Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND N N L ATIO A C HAMPIONSHIP SERIES Round 10: PMC Race Park Will Davis (21) fi ni shed seventh after charg ing th ou gh th e pack fr om hi s bac krow st art. Fay got a surp rise holeshot when the race was rest arted and Parker ran second while Carr wa s third . Fay led the first lap , with the ord er up front remaining the sam e until Carr sh ot around the . ou tsid e of both Parker and Fay in turn two , rode up the grass emba nkmen t and back down in front of them to set up for the jump. "I sa w Parker d o that off four, so why co u ld n ' t 1 tr y it? " Carr sa id. " I wanted to get up there and dictate the p ace - not be dicta ted to . Getting the earl y lead was very import ant. That's how I' ve won mos t of my races here. I think that I've on ly com e from be hind once." to set fast time and earn the pole for the main e ve n t. Fa y, Aupperle Ra cin g / Engines Onl y' s John H1ebo III and USC Racing / Lancaster H-D /Dodge Brother's Bryan Bigelow a ll ran nos e t o tail , attempting to sort out the last tw o direct tr an sfer s po ts . Befor e it w as a ll over, Parker would be all alone on the front s trai gh ta w ay as he took the win . Fay took second , and Hlebo held off Bigelow by a w heel length for the third spot. For all Parker' s efforts, his time wa s seco nd fastest, ringing in at four minutes, 38.190 seconds. "Ain't no big d eal," Parker said . "The ma in even t w ill tell the tru th . We s till gotta go for 25 laps. I felt good. I backed off on the ju mp a little. I was hitting it hard in practice, bu t now it's time to race." But wha t was up with mowing the lawn off turn fou r, w he n he mad e his pass for the lead ? " If you find so me thing tha t works, you use it, righ t?" SEMIS Kevin Varnes grabbed the holesho t in the firs t of three eig ht-lap semis and ap peared to ha ve the race w ell in the bag before hi s Ro ta x s p ut tered to a ha lt down th e fro nt s traightaway on lap eight. Varnes' exit created a dogfigh t for the two tr a n sfe r spo rts , as secon d t h roug h fo urt h were b e in g ho tly co ntes ted amo ng Adams Ra cing /Eas t Side Liq uors ' Charlie Orr, Harl ey-D a vid son of Dallas' PDC Racing 's Willi e McCoy, and John ny Murp hree . Or r an d M cC o y m ad e it throu gh in th e firs t tw o s po ts, w h ile Murphree was done for the d ay. Bigelow wa s the man to beat in the second semi, as he grabbed the holeshot and moved to the head of the pack, wi th Paul Iwanaga, Steve Mayf ield and Bret Beyer behind him. But as Bigelow raced away from the field to the win , the second through fourth places changed considerably . When it was all over, Mayfield Brokerage / Ara i /Hap Jones Dis t ributing's Mayfield managed to hold off Dan Butler and J.R. Schnabel for the last transfer spot. BEER NUTS CHALLENGE The eight fas tes t nonquali fiers also go t the chance to p ick up a littl e extra cash in the five-lap And y Tresse r Dash For Life , so nam ed in me mory of th e lat e pri vateer w ho claimed h is only Grand National win at the Peori a TT in 1996. Schmulba ch Ra cin g ' s John n y Murphree grabbed the lead at the start and led the entire d istance, as Dan Butler and Shaun Russell attempted to run Murphree down from second and third , respectivel y. Butler missed the groove in turn one, allowing Russell a chance a t his fo rmer Bartels' H-D teammat e, but Murp hr ee would not be d enied. Afterward, Murphree took the checker flag and ran a "P olish v ictory lap" in Tresse r's honor. "No rmally , I'd be bouncin g off the wa lls after a win like tha t," a sombe rlookin g Murphree sai d. "Bu t this one was reall y impo rta nt for me. Unfo rtu nately, we d idn't get to make the main , but I guess th is is th e reason for that. Andy was real special to me. He helped me ou t a lot when 1 first sta rted racing min ibikes, and I was fortu nate enoug h to ge t the chance to race agai nst him for just a little while when I got older. He was real special to us guys on the West Coast, and I know that he was also to a