Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127846
(Left ) Davis took to the low line ea rty in the race and pas sed Atherton on lap 17 bef ore running away to score his 13th ca reer Grand National win. (Center) Davey Camlln (27) refused to take the high r oad, and It pa id off as he charged to third place. seventime Grand National Champion Seon Parker (1) struggled and dropped to ninth. (Below) Ricky Graham (3) finished fourth after running as high as second. Steve Morehead (42) fin ished fifth aboard his familiar LawwlU-framed Harley-Davidson twin shocker. Hacker remained perfect in his ques t to make every Grand National final by jus t nos ing out Beatti e as th e duo hit the finis h line togeth er in heat three . Hacker got th e hol e s ho t a n d a p p ea red as th ough h . mi ght run away from the field , while Beattie diced with Mike Varn es in the early laps before reeling in Ha cker. Varnes then s lip ped back into the clutches of Springsteen, who took third for a ticket to the main. Afterward, Hacker said that he wasn't a t all surprised to be caught by Beattie. "I didn't rea lly think that I was the fastest guy on the track," Hacker said. "I just got a real good start . I think that I just smoked my tire. In the first half of .. amlin - to bring the bike home in on e )ieee and thu s finis h better than last for he first tim e in three races. 1#1 don't know," Graham said . "I was n between the high and low lines - not s high as Kevin (Atherto n). It was easier o ride the Honda there, because it hits much harder than a Harley-Davidson. is wa s a straight-up Honda. Most of hose Harl eys are twingled." The senior man on the circuit, Moreead, brought his Lawwill-frarned, Gary tole zenburg-tuned XR750 home fifth, fter leading the fir st two la ps of th e in event. The-t l-year-old appeared to ade as the race progressed, but still finshed as high as he has all season, hintng after ward tha t he might no t have as physically prepared at the onset f this season as he has been in years ast. "We just got beat," Morehead said. "I st gotta get used to ru nn ing ha rd 'for hat ma ny laps again. Th e m o torcycle an good and worked good . I jus t go tta et myself goin g again . It's hard whe n ou're 41, pa l. The rest of those guys in ont of us we re twingled , so I guess we ere first in class." Harl e y-D avid son o f Misso u ri's enny Coo lbc th ran Sixth , followed by a rley- Da vid so n of Sacramento's Jo e opp, Corbin Racing /R&R's Rich King ode the only otherHonda in the field es ides G ra ham 's) to eighth, ahead of Yen-time and defending series chamion Scott Pa r ke r . Fo rmer three- time 'ra nd National Champion Jay Sp ringteen was 10th aboard his Bartels' H-D nrry, while Carnlin teammate Mike a cker finish ed l l th, ahead of Team ewell's Tim Mertens, Rose Racing's illie McCoy, Deeley Harley-Davidon's Steve Beattie, and USC /Lancaster arley-Davidson's Kevin Varnes. Beale eterbilt /Chesapeake Ha rl ey- Da vi d n 's Pa ul Lynch ca rded a 16th in his rst Gra nd National feature appea rance f the year. Mechanical failu res dropped ite's Harley-Davidson's Mike Varnes 17th. Roeder, who failed to make the 'start after his first-turn altercation ith Atherton, was credited with 18th. HEATS Th e ve tera n Morehead proved th at e s till has what it takes - for 10 laps ~ay, as he grabbed th e holesho t in th e first heat and towed Kevin Vames around th e race track for th e duration. Th e yo u ngster hounded the "Findlay Flyer" for all 10 laps, but could not draw cl ose eno ug h to ma ke a p a ss a ttempt. 'W e' re just back on a familiar m otorcycle that we' re u sed to riding," Morehead said. "We're back on an old Lawwill. We're s tep ping back in tim e. A lo t of the o the r g u y s are d oing fin e with their C&j's, but we haven' t gotten ours figured o ut yet. I'm comfo rta ble on this mot orcycle. Sometimes, you just gotta back up." Varnes went on to secure a berth in the main with hi s runner-up finis h, while Coolbeth got the best of a fiveride r ba ttle between Gardner Racing/Walters Brothers Harley-Davidson's Dan Bu tler, Loral Lake Racing's Pa ul Bergst rom , a nd ' 96 Rooki e of the Year J.R. 5ch na bel for the third and final qualifying spo t. Ho ndas fin is hed 1-2 in the second heat, as King go t th e holesh ot a nd led every la p while G ra ha m w o r ked his way up from sixth place, passin g both Kopp a nd Schmulbach Racing' s Dan Stanley at once on the outside of turns one and two before moving up inside a struggling Atherton and CIropping him to fo urth on lap seven. G raham th en caught Camlin in turn one on the final lap for second. King we nt on to take the win, but voiced concern ove r the condition of his mo torcycle. , "My, bike was way slow," King sa id. 'We don't know if something's hurt in it or w hat. We' ve mad e some cha nges, but we know th e bike is s till s low. We'll see..." the race, I was getting reall y good traction, but I lost traction in the second half of the race. Beattie passed me , but evidently he got a flat tire." Davis then went out in the final heat and gave the fans a glimpse of things to come as he pojvered away fro m Parker and Rose Racing's Willie McCoy to win the race, posting a time of 4:08.351 almost three seconds faster than King's heat, a n d good enoug h for th e pol e . Meanwhile, th e cha m pion barely held off McCoy for secon d as both transferr ed. 17