Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

whole lot more of them left." Nobody knows that better than Morehead, who seems to be picking up where he left off in 1995, and who grabbed the holeshot for the second week in a row only tel yield to Parker again. Yet the 40-year-old local "kid," who hails from just up the road in neighboring Findlay, once again gave a good account of himself by driving his F&S Harley-Davidson to a third-place finish and making another trip onto the box this week. Morehead never appeared to fade on the track, but he did appear not to be handling as well as either Davis or Parker, something that the "Findlay Flyer" later verified. "The days of the dual-shocker are numbered," Morehead said. "We had moved down to the bottom of the race track, and there were ruts in each corner. Those guys were just driving ·through the bumps in one fluid motion while I was going all over the plaCe. But Parker's gonua be tough even if he's riding a hard-tail, and Davis has got the eye of the tiger this year. I'm 40, and I've got to make my motorcycle work for me so that I can ride it the same each week. But hey, I got on the box again this week, and I'm tickled to death." (Right) Parker shot by Morehead on the inside of tum three and then opened up a huge lead. His margin of victory was nearly half a, straightaway at the finish. (Left) Davis ran Morehead down late In the race and made a pass to claim second place, thus diminishing the impact that Parker made on Davis' lead In the points race. Just one spot off the box in fourth was "Mr. Consistency" himself, Rich King. The R&R Racing/Team Saddelmen Honda rider suffered through a mediocre start, but like Davis, went to work on the low line to move to'within striking distance of Davis and Morehead, all the while engaging in and coming out on top of a three-rider fight with Roeder H-D's Geo Roeder II and Harley-Davidson of Sacramento's Joe Kopp. But King readily admitted that as the laps wore on, they wore on him, and the hard-working Iowan was in maintenance mode by the time AMA starter Steve Faraci showed the field the fivelap sign. "I've been working so much on these motorcycles for the past few weeks that I haven't been able to train," King said. "It hurt me tonight. But we had a good night. The motor ran good this week. Johnny (Goad) did a fantastic job. I've been improving by one or two spots at each race so far this year. We'll be dialed in next week." Kopp was the one man who really wanted to run down King, and the Harley-Davidson of Sacramento rider almost did it, but he also learned that being a nice guy can sometimes get you nowhere fast. The 26-year-old Washing- tonian got a bullet-fast start off the sec6nd row and could easily have pulled clean in front of the lS-rider field had he not chopped the throttle to avoid contact with King in the first cgrner. That kindness was rewarded with a fifthplace start. Kopp was then dropped to sixth after being forced to do battle with a hard-charging Gee Roeder II for much of the race, but drove underneath the gritty Ohioan in the closing laps of the race to reclaim fifth. "That feels pretty good, coming from the second row," Kopp said. "I almost got that holeshot, and if I wanted to be a mean son of a bitch, I could have had it. I was struggling earlier, but in the end w!! were running right with them. I really wanted to get King bad because he's only a couple of points ahead of me right now. I want to beat him on a 750. There's always next week." HEATS Of the 48 riders on hand to attempt to qualify for the main event, King was the first to do so, and he was also the fastest. In a battle of Iowa vs. Ohio, King grabbed the lead off the start in the first 10-lap heat and then used the low line' to keep a rim-riding Morehead at bay for the entire distance. USC Racing's Terry Poovey followed them into the show by posting third. King's 4:18.75 time would earn him the pole for the main event by just over a second. "We've changed a bunch of stuff," King said. "We went to Dayton and tested because it was a limestone track (similar to Lima). But then we came here and changed it all back. I ran the bottom because I don't think the top is going to stay there. The guys who are running the top aren't real consistent - with the exception of Parker. I'm gonua have to get together a few guys to go and beat him up." TIlinois mile specialist Davey Camlin powered the Corbin Racing HarleyDavidson to a rath.er convincing flag-toflag win over TCR's Kevin Atherton and S&B Racing/Suburban Motors HarleyDavidson's Bret Beyer in heat two. Camlin appears to be getting tougher in each outing on the half miles in 1996, and he was certainly too tough for Atherton, who never could muster the "talent" to run with the two-time Du Quoin Mile winner. "I'm feeling good," Camlin said. "My main goal is 'to make the main event, and that's what I did. The best I've ever done here is eighth in a semi. And one thing I'd like to say is that the track pea- pIe have gone leaps and bounds better in preparing the track this year. There have been times in the past when this place has been downright dang~rous. I don't have anything against 883s, but the shortening of the program was the best thing that they could do, because it's giving them the chance to add water between races and dig it up a little." Davis reversed the trend set in the first two heats by actually making a pass for the win while earning his berth in the final. The veteran shadowed the ever-improving Kopp for four laps before pulling alongside him on the back chute and then burying it just a little deeper in turn three to come out with lead, which he would hold to the end. "Everyone is going fast," Davis said. "It's so easy to go fast here that it's hard to pass. Toward the end of the main event, you should see a lot more passing because the track will start to deteriorate, and everyone will start struggling. The track is really great right now. It's hard to really run up top, but it's pretty much the same speed everywhere, so you just have to pick the shortest way around." Part-time National contender and full-time Michigander Danny Koelsch put his Koelsch Farms Harley-Davidson

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