Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127958
DIRT TRACK AMA G ANDNATIO AL R N IP C AMPIONSH SERIES H Round 14: Hagerstown Speedway was gonna be one of them nights. We've been going good all along. It's just that we've been havin g (mecha nica l) p roblems , and I'm still get ting used to these new (J&M Racing) fra mes. We were fast at Molin e, too, and then we broke. But if we can kee p 'em togeth er, we're gonna go faster yet." Birthday boy Steve Mor eh ead gave himself a presen t of so rts by co mi ng home in th ird pla ce, posting h is b est finish of the season. The now-43-yearold ve te ra n pro ved th at he s t ill ha s what it takes as lon g as he can get his new F&S Harl ey-Davidson /KK / Shepherd & Dra goo-b acked equipment sorted out, and a ppare ntly he and mech anic Dennis Town hit on a go od co m bination a t H-town . Morehead s ta r te d four th and then ran d own series cha mpion Scott Parker to take ov er the th ird spot at about the same time that Davis got by Varnes. Morehead then cru ised away fro m Parker a nd clicked off the rest of his laps by running around 20 to 25 length s behind Varn es - an d that with a rear tire that was go ing d own. Wh en Morehead pull ed into Victory Ci rcle, the rea r tread was co m ple tely deflated . " Look a t t h a t," M or eh e ad sai d, pointin g to the rear w hee l. "Well, fina lly we got some o f that good luck that I've hea rd everyone else tal king abo ut. Th e motorcycle's been good all yea r lon g; we just haven't had th in gs fall our way. We've got a slightly different frame setup than anyone else, and it's taking us a little lo nger to dial it in. The o nly other change that I made is that 1 just took the family on vaca tion for a week instead of d raggin' 'em to a race tra ck . It was a n ice b reak, a nd whe n we came back, we wan t ed to race." You ng hot rod N icky Hayden came to Hagerstown wa nting to race as well, a nd it s howed. The l e-vea r-old Kentu ck y rid er started the ra ce six th after coming fro m row two and then used a By Scott Rousseau Pho tos by Flat Trak Fotos ' 10 HAGERSTOWN, MD, AUG. ~ t's ge tting close to cru nch tim e, and after the 18th annua l Hub City Classic Grand National at Ha ger st own Speedway, Will Davis is back in a position to d o so me cru nching of his own. In a bansheelik e charge, the 33-yearold North Ca ro linian from Gold sb oro has va ulted himself back int o contention after bein g as fa r as 20 poi nts off the lead pace in the AMA Gra nd Na tio na l Cha mpions hip ti t le ra ce just a few ro unds ago. Yet, on Frank Plessin ger' s d am p-but-sli ck, technical, se mi bank ed half mile, Davis' cha rge to victory was anything bu t fra ntic. He look ed smooth on h is Tom C u m mi ngs- tu ned TCR / Mi ch ig a n Harley-Davidson Dea lers Associa tion XR750, surviving one heck of a traffic jam in the first tu rn to run seco nd off turn two. From there, Davis meth odi call y ran d o wn ea rly lead er Kevin Varnes befor e making th e w inning move on the low side of turns thr ee a nd four on lap 10. After tha t, Da vis smoo th ly pulled away from Varn es , amassi ng as much as a 20-length lead on Varn es at the finish of what was a follow-the-leader affair. In doing so, Davis served not ice to title rivals Scott Parker, Rich King and Chri s Carr that he is not go ing to roll over and play dead - not by a long shot. "I hear" tha t," Davis sa id. "I a m so pumped . Th e onl y th in g is that I wi sh that my mom woul d have bee n her e to see this. She comes to see this one pretty near every year, but she's home sick. I'd like to hav e had her here. "But we didn't chan ge a thin g on ou r mo torcycle all night," Davis continued . "So meti m es th at makes me nerv ou s, beca use it feels so good, but you 're wond ering w he the r o r no t yo u should be looki ng to ch a nge it so th at yo u ca n maybe pick op a tent h of a seco nd here or there. But it was per fect." W hile no t quit e p er fe ct, Va rnes looked to be faster than he has bee n all season as he ham mered aro und the race track that gave him his first AMA Grand National wi n, in 1995. All has not been rosy wit h the Rose Racing rider's eq uipment of late, as one XR750 after another has go ne down wi th mechanical gremli ns. Bu t Va rnes' Ch ico Bednar /Ba rr y Krill -p rep p ed m ach ine was up to th e task toni ght. And so, it a ppea red , was Varnes, as he se t fast time in his heat race and then grabbed the holeshot after pickin g his starting position on the mid dl e of the fro nt ro w. Th e 24- yea r-o ld Pennsylvanian tried to ge t aw ay , but Davi s re e led him in. Th ough he los t ground Davis throughout the rest of the race, Varnes had more than enoug h on the res t of the field , and he went on to score his best finish of the '98 season . " It need ed to be ab out 10 d egrees h ott ~r than it w a s o u t there ; th e n I wo uld have won," Varn es joked in reference to his '95 victory, which came in near-100-de gree heat. "I really thought it (Left) Will Davis strengthened his position in th e AMA Grand National Champ ionship Ser ies po ints rac e with a convincing win at the 18th annual Hub City Classic Grand National at Hagerstown Speedway. (Below) Kev in Varnes, who won the event in 1995, led for much of the race and ultimately finis hed second.