Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Round 9: Du Quoin State Fairgrounds third behind Evans and White's HarleyDavidson's Varnes. Bigelow was a close third, while Josh Butler, making his 750cc debut, knocked his Coziahr Harley-Davidson teammate Morgan ou t of the challenge. GRAND NATIONAL The IS- ride r field stormed into turn one with Pa rker lea ding Davis, Morehead an d Graham. Davis led the first lap before slipping off the lead er' s pace and into his race wit h King and Camlin . A therton's exciting cha rge was un derway and, at the sa me time, he was possibly sealing his fate. "The tire blistered," Atherton said . "I lost the tire on probably the third la p, because they blister when they're cold . I go t a bad s ta rt and I had to mak e.up time. I had to stay up top. Every time I tr ied to sq u a re it off a n d ge t on the groo ve, I co uld tell it was blistered. It would just spin." After Graham and Park er broke ou t of the pack, they quickly ra n Atherton down, bu t could not p ut him away as Atherton's high line continued to work. (Above) The dynamic duo rides again: For Parker's 78th win, and tuner Bill Werner's 114th (I),the mechanic chauffered the rider on the v ictory lap. (Right) Graham (left), Parker - with daughter Ashley (center) - and Atherton (right) celebrate t he hottest race of the year . both on and off the track. Steve Beattie won the Wheels Through TImeIB iII Huddleston Memoria l Dash for Cas h for th e fast est non -q ualifiers at Du Quoin. 18 "Whe ne ve r I crossed the groov e, it wo uld skate all over the place," Atherto n said . "I jus t had to run up top . It was the only choice I had . It was just one of those dea ls. Early on, I would roll the throttle off in the corne r and try to two-wheel it a little more, but once they caugh t up with me, I had to just s tart running it in. I never shut the thin g off the last eigh t to 10 laps . I wa s try ing to break the throttle cab les the last thr ee laps. That was the on ly choice I had , because the tire was pretty much go ne . I ha d to stay in the fuzz to get any kind of tractio n. I tried to run up there and square it off and get on the g roove, but every tim e I did , it would just sp in. When Scotty would do that , he wouldn't spin." In the waning laps , the leaders were closing on lapped traffic. With the lead trio usi ng all of the track, someone was goin~ to be frustrated. "On the last lap, I saw Evans lean ing way out ove r the rail on the outside, trying to get out of the way," Park er said . "I th ou gh t, 'Ma n this is going to ma ke Kevin have to change his line a little bit: He had been runn ing hig h the w ho le tim e." Atherton was disappointed his fine ride had not netted the w in, but the Total Control Racing /Benson Ford team continued to flex its muscles. Graham also seemed a little puzzled bv his performance as his plan didn't come together at the end eit her. '1 was shutting off early, totally just cruising," G ra ham said. " I was just afraid to take off wit h five to go, bu t now, looking back , I was so easy on the tire. I ca n't say it's a lack of seat time, but normally on a mile w he n it's five laps to go, I tak e off . I d on 't mea n I'd run away, but a t lea st we would be d raftin g. Th is time I jus t s tayed back a nd tri ed to pl an it out. It ju st d idn't w ork. I don't know that it would have turned ou t an y d iffer en t, bu t ( know I did something that I don't normally do. I felt totall y comfortable; we' ve go t a lot more miles left this year:' Davis' fourth place has to considered a success, con sid ering some of his past mile results. "I'm happy - a fourth pla ce on a mile and we sa t on the pole," Davis said. "I kn ow w e've g ot a good motorcycle; we'll just work from ther e. We'll go to In dy and Sp ri n gfield , ge t o n some groove tracks and see if we can win one of thes e miles. J wish I could have been up with those gu ys the last few laps, but I' m happy w ith fou rt h. As long as we s tay a way from th ose 10th, 12th, 13t h finishes and stay up in the fro nt pack, we'll be all right:' As good as the race was for the lead , the ba ttl e ove r fo ur th w a s ju s t as int en se . Kin g, Camlin and Davis were locked tigh t as Ca mlin oiled down the other two. "Camlin started to blow up and oiled everything down, but I th ink those guys we re go ne anyway," Davis said . "That mad e the midd le pa rt of the race inter esting, chasi ng h im aroun d wit h his back tire glowing from the oil on it: ' "I couldn't believe it; J looked behind and seventh place was way back," Camlin said . "I thought, 'Man, maybe I can just keep it going: but fina lly it qu it: ' Butler steadi ly worked his wa y up to sixth after racin g with Kevin Varnes for seve ral laps. Kevin Varnes dropped out wi th mechanical problems wit h just two laps to go. "I don' t know; it started .slowlng up ab out th e se ven th lap," Kevin Va rn es said . "I w as han ging righ t wi th those guys in that pa ck. I go t by Danny, then h e go t me b ack a n d the bike s ta r te d po ppi ng. On e lap , it rea lly slowed down and I pulled to the in sid e of th e back straight, then it took off again. It sounded like. it was popping through the carbure tor and I just shut it off. That was a brand-new mo tor, too. When Dan ny got away from me, I looked back and there wasn ' t anybo dy there. "I thou ght, 'Man where is every body?' Th en Schnab el and Springer got by. I look ed back again and the re still wasn't anybody, but I just couldn't keep it go ing to the end." The race for seve nth between Springsteen and Schnabel was sp irited, as the veteran took the measure of the 1996 Rookie of the Year. "I think everything wen t really well ," Springer said. "The first time on a mile th is year, first time for me on the new bike on the mile. We had a few problems , but we got them figu red out. It's just so d ifferent se tting up the monoshock. You just twist knobs, and was th at better or w or se ? Eve ry time we wen t o u t, it seemed to ge t bet ter a nd better . Sch nab el and I w ent back an d forth the whole race, and I was able to get him at the end : ' "It' s coo ki n' ," Schn abel sai d. " I' m

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