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/127862
DIRT TRACK iI!2: Del Mar Fairgounds A GRAND N nO A MA A NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Carr (4) and Kevin Atherton (23) were having an Incredible battle in the th ird heat race befor e Athe rton drifted wide and "ni cked" the guardrail. T he resu lt? Atherton pulled off with a broken hand, while Carr took the heat win . he gave Davis the da ylight that he was lookin g for, and Davis pulled awa y to win by a huge margin . "The mo to rcy cle w as w orking tremendous ," Davis said. "It was rough, but it wa s rough for everybody. It used to be that I couldn' t even make it to the main event on a track like that, but I'm still catching on a little at a time." Spri ngs tee n h e ld o n for second . Worse fo r Darli ng w a s the fact th at Hacker made his way by in lo third place to rob Darling of a straight rid e to the main event. Ohio cushion specialist Roeder was the man on the move early in heat three, and he might well ha ve go tten away had it not been for the rekindled riva lry between form er Harley-Davidson factory teammates Ca rr and Ath erton. Roeder was safel y out front until the thirdpl a ced Carr d rafted by th e second-p laced Ather ton at th e lin e to start the second lap . Then it was on. The tw o riders jockeyed back and fort h for fou r more laps as they inc hed up o n Roed er , with Atherton finall y breaking into the lead as he dra fted past Roeder down the back straigh t to take th e lead . Carr did the sam e th ing to Roed er on the next trip down the back chute. A the rton's wa s a s hor t-liv ed lead , however, as the 26-year-old Michi gander drifted way high in turn on e and smacked the ou tsid e gua rdrail wi th his th ro ttle ha nd . The d am age w as d one insta ntly, and Atherto n pulled up on the back s tra ight. He was late r tak en to a n earby hos p ital where- he was diag nosed w ith a broken hand. With that, Carr inherited. the lead and w ent on to post the win and take his place in the main event at the same track wh ere he raced his last in 1996. "It wasn' t the fastest (heat>, but we' re still havin g fun," Ca rr sa id. "We d idn't expec t to be the fastest, not in the third hea t." All th at' s left of a once-ple n tifu l Honda RS750 privateer brigade was the . center of attention in the final heat, as Gra ham and King go t off the line ahead o f former H on d a riders Varn es and Cool beth . As th e lead pair distan ced themselves from the Harleys, they were a study in contrasting styles, with lead er Graham electin g to drive it in d eep and stay on the gas as he shot huge roo stertails of dirt over the fence, whi le King p la yed it a little more cons erva tively and rod e throu gh the middle lines on the cushion to keep pace. The pair ran unchallen ged that way for seven laps before the race was halt ed w he n Ros e Ra cin g ' s Willi e McCo y cras he d w h il e co m ing off tu rn tw o . McCoy w a s u n h ur t, a nd th e r a ce resumed , w it h Kin g lead in g Graha m and Varnes. The y wer e three-w id e off turn two on the last lap, where Graham foun d the d rive to squirt ahead of King and Varnes to take the win. Graham never cam e off the bales for the entire race. " It was the only th ing I cou ld do to feel comforta ble out there," the 39-yearold three-time cham pion fro m California said. "One thing that's for sure is that horsepower probably won't be an issue he re today. It's more of a rider's track - that' s the bottom line . If we get more moisture on the track, then w e'll have a good chance." SEMIS Beattie blew them a ll away by over half a straightaway in the first eight-lap semi, but Lynch and Ga r d ne r Racing /Walters Brother s Harley-Dav idson's Dan Butler kept the crowd entermined as they fou ght viciou sly ove r the second and final transfer spot. Lynch had his Beal Peterbilt / l.ynch Tran sportation XR buckin g like a wild bronco off turn four, and it nearly pitched him ove r the bars once, but the young Marylander held off Butler to take a place in the feature. Darling, Sakaida and Sons Tru cking's Terry Poovey and Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson ' s battled ea rly in the seco nd sem i before b ei ng joi ned by Corb in Ra ci n g' s Lon nie Pa u ley a nd Camlin. The Me roney's-backed Ca mlin s ho t into the lead on lap fo u r a n d appeare d set to pull away, but former teamma te Darling