lot of peopl e he re in Peoria . Thanks, Andy. I miss you, bud dy." GRAND NATIONAL With th e Grand Na tional roster se t an d the introd uctions made , Carr, Parker, Fay, Coolbet h, Sta n ley an d Ko pp lined up on the fron t row, but tha t all changed w he n both Stanley a nd Coolbeth were set back for jumping the start. Carr got the holeshot, with Parker and Kopp in tw o, when the pack screamed off the line to start the show, but all was brought to a halt w hen Bigelow locked bars with another rider on the approach to the jump, hit the dirt and appeared to be run ov er by mo re than o ne rid er . Davis and Coolbeth were also caught up in the incident. Both of them would make the restar t, but Bigelow was tran spo rted to St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where he wa s trea ted for a di slocated should er.and released . II didn' t take long befo re the telltale signs of a Ca rr ru n away b egan to fall in to place. There was Carr 's icy precision, mad e all the more conspicuous when co ntras ted with Parker's devilma y-care charging that looked spectacular but resulted in lost time due to small mistakes that quickly ad ded up . By lap three, the su m of those mistakes equated to seven lengths for Carr. "I do n' t know what th e lap tim es were," Ca rr said, "bu t th e key here is consistency. Th is place will bite yo u, even when it' s in good shape like it was today." "Chris knew he had to get in front, " said Parker, who was some wha t able to maintain Carr's early pace but wh o then dropped back. "He's fast here. That' s all I can say . I don't think he's that fast, but obvio us ly he is." In th e meantime, Davis came from the back row and wo rked his way up to seve nth as he chased H1ebo around the tra ck . For the No rth Carolin ian, who h ad a lr ea dy b e en ca ug h t up in o n e crash, seve n th would be good enou gh today. "(Seventh is ) not too bad and (it ) cou ld have been worse, " Da vis said . "We sat on the pole here last year, and thi s y ea r w e cras he d . Bige low mus t have hooked bars with someone... Next thing 1 know , 1 feel like I'm bein g torn a pa rt in eig h t different direct ion s . 1 gu ess Coolbeth hit me. But after th at crash we put all so rts of new stu ff on, a nd I didn't kn ow wh at it w as go nna d o. If 1 cou ld get by them, I cou ld get away from them ." Hlebo was even happier with sixth. "That will work for me," he said . "I got off pretty good , and I was hangin' in there, but my brakes faded a little bit. I race downhill mounta in bikes, too, so my legs were in good s hape, but m y arms pu mped u p. Still, Fra nk (Nye) at Engines Only go t my engine wo rking good . 1 weigh 180 pounds, so I nee d a little more help than these guys. Also, Joe Carrera an d Pau l Iwa naga have been so helpful to m e. Wi thou t th em , I could n't have d one this." King and Sta nley man aged to slice and d ice their way throu gh the pack to la nd on Fay' s rear w hee l by lap fou r. The 40-year-old Fay yielded to both less than a lap later, and he dropped back in the stand ings, landing a creditable 10th. "Hey, I led the thing for a lap, an yway, didn't I?" Fay said wh ile ad mitting tha t he was getting a litt le older and was not quite as strong as h e used to be. "Bu t we were out ther e racin g against guys that run $5000 heads and sluff like that. We cou ldn't run wi th them eve n if I wa s young and stro ng ." As Carr extended his lead on Parke r, the best race on the race track - the ba ttle for third - intensified w hen bot h King and Stanley displaced Kopp on lap nine. Stanley dived underneath Kopp in turn one, and King pulled the trigger and thumped past the defending even t champ down th e front stra igh ta wa y. The moves served to seri ously motivate Kopp, something th at wasn 't lost on Stanley. ."Did Joe pick up the pa ce after that or what?" Stanley sa id. "I cou ld hea r him back there, and I fell him stick a wheel in on me. But that 's great. Joe and I are rivals. Whenever I'm on the track and he's ahead of me, I try my hardest to beat