Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·orRT TRACK .. series AMA Grand National Championship By SCott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fotos SEDALIA, MO, JUNE 22 an and machine. Or machine and machine. That is about the only way to describe the performance of Team Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker and his Bill Werner-tuned and "tw1ngled" factory XR750 anymore. And to crectit one might do injustice to the other. Regardless, there is no question that when Parker climbs all-aboard "The Locomotive" he can be all but unbeatabLe, and the six-time AMA Grand National Champion proved it once again as he steamed past F&S Hartey-Davidson's Steve Morehead in the early Laps of the main event and then made tracks to the finish line to claim his second win of the season and 72nd career Grand National victory at the Sedalia Half Mile. "I was just havin' a good time out there," Parker said afterward. "We were rollin' on and rollin' off. The bike felt real good, and I had a great line in one and two. Other guys seemed to be having a little trouble getting through the few little hoLes that were out there, but we seemed to roll right on through'em. "And that's not to say that the track was bad either," Parker said. "1 think the track people here ctid the best they couid with it. It makes you feel good when you come to a place and see people working their butts off like they were here. You don't mind a few holes then." Apparently neither did Morehead, who struggled more with his own equipment than the racing surface, despite a decisive heat-race victory earlier in the evening. But when AMA starter Steve Faraci showed the l8-rider field the green light, it was the "Findlay Flyer" who got a flyer of a start and grabbed the earIy lead. Morehead looked to have a decent rhythm going as he- pulled away from the field a little before Parker inched up on the seventh lap and took control off turn four. From there Morehead shadowed Parker - and even threatened to repass the champ on the low side of the groove in turns one and two before succumbing to handling problems in turns three and four and dropping. off Parker's torrid pace. Afterward Morehead offered no excuses. Round 7: State ~air Speedway '1 was going as fast as I could and he passed me," Morehead said. "1 just got beat. He's got that thing so hooked up. We ought to buy it. He was faster in three and four, so I changed my line to try and do what he was doing, and it just started pushing. That was it." Third, and doing a little pushing of his own, was USC Racing's Kevin Vames. A bona fide star on the threeman Honda racing outfit run by Virginia tuner Johnny Goad, Varnes found the "notchy" clay half mile enough to his liking that he sat on the pole for the main event and then made it pay by battling his way back from as far down as fifth place to take advantage of a late-race bobble by defending event champion Will Davis and land his fourth career Grand National poctium finish, one that could just as easily never have happened if the young Pennsylvanian had not saved a vicious high-side in turn one during the warmup lap before the final. "Did you see that?" Varnes said. "That practice start was really spooky, so for the first couple of laps I was just taking it easy. But then I started running it higher and higher in turn two, and it kept working. We finished one place better than we did here last year, so I guess that's an improvement." Current points leader Will Davis locked up a solid fourth place after running as high as third aboard his TCR Harley-Davidson. The orth Carolinian suffered a bad start from his perch on the outside of row one and rounded the first turn in the middle of the pack, but he quickly knifed through traffic to settle into a dice with TCR teammate Kevin Atherton, Varnes and Road Rider & Rogers/Team Saddlemen's Rich King while Morehead and Parker ran up front. Davis then pulled "past Atherton, Varnes and King and attempted to run the leaders down. Davis caught Morehead and appeared ready to threaten for second place, but it wasn't to be as he fell prey to the fast-moving Varnes on lap 23 after hitting a rut and nearly crashing. "Lord, I cannot come from 10th place and expect to run them down like that," Davis said. "When I got there (up to Morehead), I couldn't just make the pass, I had to try and up the pace. I nearly busted my can." King wound up fifth despite apparently nursing a wounded motorcycle from Lap 10 to the finish. Sixth after thefirst lap, the tough Iowan ran at the tail end of the tussle that included Varnes, Davis and Atherton until the 16th lap, when he managed to catch and pass Atherton to lock up fifth - only after something apparently let loose on his Honda RS750. "We got a great start, but it was a bad place to start from," King said of his position just inside Davis on the front row. "Then the motorcycle developed a vibration on about lap 10. It had a real good tingle in it. Hopefully it's not in the motor. We ctidn't have too bad a night, and we're back on the same road we were last year. But we need a win here soon. We're haVing to wait for it, but I think it will happen." HEATS Varnes took it right to Davis, grabbing the holeshot and claiming the point when the two met in the first lD-lap heat of the night. But Davis was up to the challenge and drew close to the youngster on lap three, running lower in tum one in attempt to get underneath him. Davis got one good chance at making an outside pass off turn two on lap six and then Varnes almost handed him the win by getting loose in turn one an4 two on lap eight, but Vames held on to take the win in what would be the fastest heat of the night. "1 settled down on about the third lap," Varnes said. "Then a couple laps from the end I got really sideways off turn two. I looked back and he was right there." In his lirst.ride since the season-opening Daytona Short Track, Loral Lake Racing's Ronnie Jones quietly earned a direct transfer into the main event with a thirdplace finish. Atherton marched by King off the third turn on the opening lap and then ran a strong race to claim th.e win on his Dave Watts-prepared TCR machine in heat two. King held on for second ahead of Corbin Racing's Davey Camtin, who earned a straight shot into the main event aboard a new single-shock chassis (see Briefly... ). "It went good," the former factory Harley-Davidson rider said. "We started off fast, got faster, and ,then we slowed down in the end. I think we made the wrong choice on the tire. I knew that Rich goes good on the groove, so I just held my line and tried to block him. We made a few adjustments for the Challenge (see Briefly... ) and that seemed to help, so we'll see. It feels good. My body's just got to hold up." Gardner Racing/Walters Brothers Harley-Davidson's Dan Butler put on quite a show in the opening laps of heat two with a banzai charge around the outside of Bartels' rider Eric Bostrom and race leader Morehead to blow into the lead in decisive fashion. But the charge came up sour when Butler developed suspension problems which forced him high in turn three and allowed both Morehead, H-D Central/Frontier HarleyDavidson's Dale Jenneman and Bostrom back around to take the three spots into the main event. Despite the win, Morehead was looking for more speed. "He (Butler) just buzzed around me on the outside," Morehead said. "We've been kind of fumbling around all night. We've put more gear on it for the main event. The biggest thing is to get hooked up on the rubber when you come across it. We haven't been able to do that yet." DeMay Racing's Paul Morgan Ill, Parker and Bartels' Harley-Davidson's Jay Springsteen proyided a few thrills of their own with a little cticing in the early going of the final heat of the night. The Michigan duo then quickly dispensed with Morgan and battled back and forth for about three laps before Parker stoked up the boiler and pulled clear to the win by an easy 20 lengths. "We were going at it," Parker said. "Then I looked back for Springer and wondered where he went. I guess he hit a couple holes, and then he was all done. My leg feels great though. It didn't seem to bother me at all. J was wondering

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