Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Dale Jen neman's Harle y-Dav idson XR750 ruptured an oil li ne In the main event, forcing a red flag and sub sequent five-la p sprin t fo r Springfield Mile glory. (Below) The H-D Sportster Perf ormance Nationa l featured an equa lly clos e finis h, as Bret Beyer (98) sho t past Willie McCoy (59) and Paul Morg an. 1II (83) to take the win. your stra tegy . After it, you never know what's gonna hap pen. " Davis su re fou nd that out. Th e 33yea r-old Nort h Carolinian ran in the top five all main event, and he was abso lutely killing the field in all four corners while he wrung ou t his TCR /Michigan H-D Dealer s Associatio n/ Accel special on the high line just abo u t every lap."He a p peared to be a ll set to take his firs t mile win. Instead , he wo un d u p fifth that quickly . Such a re the fortu nes on the mile. "I just wish they'd put the finish line in the corners," Davis said . "Un fortu nately , they leave ' em on the straightaway. But the fun 1 get out of this racin' is when 1 can pass 'em in the corners like 1 did . I ca n all the w a y from the fourth row. Can you believe tha t? One of th e se d ays , I'm g o n na g e t s ma r t enough to build a big lead or get in the right place, or something." What Davis a nd three o f th e other aforementioned top-five fini shers call count on thes e days, is that they are all embroiled in one of the mo st fascinating cha mpionship-points tuss les in AMA Grand Natio na l-Champions hip Series history. Try this one on for size: Davis and King are now tied for the lead, with 239 points. Parker is o ne poin t b ack, with 238, and Carr is on e point fu rther adrift, with 237 . As the se ries he ads west, it is still very much anybody's ball game . Eat your heart out , Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa. HEATS Ca rr led the opening hea t race, as he traded spo ts back and fort h wit h Adkins Racin g /KK /Winchester H- D's Geo Roeder II early in the ID-Iapper, but the lead draft got eve n busier, as Rose Raeing/Schaeffer's Harley-Davidson /B&B Trading's Kevin Varnes and Tea m Powell 's J.R. Schnabel joined in the fray . Carr led a ll b u t two la p s across the stripe, a n d he too k th e wi n, while Varnes and Schnabel drafted past Roed er and sent him to the semis. "We' re the slowest," Ca rr said later, after all the heats we re com pleted . "The track was going to ~ what it was at that point, but I was surprised that it was as slow as it was. It' s usu ally faster in the main than it is in the heats anyway." TC R /Michigan H arley -David s on Deal er s As so cia tio n / Accel part-timer Ron n ie Jones led the fi rst lap of heat tw o, wit h H-D of Missouri' s Joe Kopp and Gard ner Racin g / Wal ters Brothers H -D /BBR P rid e r Da n Sta nley , Audiovox/ Qu aker State/ Donahue's HD ri d e r Bre tt La n des and F&S / KK / She pherd & Dragoo-backed Steve Morehea d also in the hunt for the wi n. Bar- tels' H-D's Shaun Russe ll ju m ped into the fight as well, as the six riders drafted their wa y aro u nd, vyi ng for the th ree ava ilabl e tran s fe r s pots . Kop p a nd Mor ehead fell off the lead draft on the ba ck chu te on lap nin e, while Stanley, Landes and Jones dropped Russell on the front chu te and drafted to a threeway finis h a t th e line. Stanley go t the nod . "T ha t was just p atience," Sta nley said. "I followed some vets in p ractice, and I learned a lot about where to take it easy. You can rid e aggressive all you want to, but you go tta be there at the end." Bartel s ' H -D /RC Truckin g 's Ja y Springsteen led the wa y for the first two laps of heat three, but Springer had his hand s full with the un-retired Davey Durelle, wh o w a s s u bb ing aboard a Ski p Eak en-tuned Saddlem en / 1-800FASTHOG machine, Parker and Kin g . Th e pair ran three - and four-wid e for p ra ctically th e entir e di stan ce , with Du relle getting the best drive off turn four on the last lap and tak ing the win over King and Park er. "1 thought we were go ing to have to rid e a semi for sure," Durelle said . "1 didn' t know if we'd be in the right posi tion or not. But the bike is working good today, and 1 think that I' ve picked up the pace since yest erday. That was a lot of fun, but how can you com e here and no t have fun ?" Butler and Davi s battled it out with H-D of Missouri /Da ve Burks Mot ors p or ts' Kenny Coolbeth and Coziahr Harley-Davidson's Paul Morgan III in the final heat race, with Morgan running just behind the other three for mu ch of the race. Ju st when Morgan got into co ntention, But ler finally put toge ther th e winning move by blasting past Davis and Morgan in three and four on the last lap . Coolbeth also got past Morgan for third. "How was tha t for a last-lap banza i?" Butle r said. "I could get Will real easy coming off the tu rn and pa ss him way before the line. I just distanced him in thr ee and four , and it wo rked for me." SEM IS USC Racing / Sakaida Trucking / Salp aka rid er Te rr y Poovey had his new Honda RS750 running in top form as he bea t Kopp to the lin e by 15 len gths in the first eig ht-lap semi. Frontier H-D/HD Central's Dale Jen nem an outran Russell in the second semi, wi th Rookie of the Year-elect Bryan Bigelow being put on the trailer. Spri ngsteen won