Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

d en h ad ot he r idea s, th ou g h , as h e fou nd a line comi ng ou t of turn tw o. On consecu tive laps, Hayden used a classic hi gh- low li ne to bla st by fi rst Russell and then [ennem a n, and into his nint h Nationa l final of the vear. Jenn eman and-Russell would hav'e to quick ly tu rn aro und and rid e the Dash . DON & GAR Y SCANLAN MEMORIAL Russell led the five-lap Dash aro und the first time, but Stanley just exploded ou t of tu m tw o and held a hu ge lead at the end of lap two. Sta nl ey w ent on to a n easy w in as Davidson Motor Co '; AGV / HOG-sponso red Har ley in the hun t, bu t he came up short in the closing laps. "I was going as fas t as they were; they were just ahea d of me," Pa rker said of w hat would be a seventh-p lace finish . "There towa rds the end I sort of bailed out. I had to hu s tle to make it ha ppen and l cou ld n't keep hustling that lon g and jus t fell bac k a little bit." Kennv Coolbeth was a nother victim of a las t-la p pass. Bryan Bigelow p u t Coolbeth and his Harley-Davidson of Missouri /Dave Bu r ks Raci ng H arl ey in to a USC Raci ng / Lancas ter HarleyDavidson /Dod ge Brothers san dwich, as Dan Bu tler rou nded ou t the top 10. Jess Roed er moved closer to clinching the Ha rley-Dav idson Sportster Performance Series title with a wi re-to-wire win on his Miller Electric-backed Spo rtster. Shaun Russell brou ght his Bartel' s Harlev- Dav idso n moun t home seco nd an d is' now 48 points behind Roed er . Davis' wi n - his fou rth of the seas on mov es him int o th e cha m pi o ns h ip poi nts lead by two points over Parker, 225-223. King and Carr, mean whi le, ar e lurkin g clos e beh ind with 220 and 214 points, resp ectively. HEATS In a mild surp rise, Morehead ran the fas tes t o f th e five four-la p qualifyin g h eats, putting him on th e p ole for th e first of the l a-lap heat races. Varnes was th e qui ckest o ff the li ne and led into turn one a head of a three-rider pa ck consisting of j .R, Sch nab el, Morehead and Greg Teague. Varnes slipped up just to.the ou tside of the groove and pulled away as Moreh ead took over a solid second . Team PoweIl /B il l & Caro lyn Powe Il /V an Be ek H arle y -Da vid s on ' s Schn ab e l secured an eq ua lly solid third over Brett Landes, Teague an d Dale [en nernan. Early in the seco nd heat , Will Davis looked like he might also make it a run~ way, bu t a bobble in tum two let Carr pght bac k int o the race. As th e lead d uo pulled away, Ken Coo lb eth w as try in g to ho ld off th e ch ar gin g Paul Mor ga n . Morgan powe r ed hi s Co zia hr Ha rl e v- Davi d son / Buck /jon o' s-backed Harl ey into third , but Coo lbet h d id n' t gi ve up. Coolbeth repeatedl y tried to use the high line, but it w a sn ' t th ere ye t, a n d he w as se m i bound , alo ng with Terry Po o vey and Shaun Russell. Th e third heat wa s bv far th e best race of the night up to this point. Kopp rock eted in the lead "l it h icky Hayden, Geo Roeder, Dan Bu tler , Willie McCoy and Parker all giving chase. Then, on the (Above) Sco tt Parker (1) and Chris Carr (4) tussled over the fifth-place position for much of the race. Carr ended up fifth with Parker seventh . (Right) Varnes, Davis and M orehead ce lebrate the ir one-twa-three finishes in the National. secon d lap in tu rn four, Roed er went down . The race con tin ue d wi th Kopp tryi ng make the bottom work wh ile Butler came to the fro nt using an extremely hig h line. A short distance back, Parker and Hayd en we re us ing the same strategy . Parke r u s e d th e low li ne to slip a rou n d th e roo kie , bu t Hayden kept storming back as he strained for traction on the h igh li ne. Bu tler te mpo rarily wres ted the lea d fro m Ko p p on la p seven, but it didn't las t. Bu tler 's fra ntic charge electrified the lar ge crowd . "Tha t was grea t, me an d Joe," Butler said, "Tha t's wha t I love to d o - ride u p a ro u nd top , especia lly being the fir st one of the nigh t to d o it. I coul d hear the cro wd just yelling and screa m ing. When you can hear the cro wd as you go down th e fron t stra igh t, th at' s fun . That ju st makes me go that much hard er." Parker s lo w ly pu lle d free of Ha y den 's cha lleng e a nd als o mo ved to the National. Ha yd en, meanwhile, led Paul Berg s tro m a nd Da n St anl ey into the semis . The last heat was pretty tame after the third-he at fire works. Kin g easily won ov er a n eq u aIl y im p ressi ve Brya n Bigelow. Bigel ow, th is y ear' s lead in g Roo kie of the Year ca nd ida te, finishe d well ahead of last year's top rookie, Johnny Murphree and his Fred Sclunulbach Racing /Eddie Adkins Racing