Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Opposite page) The final AMA Grand National main event of the season gets under way at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. (Above) Kevin Atherton (23) pushed his way to the front early and ran away from the pack. Joe Kopp (43), Scott Parker and Steve Morehead (42) give chase. (Right) HarleyDavidson factory rider Scott Parker took his Bill Werner-' tuned XR750 to second place to secure his seventh Grand National Championship. on the gritty Del Mar track, and after a lengthy delay during the first heat for some added maintenance, the racing surface was conducive to good competition even though it would continue to deteriorate throughout the day. Morehead and Bartels' HarleyDavidson's Jay Springsteen highlighted heat one with a flag-to-flag battle that carried them far ahead of third-place finisher Paul Lynch. The two seniors on the circuit duked it out on the high line, passing back and forth with Morehead appearing to be faster on the front straight while Springer seemed to have him covered everywhere else. On the last lap, Springsteen passed Morehead going into turn three and got a great drive off the last comer while Morehead slipped a bit and fell just out of touch. Springsteen got the win. "Steve just got too high out in the fuzz," Springsteen said. "1 kept looking for him out of the corner of my eye to come by, but he never did. 1 like racing with Steve. We've been doing it for so long that we know what each other is going to do. 1 feel real safe racing with him." "They graded the cushion off," Morehead said. "1 know I could have drafted by him. I'd been doing it all race, but 1 drifted a little higher, trying to get out of his spray, and I got too sideways coming off the tum. I lost traction." The constantly improving Lynch was pleased to earn the direct transfer. "We've got a real horse under us for this mile," Lynch said of his Lynch Racing/ Beale Peterbilt Harley-Davidson. "There's a lot of special people who did a lot of special things for me this week. I can't mention any names, but they know who they are." Parker and Kopp made a real race out of heat two as they traded licks for nine of the 10 laps. Parker appeared all set to establish a commanding lead as the race approached the halfway point, but the never-say-die Kopp passed the champion as they both backed it into turn three and Parker slipped coming off four. Kopp then tried to run away but Parker reeled him in and eventually took the win. "The track's-a little different than it has been in the past," Parker said. "We were just feeling it out. If you make a mistake on a rough track like this, they can make up a lot of ground on you, but it goes back and forth that way. The bike seems to be working fine. We're zeroing in on it." Kopp finished just a few lengths behind Parker to earn the second direct transfer well ahead 'of TCR's Will Davis. "Scott didn't really go in any harder on the last lap, and I wanted to follow him off of tum four, but he just got a couple of lengths on me," Kopp said. "But we're in the show, and we're going for it. I wanted to win one this year. This is the last one, so..." "I was actually hooking up," Davis said. "I just wasn't getting it turned. We're definitely making some changes, but I don't know. We'll see what happens." Atherton gave the fans a preview of things to come in heat three as he broke away from Corbin Racing's Dave Camlin on the second lap and ran away to take the win by half a straightaway over Camlin, who was well ahead of Coolbeth. "The track is slowing down," Atherton said. "It didn't matter who 1 was with ou t there. I just wanted to cut some fast laps. But the track's drying out, and we're chasing the dirt. With the speeds we're running, we're getting pretty close to the hay bales, but there's a few bumps up there tokeep you honest." "It feels good to get second to the fastest guy here," Camlin said. "I don't feel too bad. I just have to get more consistent." "My bike feels awesome," Cool beth said. "I have to get off the line a little better. We still made some changes, and we're just going to try and get out front. With all that spray, it is impossible to see." Two separate battles hallmarked the . final heat race of the year as Loral Lake Racing's part-time prodigal son Ronnie Jones diced with Roeder H-D's Geo Roeder II for the Jead while Corbin Racing's Chance Darling and Team Undo's Brett Landes mixed it up for third. Jones finally got the best of Roeder and took the· win. "My Loral Lake Honda is working really good," Jones said. "Skip Eaken built the motor a little while back, and we're handling really good. You need that when a track gets a little rough and a little slippery. 1 guess 1 was just getting a little more traction than they were." Roeder held on to finish second. "We need more water," Roeder said. "You'd think that they'd know how to run this deal. We've changed the tire, and I think that the cushion is going to get too far away for us to chase it." Darling ended up winning a close battle with Landes after the two Honda riders had raced side by side severaJ times. Darling finally figured Landes out and dived underneath him in three only to lose ground. But the tough Ohioan blazed to the line ahead of Landes. "I thought he'd outsmart me," Darling said. "I thought [ screwed up going too high on that last lap. But 1 was able to come back underneath him. 1 got lucky." SEMIS There was a tense moment in the first semi after Frontier Harley-Davidson/ HD Central's Dale Jenneman bailed off between turns one and two. He was llnhurt in the crash. "1 went in there on the bottom of the cushion," Jenneman said. "1 hit a hole and skated up, and my back tire clipped a hay bale. 1 tried to stay away from them, but I hit them and wound up going over the bars." On the restart, Butler resumed the lead he had prior to the red flag and went on to take the win ahead of Spectro-Moroney's rider Mike Hacker. Terry \0 0\ 0\ ,..... ~ H Q) .g .... o U 7

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