Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMAGRAND N ATIONAL CA P H M IONSH SERIE IP S Round 7: DuQuqin State Fairgrounds Parker rode mu ch of the early lap s in fifth place, not rea lly showing mu ch of a cha llenge . "I was lookin g for m y li ne ea rly:" Parker sa id. " I fe l t'" p re t ty goo d but co u ld n' t rea ll y wo rk m y w a y to th e front too qu ick. I was just out there , running my laps. Everything wa s working' great, but I ju st wa sn't going anywhe re. I was ju st out there, dancing around, try ing to keep an eye on whe re everyo ne was mo ving . I was loo ki ng fo r a place to go. Fina lly, I jus t decid ed I had to fo llow the m . I moved u p to w here they w ere go ing and then I started to reel them in. Then it was racin g again. I moved up to the top, but Will wa s making th e bo ttom work , so I went back down to the bottom. That's w here I was the first few laps. The top started drying out and go t real in con sistent, so everyone w en t to th e bot tom , and a groove just ap peared . It we n t fro m no groove at all to a groove a coup le of feet wide just like tha t. When you 've go t 20 bikes out the re, cutting laps in the sa me spot, the groove has to come up." F&S Ha rley- Davi dson / KK Mo to rcycle Supply's Steve Morehead had by far his best perform ance of 1998, finishing a ' ve ry clo se third . After domin ating the first lO-lap heat, Morehead took the lead in the main event on lap two . The 25-yea r vetera n showed the fast way for five laps before Will Davis charged to the po int. By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Fotos . .. ~ t:..:: ~ 14 DUQUOIN, II., JULY 11 " ' / "t' s jus t three old far ts on th e , p odium, t ha ~ ' s w ha t you had tod ay," exclaimed Scott Parker after the d efending AMA Grand National Champion and his two "old buddies," Jay Sp rings tee n and Steve Mor eh ead, s we p t t h e t op thre e s pots in th e DuQuoin State Fairgrounds: Magic Mile. "It was really a good race; early on , guys we re dan cing all around d own in turns one and tw o," the Ha rley- Davi d so n factory-b acked Parker said. " It was really d ifferen t for a mile. There was not a lot of freight-trai ni ng , bu t there we re several lead ers. Will (Davis) led it for a while , (Rich) King, me, Mor eh ead an d Springer there tow ar d s the en d of the race all took tu rn s." Of course, the win exte nds Park er ' s career-wi n record, his 88th victory coming at the site of his first win almost 20 years ago, in 1979. A night of rain had dela yed the start of the middle jew el of the Illinois Mot orcycle Dealers Association's triple cro wn. Wheel-packing brought the track in to w ha t appea red to be great s hape, but then, just as practice was abo ut to star t, another rainstorm hit and the event was pushed back even further. . Eventua ll y the tra ck was brou g ht ba ck, a nd the ra cin g go t und er wa y, albeit u nd er a time-saving format that would see the four hea ts transferring five rid ers directly in to the Na tional, wi th no semi s. (Above) Scott Parker (1) barely outran mentor Jay Springsteen (partially hidden) and Steve Morehead (42) bac k to the finish line for the win at the DuQuoin Mile. With that, Parker boosted his career tally to 88 Grand National wins. (Right) Parker (1), Will Davis (21)and Rich King (80) battled for the lead for much of the race before being ca ught by the pack. King finish ed fourth , Davis sev enth. Th e fast ov al's tw o ends developed com pletely differ ent lines, as turns one an d two wer e pretty mu ch d eep cus hion an d turns three and fou r were bl u egroo ved . Late in the main event, the first tw o turns developed a small groo ve, but no t exactl y a smooth one. Mu ch lik e he d id at th e Springfield race, the RC Tru cking / Bartels' HarleyDavidson-backed Springsteen mad e a late-race cha rge that fell jus t sho rt of the win . Springsteen also rod e this race with no brake. "I lost my brake the second or third lap," Springsteen said. . Sp ringsteen was faced with a rea l cha llenge , as he a ttem pted to work his way up from a 12th-pla ce start wi th no brake. "I got tangled up with Hacker off the starting line," Springsteen said. "I just sat there and spun the rear tire. Once I settled in, I knew I could start picking them off, because the bike was working really well. The only place I needed my brake was getting into turn th ree; because it wa s 50 narrow, everybody had to go in single file. I had to let u p early and let them get in so I could coast my way in. Going into tu rn one was n o prob lem because I could take a different line than the guys that were running tight." "We jumped out to an earl y lead , bu t there jus t was n ' t anything u p there in the middle o f th e corn er. It was bone dry where I wanted to be, (and) 1 sure wish they had put more wa ter on th e track," the "Findlay Flier" said. " It took a long time for me to figure out the bo ttom , becau se I hadn't been there all d ay. I just sa t back there and follow ed Cam.' lin around a n d we wai te d u n til th e groove d evelop ed , clea r down a t the bo ttom of one a nd two; then we were read y to go again. I just had to figu re the ra ce tr a ck out. Wh ile we were down th ere putrin ' a ro u n d on th e b ottom, there goes Sp ringer buzzin' aro u nd on

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