Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIDNSHIP SERIES Round 8: 1-96 Speedway (Left) Kevin Atherton powered to his second Grand National win of th e year -96 in fr ont of a home-state crowd at 1 Speed way In Lake Odes sa, Michigan. (Above) Atherton's TCR tea mmate Will Dav is ext end ed hi s pod ium appeara nce streak to f our wit h a seco nd-p lace finis h. By Da ve Hoenig Ph otos by Flat Tra k Fotos LAKE ODESSA, MI,JULY 5 e Benson Ford jr./Total Control Racing ' Team juggernaut continued to roll on in the 1997 American Motorcycli st Association' s G ra nd National Champion ship Series. ~ Th is week , it was Kevi n At h erton 's tu rn o n the to p step as he became the first Michigan rider to win the Michigan ra ce in its five-year hi s tory. The 1-96 Speedway was in the best shape ever, as beau tiful weather graced the area. Atherton, now in his 10th year, led every lap en rou te to his second win of the season and the 10th of his career. If. not for Atherton's teammate, Will Davis, the re m ay ha ve been little suspen se: Mu ch like tw o weeks ago at the Sedalia, Missouri, Half Mile, Atherton built a large lead, only to have Davis reel him in during the d osing stages of the race. Th e 26-year-Old At he r to n, fro m ju s t down the road in White Pigeo n, Michi gan, was not to be d enied th is time, however . "About halfway , the track sta rted to go away, but I was kee pi ng an eye on Will ," Atherton sai d . "I kn ew he wa s gaining, hut I did n't wan t to give up on my line ." Davis had the ad vantage of the pursue r, with his prey in front of him . "I fou nd <1 line on the bottom; it came in for me and w hen I caugh t him , I just kind of relaxed and thought, 'Don't do anything d umb: " Davis sa id . "Hang in th ere and tak e it whe n it comes ralher than try and get crazy. I showed him 'a . wheel once and got up under there. He saw it and dropped down and got my line. It wasn't very wid e - there wa s no wa y to stuff it in there. So I went and tried his line the last two laps, but it wa s just d ust up there." . Atherton' s tenacity paid off, as he . was able to hold off the dosin g Da vis. "I saw h e was cil tchi ng me, so I dropped down - not to the bottom, bu t maybe halfw ay: ' Atherton said. "I got a t-, couple of bike len gths on him again, but 0\ th en tha t part of the tra ck s ta r ted to 0\ ,..... w ear o u t. It s ta rted to get a bunch of ~ m a rbl e s on it a n d re al d ry . I just ,..... dropped down to the bottom with abou t e-, five to go. Whe n he caug ht me th e last tim e, I said 'I' m not going to beat him if I don 't drop to the bottom. ?' The TCR-hacked team locked into the to p two s te ps on th e vic tory pod iu m. ~ a ~ -- "3 14 C o m in g home a lonel y thi rd w as d efen ding G rand Na tio na l Champion Scott Parker. "They we re go ne, and I could n' t find a pl ace to go:' the Harley-Da vids on factory-backed Parker said . "I tried Kevin 's lin e and tha t didn't work, s o , tri ed Wili's and that didn' t work either. , just held my own; that's all I d id . w hatever , tried - top line , bo ttom lin e - it didn' t matter; I we nt the same speed. I think' was faster on the bottom than I was on the top , bul l could n' t gai n on them. ju st one of those days, , gu ess." C o r b in Raci n g /R&R ' s Ri ch Kin g made the big step from the third row to fourth at the end of the night. '" think that was a lon g row to hoe: ' King said . '" had a good line down low in one and two , and' made up a lot of time there. In three and four, , just trie d to pick my wa y through the holes and stay smoo th." Steve Morehead rounded ou t the top five with a solid rid e aboard h is F&S Harley-Davidson backed XR-750. . "It wa s a good race; it was a battl e," th e 42-year-old Mo rehead said. '" had th e oil cap co me off, and it o ile d my bra ke down pr etty good. , wa s having to really feel my way around." HEATS Fast qualifier Dan Butler shot fro m the pole on his Gard ner Racing /Walters Bro thers Ha rley-Dav id son a nd w as never head ed in the first heat. A th reeway battle over second between Lonnie Pauley, Kevin Varnes and Mike Hacker allowed th em to ca tc h Butler o n lap four , but the Michigan na tive turned up the wick and pulled away. "They p ut wa ter on, and it' s liquid traction," Butler said . '" just we nt to the top . , knew it would be goo d for a couple of laps, anyway. , tried some dif fere n t li n es and b ra kin g s po ts fo r the National. , love this place." As Bu tle r pulled away, a tru e war over the last tw o di rect tra nsfers wa s being waged . Each of the three combatants took turns in second, o n va rio us parts o f th e oval. In the en d, it w as Co rbin Racing's Pauley in second over USC Racin g / Lancaster Harley-David son' s Varn e s . 