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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127848
have bee n a cras h in th e sem i be fore
ou rs, we ne ver would have bee n read v.
With th e new shock it was lik e a new
motorcycle."
St eve Be at ti e wheeled h is Deeley
Ha r ley-David son XR75 0 a r ound J.R.
Schnabe l and took a so lid seco nd .
Ceo Roeder II led the third semi off,
wi th Jo e Ko p p , Dan Sta nley, C h ri s
Eva ns , Mike Hacker an d Johnny Murphree in a tight battle o ver second .
Evans moved up and took th e lea d on
lap four as Roeder and Kopp d u e led
over the last transfer. The A merican
Harley-Davidso n lnc.-sponsored Evans
se pa ra ted himself as Kopp sli p ped by
Roed er. On the last lap, Roed er took a
last d esperate run at the H arl ey-Da vid son o f Sa cramento-sponsored Kopp .
Roed er almost high-sided in tum four ,
and had to settle for third.
MARSHALL DISTRIBUTING GOOCC
INVITATIONAL
The 12 high-po int rid ers from I-96's
regu lar 600ec class were invited to pa rticipat e in the Marshall Distributing
Invitational.
Dou g O'Boy le led Bryan Bigelow for
a lap befor e Bigelow took over and started to pull away. Engine fail u re ended
Bigelow's race an d turned the lead over
to DRD Steel Sh oes / St auffer Mo torsspo nso red Jaso n Sentell.
Sen tell pulled to a big lead over L.J.
Schaidt, who had to wi ths tand the latera ce charge o f Greg Sims for second .
Doug O'Bo yle held on to fo u r th over
Pro-Am rider Chris Huss,
GRAND NATIONAL
Will Da vi s led the Grand Na tional
field out to pick their starting posi tions.
Da vis touk th e n umber-fi ve from th e
inside slot. Parker looked to Davis' left,
while Sprin gsteen m oved high to th e
to p o f the tra ck . Bu tler, At herton an d
Morehead lined up inside of Par ker.
Row two held Pauley, Varnes, Da rling, Cool beth, Bigelow and G raham.
The la s t row w a s m ad e up of King,
Ca m li n, Kop p , Bea tti e, Morg a n a nd
Evans.
Morehead, Davis and Butler led the
I S-r ider pack as it fil ed in to the fir s t
tum. Atherton used one of his great outs id e blas ts to lead t he fi rs t la p . H e
wou ld also lead the next 24.
Butler held seco nd at the end of lap
one, but it was short-lived .
"I got p retty close with Kevin on the
firs t lap, and I go t kind of up high, and
it let a lot of gu ys get und er m e," Butler
said. "I had a little tro ubl e getting my
mi nd ba ck to gether. O nce I did ge t it
back, we d id all righ t, but we just were
not ge tting as much tracti o n as we needed to."
•
Spri ngst een took over second for o ne
lap before he, too, s lid back i nt o th e
pack.
"I got a good s ta rt a nd was go ing
fas t; those guys we re jus t going faster,"
Sp rings teen said. "I was going as fast as
I cou ld go ."
That q uickly, Da vis wa s up to sec,
ond.
"We jus t d idn't ge t a s tar t." Davis
said . "I knew the first part of the ra ce, it
would be Kevin 's kind of tra ck. I go t o ff
the line in about sixth place. I tried to go
so meplace d own on the bo tto m . It was
to u g h . I d idn't kn ow if I co ul d cu t
thro ugh them or not . I go t to the bo ttom
before he d id , but I co u ld n' t do a nything. We had a rea lly fas t mot o rcycle
all nig h t. I just d id n't d o my job off the
starling line."
