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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127860
DIRT TRACK AMA G RAND N N ATIO AL IP C AMPIONSH SERIES H Round 20: Cal-Expo State Fairgrounds (Left) Sco tt Parker stood alone atop the victory podium during h is victory lap after he won the 12th Sac ramento Mile 01 his career. It was als o Parker's 83rd career Gr and National win. (Below) HarleyDavidson f act ory mechanic B ill Werner and team ass istant Pete Pulaski circu lated the track w ith the w inning bike and checkered I lag afte r Park er co llected his seventh victory of the year . By Scott Rousseau .. Pho tos by Flat Trak Fotos SACRAMENTO, CA, SEPT. 27 0 , just how fast was Scott Park er at r-, 0\ 0\ ...... 00 .... Cl) .o B u o 10 Sac ra men to? So fast th at h e was s ta nd ing o n to p of th e po d iu m before hi> victory lap was over. Thi s seem ingly impossibl e scena rio can be easily explained away. After the se ven-lime an d defending AMA Grand Nationa l Cha mpion flash ed across the fini s h lin e to clai m h is 83 r d ca r e er Gra nd Natio nal win, his 48t h in mil e racin g, hi s 12th w in a t th e Sacr am ento Mile a nd his seven th win th is season, he simply rolled up to the start /finish line on his Bill Werner-tuned facto ry HarleyDavid son XR750, hopped off, turned it ove r to Werner and team assistant Pete Pulask i and sa id , "Have at it." Pa rker was alre ad y atop the box before the pair returned. It is fa r more di fficult to explain the unbelievab le charge that Par ker made as he came from over a half-straightaway behind front-ru nners Dave y Camlin and Kevin Atherton in the second half of the crash-halted main event, and da mn near impossible to clarify the last-lap blast tha t propelled him by Atherton a t the entra nce to turn th ree a nd Ca mlin on the fron t chu te to swi pe the victory. But as the electrified crnwd that packed the gra nds tand s at the Cal-Expo State Fairgr o u n d s w ill li kel y attest, seeing is believing. In rea lity , Pa rk er w a s cred ited wi th lead in g only four lap s all night - inclu ding the one that counted, of cou rse - a nd he was a threat fo r th e w in fr om the moment tha t AM A Star te r Sco tt Zim mer man sent th e 19-rider field (see Briefly) on its way. Bu t wi th as many as 10 riders run ning in the lead dra ft u p until the poi nt at which the race was halted on la p 14, th e 36-year-old from Swartz Creek, M ichi ga n, a ppeared to be no more or less a th rea t than any of his cha llengers. What happe ned after the race restarted , h o w ever, was pure Pa r ker magic. He s tea di ly ran d own Camlin a n d Ath erton a fter the pa ir got a n excelle n t jump o n th e restar t and appeared set to se ttl e the fig ht fo r the wi n between thernselves before . slid ing right onto Atherton 's rear wheel in tum one just after th e whit e fla g was s h o w n . He flew p ast hi s hapless form er teammate at th e e n t ra nce to turn th ree and then pull ed the trigger on Carnlin as the pair bull eted up the front chu te. Slam dunk. "The y th ought it w a s gon na be a tw o -m an r a ce , b u t we cha nged that st o ry ," Pa rk er sai d . "We pu t o n a new tire after the red flag, and it took about four lap> for it to heat up. But then I got goi ng. I was hopi ng that they would n't loo k back, because they would've seen me coming. They did n't. I didn't know if I was gonna catch 'em, bu t the championsh ip was out of my mind at that point." After Parker had just robbed him blind, the 1-8(J().FASTHOG /Moroney's Ha rley-David son -backed Carnlin was gracious in de feat on the podium, bu t th ere a p peared to be a tr ace of s hock and be wildermen t in his tone . " I looked back every la p and sa id , 'We ' v e g ot hi m , w e ' r e goi n g to ge t a w ay," Ca m tin said . "Bu t is this g uy one bad sumb itch or what? 1 figured I had second to Kevin , but then homeboy came up a nd took it from us. We' re not wort hy." Athe rto n was equa lly as gracious but far more a ng ry w he n th e s how w as over, and perhap s for good reason , as he and his sna ke-bitte n Total Con trol Racing / Accel/ Bunzl USA team ·continued to stru gg le with Lady Luck at Sacramen to. Ath erton's bid for the win was weakened righ t from the start , as he pu lled to the line wit h broken cases on his TCRprep ped H a ri e y-David so n . Sa v vy pr eparation and .a t least some good fortune kept the motorcycle running strong laps while the 27-year -old Ind ianapolis resid en t rode it like the re w as no tom or row to remain in the fight at the fron t of the field a nd in co ntention for the win. After the restart, Ath erton an d Camlin skipped out, and d rafted away to mak e it a two-ma n sho w u n ti l Atherton' s mo tor went soft on the back straight just