Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

go bbled up eigh t bike len gt hs between hi m self a nd the leader. G ra ham took one las t shot at him on turns on e and two before rela xing and taking th e seco nd spo t. The smile on his face made it evident that the 39-yea'r-old Californian was clearly satisfied wi th his ru n. "I know that this is going to sound like 'o ld times: but tha t rea lly reminds me of Pomona an d San jose of '93, when I wasn' t qu ite 100 percent, bu t I was almost there," Graham said . "It's just a ma tter of track time. But it was great to be back in the w inne r's circle w ith my old friend Scotty." Thi rd pl ace wen t to Kopp, perhaps the one rider who could be look ed upo n as a legend in the making - just loo k at th e stats . T he 26-year-o ld fro m M ica, Washington , finished second on the pea gravel at Lima, Ohio; won the Peo ria IT; and then backed it up by rebounding to a gritty third at Moline just three days after su ffering the heartbreak of missing th e Grand National main event at Rapid Ci tv , Hell, he e ven led th e ra ce for a while before Parker and Gr aham go t by. Th e Harley-David son of Sa cr amento r id er a rg ua bly q ua lifies as a "Ma nn's man." knocked Atherton out of a direct transfer pos ition w ith a power pass dow n the ba ck stra igh t. They fin ishe d wi lh Graha m taking th e win ahe ad of Roeder and Morehead. "It was a tou gh decision as to where to sta rt on th e li ne : ' G ra ham sa id . "I started on the inside, and it seemed to work, but I'll tell you wha t - this is wha t w ide-open , s ideways America n d ir t track racing is all about. I want to thank the fans for being so pati ent while they (t he trac k crew) g room the tra ck, beca us e if they d id n' t, then it wou ldn't be as good to ride on." Parker schooled Kop p and the rest of th e hea t- three fie ld on ho w to rid e it WFO as he pulled to a half-str aigh taway lead by the end of th e second lap . By the end of the race, nobody else wo uld even (Above) Threetime champion Ricky Graham made a nice return to form at East Moline. The 39- "I needed that (third) , really," Kopp said . "T ha t' s big time redemption fo r Rapid City . Damn, it feels good. The key was just getting a good start. But it was ro ugh. Sometimes I'd grab a hand ful , and the han d lebars would jus t tr y to pull me off the bike." Kopp finish ed a good dista nce ahead of Total Con tro l Racing's Kevin Athe r ton, who has been stru ggling of late in that he has been making it awfu lly hard o n him self w hen it co mes to being in position to wi n races. just as he did at Peoria, the for mer Harley facto ry rider had to earn a ma in-event berth through the semi, s tart from the rear , an d th en survive the roost of the seve n ride rs w ho got ahead of him off the line . Atherton not on ly survived, bu t thrived , as he once again d rove his TCR-prepped XR through the pack, running down rid ers - incl uding teamma te and se ries points lea d er Will Davis - to la nd the fourt h spot. By th en, Parker and .Graham were just too far out of reach, and Kopp would not be denied. "I w as l u cky to e ven make that main ," Atherton sa id . "We stru ggled all day lon g, and when it came down to it, I just had to rid e the wheels off the thing . The restart helped me, because it got me on the same stra ightawa y as Scott and Ricky. Th en [ just tried to ca tch up to j oe ," Fifth w ent to hometo wn her o and a partner in the promotion of the race, 18 00-FA ST H OG/ Mo r o ney' s H arle yDavidson 's Davey Camlin. Pride on the line and a strong desire to ent ertain the cr o wd that he'd helped to put in th e sea ts motivated th e Rock Is la nd, Illinois, ra ce r to get h ar d o n th e gas a ll night, and he did . Camlin was eight h at th e restart, but he go t an excellen t jump o ff the si ngle- fil e rest art to run sixth before pi cking off USC Lan cast er Racing's Kevin Varn es and rolling on to the fini sh a head of the Pennsyl vanian to . land the fina l podium finish of th e event (See Briefly...). "I'm happy, es p ecially sin ce we 're fi ve minutes fro m my house: ' Ca m lin at sa id . "It's ne to do goo d . I'm ju st glad w e got the thin g in. There w ere so me d elays, a nd so me things w e tri ed tha t d idn 't work. But w e were pressed for time, and that's the way it goes." Series points leader Dav is r an his TCR Harley-Dav id son home seve nth, behind Varnes and ahead of veteran co rps that included F&S Harley-David- a year-ol d Californ ian cam e from fourth to seco nd on the heavy-cushion track, scoring his best finish of the year . (Right) Parker (1) took the lead by pass ing early leader Joe Kopp (43 ) on the outside of turn two