Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. (Opposite page) Rich King (80) got an edge on the field at the start at the third annual F&S Harley-Davidson Eldora Half Mile in Rossburg. Oh io. Kevin Atherton . (23) grabbed the lead soon after. (left below) Will Davis scored his second win in as many weeks to lay cla im to the 510,000 first prize. (Right) Frustration: Atherton aga in ran away and led the most laps, bul the always competitive Mich igander cou ldn 't hide from his TeR teammate, who caught . up on lap 21. (Below) The bailie for third wa s the best on the race track. Rich King (80) endured bot h a painful left ankle and the constant challenges from Davey Camlin (27) and Kev in Varnes (89) t o finish third . Cam lin was fourth and Varnes fifth. "I s hou ld have w on ," Varnes said con fidently . "I jus t d idn't get the start tha t I needed . I d on't want to make too muc h of that crash anyhow - this is [us t anothe r track . But we' re back o n track." putting your loo t down, beca use il yo u did, it'd be liab le to slap you upside the back 01 your head and slow you down." Atherton's runner-up spot was again a rather biller pill to swallow lor the 26year-old Michigander, who is hellbent on win ning. Atherton appeared to have th e race in hand, gelling a n excellen t start and qu ickly powering undernea th King off tum lour to take the lead by lap three. But he again suf fered a series 01 miscues, including stepping in one too m an y h ol es in the ro u gh, la st tu rns, w hich partially' hel ped Davis ma ke up lost time. Alter Da vis went by on lap 21, Atherto n made a brief challe nge around th e ou tside all tum lour before losing too much ground . "I just s tarted makin' mistake s and stickin' my foot in the holes," Atherton said . 'The last eigh t or 10 laps we re terrible. Like I sa id be fore, it's easie r to' c harge when you' re in second th an w hen yo u' re lead ing. H e was beating me into one, so I tried to go down there to sec what was up. It wa s all I could do to s tay on the mot orcycle." A the r to n fi n is h ed se veral lengths ahead of a three-way bailie am on g King, Camlin and Varnes, the trio going at it with intense vigor for the entire main event. Young sters Camlin and Varnes each made severa l attempts to knock King ou t 01 third place, but the crafty 34-year-old Iowan kep t them at bay to claim the final spo t on the victory rostrum, and thu s apparently halt his skid away from the series points leaders. But it ma y have come at an expense, as "Mr. Con sistency" jammed his loot in a hole in th e middle s tages of th e ra ce a nd damaged his left ankle. "Abo ut the 10th lap, I tried a dillerent line and caught my foot," King said. '1 hope it' s not broken. We were going a lot better than w e s ho wed. We were third, but it was a distant third. I think that we could have ru n a lot better." Of Camlin and Varnes, it was the former who was being the most agg ressive. Apparently no longer satisfied with being stereotyped as solely a rniler, Camlin was a threat all evening on the high-velocity half mile - and he was even picked as a fav orite to win by some ins ide rs. Third 011 the line, the scrappy 27-year-old from Rock Island, Illi noi s, yielded just one po sition during the main event, fallin g victim to the Davis ons laught. Alter that, Cam lin pecked at King lor the rest of the show, once again pulling dose at the finish and taking a shot at him, on ly to come a wheel length short at the finish lor the second week in a row. "Fourth again," Camlin said. "Bu t I feel strong. Th is whole team is strong. Pat (Moroney) has a lot 01 input an d Skip . (Eaken) is the best. I'm comfortable with these guys. They know their crap . I'm the luckies t man on ea rth very fortuna te. All those years that my dad and I struggled a long. and then so mebody finall y believed in me. The good Lord has blessed me with a lot 01 great people." Varn es, too, was di splaced only by Davis en rou te to a season-bes t-ma tching fifth -pl ace result, but th e main eve nt proved to be red empti on for the bo necru nching crash that the Pennsylvania n s ullered at th e faci li ty one yea r ag o, which left him out lor the rest of the season. Varnes was the las t qu alifier 01 the nigh t, but only lourth-Iastest 011 the line when it counted most. Yet he appea red to rid e with confidence through out the 25-lap feature, waiting only for a mistake by either of his immediate combatants to gain a spot. The mistakes never came, and it was the old cocksure Varnes who came to the post-rac interview. e » Delending series champion Scali Parker finis he d a d is tant and lonel y sixt h aboard the factory Harl ey-Davidso n, while USC Rac ing / Z Ga lleries' Ricky Gra ham roll ed hom e an equally lonely seventh. 1-800-FAST HOG 's Mike Hacker to pped a three-way battl e wi th Coziah r H - D' s Paul Mo rga n III a nd Ga rdner Racing / Wa lters Bros. H- D's Da n Butler for eighth; Mo rgan w a s nin th and Butler 10th . Ken ny Coolbcth was 11th aboard the Harley-Davi dson of Misso u ri /Burks Motors ports XR, with Adkins Racing's Geo Roeder 11 and Bartels' Harl ey-David son 's Jay Springsteen 12th and 13 th, respectively. Harley Davidson 01 Sacramento's Joe Kopp ran an oil-pace 14th ahead 01 White' s H-D's Mike Varnes. Marine Transport rooki e Bryan Bigelow, Team' Undo /Donahue H·D' s Brell Landes and F&S/KK Motorcycle Supply's Steve Morehead rounded out the IS-rid er field. . Da vis' win allowed him to extend his p oints lead ove r the seco n d -p la ce d Parker . He now lead s the cha mp by 30, 196-166. Atherton also picked up points on Par ker and now sits third with 151. King is fourt h with 141, and Camlin has ca ug h t Sp ringer in th e s tand ings, th e d uo tied at 104. HEATS Camlin got th e h ol eshot in the Acc el -spons o red fir st heat, wit h Varn e s , Gardn e r Ra cing temp Dan Stanley, Mike Varn es and DeMay Racing / American Asphalt and Grading's Scott Stump giving im mediate chase. Ca mli n a nd Varn es pull ed d ear of the pack and waged war on the ir own lor the heat wi n, wit h Varnes taking severa l s ho ts at Cam lin on th e ou ts ide as they went down the st ra ights, only to have to dr o p back in the cor ne rs . It too k the Pennsylvanian ni ne of 10 laps, but he finally got Camlin se t up on the final ru n down the back straight, beat him into the third tum an d then went on to ta ke the win, lollo wed by Camlin a nd Mike Varnes. "I almost ra n him over a coup le of times ," Kevin Varnes sai d 01 Ca mlin. "I had him, but every time I'd try to get besi de him in the tu rns, he' d drift up. But on the last lap I ha d him by the mid d le 01 the comer, so he couldn' t d o that. Last yea r this place marked the end of my racing season . This year it's going to be the beginning."

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