One lap later, Parker too k con tro l of
third, and the top three po sitions were
set . But even t hou gh th e positions
1-96 Speedway
Lake Ode ssa , Mic hi gan
Results: Jul y 5,1997 (Round 80f 23)
(Above)
Seven--time and defending
Grand National Champ ion'Scott Parke r
finished third and now trails Davis by 21
points In the seri es title race.
wou ld not cha ng e, Da vi s did a p p ly
extreme pressure to his teammat e. "We
ran him d own again, but co u ld n' t d o
a ny thin g with him th is time," Davis
said . "I'm g lad for Kev in - a win right
here in hi s back yard , th at ' s g rea t. As
' Iong as we can kee p th at ora nge and ye llow o n th e bo x, b o t h o f u s, I'll be
happy."
"I was try ing to kee p an eye .on him
to see w he re he was making time u p,'
A therto n sa id . " I was watching where
he was en tering the comer and coming
off. I ha d my mind made up he wasn't
go ing to beat me this time. It wa s a good
race track. They finall y put so me moistu re in it. It could hav e ha d more."
Rich King was one rider on the move,
as he came from ninth place on lap one
to fourth by lap seven tee n.
" I knew I was fast in one and two,"
King said . ' 1 was goi ng in just above the
groove, then cutting across th e middle
be low the groove, then bringing it back
across agai n. 1 was just looking for tra ction eve rywhe re."
Moreh ead overcame his p rob lems to
ru n a so lid fifth, w ith ano ther ve tera n,
Springst een , in six th.
"They did n' t put eno ug h water on it
before the National," Moreh ead said . " It
w as s o dry a nd dus ty the fi rs t lap in
th ree and four. It jus t to ok o ff. I ca n' t
believe it. They d id a perfect job on it all
thro ugh the hea ts, then no thing after the
semis an d th at 600 race."
Springsteen was still happy with his
finish an d his chu ice of sta rting spo ts.
"Every bod y else took d own be cau se
it was wet , tacky down there," Sp ring-
stee n said . "Then,
right next to wh ere I was going to
start, it was real s lip pery. I s tarted out
the yea r with a seco nd and a third, then
I d ropped to a 10th, ninth, l Oth, 11th but now we're goi ng the o the r way."
Coolbe th and Kopp ran steadily in
the top 10.
"T he tra ck cha nged," Coolbeth sai d .
" In the beg inning, it was real we t u p
top, but then it just chu nked up. I tried
to find a line. I tried a cou p le, down low ,
up high ; I end ed up d own low and just
put my head d own. We changed bik es
toni ght; 1 rode my mi le bik e for the first
time. It really ran great. We broke it in
for next week. "
"I got a reall y good start and picked
u p a few po sitions, but it was a struggle
all night: Kopp said . "I started catching
Coolbe th at a bout ha lfw ay through. 1
sc a re d m yse lf a co u p le of ti m es; 1
could n' t go forwa rd . I tried u p top bu t
tha t didn' t work. I just could n' t rid e up
there."
Butler dropped to ninth after his fast
start.
"The track changed a w hole bu nc h
fro m what it was in the hea t ra ce: Butler said . "There ha d bee n a lot of riding
on it sin ce I rod e o n it. Th ree and four
got rutted up pretty go od, a nd then it
go t dry a nd dusty. It ju st did n't seem
like 1 could ge t a hold of the track like I
was before wh en we were rid ing o n th e
g roo ve. The bi ke wo rked rea ll y w ell
there . All in all, it was p retty g ood . 1
went o u t of here la s t year horizon tal,
and this year I'm vertical with a top-10
fi n is h a n d a boost in the points. I'm
pumped.'
Ca mlin ro u nd ed out the top 10, over
Pau ley, Morg an, Gr aham, Bigelow and
Eva ns . Da rling a nd Bea ttie finished a
la p d o wn, w hil e Varnes drop p ed out
aft er IS la ps.
"It was a nat tir e, bu t th e bike was
ru nning ~ l u w er and s lo wer as the race
went o n anyway, " Varnes said . "I d on 't
r"
kno w w hat wa s wrong."
Brieflv...
Kevin Atherton was able to make his sho rt drive home $42 10 richer .
Davis' share stood at $3125. white Par1