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'DIRT TRACK· ~A Grand National Championship Series By Scott Rousseau Photos by Bert Shepard and Flat Track Fotos DU QUOIN, lL, AUG. 18 ess than one day after a rather humiliating defeat at the hands of Grand National Champion Scott Parker on the Indy Mile, Total Control Racing's Kevin Atherton experienced the magic of the "Magic Mile" at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in the form of a second chance - an opportunity to get Parker back, and get him good. . That's just what Atherton did before the 8900 fans who braved a delay of one month and then another five hours on the day the first illinois Grand National final of the season was finally run as he caught F&S Harley-Davidson's Steve Morehead from behind on lap 16, Parker a lap later, and then left both in his wake as he streaked to the finish line in the remaining laps of a weather-and time-shortened 20-lap feature for his second win of th!! season and fourth career victory. "Payback, man!" Atherton said afterward. "He got me Jast night, but 1 got him today. 1 didn't really think that I'd catch him. r thought 1 was screwed, so 1 went line searching out there, and 1 found some that worked. 1 should have had that one last night, too." Parker looked for all the world like he was going to be the man to beat once again as he piloted his factory XR750 L Round 15: Du Quoin State Fairgrounds into a duel with Morehead while Atherton built up steam from a competent fourth-place start. Parker ran behind Morehead for four laps just before the halfway point before taking command and trying to make a break for it while Morehead kept Atherton at bay. Parker almost got away. Almost. And while not exactly thrilled with being beaten,Parker did offer a verbal tip of the hat to his fellow Michigander and former factory teammate. "Ahh, what the hell." Parker said. "It was just paybacks. He was going a little faster than 1 was today. 1 was going faster than he was yesterday." After a freak mechanical fail ure cost him a shot at the podium in Indianapolis, Morehead rebounded in styIe to claim third place at Du Quoin with a strong performance that included ownership of the lead for several laps in the early going. The Findlay Flyer led the field into the first tum and then diced with USC Racing's Texas connection Terry Poovey and Parker before succumbing to the reigning champion and then Atherton, too. Afterward, Morehead was his usual "tickled to death" albeit muCh more tired - old self. "Man, that's a Jot of work," Morehead said. "1' drove all night, unloaded the truck, prepped the bikes and rode the things. Now 1 gotta load the truck, too. If it wasn't for my friend Denny Lauby and my wife being here, 1 don't know what I'd do to get home. As long as 1 could lead down the front straight, 1. was all right, but they (Parker and Atherton) were towing my bike faster than it would go by itself. 1 never shut the thing off." Atherton and Parker didn't experience the only role reversal from Indy to Du Quoin. Two-time and defending event ·charripion Dave Camlin - fifth at Indy - brought his Skip Eaken-wrenched Corbin Racing Harley-Davidson home a virtually uncontested fourth after charging through the pack from the penal ty line after changing motorcycles for the main event, something that is allowed under a new AMA rule. CamJin finished ahead of R&R/Team Saddlemen's Rich King, who ran fifth, one position worse than he had just hours before. King, too, had a fairly tough row to hoe as he got off the line 10th in the main event. The two riders never really raced each other as King took the low road while Camlin found the greener pastures up high. Both were satisfied with their end result. "You know what? 1 am really happy," CamJin said. ''I'm really happy about getting through this thing without having another tragedy like we had here last year. That was my one prayer for today; and it was answered - we did it." "I'm happy, seeing how I'm not considered to be a miler and yet we came out of the first two miles of the year with two top-five finishes," King said. "1 was passing a lot of people, but 1 think I Steve Morehead (42) leads SCott Parker (1), Terry Poovay (18) and Kevin Atherton (23) early In the rescheduled DuQuoIn Mlle. stayed too low. It feels like we stayed all week here in Indiana and Illinois." Like King and Parker at the Cornhusker Motorcycle Championships in Nebraska, and Morehead in Illinois, it was TCR's Will Davis' turn to suffer bad luck at Du Quoin. Davis came into Du Quoin with high hopes but left with a suspension failure, an 18th-place finish and third place in the series points standings - one spot lower than where he was coming into the event. "The end of the shock screwed out of it," Davis said. "But we'll be all right. There are still a lot of races left." Parker leaves Du Quoin with a strengthened lead in the race for the championship as he lead$ King 195-178. Davis sits third at 176 with Morehead fourth ahead of Atherton, 159-156. Harley-Davidson of Sacramento's Joe Kopp ran seventh in the main event behind Poovey, ;u:d in doing so bumped USC Racing's Kevin Varnes out of their sixth-place points deadlock. Kopp now has 144 to Varnes' 132. Team Undo's. Brett Landes sits ninth with 81 despite failing to qualify for a main event for the second race in a row. Bartels' HarleyDavidson's Jay Springsteen ran 11th at the "Magic Mile" and now sits 10th in the standings with 72.