Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES By Scott Roussea u Photos by Flat Trak Foto UMA, OH,JUNE 28 o u can call Chris Carr the Prince o f Peoria, Ricky Graham Mr. Springfield . Sco tt Parker is the Lord 01 Lima. There is perhaps no more appropriate way to d escribe th e su ccess of th e seven-time and delendi ng AMA Grand National Champion at the pea-gravel track on the Allen County Fairgrounds, which is consid ered by man y to be the last "true rider's" track on the circuit. In the eve n t's 14-year hist ory, Parker has won the event seven times, and during thi s yea r's s to p -> ro und se ve n on the AMA 's top dirt track tour - the 35-yea rold Michigander's perlorma nce aboard his Bill We rner-tuned fac tory Harley- y 14 Davidson was as convincing as ever. Unlike previous races , ho w e ve r. there was a bit of luck involved - more 01 it bad for local favorite Steve Morehead than good for Parker, who actually inherited the lead from Mo rehead during a red flag lor 1-800-FASTHOG / Moroney's Davey Camlin at the halfway mark. After leading the race to that point, Mo re head's F&S Ha rley-Davidson suffere d gasket woes, and th e 41year-old veteran could not make the restart. allowing Parker to take residence at the fro nt of the single-file lineup . Fro m there, Par ker s i m p ly p u t together a fas t lin e on the beautifull y groomed racin g su rface, running lai rly hi gh in turns one a nd two a nd high again into three before dropping to the curb as he came off tu m four and sped down th e fro nt straight. By th e end of th e 13-la p "das h," th e cha m pion had stra pped a several-bi ke-length adva ntage on second- and third-pla ced riders Joe Kopp and Will Davis to claim career Grand Na tio na l win number 77 a nd Lim a win number se ven at round se ven... That's a lot of sevens. "I ain't ready to 'make a move' yet,~' Parker sa id, with regard to the champions hip stand ings . "It's just nice to break th e ice a nd ge t rol li n ' . Now w e can mo ve o n fro m he re . But as fa r as a char ge from here; I don 't have to ban zai. I go t all yea r. We ain' t live races Iro m the end. At th is po int in the season, you jus t build . You don' t want to do something s tupi d where you ha ve to bust yo ur bu tt all yea r to get it all back." Parker's competition was definitely busting its collective butt in an attempt to catch him at Lima, and the rider who came the closest was perhaps the rider who needed to do it the mos t at this point in the year - Joe Kopp. In his second year with the Harley-Davidson of Sacramento team, the Mica, Washington, rider had not yet been enjoying the same success in 1997 as he had in his fi rst season a board Mike Shattuck's Kenny Tolbert-built XRs. But the tenacious Ko p p may have turned it all around with his gritty runner-up finish at Lima . He was strong all evening, fin ishing third in th e fas test hea t race of the night for a direct transfer to the main event, and then getting an excellent start ACounty Fairgrounds off the inside of ro w two to run third down the bac k straight at the start of the 25-lap mai n event. Kopp sim ply chased the cushion to hold steady in tha t po sition and, like Parker, was automatically bumped up a spot after Morehead's exit. In th e final 13 lap s, Kopp gamely fou ght off aggressive challenges by the ad vancing Dav is to reta in second place and thu s m atch h is caree r -be s t G ra nd Na tional finish, "I was n' t goi ng to settle for th ir d tonight, no way," Kopp said. "I ha ven't bee n able to run up fro nt all year, but I think this will help us turn it around. It sure boos ts us up in th e points. Kenny (Tolbert) just told me to run it into the turns wide open. That's easier said than done, but I just needed to ge t some mo re confi de nce. This finish gives me that." Thi rd place fo r To tal Con trol Racing's Davis marked the third time that the 32-year-old No rth Carolinian has been on the podium in the past three weeks, though he may have worked harder to finish on th e bottom spot of the box than he did to finish on top of it at Terre Haute, Indiana. and Sedalia , Missouri. Davis was one of the few riders doing a lot of passing o n the race track - not because the race track wouldn' t permi t it , b u t beca use th e ungodly roost spraying from the rea r wheels of his competitors' mot orcycles wo uld n' t. Yet Davis some ho w managed to start making his way tow ard the fron t afte r an eighth-place start to run fou rth by th e time th e red flag ca me o ut. On th e restart , he p as sed Ga r d ne r Ra cing/ Wai ters Brothers Harley-Davidson rider Dan Butler to slide into third and start a se ries 01 attacks on Kopp. Davi s tried and tried, but in the end he could not make his way past the Washingt on rider. "To pass someone, you had to cross their line, and the ir spray wo uld almo st knock you olf your mo to rcycle," Davis said . "Bu t this is our fourth pod ium finish of the year, and I' m pretty pum ped up. Those gu ys were going fast. The motorcycl e wa s g rea t aga in. It turned, ran and hooked up better than I wanted it to . (TC R team o w ner) Benson Ford was here ton ight and ·I sure wanted to win it for him, but besides. the spo nso rs I w anted to do thi s for th e w om en on our team who work so hard . Thi s whol e crew liv es at Mary Cummings' hou se during the week." Finishing fou rth, and showi ng the punishing effect tha t the race track roost could ha ve o n the riders , was Ad ki ns Racing 's Geo Roeder II. The Ohio cushion specialist, far an d away enjoyi ng his bes t Gra nd National season ye t thanks to his new ride on Mike a nd Ed die Adkins' Harley-Da vid so n XRs, passed m or e riders tha n anyone o n the track. Roed er came from way down in 14th to wo rk his way to se venth by the red flag a nd th en six th on th e res ta rt. He th en b lew b y Ke v in A the rto n a nd C h ris Evans to take the fourth spot lor th e res t of the way. His tremendous effort to get to the front exacted a heavy toll, however, as Roeder slum ped in his lawn chair

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