the third se mi, w hile Moreh ead ju st nipped fellow Oh ioa n Roed er by the width of the fron t wheel to claim the last transfer spot of the da y. GRAND NATIONAL Dav is, Poovey and Varnes go t off to a bad s tar t before the s ta rt, as a ll th ree ju mped the line before the ligh t turned green and wer e sent to the penalty line. On the second try , Durelle and Landes s ha red th e hol eshot , with La ndes a nd S tanley pull in g in s ide a n d p a st th e leader as the 18 best d irt trackers in the co untry b a rre le d down the bac k straig htaway. Durelle led lap o ne bu t soon found hi mself steadily fa lli ng backward, however, as did Landes and Stanley. ew players came to the fore, as Butler held the point on lap two after an incredible cha rge aro und the top in turns one and two. " I bu zzed that thing around the top and just rolled around ' em in the first corn er," Butler said . "Our bike was fast, and we kn ew it. I had seen Da vis a nd Moreh ead go up there b e for e, a n d I knew that ' s where 1 cou ld go in a pin ch." Morehead , Davi s and Kin g w er e comin g on s tro n g a s w ell. Carr w as ninth, Parker 14th . Th ough the field never did s tre tch ou t, the men who wo uld be figh ting for the win began shu ffling forwa rd ea rly, with Parker tak ing the big gest bit e ou t of the field , as he was fifth by lap th ree. Ca rr was s tead ily progressing, and he soo n found his wa y into fifth pla ce. "I knew that the main would be hotly contested," Carr sai d . "I wa sn' t 100 worried abo ut the start. It was just a wall of guys until th e red fla g, a nd a w all of gu ys at the end." Kin g led at th e lin e on laps three, four a n d five , while Butler held the poin t on lap six, and then Davi s poked hi s nose ahead of an a lmos t-five-w id e pack on lap seven. Meanwhile, Schnabel was back in the pa ck, bouncing between 10th and 13th, but the '96 Roo kie of the Year admitted that he was having a ball. "That was so fun," Schnabel sai d . "I could see the leaders up the re, but 1 just cou ld n't ge t to them . Eve ryone was so close it was unbelievable. That was the funnest race I ever rod e." Ultima te ninth-place finis her Stanley wasn't in quite as jovial a mood . " I wai te d 10 0 lo ng," Sta n ley sa id. "We ru ined o u r tir e a nd had to put a new one on for th e final. Gr eg (Crow) told me to take it eas y for abo u t eight lap s, a n d s o m e how [ d idn 't se e the ha lfway flags. By the time that we got restarted, I thou ght that we had 10 laps left." The torrid pa ce began taking its toll early, as Kopp dropped out wi th motor prob lem s just a few laps int o the race. He wo uld ult imately be followed in by . Poovey (engine) , Moreh ea d (p ri mary cha in), Durell e (drive chain), Va rnes (engine), Spring s teen (ig nition), a nd, finally, [enneman (oil). Russell was the last rider to finish all 25 laps. Parker appeared to be the stro ng est rid er in the middle stages of the race, as he ran wherever he wa nted to an d whenever he wanted to aboard his Bill Werner-tuned piece. He led the field across the stripe on a string of laps , controlli ng the pace from laps 11 through IS before Davis looked strong again, as he ran high in the turns to remain on the lead pace. King got upped his own personal pace on lap 17 as he ran second to Davis. Then Carr got back into the thick of things with a double draft of King and Parker, and he led la p 18. Springer finally came to the dance at about the same tim e, as he mu scled his way from fourth to eighth before the red fla g , whi ch came when [ennem an 's bike took a rock on an oil-line nipple and began hosing d own th e front straight. AMA s ta rter Steve Faraci saw the oil and acted quickly, throwing the red flag. After a lengthy de lay for the dea n-up proces s, th e field was restarted, wi th Dav is taki ng his position at the fro nt, followed by Parker, Carr, Jones and then King, as fifth-placed Springsteen had to start at the back after his crew exceeded the work time limi t in an effort to repair his ailing machine. Jones , who was as high as third d uring th e main event, remained in th e hunt aboard his loaner bike, dropping to sixth at the finish. "Man, I !"G O right into the back of Chris on the restart," Jon es said . "The light went green, and 1 let out the dutch and looked up, and he wasn't gone. I smacked his back tire and had to pull in the dutch to avoid sta lling the motor. Rich came up the inside of me by the time I got going again. I guess I jus t knocked Chris right to the front." Davis wasn't in the catbird seat for very lon g, as Parker, Carr, Butler and King all came calling, a nd a lthough he was still making the ou tside line work, Davis foun d himself shu t out wh en the leaders filed off the last corne r. "I was expecting two g uys to pass me, an d in st ead four of 'em came u p ther e," Davis sai d. "I had thr ee on the in sid e of me, and o ne on the ou tsi de. Bu tler di d w ha t he was supposed to do . He cam e around me, and then cu t across m y front tire . It ju s t killed a ll t h e mo me ntum that I had ." "I knew tha t Will was p retty much smoked," Parker sa id . "He 'd been ru nning up there the whole time, and you knew where he was going to be. 1 might 23

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