Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

th e ou tside. That was just too cool. Late in the race , you hate to try and move up there like that, because yo u do n' t thi nk y ou have a ny tire left . You run off in there an d hit those marbles and it jus t skates off." Once again, Rich King put in a soli d ride on the Co rbi n Racin g Honda, bu t a no ther fou rt h - p lace fi nish was n ot w ha t King was hoping for. "We were rig ht in the hu n t; in fact, I was hold ing back early, trying to save my tire," King sai d . "Then at the end I jus t didn't hav e eno ugh to go with them . I go t to draftin g ba ck and forth and then , when Park er got out fro nt, I cou ld run with him, bu t I just couldn't seem to get b y. Th en M oreh ead draft ed b y and Springe r drafted by. There's no excuses I just got fo u rth . There was nothing I co uld d o w ith them . We su re tried. I jus t ca me up a little short. It's getting to be ki nd of a broken record. I'm a little disappoin ted. I re a ll y th o u g h t w e had some thing there. Lik e most m iles I've run, lthink I'v e go t it figu red out; Then tow ards the end ... I d on 't know." Team Saddlemen /1 -80D-FASTHOG's Dave Camlin was in the thick of the battle, but fa tigue on th e hot humid day slo wed the 1994 and '95 winner. "The bik e felt stro ng, bu t with about six laps to go m y tongu e was ha nging out the hel met," Camlin sa id . "I don' t know if it's mental o r w hat. I d on ' t ge t it. I've never been like tha t. I don' t kn ow if something is wrong with me o r what. I'm just thankful we got through it and g o t fifth . Will Davis and I a re on th e sa me training program. I'm changing." Davis fared even worse, leading until lap 12 before Parker took over for two laps. T he Tom Cummin g s Racin g / M ich ig an Harl e y-David son Dealers Associa tio n-backe d o r th Carolinian wa s back on top for the last time on the 15th lap , but brutal arm cramps almos t bro ug ht Davis to a halt. "The last ei ght o r ni ne laps, I ju st could n' t hold th e gas on ," Davis said. "I tried to ge t it w ide ope n and wedge my hand up; I just could n' t do it. My hand ju s t quit worki ng . On ce my arm pu mped up, th e wrist won' t turn a nd my finge rs w ent num b. I sta rted racing w ith Rich ; th en that's a bo ut th e time I s tar ted to feel m y arm l ig h te n up . I could n' t grip th e thro ttle tigh t eno ugh to ho ld it o pen down the straigh ta ways . The vibra tio n would just sp in it closed in my hand . A ll I coul d do go ing int o th e co rners wa s just let it go; then I'd have to try and ge t back and ge t a grip to ge t throu gh th e turn. You just ca n' t ride like tha t." A last-lap ga mble failed to pay off for Sac ra me nto Harley-D avid son /Phoenix Racing's Chris Carr, as he finished sixth, the last rider in th e lea d d raft. " A t th e e n d we cau g ht th e lead g ro u p, but I tried to go around on th e o u ts ide a nd lost o ne p o sition ," Carr sa id . "I wasn 't goi ng to wi n from fift h. The tr ack had dried o ut, and I didn't h a ve n ear as mu ch ti re o n the rear w hee l. It jus t w asn 't working up there." Aft er th e Grand National was ov er , the Harley-Davidson Sports ter Performance Series took to the track. Da rkness was fast approaching as Miller Electric /Las Vegas Harley-Davidson /Reeder Ha rley-Davidson's Jess Roeder took hi s secon d consecutive Nationa l wi n . Defending series champion Dave Camlin wa s a close second on his Tea m Saddl em en /1 -8 00 -FASTHOG Spor tster , a fter th e two touched in turn three o n the last lap. Roeder apologi zed o n the podium, and it went down as a racing incident. DPC Racing /Tilley HarleyDavidson's Willie McCoy was third. (Right) Third-p lace fin isher Morehead dices with tw o-ti me DuQuoin Mile winner Dave Camlln, who fin ished fift h. (Below) Com ing back around: Mike Hacker bagged another top10 fin ish at DuQuoin, plac ing ninth , and appears to be gaining speed and consistency with each pas sing week . ing /Lancast er Harley-Davidson' s Dan Butler, 1-80Q-FAST-HOG-backed / Team Saddlemen Mike Ha cke r, Fred Schmulbach Ra ci n g' s Johnny Murphree and S&B Racing's Bret Beyer. :.1u rp hree fell just off the pace, leaving five rider s to battle over four transfer slots . Wh en the five exited turn fou r on the la st lap, Beyer slowed drastically with a flat rear tire . Poove y ga r n e red seco nd over Hacker , Butl er and Roed er . Th e G rand N ational field was now set. HEATS Steve Morehead was very impressive as he jumped ou t on to turn one 's cushion and pulled to a hu ge lead In the first heat. Th e O hio ve tera n wa s never cha llenged as he left Dave Ca mlin to battle wit h Scott Parker, w ho ca me from mid pack to take seco nd by th e third lap . Ca mli n d id n' t fold a nd kept the p res su re on the cham p u ntil the end . Gard ner Racing /Walte rs Brothers Ha rley- Davi dson' s Da n Stanley rod e to a lo nely fo urth, but th e battl e for th e fina l tra ns fer