before the red flag flew after Geo Roeder II crashed . sori/ Kk/Shepherd rid er Steve Mo rehead, Co rbi n Racing / R&R's Rich King , and Ba rte ls' H arle y-David son / Big Twi n's Jay Springsteen , who rou nded o u t the top 10. Former Rookie of th e Year j.R. Schnabel was 11th aboa rd his Suburban Mo tors Harl ey -David son e n t ry, follow ed b y Mi ke & Ed d ie Adkins Racing /KK Supply's Geo Roeder II , Gardner Racing /Walt ers Bros . HD's Dan Butler /Coziahr Harl ey-Davidso n's Paul Morgan Ill, a nd Ga r d ne r Racin g teamst er Da n Sta nle y. H-D of Missouri /Da ve Burk s Motorsports' Kenny Coolbeth was 16th , Corbin Racing' s Chan ce Darling was 17 th , a n d ESAB Welding / KK / Cyd e Ele ctric's Dou g Da vis was 18th . Parker cut his points deficit on Dav is to 14. He now trails the North Carolinian, 234-220. Atherton broke the 200 mark and still sits third . King has 176 and remains fourth a head of Carnl in, who has 145. Perhaps the bigges t news has come from just outsid e th e top 10: G ra ha m ha s moved to sixth with 129, and he is looking stro ng . HEATS The hea t races were a ha rbinger of thin gs to come, both in term s of Parker' s performa nce and the way that the pr ogram came off. Despite promises by the pr om oters and the AMA that race-tra ck grooming time w ould be kep t to a minimu m, the tractors and the wat er truck app eared to make more la ps th an th e ra cers, causing le ng th y d elays to th e pr ogram . Th e excessive d owntime didn't sit w ell with either the racers or ,/ the fans, man y of the latter heading for th e parking lo t be fore th e 25-lap fin al, which wa sn 't completed until aft er midnigh t. King picked up where he left off in Rapid City by getting a rocke t start and o u tru nn ing a p a ir of top dogs in th e for m of Davis an d Varnes to take th e first-heat win by 10 bike len gt hs . King m ad e it look easy, but., "It wa sn 't easy ," he said . "Fo r tw o laps, it' s a lot of fun , and then the next few laps, it starts getting rou gh . By the last few laps, you ' re just trying to han g on . I'm not a pea- gravel sp ecialist. If I can get a ho les ho t, then I can run with 'em, but if I don 't, then I hate ea ting all that dirt. I was just tryi ng to stay low , and [ figured if they caug ht me, then I' d try to make them eat a little d irt ." Varnes, in second , was certai nly feeding it to Davis, bu t Davis kept coming, and he finally go t a go od dri ve und er th e yo u ng Pennsylvanian off turn four to take th e runner -up spot. Varnes held fas t fo r third an d a quick ticket to th e main. Oh io cus hion-master Roeder ca me ali ve in hea t tw o, takin g the holeshot ahea d of Atherton , Graham and Morehead. Athe rto n appeared to be stru ggling, however, and no t only did he fail to ca tch Roed er , but he lost g rou nd to Graha m, who railed underneath him off turn two on lap thr ee. Athert on tried to re take th e spot, but could no t. Grah am set off after Roeder and on ce again went to the inside, this time in turn three on lap seve n, to take th e lead. In the meantim e , Mor eh e ad ca me forward and be in the same ZIP code. Parker's time of four minutes, 53.683 seconds was good enough for the po le. "The tra ck is fun ," a still-clea n Parker said. "You can move high and low; you can really move a round o n this race track. If they didn' t do all the maintenance , it wou ld ju st be follo w -th e lead er. Ther e's some g reat racing left to put on. If you get a great holeshot, you can keep th e dirt off. Tha t pea g ra ve l tears stuff up." Kop p was able to pull clear of a feud that included him self, Butler , Marine Tran sport' s Bryan Bieg el ow, Dee ley H arley-D avid son ' s Stev e Bea tti e, and Bu tle r . Af ter Ko p p got away, Butler mad e his mo ve throu gh the crow d to land third. 0 1' Springer was the man in the final h eat a s h e go l the h ol es ho t a n d left beh in d a race between Ca rnlin, 1-800FASTHOG / Moroney' s Ha rley-D avid so n 's Mi ke H a ck er , a n d St a n ley . Springer used all his cus hion savvy to pull safe ly away from Cam lin, wh o also built a cushion betw een him self and the still-ragi ng Ha cker / Stanl ey battl e. Stanley final go t th e upper ha nd wi th a good drive off tum two on th e last lap to take third behin d Camlin and winne r Springsteen. "Things hav e been working good all year wit h the Bartels' bikes: ' Sprin gsteen sa id . "I like th ese types of race tracks. This is wha t I g rew up o n, raci ng in Michigan and Ohi o. It's a pleasure racing here. Hop efully, we'll get a good start in the mai n. I've been worki ng out a little, so hop efu lly I'll be able to hang on ."

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