w asn't about to let it happen, and he took advantage of a Camlin miscue off tum four on the fifth lap to take the lead an d ho ld it to the finis h. Camlin rec o v ered fo r second place to assure his spo t on the grid for the feature.. A battle of fu ture sta rs hig h ligh ted the final semi of th e d a y, as M arine Trans port's Brya n Bigel ow a nd Barte ls' / To n y Do dge Racing ' s Johnn y Murphree go t ou t of the blocks togeth er and ra ced al one for four o r fi ve laps before form er Rookie of the Yea r Cool beth ca me forward with Dan Stanley. The qua rte t raced in ch es apart until Coo lbeth was able to break free. On the last la p, Murphree ba il ed off in turn two and was taken by ambulance to the hospi tal, where he was later treated for a frac tu re d bone in his neck and re leased . Coolbe th too k th e win, wit h Bigelow taking the final tra nsfer spo t of the year. 883 NATIONAL Unlike the Grand National cha m pions hi p, the AM A 883cc National title was still up for gra bs as the Sportsters took to the Del Mar Mile for the final r a ce of th e ser ies, wit h 1-800FASTHOG /Moroney's H-D rider Davey Ca mlin and Las Vegas H-D/ Am erican Asphalt and Grading's Jess Roeder still in contention for the series laurels. Camlin led Roeder by three points coming into the series finale. A win was w orth four more points than second place, and with the miler from Rock Island, Illinois , st ill su ffe r ing from a lingering a nkle in jury after his cras h in Las Vegas the p rev io us week, Roed er was smelli ng blood. But as the 17-ride r field staged for the main even t just prior to the 750cc semis, Roed er w as im media tely p ut on the defensive as his number -one motorcycle ba lked , a nd th e team wa s forced to sw i tch to its ba ckup machin e, which had a lrea d y been qu alified by Rob er t Mill er. Roed er w ould s tar t fr om th e pena lty line. Righ t from the s tart, Camlin jumped into th e lead, wi t h tea mmate Mike Hacker runnin g second . The determined Roeder had somehow mana ged to swim through the sea of other bikes to pull into th ird beh ind Hacker as they ru mbled d own th e back s tra ig h t. Roeder quickly kill ed a ny cha nces of Hacker blocking for his teammate by pas sing the yo ung Virginia n in turn two on lap three. Th at left noth ing but ope n space be twee n Roed er a nd Ca mli n. It wa s manoa mano. But Camlin never d id let Roeder get close en ou gh to threaten him . Camlin rod e unwaveringly on the cus hio n and kept a sa fe distance ahead. Tha t distance w ent from safe to superfluous as Roeder lost a ton of grou nd when he slid wide off turn four. Camlin w ent on to claim the firs t a tional d irt track title of his career, and the second for M oron ev's Harl ey-David son since the series began , Ro ed er w a s second , w ith Bar tel s' Harley-Davidson's Shaun Russell third. "I'Il te ll you, when I saw th at Jess wa s ha ving problems, and that he was goi ng to have to s ta rt on the penalty line, I th ought, ' Man, I don't wan t to win it lik e th is: " Camlin said, "bu t I have to give him a lot of credit. He rod e his bull off out there . I almost feel like he deserves it as much as me . But Pat Moroney builds the bes t 883s out there ." " I' rn disa p pointe d," Roed er sai d , "but it looks like Miller Electrical Construction and Las Vegas Harley-Davidson are go ing to co mbine teams, and we' re going to com e out here and try to w in the 883 Natio na l C hampionship aga in. I ain' t d one yet." . GRAN D NATIONAL Off-season bragging righ ts were on the line as the fina l ma in eve nt o f the season s ta ge d a t the line. Pole-s itter Kopp had chosen to start from the midd le of row two , wit h Morgan and Davis to his left a nd Springs teen, Carr and Gr a ham to his righ t. King was to the extreme inside of row two, with Parker up aga ins t the crash wa ll o n the sam e line. Davis got the ho les ho t when AMA starter Zim merma n ga ve them the green light, wh ile Parker kn ifed throu gh the herd to run seco nd as they hooked up and sho t d own the back straightaway . Pa rk er had th e lead as the field came do wn and took the green flag to ma rk the first lap . Davi s then pu lled low off turn four a nd on the next lap took the lead away from Parke r, w ho was followed by Kopp, King, Roeder, Graham, Sprin g st een, M organ and C arr. He would go on to stretch it out over the next severa l laps. .