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/127963
"1 got a great holeshot and then Will missed a shift, and 1had to go aro und the insid e of him," Butler said. "As soon as 1 we nt to the insid e, it was all mud - it had never been w heel-packexl, [ just lit up the tire, and then whe n [ go t to the corner, 1 didn' t hav e any corner speed and everyone from the outs ide was on the groove, and they jus t we nt righ t on by." Despite po sting his best 750cc finish o f 1998 , the USC /Sil ka id a / Salp akaspo nso red Poovey w as less than thrill ed wi th his performan ce. "I didn' t like the race track in the feature," Poov ey said . "I chased the fron t whee l on both ends of the track. I just d idn't feel good . I'd get in ther e and the front wheel wanted to tu rn unde r, and I'd chase th e fro n t wheel a ll th e way a ro u nd th e co rn ers. The Ha rley guys wo uld ge t in there and they we re steering w ith the rear w heel an d this thin g (Honda), if I tried to steer with the rear wh eel, it wants to swap ends . So I had to be easy on the gas and just try to keep the wheels in line to go fast. I'm hap py; we got in there and ran okay. The track jus t wasn't good for me; it go t greasier in the featu re than it was in the hea t. It was faster, but it was greasy, and I just couldn't get around ." Th e ev e r- pop u la r Jay Springsteen ca p tu red ninth , overcoming his own unique problem. "My air clea ne r fell off three laps in to the race, and it kept suc ki n g m y leg into the ca rb u re tor, " th e RC Tru cking /Ba rtels H a rl eyDavid son -sponsored Sp rin gs teen said. " It fell off goin g down th e back stra igh t, and I saw what ha ppened, but I ju s t k e p t goi ng . I thou gh t, ' If it's going to suck it full of di rt , it's goi ng to s uc k it full o f d ir t , because I ain 't p ulling in .' I ju st kep t on going. I got a ro u nd a few 'guys an d th en the las t lap , com ing off fo u r, I th ou gh t I was going to be ab le to d ra ft by Poovey and get him. It sucked m y pant leg into the fro nt carb aga in and s hu t it down . I was able to pu ll m y leg out, and it took off. We survi ved th e nig ht. Number nine was ninth ." Rose Ra cin g / Sch a eff e r ' s Ha rleyDa vid son / B&B Tradi ng Compa nys Kev in Varnes overca me a disast ro us sta rt to finish 10th. "I went in to the first turn and had a good line on the outside," Varnes sa id . "I started coming aro und peo ple on the ou tside, then it looked like so mebody go t into some body. Roed er was on the ou tside, and he got hit. It stood him up; and he mad e a right tu rn . [w as coming on the ou tside of him, and [ just tu rned as hard as I could to the right. By then I was wa y up by the bales. [ ca ug h t th e pack by turn three, bu t I was way back. Tha t hurt us a little bit." HEATS Chris Ca rr proved he hadn't forgotten how to ge t around what had formerly bee n his hom etown track as he posted th e fastes t fou r-lap qu alify ing time of tw o minutes, 32.631 seco nds . Ca rr blasted aro u nd early lead er Mor ehead on lap two an d the two pulled we ll clea r of a tight race for the last di rect tran sfer spot between yo u ng Shaun Russell and the vetera n Ronn ie Jon e s . Moreh ea d a ppea red co nten t in second , but th is was not the case . "I knew when I caught his draft we ยท were just going faster and faster," Morehead sai d . "I jus t waite d until comin g off turn fou r, th e la s t la p , to t ip m y hand ." The AMA's finish-li ne camera had to be used to determ ine the win ner. Morehead' s 10-lap time of 6 minutes, 12.283 seco nds would pro ve to be the fastest of the nigh t. Russell pul his Bart els Harley-Davi dson in to the Nationa l as he held off the pe rsistent Jones. "I wasn' t su re w ha t he (Jones) was going to do," Russ ell said . "I thou gh t he was go ing to hang back on the last lap, going d own th e b a ck st raig h t. H e passed me, so [ was able to draft back by before we go t to the line. 1 d id n' t wa nt to ride a semi - I was tired of tha t." Whe n the firs t heat had come to the line, very widely sca ttere d drops of rain had begun to fall. Unfor tuna tely, d uring th e second hea t, the drops got closer toge ther, forci ng a red flag on the nint h la p a n d endi ng a ve ry exci ting ra ce . Davis recovered from a poo r qu alifying heat to run away with the second heat. Bu tler, Springsteen, King and Bre tt Landes we re ba ttl ing over the other two tra nsfer spo ts. The four waged a heated ba ttle, as Davis p u lle d away, a nd the rain drops we re getting closer toget her. By lap six; Kin g pu lled int o second and pu t a little distan ce between himself and the oth er three riders in the pack. On the eight h lap, disaster hit Springsteen as his chai n derailed exiting tum two . "I d o n 't kn o w w hy, bu t the chai n came off," Spri ngstee n , "The race track was pr etty abrasive ton ight, and it was making the w hee ls cha tter . We only had one race on that chain. Usua lly 1 can run .three races befo re we cha nge chai ns. It's just one of those thin gs." The field came aro und for the whi te flag, but ins tead they we re greeted wi th AMA s tar ter Sco tt Zi mmerm an 's red flag. The persistent sprinkles had turned 00 0\ 0\ ,...... t--., ' ;.., OJ ..0 o ..... u o 7