Steve Faracci's red flag w as once aga in unfurled . Coo lbeth w as ab le to make the restart, but he was now at the rear of the field . The Snyd er' s Honda-backed Arm entrout now sat up front wi th Armbru ster a n d D an St an le y r igh t beh ind him . Armentrout held on for the six-lap dash to th e N a tional, but Arm brus ter suc cu m bed to th e pressu re fr om BBRP / Dod ge Bros. / Bu dweiser p ilot Stanley on the las t lap . Coolbeth recovered to run fifth behin d Dan Butler, but was still semi bound. 1

• Cover