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) Kenny Cootbelh (31) made his firs t 750ee Grand National race 01 the year a good one by ptaelng a so lid sixth. Rleh King (80) had throttle--cable problems and wound up eighth. (Below) A family allalr: Will Davis shared his victory lap with his 3year-old son Cole. g o ing. I w en t high a couple of laps because 1 sa w Kevin doi ng it, then I dropp ed way down low because I cou ld n' t make it work like he was." But , by the halfway point, the high line had stopped working for everyone, including Atherton. Both Davis in second and Camlin in fifth were am ong the first to reali ze it, and both were moving up fast. Davis wailed around the race track, cutting mid- to high-24-second laps as he shortened the gap be tween himself and h is teammate. Atherton refu sed to drop down - and it cos t him the race, as Davis motored u ndernea th him in turns one and two on lap 16. "My plan was just to run the bo ttom if I di d n' t ge t the holesho t, but I d idn't do th at, so I had to ma ke some ad jus tme nts ," Davis sa id . "I figu red tha t I'd just bid e m y time; the n I loo ked u p ahead, and Kevin ju st st arted ge tti ng bigger and bigger." "I co uld see someo ne co ming." At her ton said . "When Will went by me, I tried to sq uare it off, but eve n wi th a 6foo t-Wide groove, w he n yo u cross tha t, you've only got tw o feet to work with, SEMIS Kopp led a ll eig ht la ps of th e firs t sem i to get back on trac k and in to the main event. Lynch held off Schnabel to finis h second and take the o nly other available position in that particular race. Mike Varnes strapped the holesh o t of the night on the rest of the field in semi number two, to take the win by a comfortable ma rgin. Bret Beyer ran second, and Lonnie Pauley was third for much of the ra ce before Atherton finaUy got rolling and passed both for the second spo t, whi ch meant that he would start the main from the third row. Mert ens got on the gas and won the fina l semi, whil e Roeder finished second after th e tw o mad e heavy conta ct in turns one and two on the' third lap. The field was set. GRAND NATIONAL 18 Davis chose to start th e 25-lap final from the low side of the ra ce tra ck. To hi s righ t, a cros s th e fro n t row, w ere Morehead , Hacker, Graha m, Parker and Kin g . There wa s trouble right off the start, as both Atherton and Roed er got fl yers from th e back row. Atherton , knowin g Roeder's usu al ga me, elected to point his m otorcycle toward the top of the ra ce track in th e hope of following Roeder up there when the Ohioan made hi s move. Th e only problem was that Roed er didn't head for the top ; instead , he elec ted to ba ck off th e gas and faU into line o n th e g roove. Atherton was already committed inside of Roeder, a nd the resulting contact sent both rid ers flyin g to the turf. After several m in utes, both go t up and walked away, bu t Roeder' s bike was too damaged to continue . " I w a s on th e o u tside and had to back of£," Roed er said. "I was just go ing to fall back in line. Kevin was just headed"for the top. Shit happens." "Brand-new leathers and 1 alrea dy scuffed 'em," Atherton sa id. "I feel bad fo r Ceo. I hat e to cause a crash like that . I thought he m is sed a gear o r something." On the restart, Kevin Varnes was the one to miss a gear as the field roa red off the line, leav ing the Pennsylvanian in its wake. Va rnes was able only to catch Lynch o n the race track and place 15t h, w hile his cousin, Mike, u ltima tely dropped out w i th ig nition-coil problems and was credited with 17th. Morehead took th e lead int o tu r n o ne with Par ke r hot on hi s ta il before a bobble dropped the cham p to fifth place behind King, G raham a nd Davis off tu rn two, Atherton had a clear lane to the top th is tim e, and u sed it to good e ffec t, hooking up and hauling to sixth pla ce on jus t the firs t lap. Athe rton again hung it up near the fence o n th e s u bseq ue n t lap and pi ck ed off Davis, Gra ham and King to pull up to Moreh e a d s s tx. Another ou tside trip, and A th e rton b ro u g h t th e cr o w d to it s feet as h e took the lead from Morehead o n just the third circuit. "I've see n that high line here before, and I was after 'em to water it all day, but th ey didn't," Atherton sa id . "We were struggli ng a ll night long o n the bottom. We were as fa s t a s everyo ne else there, but I like go ing up top ." With a cle a r trac k in fro nt of him , Athert on turned up the wick and pulled away from the field, abando ning a spirite d d ice a mo ng G ra ham, Morehea d , Da v is a nd Sp r ingsteen. Pa rke r was al rea dy fa lli ng o u t of th e hunt, a nd th ou g h he wo ul d ulti ma te ly catch Sp ringer, the pass came only after the popular veteran had dropped to nint h. "We sw itched everything all the wa y around," Parker sai d . " We tried some stuff. I don 't thi nk we went backward , Will was just go in g fas ter. He se t th e pace all night. We ju st didn't make advances. There's next week; that 's one thing you never forget . We've got 17 more of these thin gs to go." Springer was happy with hi s 10thsult. place re "Not too bad ," he said . "I saw Kevin go up there, an d I sa id, 'Hec k, I can do that.' Then it went away, and 1 ha d to settle down and fall into line. But it was a good race wher e I w as at. Rich a nd Sco tty we re back there. It was a good tim e," After running as high as th ird , King w as di sappointed to lose positi on and d rop off the pace to eighth. He had lost challenges to the flying Camlin and Cool bet h early on , and then too k anot her cut in pa y wh en Kopp shot by o n the final lap to take th e seventh spot away. "My throttles were ha n g in g up, " King said . "It's pret ty d iscouraging. We were seco nd early on , and to mo ve bac k is pr ett y d isgusting. We'll just have to work on it and co me ba ck better next week." "Varnes had it in neutral, and he wa s right in front of me - I about hit him ," Kopp sa id of his result. "O the r th an that, it just took us seven laps to get so that p lan did n' t.work. After th at , just wen t bac k to the top an d tr ied II block Camlin." Ca m li n had a r r i ve d by th en . Th. di minutive mile-m aster quietly knock er o ff Morehead for fourth on lap 14 an, th en charged underneath G ra ha m i three and four on lap 18 to score his fir> podiu m finish of the yea r. "I never really tried the top ," Camli sa id . "Tha t line slow ly went away, a ru the guys stayed up th er e. As long as was on the rubber, it was like an as phal race. Th e bike jus t straightened up an pulled off the co rner . I ju st want tl th ank th e good Lord th a t we got thi one in befo re the weather got bad ." Davis ha s no w stre ng the ned h i po ints adva ntage over King in the tit! race to 15 p oin ts . He now leads Kin 100-85. Pa r ke r is s till third, with 75 Atherton's finish allo wed him to p as Springsteen to take fourth plac e by on point, 62-61. The Total Control Racing team ha control of the series for now. How Ion