Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

B.rothers HarLey-Davidson's Butler, came back from a poor start to finish third. Kopp's Missouri Harley-Davidson mount began smoking about midrace and he dropped from the front. Varnes led J.R. Schnabel into the semis. Rich King led the last heat into turn one, but SaddLemen/1-800-FASTHOG / Moroney's Harley-Davidson's Dave Camlin quickly swept into the lead and ran away. King, Chris Evans and Will Davis struggled over second. After the halfway point, it appeared as though King would lead TCR's Davis into the Grand National main, with Evans and Missouri Harley-Davidson's Ken Coolbeth close behind. Then, on the Last lap, TLC Racing/ Ame.rican HarleyDavidson's Evans passed Davis, dropping him'into the semis. SEMIS Ian Segedy led the first semi into turn one, but Brett Landes grabbed the point at the end of lap one. It was very shortlived, though, as his Audiovox/Quaker State Harley coasted to a stop, and Segedy was back on top on his TLC Racing/ American Harley-Dav.idson-backed Harley. Powell Racing's J.R. Schnabel was closing in second when the red flag came out for Robert Knapp's turn three get-off. Two laps after the restart, Schnabel took the lead and led Segedy into the ational. Norfleet Racing's Nickens once again missed a main-event berth by one position. Johnny Murphree and Billy Martin led the third semi into the first turn. One lap later, Bryan Bigelow was on top and his USC Racing teammate was working on Murphree for second. Bigelow was high in the cushion as Butler worked the edge of the groove. Butler grabbed the Lead on lap five. Murphree held 'on to third over Springsteen, who had come from the rear on his backup bike. The third semi saw the biggest upset of the night, as pole sitter Mike Varnes rocketed off the starting line. Varnes held a huge lead into turn one over Paul Lynch and Joe Kopp. "They screwed up the start,"'Varnes said. "Down at the gate, they asked me if 1 wanted the ins.ide or the' outside. J said outside; then, when 1 came to the line, they moved me to the inside and that fired meup." Sitting next to Varnes were TCR teammate Will Davis and Nicky Hayden. Both felt Varnes had jumped the start and rolled ou t of the gas. The light went green and Varnes was gone. Hayden and Davis caught Lynch and Kopp, with Hayden pulling up to challenge Lynch. It took Davis a couple of laps to pass the fading Kopp, and Hayden grabbed second on lap four. Davis finally pulled into third on lap seven and closed on his young teammate. The laps ran out for Davis, and he would be forced to watch the National. "I didn't know who was behind me," Hayden said I.ater. "1 knew somebody was back there. I was just going as hard as I could." GRAND NATIONAL Carr had fast heat time and first choice of starting posi tions. Carr looked to the middle of the track, while Parker went right to the top with his second choice. From the outside the front row held Parker, Beattie, Camlin, Carr, Roeder and Hacker. Row two carried Kevin Varnes, Evans, Morehead, Morgan, King and Stanley. The third row held Bigelow, Schnabel, Butler, Segedy, Hayden and Mike Varnes. When the 25-1ap Grand National feature went green, it was Roeder who read the light perfectly, leading Carr and Parker into the first turn. Then Evans stepped off in three and the red was out. The restart saw Parker gain immediate control of the race, as he charged right into the deep stuff. "It was a smooth race track," Parker said. "I was really able to ride anywhere I wanted to. To be able to at least ride a few laps in the cushion, it's great for the spectators and it's good for me, too." Carr was second, with Carnlin, Bea ttie, Roeder, King and Morehead right behind him. The next group was made up of Stanley, Hacker, Morgan, Schnabel, Mike and Kevin Varnes, Butler, Evans, Bigelow, Segedy and Hayden. At this point it was obvious that Parke,r would have to make a major mistake or have mechanical problems for anyone to unseat him. "I knew Chris was back there," Parker said. "You find yourself getting into the bad habit of looking back. It's the time you don't look back and you get beat, it's stupid. If you've got a little chance to take a peek, you can talk to yourself, get mellowed out. This was the kind of track you could really get yourself in trouble if you tried to run it in too hard. You could get hooked up and push the front end, but it was real easy to get sideways, too. You had to tiptoe through the corners. The track was beautiful - it was the best I remember it ever beihg here." Although the first two positions never changed, the rest of the field went through major changes. Roeder slashed through the field and dropped Carolin to fourth on lap four. As the cushion dried up, Camlin's race charge went with it. "I've been here in this situation too many times," Camlin said after winding up 14th. "I didn't adjust. I was on the front row, and the track started off like it was in the heats. But after it was scrubbed off by 18 riders, it went away. It took me 24 laps to figure out that I was going too fast, and by then I'm last or whatever. