Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA Grand National Cham ipnShi Rounds 16 and 17: Illinois State Fairgrounds Despite not grabbing a win on the weekend, Atherton's 3-2 finishes allowed him to march forward in the points race. He now sits In second place, 14 points behind series leader Parker. and locked up on the back straight, leavjng them helpess. But like an answer from heaven, help came in the form of a twingled and very fast Bill Werner-built factory Harley-bavidson; courtesy of Scott Parker: Springer put it to good use against none other than his newly acquired teammate Parker, blasting off the penalty line and into second behind Parker as they ran down the back straight. Camlin was also in the heat and also on the penalty line after having switched motorcycles, and quickly he moved to third behind the two factory bikes. Camlin and Springsteen then moved out on Parker and drafted each other back and forth for the whole race. Off the last corner, Camtin lined up and then just drafted past Springsteen at the line for the win in the fastest heat race of the day. "That twingle was workin'," Camlin said. "He (Springsteen) was setting the . pace for us, but I knew I could draft past him at the line if I let him lead' it, so that's what I did on the last lap. But he's' still one bad dude." "It was great," Springsteen said. "I shoulda had Camlin. I was beating him to the tine just about every lap before the end, so I had to decide whether or not to lead it goin' into three. I decided to lead it. Man, Werner is the best. The motor is fast, and the thing handles like adream,lI 14 with Atherton right behind him. Atherton elected· to let the Corbin rider lead it through the turns so that he could slingshot by for the win. But as they rounded the final turns, King rolled around the outside of Atherton, droppjng him to third and letting Camlin get away. The front four riders - Camlin, King, Atherton and Kopp - came across the line virtually in tandem, but Camlin was the man on the point when it counted. "Going into that la$t lap, I wanted to lead it off turn four," Camtin said. "Because last year I followed Parker off there and came up about 18 inches short. The same thing happened in our heat race today. I just .wanted to lead it. This is awesome, this was the one. Nothing compares to the day I got married to my wife, but this is on a different level than that." . "[ couldn't draft them that time," Atherton said. "I could double-draft them down the front straightaway, but not that time, and I'm not sure why. Rich got around me and foiled my plans. I had to give him room. We had fun today, but Davey (Camtin) had more fun. Ah well, we get to do it all again tomorrow.'f Once again, Kopp would miss his shot at glory by inches, finishing fourth. "I could have won that one," Kopp said with an obvious eye toward the points situation. "I didn't drive it into the comer hard enough, because everyone was going .in single file. We're happy with fourth - Morehead and Will dropped back." . Schnabel was happy with fifth, his best Grand National showing yet. "We're there' now,'"Schnabel said. "We're feeling good. We ju'st have to keep going now. We're hoping for big things tomorrow. Another top-eight is what we're looking for." SUNDAY HEATS Both the riders and the 1MDAprepped track were definitely quicker on the second day of racing as Kapp's fourth-heat win, the slowest of the day, was some three seconds faster than Parker's fast time on Saturday. But it was Atherton who once again started the show, running away early in the first IO-lapper before being reeled in by KJng and Schnabel. Atherton was showing off the most, but King's excellent handling allowed him to di ve to the bottom in turn three and actually lead the kid across the start straight on the eighth lap. It was all Atherton from there, however. Schnabel just managed to get away from a pack containing Beattie, Hacker ana McCoy for the final transfer spot. , "We were hanging back," Schnabel said. "I really couldn't do anything with those guys in front of me. Then Beattie kind of pulled me along and got me going. I couldn't guite draft them (McCoy, Beattie and Hacker) at the line, so I just figured that they wouldn't be able to get me either. I led them off of four, and they didn't." "The track is fast today," winner Atherton said. "We're just having fun out there. Everyone is going fast. I'd have to say that nobody is going to run away with it today. We're going to have to conserve tires, which wasn't a problem yesterday. All I can say is that it's gonna be a bitcrun' race. It might be the best you'll ever see:' Prophetic words from a man who would figure heavily in the final outcome. Springsteen was in dire need of help on Sunday. He and mechanic Joe Bisha had already run into bad luck on Saturday when a clutch change revealed that their number-one miler had cracked cases, forcing the team to use its wellworn half mile machine en route to a 10th placing on Saturday_ But just after winning his scratch heat on Sunday, the ex-champ's "01' reliable" broke a piston Parker ran third after a pestering Coolbeth fell off the groove and forfeited a chance at beating the champion. Still, the team was wondering if they had maybe given away the wrong bike?" . "We thought that," Parker said. "We didn't practice that bike today, but we hauled the mail on it yesterday. It crossed our minds (to take it back), but I Hacker doubled too S pectra I Moroney's Harley-Davidson rider Mike Hacker earned one main event victory and was handed the other one in the support class finals at Springfield over the weekend. The 20-year-old Virgnian earned the 600cc Support class win on Saturday, coming from second to best Corbin Racing's Lonnie Pauley and Lynch. Racing I Beale PeterbiJ t' s Paul Lynch in a three-rider..formation run to the line. "I didn't think that I would get them:' Hacker said. "I wasn't really riding hard at first, I dropped back to sixth or seventh before I realized that it was time to get it on. We've been looking for a win ever since I came back from being hurt. It was fun riding with Paul again. We haven't diced like that since we were kids." Pauley.was doing well to even be in position for the win after he and mechanic B~lIy Fagundes Were forced to swap motors in just 15 minutes p.rior to Pauley's scratch heat, which he promptly won. In the main event, the California 600cc terror made his way to the front of the pack and was all set to pull off an inside draft of leader Lynch from third place as they came tQ the flag, but when Hacker dropped to the inside, Pauley was forced to switch to the outside. The end result was a hard-earned second place. "I thought 1could get past them both," Pauley said. "But then when Hacker pulled out, I had to go further inside him or go back to the outside. We had our slow motor in there." Lynch, the 17-year-old Marylander who grabbed the 600cc support win at the Cornhusker Motorcycle Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, overcame a poor start before creeping into contention with about six laps to go. He was fighting for the lead by lap 11, and unfortunately found himself in that position off the fourth turn on the last lap as well. All be could do was tuck in and hope. It wasn't enough as he was passed on both sides by Hacker and Pauley and wound up third. . "I was ninth for a while," Lynch said. "I knew I could catch tbose guys once I got my rhythm going. Hey, I'm glad it was Hacker who won. I grew up racing with him." Hacker was banded another win on the next after running second in the AMA 883cc National final to Bartels Harley-Davidson rider Eric Bostrom, who was disqualified whCjl his motorcycle'S charging system was found to be inoperable dUring the post-race teardown. Bostrom's teammate Shaun Russell was stripped of fourth place for the same infraction while fifth-placed Dan Stanley was also disqualified for running with illegal motor modifications. The shakeout elevated Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson's J.R. Schnabel to second and Pennsylvania privateer Ro~ Miller to third.

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