Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Round 13: Quad City Downs Bac k on t op: Scott Parker's absence fro m th e numbe r-o ne spot in the po ints race last ed just one race, as the eight-t ime and defending Grand Nat ional Champio n cap tured hi s 89th GNC vict ory at the Mississippi Valley Half Mil e in East Molin e, Illinoi s. By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Fotos EAST MOLINE, IL, AUG. 15 . had n't really gone a nywhe re , b ut afte r a midseason slump , cott Par ke r h a s once a gain moved to the top step of an AMA Grand National pod ium, and in the pr ocess he has retaken the lead in the American Motorcyclist Association' s Grand Nati onal Championship Se ri es p o in t stand ings. The Qu ad City D owns half mil e d e vel oped a unique combination o f groove and cu s hi on that resulted in so me wild handlebar-t o-h and lebar act ion , but as with most cu sh ion tra cks, dust was a major problem for rid ers in the back of the pa ck . After winning four out of the firs t six races ru n this year, the eig ht-time Grand ati onal Champion had gone wi nless in five tries and struggled at sev era l of the tracks - so mu ch so that what had earlier in the year looked to be an insurmountable po ints lead w as erased after the Joliet, Illinoi s, round. But the stars appear to have been properly realign ed for now, as the Harley-Davidson Mo tor Co ./ AGV / HOG-sp onsored Par ker hold s a narrow tw o -point lead over C o rb in Racing ' s Rich Kin g. Parker d om in ated the mai n event, leading all 25 laps. " I just wanted to hammer it an d get away ," Parker said . "I kn ew if I got a H ..... v: ;:l eo ;:l -c 12 bad holes hot, it would rea lly be bad . You would be ru nn ing in sornebod y's sp ray or something like that, then you' d be going through your tearoffs. I hoped to get away , far enough that those guys would have to struggl e to ca tch up. I knew the track would get worse toward the middle of the race. Then, toward the last few laps, it started ge tting fas ter and faster. It' s really tough, w he n yo u lead . that many laps, to keep yo u r act together. You start getting a little slop py . It' s like, 'Oh, be car eful, d on't do that , don 't do this. Keep it on tw o w hee ls, jus t hold it here, just hold it there.?' Parker's win propelled him to th e to p of the stand ings , and th at really w asn 't a shock to the former points leader, King, who finished a distant ninth. In fact, the Moline race marked the firs t time since an opening-round sixth-place fin ish in Daytona that King has finish ed outside the top five. "For me, it's harder to run ni nth here than it is to w in somew here else," King said. "I pr et ty mu ch knew a month ago tha t I w ou ld be struggli ng her e . Fo r some reason I just can' t get a hold on this s tu ff; I d on 't kn ow w ha t it is. I go out one tim e and I feel pret ty good, then I go ou t the next time and feel terrible. I don't ha ve a ny co ns is tency here. There has been more th an once th at I've led th e point sta nd ings com ing in to this race, just for a week - w in th e w eek before, then come here and ge t my ass kicked . Nobody sa id it was goi ng to be easy." Secon d place wen t to a su r p rised Will Da vis . Th e Tom Cumm in gs Racing / Mic hig an Harley-Da vid son Dea lers-s pons ored Will Davi s had forfeited his fro nt-row starting position by jumping o ve r th e s ta r ting lin e before the green light came on . "I wa s unhappy ," Davis sa id. " I guess I was as mad as yo u can ge t w he n I jumped that sta rt. I mea n, I jum ped - I do n't know why. I hate th at thing (the s ta r ti ng li g h t) so bad . I'd have be en ha ppy with a second from the front row. I can 't believe I go t second . I hon estly didn't know for a long time that I was in second. " Possibly Parker's greatest cha llen ge ended on the first lap, when fas t heat winner G eo Roeder fell in turn four w hile running second . Roed er w as up qu ickly and off the tra ck and no red flag came out. Wit h 16 rid ers hot on his tail w hen he fell, Roed er was for tunate that he w asn 't hit , but his night w as prematurely over. Th e KK Motorcycl e Supply / Mike & Eddie Adkins Racing /Win ches ter H arley -Da vid s on-ba ck ed Roed er' s lD-lap heat time was over four seco nds fas ter th an anyone else's . Par ker was seco nd in Roed er 's heat. Eventually Da vis worked his way to the front and fo r a short tim e it looked like it might bec om e a close race. "This ty pe of tr ack is not w ha t I'm normally goi ng to go fast on, and then I ge t put on the penalt y line;" Davi s said . "I've been ba ck th ere befor e here, and I tho ugh t, 'O h no, p eople a re go ing to cras h; I'm no t going to be able to see; I'm going to run ove r them.' I mean, man, I was scared . I guess my adrena line flow was so high (fro m jumping the start), I mad e some m oves tha t worked . I ke pt looking, once I passed those guys, and I co u ld see so mebody up the re; th en I s ta r ted catc hing who ever it was . I thought , 'Man, tha t's Scotty - I wonde r if he's leading this thing.' I kept tryi ng to look up the track, an d I d idn't see anyone in fro nt of him. I figu red Roed er wo uld be up fron t, but he would have had to be a full strai ght ahead. I thought, 'H ell, he's (Parker) lead ing the race, and I'm in sec~ o nd place.' I could te ll I was actually gaining on him. I closed a quarter to half a stra ightaway in six laps . Then the header pipe blew ou t. I looked down and it looked like it jus t broke in half." Harley-Da vidson of Missouri/Dave Burks Racing's Joe Kopp also battled his way to the fro n t an d finished a so lid third after climbing as high as second . "Last week we didn't have much of a week;" Kopp said. "This w as m uch better, but it cou ld have been bett er yet. I was p retty much com mi tted to ride the high line. I had a rea l tall gear on. I had a' goo d li ne in on e and tw o, but it was ro ugher th an a cob the last half of th e race. It was still working, but I ha d to hang on. You had to ru n it into the turns so hard; I could do it ea rly in the race, but I started ge tti ng a little tired . Carl Patrick has been working on our en gines and it' s starting to come together." Ja y Springsteen is quietly putting to geth er a very solid yea r, and a fte r struggling early in the night, he stormed .to a fou rth-place fini sh . Th e RC Tru cking /Bartels H arley-David son-backed Spring steen came off th e third row to w ork his w ay to the fron t. "Before th e race started I wa s standing there with Morehead, a nd Da ve y CamIin (the ev ent's promoter ) cam e up and sa id, 'Top five com e up to the podium after th e race;''' Springsteen sa id. "I said, 'From back w he re I'm starting at, I'd be happy w ith fifth .' Wh at d o you know? I go t fourth, and I wa s closing on Joe (Kopp), I told him that one more lap , and I would have had him , too." H oldin g on, lit erally, for fift h was USC Racin g / Lanca st er H arley-Davidso n / Do dg e Brothers' Dan Butler , who had been fast right ou t of the van, was, fast qualifyin g h eat winn er a n d w as clos ing on Parker in the National w hen things w ent awry. "The engine we nt so u r on us. It just started going away. It dro pped a cylinder ;" Butler sai d . "It was look ing good . We had Scotty in o ur sig hts . I had a grea t line coming ou t of two. We started coming a fter him rea lly good. The throt-

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