Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

France for putting on this race and all of the fans for coming to watch. "I also want to thank my mechanic, Gary Bachler, for building such a great bike. I've worked with a lot of mechanics, and most of 'em can't pull as high a gear as me when it comes to preparing a motorcycle, but he can. I'll fall asleep some nights and he'll just keep working." Poovey's jubilation may have been matched only by the disappointment felt by Landes, the 1995 Daytona Short Track winner, who rode hard and fast all night but was unable to match Poovey's pace. The knowledge that he'd made the perfect jump on the original start only to have it negated by a red flag after a crash involving F&S Harley. Davidson's Steve Morehead and Total Control Racing's Will Davis, made it all the more difficult to take. On the restart, the 26-year-old from California slipped and slid. He was fifth off the second turn but quickly went to work, passing his way from fourth to third inside of two laps. Landes ran third for much of the contest before catching a break when Corbin Racing's Rich King got a flat rear tire. Once he had a clear track in front of him, Landes then tried in vain to catch the fleeing Poovey. But neither would Landes be caught as he crossed the line second. "I really wanted to win this," Landes said on the podium. "I go to sleep at night dreaming of being on the box at Daytona, but I can't really complain. Hey, aren't these guys getting too old for this anyway?" The other rider that Landes was speaking of was none other than the legend hims.elf, 39-year-old Jay Springsteen, who gave the Daytona' crowd even more reason to cheer as he piloted his Bartels' Harley-Davidson entry across the line third to occupy the final rung on the podium. Springer settled into the fourth spot after. getting an excellent start in the main event, and the former three-time champion then put it on cruise as he outdistanced all but the lead trio. When King dropped off the pace late in the race, Springer was in the right place at the right time and 'captured his first rostrum spot since grabbing third at the Hagerstown Half-Mile in 1995. It was almost as much of a surprise as reigning Grand National Champion .scott Parker's third-place run in the Hot Shoe race on Friday night. "It feels so good being on the box again," Springer said. "I just ran up top for 10 laps and then fell into line with everyone else. It seemed like the slower I went the better I went. And I think this is the first year I've had no crashes at all • at Daytona. I usually always take a soil sample here." Another surprise, to himself anyway, was the fourth place that Gardner Racing /Walters Brothers HarleyDavidson's Dan Butler netted after he was mired back in the pack off the start. The aggressive-riding Michigander was one of two men on the move through the field as the race wore on, and he ran comfortably in fifth by the halfway point. When King's departure . bumped the rest of the field up a notch, Butler was fourth. He continued to charge to the finish, but apparently had lost track of his position while doing so. "I thought I was seventh," the 30year-old Butler said. "I was just chasing . (Right) Landes (41) had a shot at the win but was victimized 'by a restart. Davey Camlin (27) and Willie McCoy (59) both had good runs at the stadium, ' finishing iifth and sixth, respectively. (Below right) Springer's thirdplace finish marke,d his first time on the winner's rostrum since 1995•. Springer out there. I didn't think I got that good of a holeshot. Some guys went under me, and I got sprayed a bunch. I guess I just lost track then. When I saw they sent Springer up to the podium I was like, 'Oh man, we were so close.' But we did good. I'm happy for my crew. We did good. My guys put in a lot of effort to get everything going." And the hits kept on comin' as Moroney's/l-800-FAST-HOG's Davey Camlin broke his new team colors in right with a fifth-place run, a careerbest Daytona Short Track finish for the 27-year-old Illinois-based rider who is much better known for his exploits on the big miles than the bullrings. Carnlin, too, displayed a ton of heart as he highlined his way through the field after a dismal 12th-place start from the back row. In·the process, Camlin displaced tough. Texas short track aces Charlie Orr, Willie McCoy and Moroney's teammate Mike Hacker as he followed Butler through the order to net the fifth spot. "It was great to see Terry win it," Carnlin said. ''I'll be interested in seeing the lap times. It felt fast out there. Did you see me up on that high line? I don't usually do that, but it was working. I'll tell you, there was a cushion there to pass on, but it was kind of hard to keep moving. This is a bonus for me, especially since I was picked to finish fifth (in the series). I got fifth here. That's a good start." And what of series champion Parker and last year's winner Davis? Daytona was typically unkind to the pair as Parker missed the main after losing a motor while leading his semi. Davis was also forced into a semi, and he took the win only to get involved in -the aforementioned crash with Morehead on the opening lap of the feature. He did manage to get up and finish 12th, offering perhaps the most appropriate description of the way the night went. 'That's Daytona for you," Davis said. "You can win it or finish last. You just never know." HEATS After two rounds'of scratch qualifying heats set the 60-rider field, six regu- lar 10-lap heats were run with only the top two riders transferring to the main event. Poovey started the night off right with a blazing-fast· win in the opening heat race. He was held up only briefly by Cycles Etc. /Spectro rider Bill_ Newkirk before setting sail and posting the second-fastest heat time of the night. "Some nights are just like that," Poovey said. "I already felt like I could do no wtong. R/G Racing/Budweiser's Tim Mertens debuted his new National number in style by also passing Newkirk and hanging his ATK-powered Knight on the groove to take the transfer, Davis was stuck back in sixth and his desperation lunges though the corners weren't . quite enough to ca tch the fleeing Mertens. King took the win in heat two after running in third behind Snyder's Honda-mounted Scott Stump and Enterprise Machine Shop's Pat Behrle on the first two circuits. King then got going and dipped underneath Behrle off turn two for second on lap three. He shot around the outside of Stump one lap later and grabbed the win by a wide margin. King's heat time of three minutes, 27.18 seconds was almost thr~ full seconds slower than Poovey's 3:24.41. "I flog 'em in the heat race, don't I?" King cracked. "If Nationals were only 10 laps long, there'd be hell to pay. You go 11 laps and then we're treading on thin ice." Landes nabbed the pole for the feature with his wire-to-wire decimation of heat three. The winning time was a 3:24.096. None of the successive heats would time quicker than the 3:27 range. Landes was' showing incredible poise on the track as he steadily motored away from a healthy second-place scrap between KK Racing/H-D of Dallas/ Eagle Security rider Willie McCoy and Carnlin, who leaned on each other quite a bit before McCoy made a clean getaway into the main event for the second night in a row. Parker was in the heat as well, and struggling. The champ wound up sixth at the line and was forced to gear up for a semi. Aiterward, Landes was confident about his chances in the main. "Basically, all I needed was a

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