s p o t went dow n to the wi re. Team Powell /Van Beek HarleyDavid son 'sj.R, Schnabel ran as high as thi rd ea rly , only to d rop off the pace and into a battle w ith Dale Jen neman. Mike Varnes looked to be on his way into th e Nationa l when th e [e nne rna nSch nabel conflict caug ht u p to him wit h just tw o laps left. When the trio exited turn fo ur for th e la st tim e, Jennema n slipped high off the groo\'e, sea ling his fate . Schnabel proceeded to se nd Varnes back to his va n by gra bbi ng fifth . Th e seco nd h eat fe a tu re d a mu ch clos er race for th e lead, as j ay Sp ring s tee n and Mi ssouri Harley-Dav id son / Dave Burks ' Motorsports' Jo e Kopp raced for th e lead . Th ey we re soon join ed by Rich Kin g and Styl ema st er Custom Motorcycles-backed Steve Beatti e. Kin g a nd Sp rings teen separated th emse lv es somew hat fro m th e res t. Kopp faded with brake problems, w hile Brett Landes and his Audiovox /Quaker Sta te /Dona h ue Harley sliced th ro ug h the field . King would edge Springsteen, with Landes p ulli ng down third . Des pite his locking brake, Kopp was able to hold o n to fourth over Beattie. Ro se Ra cin g /Scha effer' s H arl e y Da v id s o ns Ke vin Varnes go t t h e ho lesh ot in the third heat, bu t C h ris Ca rr rocket ed by and led a t th e end of t h e fi rs t la p . Th e y were th re e wid e th rou gh turns one and two, as Carr held off C hris Eva ns, Varnes, Paul Mo rgan III, Brya n Bigelow, Ken ny Coolbe th and Paul Bergs tro m. The o nly red flag of th e d ay w ou ld come o ut o n lap th ree . Ga ry Ro g ers wou ld exp lode the hay ba les in turn thr ee, but he was qu ickly up and pushin g h is bik e ba ck. H is Cor bi n Racin g team was able to rep lace his bad ly bent front whee l, and Ro gers m a d e the restart. C a rr pi ck ed ri ght up w he re he left off, leadi ng Varnes, Bigelow, Evans and Coolbeth. Qu ickl y, th e pac k reeled in Carr a nd on lap seven Ca rr was re placed at th e f ro n t by M is s o u r i H a rley-David son /Dave Bu rk s' Motorspo rts' Coolbe th. Th e next lap fo u nd Varnes leading Cozia h r H arley-David son ' s Morgan , w ho had a ppeared fro m mid pack. Ca rr was all th e way back to fifth with just tw o laps left. Morgan would lead USC Racin g /Lancaster Harley-David son' s Bigelow as the field started the last lap. Carr regrouped in tim e to take the win o ve r Morgan , Bigelow , Coolbeth and Varnes. Last week's big winne r, C eo Roed er II, led the 'last heat in to turn one, bu t Will Davis went bv like a sho t. Davis then proceeded to run away fro m everyone as he po sted the second- fastest heat to Morehead's . The race for second was remarkable. KK Motorcycle Supply /Mike & Eddie Adkins-backed Roed er was jo ined by USC Racing' Terry Poovey, USC Ra~- GRAND NATIONAL Terry Poo vey got the holeshot on his new Ho nda, with Ca rr, Mo rehead, Parker and King rig ht behind. Poo vey held the lea d at the end of th e first lap, but Morehead was looking to blitz the field , as he had d one in his heat. Ho wever, as Morehead's fav ored line w ent away, he faded back to fifth before his lat e-race resurgen ce . Davis slip ped und er Morehead a s th ev s ta rted th e sixth la p . Da vi s left Moreh ead to fend off a heated cha llenge from Rich Kin g, wh o reac hed seco n d a n d was right behind Davi s be for e appearing to reach a performance plateau. "The lines chang ed as the race we nt o n," Kin g sa id . "Three and four w ere. always the sa me, ma ybe fast er. It got easier to ge t th ro ugh there . One a nd tw o wen t from a cus hio n to a groove. I w ish the track w ould have stayed; I was ge tting arou nd p retty good early. I think the track came to evervbodv else, bu t I ju st didn't have enough for -them at the end ." Parker began his trip to the front on about lap seven, af ter he pa tiently wa ited for the tra ck to come to him. " It was an u n usua l race - norma lly you don' t see tha t ma ny g uys dancing arou nd like th at ," Parker sai d . "Tu rn s three and four we re like a road race ; and one and tw o - yo u ha d to dan ce through the re. Everyo ne was u sing the sa me line off turn tw o, but so me were high a nd o thers low in to the turn. You cou ld be reall y fast to tha t point, and it was like, ' A ll ri ght, I' m go in g to ge t ' em, I'm going to get 'em: then they were co ming with so much momentum that yo u had to shut off. One of yo u had to go , 'Oh no , it 's the oth er gu y 's chan ce here.:" By th e 10th la p, Pa rker wa s testing the w at ers wit h Davi s an d King, o nly to drop back a little fo r a co u ple of laps . Parker blasted in to th e lead o n lap 13, on ly to have both Davi s and King regain their posi tions on lap 15. O ne la p la ter, Parker wrestled the lead back once more. Davis' arm p roblems were pushing him o u t of con tention, and first Springsteen and then ther esurgent Morehead go t by King . With five la ps to go, th e lead pack , 15

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