Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127853
DIRT TRACK AM AGRAND N ATIONAL HAMPIONSHIP SERIES C (Above) SCan Parker (1) grabs the holes hot at the restart 01 the Springfield By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Track Folos Arm s Missis sippi Valley Grand National Hall Mile In Easl Moline. illinois. (Left) The seven-time Grand National EAST M OLINE,IL, AUG.9 ,...---,o r me r th ree-tim e Gra n d Natio na l Cha m pion Dick Mann has go ne o n r ecord severa l times to sta te tha t the last tru e measure of a ma n in d irt track racing lies with th e h ea vy eus hion-stvle race tracks. If a rider can excel at one of these, Man n will tell you, then he is in a sepa ra te class amo ng his peers. It takes a special breed of ma n to be ab le to race a 750cc mot orcvcle a t br ea knec k speeds o n a heavy, gri ppy race track w here the roost spitting off of a competi tor's rea r tire is enough to tu m ou t the lig hts - or even worse, tear you clean off your mo torcycle. If that's the case , then it's no wonder that Scott Parker is a se ven- time Gran d National Cha mpion. His performa nce ~ on these all-but-exti nct racing surfaces 0\ . ma kes him a ma n among men: ...... Case in point: The Springfield Anns Mississip pi Va lley Ha lf Mile at Quad C it y Downs. in Eas t Moline, Illinois, round 14 of the AMA Grand National C h a m pio ns hip Series . The h e a vi e r , rotigh er and tou gh er it go t, the better th e 35-yea r -old Mic h iga nd e r fr om Swartz Creek was. He scored a runaway win in his heat race, easily record ing fast time for the pole, and then , whe n the 18- 6 Cham pion went on to score his th ird win of the season an d the 79th win of his career . man final left th e line, Parker powered his Bill Werner -prepared factory HarleyDavids o n to th e 79 th vi cto ry of h is Gra nd N a tio na l career, inc h ing eve r closer to his personal magic number of 82. It wa s Parker's th ird victory of the season. An d he made it look easy, as he go t cleanly off th e sta rting line in seco nd p lace and ran d own ea r ly lead er Joe Kopp before pulling high and wide to flat drive around the Peoria IT winner and then pu ll away, not to be contested again until th e end of the race, when an o ld fr ie nd a nd riva l ca m e ca lli ng en rou te to his own second- place finish. "Lets get it on!" Parker sai d excited ly after th e race. "Th a t' s w hat I gre w up doing. I' ve always bee n good at it. We just rolled good all day and had the bike workin', 1 felt that I had ' em covered if 1 could stay out of the sp ray. That's what I did." And the second-placed rival? Another of the sa me breed and a form er threetime AMA Grand National Champion: USC Racing / Z Galleries' Ricky G raham, w ho wowed ' em all in 1993·when he wo n 12 races in a single season to claim his third title , appears set to win some more as he finally put it all togeth er at East Moline for a solid runner-up finish a mere bike length or tw o behind Parker. The "comeback kid " cam e bac k from a four th- p lace s ta rt abo ard his Johnny Goa d- tu ned Honda and flew by fellow Honda rider Rich King and th en Kopp aft er a restart for Geo Roed er - to move to sec ond. G raha m was then the on ly rid er in the field able to match Parkers torrid pace, and perhaps better it, as he