Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

at it for the full 10 laps, pulling the fans from their seats on numerous occasions. Morehead grabbed the early lead on the high line with Varnes down low. Varnes snatched the lead from Morehead on the entrance to the turns many times only to lose it when Morehead would get a better drive coming off them. But it was Jenneman who surprised both by running around Varnes and the·n passing under Morehead in one and two on the eighth lap before going on to win.. lilt's about time we won one/' Jenneman said. "I was back there the whole' time, trying to find a spot. to pass. I was trying to get a good drive comin' out. I didn't want to hit anybody. That was fun. We're going to keep track of the ,times, and if they stay close, then I think we're pretty good." "Dale was just 'able to run around on the bottom," Morehead said. "Me and Kevin had to run around the top." "I don't know what happened," Varnes said. "I wish I did. I don't know if the line went away or what. I do know that when I was passing Morehead I was running it in way too hard." King claimed the final hea twin rather easily, following Schmulbach Racing's Dan Stanley off the line and then taking control off turn two after the Bellingham, Washington, rider apparently missed a gear. Once clear, it was smooth sailing for the Iowa speedster. "We're thinking of stuff that we might change for the main," King said afterward. "We'll wait and see what the track does. We're close right now, and I thiJ:l,k that the track has slowed down. We're just a click off, so we're going to try and make it better fm the main and hope that we have something for 'em." Kopp came from third to second after dicing briefly with home-state rival Stanley. . "I didn't get the start I wanted," Kopp said. "It was actually a pretty uneventful heat race. We're still on the front row, and we're not missing gears today." . Stanley hung on for third, well ahead of a charging Kenny Coolbeth. "I've been getting real good starts lately," Stanley said. "That's a big key for me, I think. Me and Joe have been in (Left) Eventual winner Kevin Atherton (23) prepares to slide around Kevin Varnes (89), Dale Jenneman (29) and Steve Morehead (42) on his way to the front. Morehead held off Jenneman for fourth while Varnes slipped to 17th. (Below) Will Davis ran a rather uneventful third save for one small bobble after he was passed by Atherton in the middle stages of the race. •the same heat race for the last three weeks in a row. I like that' - it's just like racing back home. I know the way he rides, and I can learn some things from him. " SEMIS Bartels' Harley-Davidson rider Jay Springsteen put together eight quick laps in the first semi to lead ESAB/WWP Pro Racing's Tommy Hayden into the main event. It would mark the young Kentucky rider's third appearance in a Grand National final in as many weeks. Coolbeth and his brand-new J&M single-shack-framed Eddie Adkins Racing/Winchester Harley-Davidsoh (see box) ran away with the second semi, leading White's Harley-Davidson rider Mike Varnes across the stripe. Team Undo's Brett Landes had a few tense moments in the final semi after battling it out with returning Spectro/Moroney's H-D teamster Jason Fletcher and Bartels' Eric Bostrom. Landes finally put together a good charge to win the race and land a spot in the final. Fletcher held off Bostrom after the latter bobbled to claim th.e final ticket to the 18-rider feature. GRAND NATIONAL Kopp got a monstrous drive off the starting line to grab the lead as the 18 best dirt trackers in the na tion funneled More chassis science ith very little fanfare, Kenny Coolbeth debuted the latest entry into the singleshock rear suspension sweepstakes as his Eddie Adkins Racing/Winchester Harley-Davidson featured a J&M Racing prototype frame that appears outwardly to be similar to a Kenny Tolbert frame, something that J&M's Mike Owen confirmed while on hand to observe Coolbeth and provide technical assistance. "The main difference is that Kenny'S rocker is somewhat back, and the action comes off two rods, similar to the Suzuki Full Floater design of the early '80s. With ours the shock and rocker are even further back, and more of the action is on the shock. It's just a different way to skin a cat. Hey, we've got the truck runninj; just in case we have to make a qUick getaway." But both Adkins and Coolbeth seemed pleased with the prototype after Coolbeth put several practice laps on it. "Kenny's running very respectable," Adkins said. "I told him to be careful with it at first, but it's tuoting on a dime in the middle of the comers. We've been very fortunate right off. It has taken the least amount of maintenance for the laps we've run on it, but you can dial yourself right out of the program too." "I like it," Coolbeth said. "It's real easy to ride. It's like it's on a J'ail out there pretty much. The front end is pushing just a tad, SO we're going to lower it. That's about it. Other than that, it's awesome." Coolbeth gave the machine a fair debut by just missing out On a direct transfer after getting a bad start and then charging to fourth in the final heat race. But he put it into the main event after winning the second semi, and from there the Warren, Connecticut, youngster went on to place 15th. W into the first turn to start the 25-lap Grand National main event. Davis got off second ahead of Morehead, Jenneman, Varnes, Atherton, Beattie, King, Stanley and Varnes. Parker was mired in 13th place and actually would lose one more position through the course gf the main after both Springsteen and Landes got by ,the champ while he was running 12th. "I tried a little of everything," Parker said. "1 couldn't make it work. We jockeyed this and that, and it didn't work. We got beat. No, we didn't get beat. We got smoked." Parker's close title rival King also ran into hardship, coming out on the short end of the battle with Beattie and Camlin, who finished sixth and seventh, respectively. . . "I don't know what was going on," King said. "I changed the tire for the main and just basically screwed myself out of it. It sucks. We were going fast. We made some changes to go for the win, and we went the wrong way." Up front, Varnes was making a bid for the win by running the low line again, b.ut just as in his heat race, the Pennsylvania rider appeared to be parking his Johnny Goad-wrenched RS750 in the apexes of the corners and losing time. Then Varnes ran into real trouble after he lost his brakes and wound up smacking a hay bale on the back straightaway. Varnes wound up 17th. That left a flying Atherton, who was on the move and methodically picked off both Jenneman and Morehead by only the fourth lap and then taking three more laps to drive past Davis and set out after the fleeing Kopp. . "I didn't want to get too excited trying to catch him," Atherton said. "There were still a lot of laps left. I was trying to be more mature. After I caught Will, I had a lot of confidence, and the motorcycle was perfect." Morehead's motorcycle was by now less than perfect, and it would be aU th.e Ohioan could do to hold off a potent Jenneman for fourth. "It (the tire) went away on the tifth or sixth lap," Morehead said. "I couldn't be.lieve we didn't lose more than that. I had high hopes after that start." "I was working on Steve and Will the whole time, but 1 was losing time in the middle of the turns," Jenneman said. "I have to work on that. You can't give anything to these guys, because they won't give anything back." Kopp was soaring up front, but Atherton had found a faster line through three and four, and he was drawing closer wi th each passing circuit. When AMA starter Steve Faraci flashed the crossed flags to indicate the halfway point, both Kopp and Atherton took them together. Atherton then blazed past Kopp on the entrance to turn three and immediately began pulling away. "I wasn't sure if it was Ke",in or Will," Kopp said. "1 looked back and saw TCR. Once he got by me he got away pretty easily. I tried to stay with him, but he was gone." Davis tried to pick up ground on Kopp as well, but he wasn't quite as dialed in as his teammate and did not advance. '''1 just wasn't rolling through the corners," Davis said. "Then after Kevin got by me, I tried to up the pace and really messed up. I made a mistake in three and four and got up into the marbles and had to recover. 1 figured Kopp would heat his tire up, but he ran a helt of a race." Once clear of the field, Atherton continued to build up a lead. His margin was over a half straightaway with five laps to go and almost a full straightaway by the white-flag lap. Just the same, Atherton did steal a quick glance 25

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