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/127791
DI'RT T.RACK . AMA Grand.NatiQnat Chainpioi'l$hip sns . Round 5: Allen County Fairgrounds By Scott Rousseau/Photos by Bert Shepard and Flat Trak Fotos LIMA, OH, JUNE 29 . or Team Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker, victory at the Lima Half Mile meant a first. And another first. Parker scored the win of course, the 73rd of his Grand Naticmal career and his sixth such honor at the event billed as the Ohio National Championship, to mark the first of the firsts, and the 34-year-old reigning AMA Grand National Champion burned yet another page in the record books by becoming the first man in history to record back-ta-back wins at Lima. It appeared to be just another Sunday cruise for Parker, who started fourth and then third on the subsequent restart aboard his Bill Werner-tuned factory XR - then slipped past early race leader Steve Morehead for the second time in two weeks before rolling away to his third win of the year, all of which have come on the team's "Locomotive" twingle. Parker was the picture of confidence while he ran the middJe and bottom portions of the pea-graveled Ohio horse track in a rather uncharacteristically smooth fashion. And that confidence was there afterward as well, as the five-time Grand National Champion was secure in the knowledge that he has now all but erased the early points advantage that TCR's Will Davis had accrued by winning the first two 600cc Grand Nationals of the year while Parker failed to make them. Parker has moved into a tie with R&R Racing/Team Saddlemen's Rich King for second place behind Davis, who still leads them both by 25 marks, 99-74. Parker was not, however, overly excited about his clockwork-like ability to rewrite AMA history again.. . "They said it hadn't been done, so..." Parker said with a shrug of the shoulders and a smile. "Look, Bill just sets the bike up so good. All I do is just show up and ride the damn thing:' Yet Werner, who celebrated win number 109 as a Grand National tuner, re.fuses to take any undue credit for his role in the team's perennial success. "He's being kind," Werner said. "He rides the hell out of that thing. We talk and we work at it. By the time. the main event rolls around, we seem to get it figured out." Another rider who seems to have it all figured it out, at least in terms of consistency, is Davis, whose second-place performance on his Dennis Town and Randy Brady-prepar.ed TCR HarleyDavidson more than proved that he is still a worthy challenger to Parker's throne. Davis actually grabbed the holeshot in the feature and was looking strong on the low side of the race track, but both Steve Morehead and Parker were able to march by early in the race, pushing the North Carolinian back to (Above) Will Davis (21) leads Steve Morehead (42), Scott Parker (1) and the rest of the 18-rlder field to start the Lima Ha" Mlle. Parker went on to become the first rider in history to win the event two years In a row. third. Yet Davis hung tough, and as the dirt line deteriorated both Parker and Morehead were forced to drop lower. Davis was then able to cut the gap back down and play the role of "spider" to Morehead's "fly" and earn the runnerup spot. "We did our job, we were on the box," Davis said. "1 couldn't carry the comer speed that those guys were carrying, but when the groove started to develop, 1 was catching 'em then. He (Parker) is just riding the motorcycle Teally well right now. We've got two (wins) and he's got three, but there's a