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
(Above) Number 42 Is 43: Steve Mor ehead celebrated his birthday In fine style, with a thlrdplace fin ish. Morehead's development work on his new single-shock chassis appears to be pay ing off . (Right) The kid and the king: Rookie rider Nicky Hayden (69C) battled with defending series champion Scott Parker (1) for several laps before taking the fourth spot away fr om Parker. higher line than anyone else to pull to the back wheel of Parker around lap 13. The pa ir engaged in a duel that lasted about five laps, as they often ran side by sid e down the back stretc h , w it h th e TCR / Mich igan Harl ey-Da vid son Dealers-sponso red Hayd en on the ou tsi de and Pa rker o n the insid e. Bu t Hayd en finally got aro u nd Parker in tu rn s one and two on lap 19 and held fourth to the finish, once aga in proving tha t he is perhaps on e of the finest all-around you ng motorcyclists to appear on the hori zon in the last decade. "Tha t felt good for su re," Hayd en sa id . "I wa s just hu nti ng for th e moistu re, a nd 1 found so me up top. I w as strugglin g before the at ional, but Tom Cummin gs and Jam e s Hart worked hard a ll night, and it paid off. I really gotta thank those gu ys. Thi s is just m y firs t year, and I' m still trying to figure out what works for me . And thev' re a big help with that. . "A nd the n to see that Morehead go t that flat tire, and to realize tha t I cou lda got on the box -" Hayd en ad ded . "Oh we ll, I had fun." . Tea m Ha rley- Davidson / HaG 's Pa r ke r rode well a nd fi n is h e d in a points-lead- maintain ing fifth place after starting third. Save for bein g passed by Morehead and the di ce that he had with H a yd e n , the eight-time ch a m p io n appeared to be in cruise mode on a track that has rewarded him and smitten hi m about eq ually. But whatever the ga me plan was , it wo rked, as Park er retained th e se ries lead a nd ac tually pi cked up tw o po in ts on closes t foll ower Rich Kin g, w ho fin is he d seven th , one s pot beh ind Chris Carr. "1 was goi ng good to nig ht, " Pa rke r said. " We just got a g ood holes h ot. Nicky came up there lat er, and I tried to g et awa y from him, but he just kept pok in' it in the re, and he go t around me. But this was a good weekend for us. We gained points, and it turned out okay. I can 't wait for them miles - that' s all I'm gonna say." The battl e for the cha m p ions hip is shaping up to be the best one in yea rs, as th ree rid er s still ha ve a truly legitimate s ho t at dethroning Pa rker. Th e cha m p lead s th e s ta n d ings wi th 211 , w hile King sits seco nd with 207. Dav is has now jum ped to third with 202, and Ca rr is still only 11 points out of the lead with 200. HEATS The Hagerstown field was light in the entry department, as some 43 rid ers s howed u p to do battle. Tw o of th em were on ou td ated, Triumph-powered mac hines . No netheless, Varnes was first . and fas test off th e lin e in the opening he at race, as Corbin Ra cin g / Supertrapp's King and Team Undo/ Donahue H-D' s Brett Landes chas ed him around the track in the on ly other two transfer spo ts, while White' s H-D 's Mike Varn es attem p ted to hold off returnin g veteran Terry Poovey, Dale [ennernan and John Nickens lII, among othe rs . Up fro nt, Varne s held a steady threeor four-bike-len gt h lead over King, who ra n high and low in a vain effort to find the proper drive off the turns and catch > the lead er. But the so ng remained th e same to the end, with Varnes taking the win over King. Landes fell off the lead pa ce bu t was fast e noug h to remain third and th u s transfer directly ou t of the heatrace. "I felt fast ," Varn es said. "I fe lt as when 1 wo n it (the '95 race), excep t it' s not as hot ou t. We ju st ha ve to ge t a good h o le s h ot a n d b e co nsis te n tly smoo th. We'll see what happen s." Friendly riva ls Davis and Mor ehead go t a grea t jum p off the line in heat two, w hile Adkins Ra cin g / Win ch est e r Harley-Da vidson /KK' s Ge o Roed er II got an abso lu te flier off row two to join th em u p fron t. Mo reh ead a nd Da vid quickly left Roed er beh in d , how ever , a nd com menced to ba ttle for the lead , with Davis d iv ing u nder More he ad to take co ntro l off turn four on lap two . In the meantime, Carr got his Ken ny Tolbert -wren ch ed H -D of Sacra men to / Ph oenix Racin g XR up to s peed a nd began to d og Roed er. Wh en Ca rr pulled past Roed er down the back chu te on lap six , the top three we re set, with Da vis tak ing the top spo t. "Yea h," said Da vis, who consu lted with his crew and elected to leave his motorcycle alone for the fea ture, "bu t Varnes posted the fastest heat race, so that shou ld make it in teresting for the main event." USC Racin g / Lancaster H-D/Dodge Brot hers-backed Dan Butler and Parker engaged in perhaps the best clash in the heat races, wh en th e duo squared off. Butle r got the holesh ot , with Pa rke r in tow, while Ha yd en got off the line third and pulled cle an ly away from H-D of Missouri /Burks Mot or sports' Joe Kopp and Bartels' H-D' s Sha un Russell. Parker turn ed up t he w ick a nd cha rged und erneath as th