Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• .DIR1TRACK . . '. AMAGrand.NatlQI18tChainpiOnship~· R d11 : Nb k StateF' P k au" eras a air ar , , . ,,' @r:,t' :,t'a ~ :,rt' In r@~ And where was the champ? Parker was clearly the man to beat - ,even after coming from the penalty row on the original start. The six-time Grand National titlist was an unbelievable third as the field skated into turn one at the start of the feature and he.was quickly by both Springsteen and Geo Roeder to grab the lead and set sail for the finish, but a rare solo cri/!;h as he was coming off turn two on the 18th circuit derailed his chances for his fourth win of the year. Parker still wound up a gritty eighth. _ "I think something internally in the shock broke, because the tire was fine," Parker said. "I was looking back to see who IUt me, because that's what it felt like. It didn't hurt. We'll see 'em next week." Wi th the crazy shuffling in the race standings, the series standings followed suit. Davis has regained the points lead with 159 marks to Parker's 153. R&R/Team Saddlemen's Rich King, who had a terrible day in Lincoln and wound up last in the feature after breaking down, drops to third with 149. Morehead has leapfrogged past HarleyDavidson of Sacramento's Joe Kopp to fourth with 135 to Kopp's 125. USC Racing's Kevin Varnes sits sixth with 121, and Atherton rounds out the triple-digit scorers in seventh with 114. HEATS By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fotos LINCOLN, NE, AUG. 10 espite the fact that he already • had picked up one good payday from the rained-out East Moline Half Mile, F&S Har)ey-Davidson rider Steve Morehead would likely have traded that dough for a legitimate Grand National victory any day. Thanks to the strange turn of events that took place before the 6,139 fans who attended the Cornhusker Motorcycle ChampionslUp at Nebraska State Fair Park in Lincoln, Morehead won't have to. Morehead, the cagey veteran and racer's racer, grabbed both the biggest paycheck and the biggest share of championslUp points right out from under the nose of the late-race leader, Total Control Racing's Will'Davis. Morehead overcame a terrible starting position on the penalty line after he and the entire front row jumped the start. He then drove around the North Carolinian to take the lead on a single-file restart and five-lap dash that was necessitated by a Geo Roeder crash with less than that number of laps left to go. Morehead carefully tiptoed around Davis in the drag race to tum one and clung tight on the extremely narrow groove that had formed on the sandy, half-mile horse track to daim IUs 22nd career Grand National win and become the sixth different winner in a series wlUch is just now beginning to live up to its competitive potential. ~ "I've been thete, done that and lost," 0\ Morehead said of the charge around M Davis that put the "Findlay Flyer" into B T"""'I.... the lead for good. lilt was our tum, and I N won one. We had a good shot to win East Moline, but then it started sprinkling. I wanted to win one of these things - I need the points." Morehead's gain on the restart was definitely Davis' loss. The still-injured 32-year-old veteran was on a tear in the feature after having to come from the back row along with the rest of the front row to take the lead. After charging through the field to make IUs way to second and then inherit the lead when Team Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker inexplicably fell on lap 18, Davis looked to have the Comhusker title in the bag, but the Roeder crash would be IUs undoing as Morehead outgunned rum on the restart. "I'm just happy to finish second," Davis said. "There's no way that I can tell you I agree with the restart procedure, but that's my own problem. That's the rule. We restarted, and I got my ass beat. But from what happened two weeks ago to come back like this, it's unbelievable." Another surprise charger through the field was Davis' teammate Kevin Atherton, who somehow wound up third even after predicting that his chances for podium from IUs starting spot on the third row - which actually became the second row after mass jump by the first row. Atherton kept IUs cool and hugged the notch wlUle others were unable to do so to slide into third by the time the checkered flag fell. "We've been one of the fastest guys out there all day," Atherton said. "But .1 got a crappy start in the heat race and had to come through the semis. I just thought that I'd fall in line and follow everyone, but