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"Scotty p ut on a new rear tire, and he
just pulled me arou nd," Graha m said . "I
cou ld n' t draf t him , but we made time
beca use I could n' t get in his way. But he
was sucking me into the turns so fast,
then Rich came in there: '
"It took four or five laps for th e tire
to heat up," Parker said, "b u t then [ got
go ing. It was hookin' up and working.
Then 1 sa w the five-lap sign, and I was
like, 'No way!' 1 was gro wlin '."
.
Further back, Beattie a nd Ca mlin had
found ea ch other and were hotl y contesting si xth and se venth. Kopp had
made up for a bad restart to ad vance
five positi ons and run eight h, ahead of
Coolbeth and Springsteen. There was a
bit more shufflin g before Beattie came
ou t to seven th, where he would stay for
the rest of the race,
"I had a pretty even tfu l race," Beattie
Sol id . "I was racing every body, and I had
to come from 15th to sixth . I got stuffed
into the g ua rdrail on the first corner.
Then o n the restart, Kopp came by, an d
he dipped my handlebars and sp u n my
clutch le ver up behind m y wri st. A t
least he was kind - he looked back to see
if I was still there,"
Hacker wound up sixth.
"It didn't look like anyone was pushing hard wh en I wa s up front," Hacker
said . "The n they sta rted to go just before
the red flag . I d on't kn ow much abo ut
tire wear ye t, but we di d cha nge the tire
at the red flag, and I go t a grea t d rive o n
King and Graha m off th e restart, but I
pulled inside and hit the marbles and a
bunch o f guys go t past me. But everythin g wa s w orking g reat. 1 jus t need
so me more experience."
Parker s hook o ff Graham and was
com ing, althoug h it still d idn't look as
though the champion would catch Camlin and Atherton. But he was dearly the
fastest rider o n th e track, and he was
making up nearly a half-seco nd per lap,
ultim atel y rippin g off an un official
35.45-seco nd lap to Atherton and Camlin's 3633. O n the white-flag lap, Parker
ra n a 35.55, while Atherton and Camlin
remained at 36,19, and as they ran it into
the first turn, Parker was
sm ellin g bl o od . A t th e sa me
tim e, Atherton ' s m otor laid
down, a nd he d ropped off the
pace rapidly, As itlumed out, he
was far e nu ug h a hea d of Graham to remain third a t the finish.
" It just slowed down," a
dearl y bummed Atherton said
afterward.
"I drafted by Kevin down the
back straight. and his motorcyde
looked w eak," Parker s aid.
':W he n I got by him, that d ro p ped me
right int o lin e with Camlin, and I said,
'It's you and me, partner:"
Carnlin was oblivious to the Pa rke r
onslaught.
"Whe n he went past me at the line, I
was lik e, 'Cool, I go t se co nd to Kev...
Hey, that a in' t Kevin!'" Cam lin sa id .
"I've wat ched a lot of races fro m the top
of the truck, and I' ve seen a lot of b
'UYs
come from be hind , But I'v e never seen
th em co m e from 400 leng ths ba ck or
wha tever. I g uess that's why he's won
this thing sev en times."
It was a classic Parker victory, made
all the more classic by the lack of a victory lap. In s tead , Park er turned
a nnoun cer, narrating as Werner and
Pulaski came d own th e front s tra ig h t
with the checkered flag in hand.
"He re's the g uys that really make it
happen for me," Parker to ld the crowd .
"Bill Wern er and Pete Pulaski. They're
th e one s who wo r k o n the bike and
drive the tru ck all over:'
Afterward , Parker s a t back and
reflected on the mom enl.
"H ey , it w as just something different:' Parker said. "I've been around on
those laps a few times before:'
n
ca l-Expo Sta te Fai rg rounds
sacramento, Cal ifornia
Results: September 27, 1997
(Round 20 01 22)
HEAT 1 no l.a~; 11 riden, top 3 transfrr): 1. Scott
Par ker (f-i-O); 2. J()(, Kopp (H-D); 3. Dan Stanley (H -O);
4. [.R Schnabel (H-OI; 5. BryAn BIp:'low (H -O); 6. Paul
Lynch (H-D); 7. Gary Rogcr.i (H ·D); IS. Paul ~o rga n m
(H-D); 9. Billy Martin (H ·D); 10. G reg Tt.iolgue (H ·D);· I 1.
"
Mike Ind t.rb1tzcn (H -D).
-
Brieflv...
The victory by Seott P a rke r at the Sacramento M ile was not
the final n8il in the co ffin for TC R's Will Da·vis. but it was clos e.
Park er now leads Davis by 40 point s. 350 -3 10, with just 46 mor e'·
po ints to be h3d in the final tw o round s of C·rand Nation<:d competition . Parker only need s to ftnish ahead of Davis at"Las V egas to
clinch the champi onship. w hile Dav is must win both rounds and
hope that Parker tails to sco re more than five poi nts in bo th of
them . What are the odds on that?
Even so , Steve Morehead pred ict ed befor e the Sacram ento
race that the Californ ia and Nevada fans would be ·in for so me
good racing at the final rounds of the year. "I think these last few
races w ill be go od: Morehead said. " Lots of peo ple are hoping
to bu mp up a few places in the tOp 10. and there are a lot of guys
ou tside the top 20 trying to ge t in. so We should see some good,
clo se raci ng. Sacra mento 's a neat ptace. the lighting' s real good.
