Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

At the flash of sta rter Steve Faraci 's green ligh t, Roed er resumed his quest. As expected, Parker quick ly carved his way into second from his fourth starting slo t. Parker was second by th e 10th lap; then his charge stagnated . " I was trying to cu t off the co rner and shorte n up the track a little bit, but I was going nowhere there," said Parker . " I tried to cu t it d own the othe r direction . I went to the inside going into the corn ers , but th en I lost h im (Roed er) coming off. I thou gh t that was the best wa y to d o it, but I tried it for a while and finally I decided to get on his tra il a nd see where it was goin g. If he was making it work, I shou ld be able to d o just as w ell." " 1 kn ew so me body had to be back there, but I didn't know w ho," Roed er said . "I kind of figur ed it was Will Davis or Rich King. Those two guys lined up right beh ind me on the rest a rt , a nd [ knew they wo u ld be p us hi ng th e bottom. 1 d idn't know if the top w as go ing to stay there, and I figured so mebod y would be coming underneath me sooner or later ." Thir d place we nt to Harl ey-Davidson of Sacrame n to/Phoenix Racing /RC Digita l's Ch ris Ca rr. Ca rr had bee n slowly wor k ing hi s way forward fro m an eight h- place sta r t w hen th e red fla g cameoul "Before the red flag, I was ki nd of running a mixed bag of li nes," Ca rr explained. "I was ru nn ing down on the bottom because there was a lot of tra ffic up high, and I knew there would be the first few laps. That kind of cost me and 1 d ropped back a little ways. I was runnin g low in o ne a nd tw o a nd h ig h in three and four. Th e thr ee a nd fou r line wo rked , but the one and two would be good one lap, then not the next. After the red flag I just wen t to the top and got it diale d in. I think we just didn't have the right setu p - w e were a little short on gea ring, we were running aro u nd a lot bigger race track up there. I d idn 't think the top wo u ld last, but it did. " A little deeper in the field, a magni fice nt th ree-way war w as being waged between Da vis, King and Nicky Hayd en . Th e Tom Cumm in g s Ra ci n g / Michigan Harley Dealers' duo of Davis and Hayden surro und ed King's Corbin Racing Ho nd a as they rod e thr ee wi de through the turns . "He'd (Hayde n) get through the cor ners good, just until he would come off the tu rn ," Kin g sa id. "Then h e'd get sideways; it wo uld shut me do wn for a minute, then I'd go by him . We did that lap after lap after lap." " I'm p re tty ha p py, I guess," Da vis said. "I go t a tas te of all of it tonigh t the front, the back, the middle. We started in the ba ck, we nt to the fro n t, th en went to the back. I' m no t ha ppy with seventh; I don't know why I started to go backwards. I don't thin k we had the rig ht gea ring . We geared to run the bottom, then had to go up top. I' m su re 90 percent of the guys had the same stuff I did; we needed to ta ke a tooth off. It's jus t one of those deals. People can thi nk w hat they wa nt about the competitiveness of the series. Th ese yo u ng guys comi ng u p now are on the gas. Everybody has got real goo d equ ip men t and they're going fast." Just a few weeks shy of h is 17t h birthday, Hayd en gave the two ve tera ns fits. "The bott om was rough, but all night I seemed to be getting aro u nd there the best ," Hayden sai d . "I was hoping the top wo uld d ry ou t and everyone would h a ve to move d o wn . Th e to p w a s ell /Van Beek H-D -backed Harl ev, but h is lea d w as s ho rt-lived, as Ga'rd ner Raci ng /Walters Brothers' Dan Sta nle y exploded into the lead on the last lap to ta ke th e wi n. Roeder s truggled ho me third while Sprin gsteen led Murphree to the semi. The third heat was a d andy as Kopp and Parker locked into a race-lo ng war. Kopp got the hol esh ot and led Parker, Morehead and Bigelow off to a l a-lap battle. Bige low qu ick ly got by Mor eh e ad , but Kopp and Pa r ke r were alrea dy go ne. (Above) Scott Parker had luck on his side in the National. The defend ing Grand National Champion had a rear shock fall, but the red flag allowed him to get It fixed. He then went out and finish ed a close second to Roeder In the restart. (Right) Rich King (80) leads Will Davis (21) In the National. King finished fourth, with Davis dropping to seventh. smoo ther, but I cou ld n' t pass up there. I jus t went down to the botto m and rod e thro ugh the bumps. It was really a lot of fun ; I was getting them in the middle of th e turn s, bu t t h e n o n t he ex it th e y wo uld get back by me. It mad e for a fun race. I though t I migh t be able to get by Rich (King) and Chris (Carr) there at the end and get on the podi um. Fifth is by far my best finish . The last couple of races haven' t been so goo d . Hopefu lly we can get back up here every weekend now." In the end, King and Ha yd en pu lled clea r of Davis and closed on