e pai r thund ered off tu rn two on the fourth lap . Butler kep t Pa rker in sig ht, but there was nothing he could do to retaliate. Park er too k the w in, with Butler sec on d . Hayden wa s third and in the big show. "Bu tler was having his p robl ems in the middle of one and two," Parker sa id . "He hi t a ho le one time an d was upsetting the bike, and it was screwing h im up. He d id it one lap , and the n he didn't d o it th e next lap . And th en he did it aga in , and I th ou ght, 'Hey, here' s m y cha nce.'" H eat fo u r was a ll Jay Sp rings teen fro m s ta rt to fi n is h . Th e Bart els ' HD / RC Tru ck ing- ba ck ed thre e -t im e G rand National Champion p u t on a solid di spl ay of rid ing as he easily got rid of his pursuers, whi ch included USC Racing /Lancaster H-D / Dod ge Brothers' Bryan Bigelow, Gardner Raci ng / W,!lter s Brot hers H-D's Dan Stanley and H arley-Da v idson of Missouri / Burks Mot orsports' Ken ny Coolbeth. Sp ri ng steen had a lead of more than 25 lengths on second-placed Bigelow at the finish, while Coo lbet h esca ped the clu tches of Co ziahr Ha rley-Da vid son ' s Paul Morgan 1II for third after Stanl ey slippe d off the groove and ou t of contention for the last transfer spot. "I ju s t go t a good s ta rt," Sp ri nger said . "1 figu red I was going to do good in the main. The race track is rea lly nice. It' s a lot better th a n it has ever been. You can actually get tracti on ou t there." SEMIS Corbin Racing's Gary Rogers made the biggest splash in the first of the thr ee eigh t-lap semis , al tho ugh no t necessa rily in the wa y that the Californi a you ngster would prob abl y ha ve liked . Wh ile race lead er J.R. Schnabel throttled his Team Pow ell XR up front and attem p ted to hold off Whit e's H-D's Mike Varn es, Roger s and Bob No rfleet Racing's John Nickens 1II were battli ng over the third spot. Seven laps into the race , Rogers mad e a gu tsy ou tside-pass a ttem p t on N ickens in tum one, just about the same time that his br akes ga ve up the ghost. Rogers walloped the stra w ba les that line the track, but he was u ninjured . The ra ce wa s ca lled , w it h Sch na be l a n d Varnes takin g the top tw o spo ts. Roed er led the firs t six laps of semi n u m be r two before b eing p a ssed b y Bell / M AR S / Ch e sn ee C la ssic Cars ' Robert Lews , wh o was flat d ialed in to th e racin g su rface a t th at point in th e evening and wen t on to a su rprise victory . Things go t wo rse fo r Roed er, as Poo v ey ca me up f ro m behind a n d jumped underneath him on the last lap to stea l the second spot for good. Roeder woul d w atch the N at iona l fro m the sidelines . Team Saddlemen /1 -BOO-FASTHOG 's Wade Camlin, w ho con tinues to sub for h is inj u re d broth er Da ve C amlin, jumped int o the lead in the fina l se mi, only to be passed and left beh ind by a flying Kopp . While Kopp sp ed a way, Dale Jenneman came up beh ind Camlin and tried to find a way aro und him, but Ca mlin stood fast . Then Paul Morgan III tried to pry Camlin off the low line, but Camli n w ou ld not be d enied , and the . 31-year-o ld Illinois rid er finished secon d , ea rn ing hi s fi rst ca reer G ra nd Natio na l be rth after on ly his s eco nd 750cc rid e in five years. H-D SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE SERIES The Ha gerstown 883 N ation al wa s .a dream come true for one of the hardestriding u p-a n d -com ing y ou ngs te rs in professiona l dirt trac k ra cing, as USC ยท Raci ng /Jo h nny a n d Sa ra h Goa d / Motio n Pro-b a ck ed 18- ve a r-o ld Joe Eades rode hot but stayed cool aboard his Team Saddlem en /1 -800-FASTHOG en try and scored the first Na tional win of his caree r in only his second Na tional rid e aboard an 883. Eades ran fou rth in the early stages of the 12-l a p m a in even t a nd be gan u si ng a high li ne in th e co rners as he fo ught to ge t aro u n d G ut teridge HD/Supernapp's Scott Stu mp and Miller Electrical C on stru ct i on /L a s Vegas H arley-D a vid son ' s Je ss Roed er fo r a sho t at race leade r Sha un Russell. Eades got to th ird, be hind Roed er - and then Roed er crashed , bringi ng ou t a red flag. On the res tart, Eades ou tg u nne d a stu nned Russell into turn one and then held on from there, as Corbin Racin g's Ga ry Ro g er s a n d Stu m p wo u n d uP . occu py ing the other two pod ium positions . "I fee l aw e som e ," Ea des s ai d . " I guess it hasn't really even sunk in yet. Everyone wa s run ning it into the turns and squa ring it off, bu t I figured if 1 got in a li tt le hi gher , I co u ld ke e p my momentum up and 1 could get aro u nd 'em. When Roeder crashed, that actually kind of hel ped me, because then I go t to concen tra te on runnin g Shau n d own. After that , I just stayed smooth an d tried not to ge t out of control." GRAND NATIONAL Varnes never go t to see the hu ge jamup that took place just behin d him, as he led through the first tu rn in the 25-lap feature a nd p repared to ma ke a ge taway. But from seco nd on back, everyone seemed to hit the brakes an d p racti ca lly come to a co m p le te s top in turn one. When the field got back on the gas coming off tu rn two , most wer e al ready 11