after five or six laps, Morehead and Will went by. I had to start doing something. It paid off. This turned out to be a pretty successful night." Atherton was followed across the line by resurgent legend Jay' Springsteen aboard the Bartels Harley-Davidson XR750. The three-time champion appears to pave finally picked up the pace in the series despite missing the Peoria IT, and he had IUs act together in Lincoln, coming from the second starting line to run tlUrd for much of the race before eventually falling to fourth place. Springsteen, who had recognized that he was down on points for trus late in the Steve Morehead (42) won an all-Important drag race over Will Davis (21) Into the first tum of the restarted Comhuslier Motorcycle Championship at Lincoln, Nebraska, and won the five-lap dash to the finish to eam his 22nd career Grand National win. Davis was ~ond while Kevin Atherton (23) finished third. season, thus turned in IUs best finish in 1996 so far, despite nursing a smoking motorcycle to the finish Me on the last five laps. . "After everyone on the front row jumped the line, I was like "All right!" Springsteen said. "I jumped too, but I didn't get put back. Then when Roeder crashed and there was only one lap to go, I figured they were gonna call it. But then I remembered that they go back and run five laps. Then an oil line came off and we just got that fixed in time. But things were g9ing good all night long." Team Undo's Brett Landes was another surprise top finisher as he piloted IUs Audiovox/Quaker State Honda to an impressive fifth-place finish, matching IUs best career performance on a 750, wlUch came at the Dallas Half Mile in 1994. Landes was dearly dialed into the .groove, but his third-row start after a transfer from the semi would seem to have spelled doom. Yet the 'young Northern Californian got a rocket start on the final green light to jump from IJinth to sixth and then snatch fifth place when Harley-Davidson of Sacramento's Joe Kopp pulled off with a mechanical failure three laps from the finish. "Man, what didn't happen out there?" Landes said. "My grip was comin' off. I was turning the grip, but the throttle wasn't turning. I almost pulled off, tlUnking that the crank was going. But the restart really helped me. We fixed the grip, and I got off the line good and stayed low. I think Kevin (Varnes) and Davey (Camlin) tangled with each other, and I got by." The narrow black groove that formed up on the hard-packed sandy State Fair Park half mile had several riders worried that getting a good start would be the only key to victory, and it appeared to play out that way in the first heat as R&R/Team Saddlemen's Rich King blasted away from the rest of the field to win heat one in convincing faslUon. The 33-year-old Iowan road raced IUs way to the win in the second-fastest heat of the night. . "I was hoping to be the fastest heat," King said. "I trunk that's going to playa big role tonight. It's all going to be in that start. I'm not going to change anything on the bike. I am going to give my throttle hand a quarter turn, though." King wound up putting 20 lengths on Gardner Racing/Walters Bros. H-D's Dan Butler, who made one of the few hea t race passes on Corbin Racing's Chance Darling in turn three before going onto finish second with Darling third and taking the last direct transfer to the feature. "We were just being real smooth on the throttle," Butler said. "And my guys have just got this thing hooked up. I'm able to run it in harder and get it stopped in time to stay on the groove." "I got third, so no front row," Darling said. "But my confidence is a lot better now, because I know that I can get up with these guys and stay there." Davis hooked up with Kopp and Loral Lake Racing's Ronnie Jones in heat two and the three riders pulled away early, setting a pace that none of the other riders could follow. Davis went on to the victory with Kopp pulling in second. "1 gotta go faster th.an that," Davis said. "We were cutting 29-fIats mostly. I didn't have any 28.3's (Morehead's heat four lap times). I don't know what we're gonna do. We'll probably put some more gear on it, but that might be stupid" too." "You have to wait for'em to fall off the groove to pass," Kopp said. "I couldn't get dose enough to Will to pass him, but even if you do, you have to wait for them to falloff." Jones appeared to have third locked up, but IUs night came to an abrupt end when IUs motorcycle expired at the start

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