Carr. Dav is had his hands full wi th ano ther youngs te r as USC Ra ci ng / La nca s te r H-D ' s Bryan Bigelo w ca me all the way fro m the fourth row and 17th on the first lap to p ass Davis on the last lap for sixth. Missouri H-D /Da ve Burks Mo to rsports' Joe Kopp had a rocky race and ended up eighth after ju mping the initial s tart. "I was stuc k in the back early in the race because I jumped the sta rt," he said. "I got going pretty good, then just befo re the restart 1 go t on a roll and was picking them off. After the restart, I just couldn' t get going again. I came up on them so quick before the red fla g. 1 th ought I was d oing the same thin gs af ter the resta rt, bu t 1 jus t cou ld n't get by Hayden. I was trying so hard, bu t I just co uldn' t seem to find that same rhyth m. At least we finally go t a top 10. I thi nk th e te am is goi ng to co me arou nd. Righ t now, as a team , we're still in a learn ing process - but we' re ge tting Close." Mike Hacker boun ced aro und on his S a d d l e m a n / 1 - 8 0 0-F AST HO G / Moron ey' s H-D Har ley before coming home nint h. "After th e red flag, we made so me cha nges that helped a lot," Hacker said . "T he b ik e was wo r ki ng g rea t; Ski p (Ea ke n) had e ve ry thing d ial ed in. 1 guess e verybo dy else was just going faste r than me. I was rid ing the top; I'd rather ride 25 laps u p there than 25 la ps in those bumps. I wi s h I could have d one a little be tte r, bu t there's always next wee kend." Eve n more di sa p pointed was Rose Racing /Schaeffer H-D's Kevin Varnes. Varnes had fas t heat tim e and led th e main into tu m one, but his race d eteriorat ed down th e ba ck s trai g h t. Varnes d ropped all the wa y to 12th pri or to the red flag. And things were only margina lly be t ter a fte r th e re s ta r t as he dropp ed to 14th befor e turning things around and climbing to 10th. Putting the icing on the Roed er cake, Jess Roeder topped a five-rid er batt le to take the Harley-Davidson Spo rtster Performa nce a tional on his Miller Electr ic / La s Vegas H-D /R o ed er H - Dbac ked Spo rts te r. Californian ' s Sh aun Russell, Billy Martin and Gary Rogers closely follo wed, a lo ng w ith O hio's Scott Stump. HEATS For the seco nd week in a row, Carr was fas t qu alifier - a seco nd and a half quicker tha n Roed er' s seco nd fast time. Carr led at the start of his heat race, leaving Davis, Paul Lynch and King to ba ttle over seco n d. By t he h a lfway po int, King ha d clawed his way u p to second b u t a pp ea red to h a v e Ii tt le chance of catching Ca rr. On the last lap, however, King mad e a big cha rge aroun d Carr to steal the victory. Da v is was a lon e ly th ird over Lynch and Dan Butler. T h e se co nd heat started out with Roed er lead ing Johnn y Mu rp hr ee, Jay Spri ngs teen, Schnabel and Dan Stanley. Roed er pull ed ou t a comfortable lead by th e midpoint o f th e rac e, but his lu ck wo u ld sour when his brake came ap art. He was rapid ly caug ht by both Schnabel and Stanley. Sc h na be l g r a b b e d th e le ad fr om Roed er on lap nine on his Team Pow- Parker grabbed the lead on lap four, only to h ave Kopp s to r m back a lap la ter. Com in g d own to the white fla g, Parke r tried to take the lead on the ou ts ide co m in g ou t o f tu rn fou r. Ko p p w ithstood the cha lle nge, but it se t u p Parker' s la s t- lap m ove. Thi s ti me h e looked high ; th en he dived to the bottom com ing off tu rn fou r, just nipping Kopp at the line. Bigelow was a safe third , but his bike wa s mak ing the ter rible clanki ng noise o f an engine self-dest ruc tin g . The oil pump had qu it and Bigelow woul d be relega ted to his backu p bike. Th e las t hea t had Hayd en on pole, but it was Ha cker who got off the line first, with Pau l Morgan right on his rear w heel. He wa s possibly a little too close as they exited turn tw o and he ran up Hacker' s back an d had to shu t off. The hesitation was all Kevin Varnes needed and he rocketed into the lead on the low line. Varnes slipped away as Hacker, Morgan and Hayd en d iscu ssed second. Once Hayden was able to grab second, he gob bled up ground on Varnes. Just past the halfway point, Hayden sta rted to contest the lead. Despite consta nt p ressu re from Hayden, Varnes held o n for the win - se tting fast hea t time in the process. Hacker held Morgan off for the last d irect transfer into th e National. SE MIS Six starting slots we re still available and the three eight-lap semis wo u ld d o the job . Morga n put h is Coz iahr H-D mount ou t fro nt in th e firs t se m i in fro nt of Martin, Butler and Steve Beattie. Beatt ie and Butler were left to battl e it ou t when Ma rtin co as te d to a s to p on th e back s tra igh t. Lap fiv e sa w th e rim -r id in g du o catch Morgan and the battl e was on for the w in. Butler was in front on lap six, but the white flag fou~d Morga n back on top. 23

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