Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

after aggrava ting an old knee injury and was cred ited with 15th. Mechan ical failures knocked o ut Mike Hacker, Kenny Coolbe th and Kevin Varnes, wh o finished 16th through 18th, respectively. Park er finished up the yea r with 385 poin ts and eight wins to Davis' 349 and seven wi ns. Kev in Atherton, wh o w as injured in his heat race and thus did not make the main, was third with 309 and thre vic to ries. King 's 297 po ints and e tw o series w ins w ere good enough for fourth, an d the ultraco nsi stent Grah am d id not need a win 10 amass 248 poin ts a nd finish the year fifth. HEATS Kopp got a beautiful start aboa rd his Kenn y Tolbert -built XR750 in the first of the four Grand Nati onal heats and went on to run it in the dirt for the entire 10 laps as he tried to distance himself from . Morgan , who had also gotten an excellent sta rt. Tha t p ai r wa s followed by Morehead and Parker, w ho were actually close e no ug h to d o some raci ng . Mor eh ead held Parker a t bay for little mor e th a n a lap be fore drif ting wa y high in turns one and two and allowing race dice to fini sh fourth. Th at finis h gave him seventh place in the series' fina l standings over Jay Springsteen by a single point. "I got a bad start, and that was the key:' Kopp said . "After that, it was just a matter of figh ting off roos t like everyone e lse . I felt good once I go t aw ay fro m Ceo and Ricky a nd go t into my ow n rhythm ." Fifth place bro ught with it a nother pho to fi n ish betwee n the Mi ke and Edd ie Ad kins Racing / KK/ Winchester H-D entry of Roed er and the USC Raein g /Z Ga lle ries Hond a of three- tim e AMA Gra nd Na tio nal Cha m pion Graham. Both riders spent most of the feature chasing the d irt on the high lines, and both were effective until those lines began to d ry out. Grah am appea red to make the right ad justme nts on his John ny Go ad -tuned H onda RS750, as he advanced from seventh place. Strong a t the start, Roeder began to fatigue as the laps wore on, and by the time Graham moved up to cha llenge, the Ohioa n had no th ing le ft fo r h im . G ra ha m ca m e hom e fifth a t Del Mar and fifth on the seaso n to make this comeback - w hatever nu m ber it may be - most complete. "I w as riding a bunch of lines ou t there tod ay unti l about the 21st lap: ' the so ft-spoken Ca lifornia n sa id . "Whe re was the water tru ck? All in all, though , I was very ha pp y wit h this season. There were so many components of the battle to me - the battle just to show up every week, the battle to co me back an d do well after four y ea rs of not riding ... Maybe I'll try to put something together for next year. I'd like to rid e again ." Following Roeder across the line in seventh was Coziahr Harley-Davidson's Paul Morgan 1Il. Bartels' Harley-Davidson's Jay Sp rin gst een, Deel ey Har leyDav idson 's Stev e Beattie and Marine Transport' s Bryan Bige low finished eig h th through 10t h. Su r p rise visito r Ch ris Ca rr (see Briefly...) ca me home 11th a board a second Mike Sha ttuckowned Ha rley-David son of Sacramento XR750, w hich was, of course, prepared by his old budd y Kenny Tolbert. Corbin Racing' s Chance Darling, Lynch Racing's Pa u l Lyn ch a n d 1-800FASTHOG / Mor oney' s Davey Ca rnlin w ere 12th through 14th, respective ly . Attrition took its toll on much of the bottom th ird o f the 18-rid er fie ld . C hris Evans we nt six laps before pulling ou t (Above)Will Davis (21) leads Parker and Geo Roeder II (66) In the earty going . Davis led laps two lhrough 17 belore dropping to third with arm pump . Roeder was as high as second belore I.lllng back to sixth at the flag. (Right) J oe Kopp (43)won the fastest heat race' of the day, but in the main event. Kopp struggled ea rty befo re reboun ding to lourth. A rim-riding Ricky Graham (3) was fifth. (Below) Hiya, pal: Former Grand Nat ional Champion Chris Carr dropped In to rtde the Del Mar Mile aboard a Kenny Tolberttuned Harley-Davidson 01 Sacramento "loaner." Carr won his heat race and the Beer Nuts Challenge belore cruising 10 11th In the leature. Parker to d rive un der neath and into thi rd p lace . That wa s the story of the race, as Morehead never seriously challenged Parker again, and the new champion was nearly half a straigh taway behind Kopp and Morgan. Kopp went on to po st the fastest heat win of th e day, with Morg an and Park er finishing second and third for direct tickets to the main . ."I just got the holeshot," Kopp said . "1 didn't know what to expect after the 883s went out there, bu t there was still a little moistu re up high ." Kopp said that he was convi nced that he was dialed in for the feature. "I' ve got a full tank of gas," Kopp said . "That's the only change. I'm ready for the main." Davis appeared to get the best dig off the lin e in the second he at, but as the pack thun dered arou nd on the opening la p, none ot he r than 0 1' Spr inger was leading th e field , with Da rling and Davis right on his tail. Springsteen continu ed to lead the field for another lap , bu t Davis had a head of stea m on the fro n t st raight, a nd he d raf ted pas t the three-tim e series cham pion just past the finish lin e to g rab the point po sit io n. When Springs teen bobbled in tum one,

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