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. I'm 28 years oLd. I should have already learned this stuff." Morehead took over fourth on lap five, and his position was also secured. "The track really got abrasive," Morehead said. "1?e last two semis, the track got a lot harder, and we ended up down on the bottom, pole-putting, instead of wide open, sideways around the middle, like we had been all day." King settled into fifth, as he avoided the turn-three problems that struck several riders during the night. "Once you knew where that hole was in turn three, it wasn't too bad," King said. "It was hard to see in traffic. When I ran up behind M9rehead, I wasn't sure where it was, and it ran me up high a couple of times. It wasn't a big problem. Last year this whole track was full of those holes. The track was in much better shape this year. It was a racer's race track." Kevin Varnes once again suffered from a poor start and demonstrated great passing skills on the slick track. (Top left) The man who would be king: Geo Roeder II (66) got the holeshot at the start of the feature, but a red flag and subsequent flat tire forced him to the rear of the field. Nonetheless, the Ohio cushion rider slashed through the pack for third. (Top right) Kevin Varnes (foreground) broke in his new Rose Racing ride en route to a sixth-place finish. Although it's early, Varnes is looking pretty good in the series standings thus far. He sits third with 23 points. (Above) The champagne flies, as (left to right) Carr, Parker and Roeder vent a little after a tough National. "The first lap, I tried to follow Parker, and I got blasted," Varnes said. "It dropped me way back. I had to be back around 12th or 13th, I don't know. Right from the beginning I figured the lower line was going to be the way to go. The outside was going to be fading away, and there was a nice, smooth groove down on the bottom." Varnes regrouped and put "Plan A" back in action. "I started off riding tight; I was probably down tighter than anyone at first," Varnes said. "I was picking them off on the inside. I got by Steve Beattie, but I had to pull an outside pass on him; he was holding the inside pretty tight. I just put it on the outside and hoped it would stick, and it did. After I got by him, the bike started to squirm around a little. I looked back, ,,!,d Steve was gaining on me. I thought th.e tire was going away. It doesn't seem like it's worn down. Maybe it just got hot from working so hard to get up there. It's made those guys (Rose Racing) real happy - it's their first top-10 (finish)." Beattie dropped from fourth but still managed a strong seventh-place finish. "I was hoping it would have been a cu hion for at least 10 laps, but I think I was in it for maybe five," Beattie said. "I decided to finally get out; it was too dry. 1 just tried to stay smooth. I was happy with the way I did. I'm not usually noted to be very quick when it's dry like that. To stay where I was and run with a couple of good groove-track riders, I was happy." Schnabel made a strong ride, moving up to eighth. "[n the heat race I was running down too low, but in the semi I was just bumping the edge of the cushion and the bike was working better," Schnabel said. "Then in the National it kind of got grooved up, so everyone was running down Low again. I just tried to stay smooth." Hacker made the only last-lap change as he slipped by Morgan for ninth. ':We got a decent start, but it was pretty dusty out there," Morgan said. "The last few laps it felt like the tire was going and right in the middle of the corner. The bike wanted to stand up, and Hacker slipped by me. We want to make the mains right off this year; Last year we waited until midseason before we started making them week in, week out. We're shooting for top 10 in points and got 10 tonight, so if we can keep doing that, we should be able to do it." Hacker was fighting off several problems after he had encountered the hole in turn three d~g the Harley-Davidson Sportster Performance ationa I. "My hip and knee both hurt," Hacker said. "It was really hard to ride. It seemed like the track changed drastically from the begin.niilg to the end. The last 10 laps I just went down to the groove and tried to be real smooth, and cruise. I picked off a couple of people. I got Paul Morgan coming off the last corner. Skip had the bike running perfect. That's the best I've ever feIt on a cushion track. I've never sat on the front row on a cushion track before. I'm making progress... just get this night behind us and get on to that mile next week. But I'm happy with the way it worked out. I didn't get ninth last year, so we're moving up. The track changed so tnuch. I guess that's where those old guys know how to adapt to it and I can't, but I'm learning." Finishing just outside the top' 10 was recent road racing phenom Nicky Hayden, who came from dead last and well off the pace.

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