Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Lelt) Davis finished third to retain the series points lead. Lima marked his fourth pod ium appe arance in seven races. (Below) Geo Roeder Ills enjoying the best Grand National campaign of his career. Roede r passed more riders than anyone on the track and was rewarded with a fourth-place finish. (Below lelt) Always In the hunt: Ricky Graham backed up his fourth place fi nish at the Sedal ia Hall Mile with a filth a1 Lima. The forme r three-time champ ion was cons istently fas t ail night. "The promoter gave me $100 to miss that start - you believe that , don't you?" Davi s joked . "I just missed a gear. I hope that we d idn 't hurt anything wh en we did that. " Parker finished the heat races off by leading every lap of heat four. The champion was challenged briefly by Butler, who even m anaged to gain control for an instant by diving under Parker to take the lead in twn three on lap three, but Parker was back around off twn four, and he was not headed again. Butler was second, with Graham third some distance behind the pair. "It's time to gel rollin'," Parker said. "We' re working on it. I know wh ere I'm losing my time . I'm getting a push going in, and I'm having to wait to get on the gas comin' out while they're already on the gas. We get that fixed and we'll be dialed in." SEMIS Hacker led all eight laps of the first sem i, fini shing almost a full straightaway ah ead of Beattie as the two transferred into the main event. "The bike has been work in g grea t a ll d ay,'"Hacker sai d . "I jus t had to figur e it out and learn how to ride it. Finally I figu red it out. This race track is beau tiful. Th is is no t my specialty ty pe of track, but this is the best one I've ever been on." Former amateur rivals Schn abe l and Bigelow battled ba ck and forth in semi number two, with the roo kie Bigelow getting the better of his "mo re vetera n" nemesis to gain entry into the firs t Gra nd a tional final of his career. Iron icall y, Schnabel d id the sa m e thin g just o ne yea r ago. "T h is is about the g rea tes t thing in the w orld," an excited Bigelo w said. "I d idn ' t do well in my heat ra ce, a nd I knew tha t j .R, (Schna bel) a nd those guys would be tough in this one. But to make it into a Nati onal in only my second try is about the grea test feeling." King led Bret Beyer and a struggling Kevin Varnes early in semi three. Both King and Beyer left Varnes behind and collected the last two passes to the main event as Kin g took the win and Beyer finished second . "We've been kind of stru ggling all night long, and I've been sick the IMt few d ays," King said. "We' re just kind of hangin ' on. Hopefully we'll be bett er for the main event." GRAND NATIONAL 16 Morehead got one of his trad em ark good sta rts off the line as the 18 bravest riders of the night set off to cha lle nge the heavy-duty racing surface - which was regroomed just for the fina l· and the "Findlay Flyer" di d just that, bolting around the high side to pull out to a 10leng th lead over Park er, w ho had ano ther 10 lengths on Kopp, Butl er , Camlin. Evans, and the TCR duo by lap five. Strangely, the ea rly racing was a bi t of a pa rade, wi th the riders bein g ra ther ten tative in their pa ssi ng a ttem p ts . It was only la te r th at all pointed to the seve rity of the roost as a limiting factor in their agg ression. The only riders really facing it were Will Da vis , who qui ckly go t by Atherton and the n shot under Evans in tum one on lap six; and Roeder, who worked ar ound the outside of Kin g, Doug Davi s and Springsteen to move to 11tho Ather ton continued to stru ggle, dropping to eighth. 'The roo st hurt like hell," Ath erton sai d . " It was gravel. It was so ha rd to pass. You coul d only go fast if nobody was in front of you." Atherton would wind up 10th at the finish . Beattie - normally a cus hion specialist . was having his own problems wi th the roo st as he sat back in 11th d uri ng the ear ly pa rt of the race. . "One time, I saw this bo ulder coming at me - I saw it coming the wh ole way: Beattie said. " It hit me in the chest a nd I kept going. Afte r a while, I felt so methi ng bo uncing around betw e en m y legs, and I looked down, and I was carryi ng the thing . It wa s about the siz e of a baseball." Up front , Pa rk er w as beginning to take a big bite ou t of Morehead 's lead as the ve te ran appeared to sl ow down around lap nin e. Soon, tellt ale puffs of smoke faint at first, then very hea vy w hen Morehead would enter turns one a n d tw o - s ig naled tro uble . Pa rk er moved in for the kill. In the meantime, C arnlin was running a pretty stout fifth but was com ing und er heavy fire from Will Davi s, and the Illinois rid er fin all y yielded to th e low-rid ing North Carolinian on lap 10. Two laps later, a miscue in turns one a nd tw o se nt Camlin on his head and brou ght a red flag. Camlin wa s unhurt and rejoined the race at the back of the field. "I jus t pushed the front end and slid ou t," Ca mlin sai d. During the d owntim e, Morehead ' s team discovered th at th e bik e ha d blown ano ther cam cover gasket, and th at he was th ro ug h for the eve n ing, which meant tha t Parker would be the first ma n in the sing le-file restart to take the green light for the 13-lap sprint to the finish. "I u sed Steve's lin e to reel him in, and 1 saw him sta rt Oiling," Park er said. 'Then I had to be car eful to start saving my tearoffs, because as I got closer, the stu ff was in the air . I knew the thing was go nn a blow up eventually. They d on ' t lea k that mu ch oil and keep running." Once the race resumed, Parker w as qui ckly out of reach. The best races on the track were between Will Davis and Kopp for second p lace, a nd Ca nadian rivals Evans and Beattie for seventh. In «

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