Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK ~~~:~~Zg~~~~~~~ ~{-----------------, Round 1/Round 7: Daytona Municipal Stadium FLORIDA FLAT TRACK SERIES il By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fotos and Kinney Jones DA¥rONA BEAG!, FL, MAR. 7 t was Scott Parker's dream night. After eight years of trying, the 36year-old factory Harley-Davidson rider finally attained what had previously been unattainable in his long and storied career when he backed up Friday night's win in the AMA National Hot Shoe short track with a glorious victory in the AMA Grand National season-opening Daytona Short Track at Daytona Municipal Stadium. After years of frustration and just plain bad luck, Parker and legendary I tuner Bill Werner added to their legacy, as Parker scored win number 85 at one of the crown jewels on the Grand National circuit - just like that 01' feller in that black Chevy stocker did at the Daytona 500 a couple weeks prior. "This is the pinnacle of motorsports," an overjoyed Parker screamed. "Day_ tona is where it all starts. I've always struggled here. Every time that we do bad when we come here, we say we'll get 'ern next year. But here we are, finallyon top at Daytona - and it's bitchin'!" And with that, Parker might well have provided the best description of his performance on the sandy quarter mile around Larry Kelly Field, which was little more than a repeat of his per- formance in the main event just one night earlier. Parker used his starting position off the outside of the front row to get away cleanly ahead of all but Team KTM's Joe Kopp, and then chased Kopp before driving outside of Kopp in turns three and four to take a lead that he would not relinquish for the remainder of the 25lap feature. But whereas the race was all but over at that point on Friday night, it was anything but over on Saturday, as Parker's dream of winning the big one at "big D" was almost shattered by one Terry Poovey, arguably the best short tracker in the country. The defending event champion from Texas played it cagey, a nd picked upon a line la te in the race that allowed him to propel his way right up to Parker's rear wheel as AMA flagman Scott Zimmerman's white flag waved. The capacity crowd stood up and appeared to hold its collective breath as the duo pulled off the final turn. Poovey did his best, but it came up short by inches. "I want to thank Dale Earnhardt," Parker said. "He's the one who got me motivated. Once he won, I knew that I didn't have any more excuses. I want to thank Bill Werner, who builds a hell of a motorcycle, and I also want to thank Pete Pulaski, who drives it everywhere. I couldn't do it without those guys." And then, on the podium, in what some say was a genuine act of class, Parker continued, "I also want to thank Ricky Graham, who we lost earlier this year. He was one of the greatest racers who ever lived. When he swung a leg over a motorcycle, he went really fast, and he didn't care what name it had on the side of it. We're gonna miss him, and I'm sure he's looking down on us tonight. I'd just like to have a moment of silence for him right now." Despite missing out on a heartattack-serious shot at winning his second Daytona Short Track in as many years, Poovey seemed to be genuinely pleased with his own performance. The 39-year-old former factory Honda rider put his USC Racing Rotax on the pole with a blistering three-minute, 21-second heat-race win, and then shot off the line third. He would lose a spot to Team Undo/Donahue Harley-Davidson's Brett Landes before getting his bearings and putting on a charge that seemed to gain steam as the race wore on. Poovey then further proved his short track savvy by hunting down a high line that launched him off turn four around Landes and Kopp in the la tter part of the race to set up the final-lap confrontation with Parker. "I just needed one more lap," Poovey said, "but I'm glad that he (Parker) won. He's the best racer there ever was, and I don't mind losin' to him one bit. ''I'll tell you what," Poovey continued, "I don't feel like this is a crapshoot anymore. There's guys here who run fast, and there are some who don't." Landes and his Quaker State/ Audiovox ATK can be counted among those who do, for the 27-year-old from Los Gatos, California, who won the Daytona Short Track in 1995, was consistently in the hunt for another victory on both nights again. And just like the night before, he rode fast and consistent to post a third-place finish. It wasn't exactly easy, as Landes' efforts to get up front were frustrated by Kopp for most of the race. Landes fell victim to Poovey's forward surge on lap] 7, but then he did a little fighting back of his own when he squeezed under Kopp off turn four to take third just before the pair hit the stripe. "That race actually went by quick," Landes said. "I saw the halfway flags, and I figured that I needed to do something. Joe was holding me up. If I could have gotten by him earlier, then I might have caught Scotty, because he couldn't run as tight as I could. But I'm happy to run third here both nigh ts. I love this place." Kopp, too, may well be considered a threat, as he put his factory-backed KTM 600LC4 on the box again after having been in contention for the win just as he had been the night before. Kopp repeated his holeshot performance of the night before and set sail in an attempt to flee from Parker and the rest of the field. Once Parker pulled past,

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