Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.DIRTTRACK. Series R d21 : DIMar F' AMA GrandNational Championship au" e alrgraU"ds Poovey came through a wild second semi to score the win after running third for much of the race. TLC's Ian Segedy.was second. Landes then crashed while running in the hunt for the third semi win, low-siding in turns three and four. Landes picked his bike up and walked away. "I guess I hadn't done that in a while," Landes joked. "We switched motorcycles, and the one we rode was set up for earlier in the day, when the (Right) Joe Kopp's third place in the main event boosted his season finish to fourth. (Below) Kopp's main competition for the final podium spot was Dan Butler (22), shown here with Steve Morehead (42) earlier In the day. Butler finished fourth. (Bottom) Ken Coolbeth Jr. ran a lonely fifth for much of the race, ton's chances for the win, however, grew even slimmer as both Segedy and Roeder pulled in with problems. "Once the halfway point came around, I knew I'had a good lead," Atherton said. "But I started slowing down, and then I started making myself nervous. Once I started slowing down and paced myself, that's when I started noticing all the bumps." Atherton was over a half straightaway ahead of Parker at that point, and the champion thus also began to slow down to preserve his Bill Werner-tuned factory special. Therefore the gap remained the same. "I was in the same mode," Parker said. "It was sort of funny. I was racing for a long time, but then I started thinktrack was wet. It's drier now, and I just went in and lost the front end." Once the race resumed, Schmulbach Racing's Dan Stanley headed HarleyDavidson of Dallas' Willie McCoy as the pair scored the final two seeds to the main event. GRANO NATIONAL Atherton tried to strap a 'huge holeshot on the rest of the field as the final 18-rider Grand National main event of the season took the green light from AMA starter Scott Zimmerman, but Kopp pulled out front as the field came around on the first lap. Atherton was tucked in tight behind him with Parker running third while Morehead ran fourth. The "Findlay Flyer" was going at it alone in the comers, using the highest line of all the competitors, and it seemed to be working as he was able to challenge for the lead at every turn before a rather serious problem ruined his day. "The frame broke," Morehead stated flatly after pulling in before the halfway point. "It broke right by the swingarm. We were running right with 'em and then the chassis started feeling funny . I \0 had to pull off." 0\ MorE!head would be credited with ~ 17th. Up front, Atherton passed Kopp and quickly began to establish a pattern of dominance that would see him continually pull away from the rest of the field. Atherton was well ahead of Parker at the halfway point, with Butler and Kopp battling for fourth, CooJbeth all alone in fifth, and Davis, Camlin and Springsteen freight-training together in the sixth, seventh and eighth spots. Ather- ing that this was stupid because the track was such that I might quickly find myself on my ass. I started slowing down, and I started getting sloppy." Neither Kopp nor Butler had any room to slow down as the pair raced around the track, fighting for position for the entire distance. Coolbeth still ran fifth and was making little headway on them. He would remain in that spot to the flag. "I wish I'd gotten a better start," Coolbeth said. "I just started picking guys off from the back. I think I was third to last at the start. I just put my head down and charged, but I didn't tl1ink I was fifth. I figured I was like seventh or eigh th." Davis finally won the three-rider battle for sixth, passing Camlin on the final lap to take the spot. Camlin was seventh, Springsteen eighth. "Davey and I just had a little shutoff contest going into the .last turn," Davis said. "I won it." The Butler-Kopp race was still the best battle going on the track, but Butler's run was almost derailed on the 22nd lap when he hit a hole and was nearly. flung compJetely off his motorcycle. "I did a nac-nac at a buck forty!" Butler said. "I didn't know how 19ot out on him," Kopp said. "The track changed so much from the heat race to the main. It was totally different. It almost wOl,lld have been better to race in the semi to see what it was like. All four corners were totally different." Atherton was handling them all, however, and as he took the white flag, he had built a lead of nearly 13 seconds. A lap later the victory was his. After he crossed the line, he looked over his shoulder, just to see who would be coming. "What can I say?" Atherton said. "I did my job." But so did Parker, and the champion pumped his fist in the air as he crossed the stripe to claim his seventh title. "They kept me on my toes," Parker said. "I knew if the bike broke or if I fell off, I was had. I tried to take it easy, but I started running all ragged, so I had to start doing it the right way. TIUs championship is special to me. When I won the last one, my daughter was still in the belly. This is the first one that she has gotten to see her d~ddy win." 883 NATIONAL Spectro-Moroney's rider Mike

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