him, and 1 know he's the same w ay ab out me. It su re looks good for Washi ngton dirt track." If Parker had any chance of winning the ra ce, it was all bu t erased w hen starter Steve Faraci showed the field the five-lap sign. By then, Carr had almost a half-s tra ig h taway le ad ove r him . There's no telling how the pe rformance of Parker' s motorcycle might have been affecting him on the race track, but it sure let him know that it wa s tired, as it g a v e up on th e fi nal ru n down the straightaway. "That's okay," Parker said. "I ran 23 laps before 1 gave up. I knew I couldn't win it, so it wa s just like, 'Okay, finish.' Bill built a bike that cou ld do that. You know, if 1 ever get the holeshot her e and lead over the jump, I'll probably just run past the corner on the ot her end. Maybe if I were going to win this one, then 1 probably would ha ve done it eigh t years ago. Chris just goes faster than 1 do at this one. But 1ain't quittin' next year." And as Carr flashed across the stripe to the cheer of the crowd - missiona ccom p li s h ed - h e said that he w as already thinking about next year. "I don't have a ny mo re to prove to m yself o r an yone els e at this race I track," Carr said. "Th e pressure is on them to beat me. But it's gon na be nice to get good sleep again for the next 51 0 weeks." PMC Race Park Peoria, Ill ino is Resu lts: August 2, 1998 (Rou nd 10 of 19) HEAT 1 00 la ps; 12 ride rs, top th ree tra ns fer}: 1. Dan Stanley (H-D); 2. Rich King (CCM); 3. Jeff Anne n (W-R); 4. Ja ime Aguila r (Rtx): 5. Dan Butler (Rtx): 6. Willie McCoy (ATKJ; 7. Dave Hebb (H- D); 9. Michelle DiSalvo (W· R); 10. Verdeen Langla nd (Ho n): 11. Ronnie Jones (A TIC); 12. Steven Gill (W· R). Time: No tim e, due to restart. HEAT 2 (10 lap s; 12. riders , lop three transfer): 1. Kenny Ccolbeth (W· R); 2. Mar c Gifford (W -R); 3. Mike Hacker (Rtx): 4. Paul Morgan III (AT K); 5. Lonny KOPF (Rtx); 6. Pa ul Bergstrom (ATIC); 7. Steve Morehead (Rtx); 8. Scott Deubl er (w-R ); 9. Frank Kaiser (W·R ); 10. Brett Landes (ATK ); 11. Ga ry Rogers (Rtx) ; 12. Pat Behrle ( Rtx). Time: 4 min.• 44.980 sec. HEAT 3 00 laps; 12 rid ers . top thr ee tra nsfer) : 1. Chris Carr (A TK) ; 2. JOt." Ko pp (KT M); 3. Will Da vi s (A TI() ; 4. Cha rlie Orr (ATK); S. Bret Beyer (Rtx); 6. Bill y Martin (Rtx): 7. J.P. Simo nse n (Rtx): 8. Paul Iwanaga (Rtx); 9. ja son Tyer (Rn); 10. Eric Rickman (W-R); 11. Mar ro More llo (Rtx) : 12. Cerrv Boohe r (W-R). HEAT 4 0 0 laps; 12 riders. top three transfer): l. Scott Parke r (H-D); 2. Mickey Fav (Rtx); 3. John Hlcbo III (W· R); 7. J.R. Schna bel (W-R); 8. Kevin Varn es (Rtx); 9. Jos h Butler (Rtx); 10. Steve Mayfield (W-R); 11. Scott Stevens (Rtx); 12. Donnie Stew ard (ATK). Time: 4 min.• 38 .190 sec . S EM I 1 (8 laps ; 12 riders. to p tw o tra ns fe r): 1. Cha rlie O rr (ATK); 2. Willie McCoy (ATK); 3. Johnny Murphree (Rtx); 4. J.P. Simo nsen (Rtx); 5. Lonny Kopp (Rtx): 6. Sco tt Stevens (Rtx); 7. Sco tt De ubler (W- R); S. Eric Rickn....m (Rtx): 9. Gary Rogers (Rtx): to. Michelle DiSa lv o (W-R); 11. Ke vin Va rnes (Rtx); 12. Steve Gill (W·R). Time: 3 min., 49.429 sec. SEM I 2 (S la ps; 12 riders, top tw o tran sfer): 1. Bryan Bige low (ATK); 2. Stev e May field (W· R); 3. Dan But ler (Rt x): 4 . }.R. Schnabel (W- R); 5. Paul lwanaga (Rtx): b. Pa u l Bergs t ro m (ATK); 7. Ronn ie jo nes (AT K); 8. Brct Beyer (Rtx); 9. Frank Kaiser (W~ R); 10. Pat Behrle (Rtx); t 1. Gc ra my Rack ley (W-R); 12. Mar co Morello IRtx). Time: 3 min .• 48.97Q sec . SEM I 3 (8 laps; 12 rid ers , ttl? two tran sfer ): 1. Jos h Butler (Rtx); 2. Steve Morehead (Rtx): 3. Shaun Russell (W· R); 4. Billy Marti n (Rtx); 5. Jaim e Agui la r (Rtx); 6. Jaso n Tyer (Rt x): 7. Donnie Ste wa rd (AT K); 8. Da ve Hebb (H- D) ; 9. Ve rdeen Lan g la nd (H e n): 10. Pau l Mor gan III (ATK); 11. Brett Landes (ATK); 12. Gerry Booher (W· R). Timer 3 min ., 5O.680~. GRAND NATIONA L (lSla ps . 18 ri ders): I . C hri s Carr (ATK); 2. Scott Pa r ker (H · D); 3. Dan Sta nley (H· D); 4. Joe Kopp (KTM ); 5. Rich Kin g

• Cover