Harley. HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE NATIONA L Roed er go t th e h oles ho t a n d le d every lap of the 12-lap race. "I' ve never led one of these all the way," Roed er said. "Usua lly if I ge t the lead early, I screw up somewhere." Sha un Ru sseIl set tled into seco nd, w he re, at th e crossed flag s, he ca me und er the cha llenge of Scott Stump. This seeme d to put a charge into Russell and he closed on Roed er with just four laps to go. Russell moved to the outsi d e and s tar ted to giv e Roed er a ru n fo r h is mo ney . "My dad told me before the race to s tay o n th e b o ll o m un til so m eb o dy pa sse d me a nd that was close en ou gh for me ," Roed er said . "I moved up a little and picked up the pace." Whil e t h is w a s go ing o n, Wi llie McCoy pushed his DPC Racin g / Tilley Harley-Davidson arou nd the Gu tteridge Harley-D a vi dso n /Vance &. Hin e sbacked Stump for third. Skip Ford yce' s Bill y Martin easily hel d down fifth w hile Paul Bergs trom top ped a tigh t bat tle w ith Gary Rogers a n d Ja mes Ha rt fo r sixt h . Victor McA nally and Brian Kromroy round ed out the top 10. Russell held off Bergstrom, [ennernan, Rogers and Teagu e for secon d . After h is thi rd -place fi n is h in his se mi, the solid win helped take a little of the sting ou t of not making the Na tional. "Th a t felt good . It' s jus t too bad I cou ld n' t find that spo t in the se mi an d pu t the Gard ner Racing / Walters Broth -' ers Harley-David son int o the Na tiona l. bu t this help s ou t a little," sai d Stan ley. SEMIS GRAND NATIONAL Th e th r ee ei g h t-la p sem is wo u ld pla ce the last six rid er s into the Na tional, bu t the third- and fou rth -placed rid ers from each wo uld also move on to the th ird a nnual Don and Ga ry Scanl an Memorial Dash For Cash . Brett Land es led the firs t se mi into tum one, only to give wa y to Poovey and his USC Racing /Sakaida / Salpaka-sponsored Harley. Landes qu ickly recov ered o n h is Au diovox / Q ua ker Sta te / Donah ue Harley-Davidson mount and sta rted a p pl y ing pressure a ll arou n d th e track. On lap six, Ga ry Rogers and Pau l Bergstrom joined in on the fun , but the youngsters would come up just short as Poovey and Landes went to the National. Rogers and Bergstrom, meanwhile, were head ed to the Dash . Mike Varnes led the second semi off the start. but Coolbeth was at the helm at the end of the first lap. Cool bet h powered awa v as Varnes was left to fend off the des perate cha rge of Dan Sta n ley . Sta nl ey wa s blasting arou nd th e high line but cou ld n' t force his wa y past the Wh ite' s Ha rle y- Davidso n /Schae ffe r' s Harley-David son-backed Varn es. Greg Teague held off Wad e Ca mlin for the last spot in the Dash . Shau n Russell led his Bartel's Harl eyDavi dso n teamm a te Ja y Sp rings t ee n int o the first turn of th e las t semi, bu t the vetera n Sp ri ngs tee n qu ickl y se t his yo ung app re ntice back. An other vetera n , Da le [ erm eman , th en w o rk ed hi s way into second and for several laps it app eared th e fin al o rd e r wa s s e t. Tommy Cu m ming' s Racin g /M ichi gan Harley-Davidson Dealers-backed Hay- Varnes' fas t heat-race time gave him the first ch oice of starting po sition for the 25-lap Na tio nal. He moved righ t to the top of row one, flanked (on his left) by Kopp, Da vis, Kin g, Carr and Mor ehead. Th e second ro w had Butler on the outside, then Schna be l, Murphr ee, the spot vacated by Mo rgan (he wo u ld sta rt from the fourth row on a backup bike), Bigelow and Parker. The third row had Mike Varn es on the ou tside, wit h Hav d en , Land es , Poovey ,.C o o lb eth a n d .Springs teen rounding ou t the field . Mor ehead , Ca rr and Kin g h it tu rn one as Kevin Va rnes squa ndered his s tarting spot. "I took a practice start and the thing too k o ff g reat," Varn es expl a in ed . "The n, in the real start, I spu n that thing all the wa v int o the first tum." Kopp Somehow slip ped into the lead on the first lap, but Morehead and Dav is d ropped hi m to third afte r two laps . "I think I led th ree d ifferent times," sa id Morehead . "I w as leading . Then Kopp pa ssed me and I passed him back. Then Will passed me and I passed hi m back." Davi s took ov er on lap five. So man y times on a half mile, after the first passing takes p lace, a rou tine sets in tha t wi ll si g na l th e e n d of clos e r a ci n g . Not ton igh t. Davis' ·Iead went un contested fo r a coupl e of la ps whil e Kopp a nd Morehead battled away. " I go t a p retty goo d s ta r t - abo u t third off th e line, [ gu ess," Kopp said . "The re was a lot of mo istu re up top early and m y bike wa s wo rking excel- 21

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