Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK. AMA Grand National Chalnpion$hip Series DEL MAR, CA, oer 13 or AMA GraQ!i Na ',mal Championship hopefUl Kevin Atherton the game plan was simpte. He had to win the series finale Del Mar Mile in order to have even a remote chance at wrestling the title away from six-time and defending champion Scott Parker. Atherton did what he had to do. For Parker to up his incredible championship tally to seven, the game plan was even simpler than that. He had only to qualify for the main event and finish no worse than 16th to retain thedtampionship. Parker did what he had to do. Thus ended one of the more competitive factory vs. privateer championship battles in Grand National history. Atherton proved himself a worthy suitor to the Grand National throne by grabbing the lead on' his Total Control Racing Harley-Davidson early in the 25-lap main event and storming around the race track to a lonely victory that more than appeared to place an exclamation point at the end of his championship campaign, and perhaps allow the team to keep its momentum up throughout the off-season. "I did what I had to do," Atherton said. "I knew that I had a snowball's chance in hell of winning this thing. I looked down on the inside and saw two guys stopped down there, and I said, 'Oh no, it's not him.' But we're happy. We've learned an awful lot from this season, and everything we learned we can put into the program for 1997." ~ ~ 0\ '"""" Round 21: Del Mar Fairgrounds The. Del Mar win was the Mount Morris, Mkhigander's fifth of the year and the eighth in his career. It would leave him with 294 points for th.e season, but it wasn't enough. His closest competitor - even though Atherton could not see him - was Parker, and the champ's runner-up finish in th.e feature, which looked more like an endurance road race than a Grand National mile, was more than adequate, leaving him with 309 points to earn an almost unfathomable seventh Grand National Championship. The title further etched Parker·'s name in the record books as one of the greatest Grand National competitors of all time. "This (number-one) plate means a lot to me," Parker said. "This is what we've worked for all year. I know there are a lot of guys who want to win it, but I want to win it just as bad as they want to. I like the way it looks on my motor.cycle, and if they want it, they're going to have to take it. I want to say congratulations to Kevin, he showed everyone what he is capable of, and I also want to thank Bill Werner. I could not do this without him." Parker ran second for most of the race before slowing his pace and enduring each lap as he marched steadily toward the title once again. He would be followed by HarleyDavidson of Sacramento's Joe Kopp, who put his Kenny Tolbert-tuned Harley-Davidson XR750 into third place after a titanic battle with Gardner Rac~ ing/Walters Brothers Harley-Davidson's Dan Butler. The Mica, Washington, rider was the only other rider besides Atherton to lead a lap, controlling the first to' circuits before yielding to Atherton on lap three. From there Kopp battled briefly with F&S HarleyDavidson's Steve Morehead before Butler came up from the third row: The duo drafted back and forth before Kopp was able to finally pick up some breathing room late in the race only to lose almost all of it in the last corner as he slid off the groove and Stanley closed in on him.• Kopp recovered in enough time to retain the final podium position - his first such appearance on a mile - and net him fourth in the series final standings with 247 points the hard way - without a single victory. "What a way to top off the year," Kopp said. "Fifth (overaIl) was the longshot goal, but I was thinking seventh or eighth realistically. Wf! doubled that. I'm really happy with the way the year went." Butler's fourth-place finish was a satisfying one as it once again placed him solidly in the top 10 for the ninth time this season. And this one was a struggle as the former TCR rider started on the back row and expertly piloted his Greg Crow-tuned XR into the top five before five laps were completed. Butler took over third from laps 10 thrqugh 17 before losing the position for good and coming in fourth: fter nearly running down the errant Kopp off last corner. "My eyes were as big as saueer~ when Joe slipped off the groove on the last lap," Butler said. "I started to catch him, but he got back on the groove before I could get there. "Who says it ain't exciting at the race track?" Butler continued. "We blew oil lines and a coil broke. We were leading our semi, and then they restarted it, and we had to lead it again. Then I had to come from the third rowan a rough track. I want to thank my sponsors and my crew. Greg, Steve, Tort and Chad all worked their asses off this year - and they all have regular jobs, too. I'm gonna be back with these guys next year. How could I turn something down that's this good?" Kenny Coolbeth rode his Harley· Davidson of Missouri / Burks Construction entry to a lonely fifth-place finish after getting a 12th-place start. The 1993 Rookie of the Year climbed steadily through the pack before running out of drafting partners after passing Geo Roeder IJ for the fifth spot on lap 11. "This is mine," Coolbeth said. "I'm psyched. It helps me in a lot of ways. It gives me confidence. It's a good start for next year. It's time to put all that other stuff behind me and focus on what I'm doing now." HEATS Some 40 riders showed up to contest the final Grand National mile of the year

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