1-800 -FASTHOG / Moroney's Ha rley-David son 's Hacker was semi-boun d, The second heat belon ged to crowd favo rit e j" y Springs teen, as he easily wa lked away With. the wi n. "Ea rlier, it was really s lip pery; now tha t they put wa ter on, it' s jus t flat out:' . said the Bartel's Harley-Davidson-sponsored Sp ringer, much to the delight of the near-capa city crowd. Again, there wa s a battle over second th at p ro vided action: joe Kopp, Chris Evans , Paul Morgan and Bryan Bigelow were under th e proverbial blanket as second wa s up for grabs. By the fourth lap, Marshall Distributing /Mar ine T ra nsp o r t-s p onso r ed Bigelow had w ed ged hi s wa y into seco n d pla ce , wh ic h ga i ne d a direct tra nsfer to th e ma in eve n t fo r the 16-year-old. Kopp held the last transfer until the last tu rn of the last lap , but left just enoug h room going ' into turn t h re e iot Corbin Racing's Cha nce Darling to slip by and gain hi s fir st berth in a G rand Na tiona l in 1997. Can adia n jon Cornwell led the thi rd heat in to tu r n one, with Pa rker righ t beside him. At the end of lap one, Parker had taken the point over Ricky Graham, Steve Beattie and Brett Land es. Bea ttie moved to second for one la p be fore fa ll ing to th e charge of Ste ve Moreh ead , who had com e fro m th e third row after ch anging m o torcycles just befo re the sta rt of the heat. "We h a ve a clea r o il li n e o n the engine, so we can be su re everything is working: ' Morehead said . "When we s taged fo r m y hea t, w e sa w it wasn' t pumping, so ' sw itched bikes and had to s ta r t from th e thir d row. It saved the engi ne, though." As Morehead took second, Graham also pushed his USC Racing /Z Galleries Honda in to third, and the final order w as set. '" jus t got a good ho le shot and we nt from there," Parker said . "The track is in g rea t s ha pe now. I ju st hope there' s som e left for the National." Th e first three heats had been won by Michi gan rid ers, and At her ton wa s out to make it a sweep. But Atherton' s TCR teammate, Will Davis, wo ul d have none of it as he withstood Atherto n' s ea rly challen ges and took the wi n. "That was a lot of work," Davis said. "I don 't kn ow if , can go 15 more laps (a t the 25-lap Na tio nal). The track is g re a t, a nd if they ke ep wa ter ing and wheel-packing, it's going to be a grea t Na tiona!. The ra ce will be on th e top. There will be moisture on the bottom, bu t you can' t kee p your momentum up down there." After th e tw o lea d ers had sorted themselves ou t, ther e was st ill a threerider shoo tout for the last trans fer spot. King , Dav ey Camli n and Ken ny Coolbeth w er e all in the hun t. King faded from the picture wit h w hat was later diagnosed as a shock failure . Camlin a nd Coo lbeth d ueled down to the wi re, with Cool beth divi ng under Ca m lin in tu rn two of th e las t la p and out-d raggi ng Ca m lin in to turn three . Coolbeth had the Har ley-David so n of M isso uri / Da ve Burks Moto rspor ts Harley in the Na tional, whi le a disgu sted Ca mlin pulled off w ith a flat tire. SEMIS Camlin bare ly ha d time to wo rry a bo u t h is hea t-race misfor tune, a s he wa s rig ht back in the first semi. Brett La nd es led the pack in to tu rn on e, only to slip to second behin d Camlin at th e line. However, it was all for na ug ht 'IS Dale jenneman slid off the top of the track in tum th ree. [enn ernan was apparently trapped und er his motorcycle, a nd the red flag came out. Af ter a short delay, jennem an rejoined the field for a complete res tart. Landes repea ted his bolesh ot. This time, jason Fle tcher and Ca m lin were right behind . Ca mli n g rabbed sec o nd, while Fletcher coasted off the track on e lap later. Whe n Fletcher had his problem, illet the two lead ers draw away. Land es and Ca mli n a ppeared to be set to go on to the main , bu t Paul Morga n had ot her ideas. With two laps left, Morgan forced Camlin to make a move on Landes. On lap seven, Camlin slid his 1-800FASTHOG /Moro ney' s Harley -Davi d son und er Landes in tum three, but Landes quic kly retalia ted . On th e last la p, Landes dove d own to cover the bottom but lost h is d r i ve, a n d Cam lin rode a ro u nd on the o uts ide. Morga n a lso blasted h is Cozia hr H ar ley-D a vid son mount by and into the mai n. '" tried to go under Brett and block him the lap befo re - , guess he th ou ght I was going back there again. He we n t to the bottom and s lo w ed way down," Ca mlin said . The second semi belon ged to King . The red flag in semi one had an effect on se m i tw o, as it affo rded King' s Corbin te a m th e time t hey ne ed ed to m a ke repa irs. "We had a bad s hock in the hea t race, and go t it cha nged just befo re the se m i," Kin g sa id . " If th e re w o u ld n' t

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