Las Ve gas IS gOIng to be an adventure : and Del Ma r. _ W ell. Del
.
Mar is the bcilCh."
Hane y-David son mechanic Bill Werner took· the opportunity to
run so me more DO T tire tests wh ile at Sacramento. c utting up a
Dunlop 1<591 for Scott Pa,ker to by. - , don't think they're that far
o ff . from the few times that we've te sted them, - W ern er said.
-W e've stlD got to figure out some o f the little things · like what
pressure to run them at - but so far they' ve been pre tty po sitive. "
' W erner indicat ed that although there was no radical tire switc h
forthcoming. the testing was still of significa nt imPortance to the
team . " You can 't have someo ne else do it for you . " Werner said.
-Wi th the AMA talking about allowing DOTs. we Can't let s'ome-qne else run t~m and decide they're the hot thi~ . Otherwise.
you 'r e ju st playing catc h-.up. -
Scott Parker 's dramatic come-from-behind finish , perhaps the t>ggest news was the factthat the race featured a lS-nder
As ide from
main event, d.ue to an /JJIAA sc:ciring .rror..J~R. Schnabel ~ s
.
Ti mr: 6min., ll .ISR...-c
il EAT 2 no Li~ to ri drn,. top 3 tranafed: 1. Kevin
A th t"Tton Uf-D>; 2. Rich King (H on); 3. Ricky Graham
mOIl); 4. Krn n y Coolbrih Jr. {H- D> 5. lonnie Pauley
;
(t l-DI; 6. Ceo Roeder II (H-D>; 7. Pete H.t ~ CH-D); 8.
Brent Armbust er IH ·D>; 9 . Ke vin varnes (H- D); 10.
Jaime Aguilar CH-Dl.
T ime: b nun., 4.2bUSt."C.
H EAT 3 no I.lps: 10 ridrrs.top 3 tnnsfrr): 1. DaY\.")'
C a m li n ( H -D) ; 2 . Te rr y Poovey (H-D); 3. lo hnn y
Murphn'(" (H· D); 1. Cha nce D.u li n~ (H -D); 5. St e ve
Morehead (H· D); 6. Sha u n Ru ssell (H· D); 7. Pa ul
strom (lfon ); 8. Dan Butler (H-D); 9. Jim Sumn~
Berg
(H. O); 10. [a son Fletcher (H-D) .
T imlt: 6 min., 3.~ sec.
HEAT 4 (10 I;lps; 10 riden., lOp 3 tu n,.fer): 1. Mike
H ac ke r (H -D); 2. Jit)' SprinK..t~'\·n nf-D); 3. S tl"ve Beattie
(H-D); 4. 8rett Lmd~~ (H-D); 5. Will D,lVi.. (H-D); 6. Ian
.
s.'8~-d y (H-D); 7. Wi1J i ~' M(' 'oy (fJ-D); 8. Dou g Ika lh l'
C
(H·D); 9. l.ulI I:l Kupp (11-0>; to. Stli"Vl" Mayfield (H-O).
T ime: 6 rnin., .).4]0 IWC
.
SEM I 1 (8 I.lp s; 9 ri ders, top 2 tra nlOfr r): 1. Will
Davis (I I-D ); 2. Lon nie Pauley (H -Dl; 3. Cha nce Dar ling
(H-D); 4, Pau l Ht-rg:\tmm (Honk 5. Paul Lynch CH-D); 6.
Jason Fletc he r (H -D); 7. Doug lkattic (1-1 - 0); 8_ Bren t
AnnbnL'i ler {H -DI; Y.Billy Mart in (H-Dl .
T ime.: 4 min .. 57.oI3 sec.
SEMI 2 (8 I.lps; 10 ridrn, lop 2 u;J,nsfrr): 1. Kenny
Coolbcth Jr. (H -DJ; 2. St~...e Morehead (H·D); 3. Bryan
·
Bigd ow (H-Dl; 4. Dan BUlb (H-D); S. Paul Morg an In
(H-D); 6. Pt'1e H.llTK'S (H·D); 7. Mike Ind~"I"tti tzin (H-D) ;
8. Lonny Kopp (H.O); 9. un St.,;edy (H -D); 10. Jaime
AguiLar IIi- D).
Timr. 4 min. , 55.311 ~"C.
,
S[MJ 3 (8 bps; 10 riden,. top 2 tr.londrrr. 1. Brett
LmJn (H-D); 2. CA.'u Rot-..ltor n (H.D); 3. J.R. Schnabel
.
(H-D) ; 4. Jim SuJnnt.,. (H-D); 5. Kevin VarT!t'S (H-D); 6.
G reg Tea gut" (1-1-0) ; 7. GAry Roger-s (H -D); 8_ Steve
M.lyfirlJ (H- O ); Q. ShAun Ru ..~11 (l1.0); 10_ Will i""
.
Mt. 'Co (11-0).
" y
Timr: ~ m in.• S7.i70'W"C.
BEER NUTS CIIALL (5 1.Ip1J 6 ri dersj: 1. De vey
;
Clmlin (11-0); 2. Mile Hacker (H-Dl; 3. Joe Kopp (H-D);
~ . Jdy Sprin~ IH-UI; 5. Johnny Murphn"e'