Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES 00 0\ 0\. ,....... t'-..~ l-< OJ .c o ...... u o 8 to real rain, and the program was pu t on hold . The second heat wa s caIled compl et e, with Davis ta kin g the wi n ove r King and Butl er. On ce the rain sto pped and the track wa s ironed back in to shape, the thi rd heat roared in to tu rn one, led by Mike Ha le . H al e ' s Sa dd lemen / Mo ro ney ' s Harley-David son teamma te Dave Camlin (making his firs t app ea ra nce since his Au gust 2 injury) held second early befor e gi ving wa y to Dan Stanl ey and Poovey, wh o had his Honda flyin g and who took over the lead from his fellow Texan on lap thr ee. "In th e heat race I could go in hot , slid e up and come back d own, but in the main I w a s ju s t ch a s in g the fro n t whee l," Poovey would say later. "This is a good ra ce track for me w he n it ge ts rubber o n it and y o u h a v e to ra ce arou nd ' on the groove. I st ill thi nk I'm ge tting back to where I used to be ." Ga rdner Ra cing /Wa lters Brot hers Harl ey-Davidson's Stan ley was running ho t and als o s li pp ed a ro u nd Hale for second . Ca mlin finished a close fou rth but led Da le [enneman, Willie McCoy and Greg Teague to the semis. Gee Roed er led the last heat into tu rn one, over Paul Mo rg an III, Pa rker and Varnes, but it was Mor gan up front at the end of th e first lap . His advantage was s ho rt-liv ed, as Pa rke r stormed to the fro nt. "The track was so bit chin' - it's just bu ff it in there and float with it a few laps," Parker said . "You cou ld just brake the thing off, get your feet on the pegs, set back on the seat and get on the gas. It reaIly reminded me of ice racin g. It was awes ome ." Th e b a ttle fo r seco n d co n ti n u ed between Morgan and Roed er, but both were soon set back by the flyin g Coo lbeth , who took second on lap seven and cru ised on into the main . The last di rect tr a n sfe r be cam e a fi ve-r ider b attl e bet w een Roed er , Morgan, Varnes, Joe Kopp and Bryan Bigelow . Roeder was able to sneak his KK Mot orcycle Supply Harl e y p a st Morg an and into the Round 17: Cal-Expo State Fairgrounds a tio na!. Everyo ne e lse was sem i bou nd . SEMIS With the sm aIl field of rid ers and the tim e p rob le ms , th e pro gra m . w a s changed to tw o eigh t-hlp, I2-rider semifinals, with the top three adva ncing to the National. Brett Landes led the firs t se m i o ff th e lin e , b ut Ron n ie Jo ne s quic kly grabbed th e lead ove r Land es, Nic ky Hayden, Chris Evans and Gary Rogers. Springer was mired in sixth. Jones, making his last ride of the year on th e Tommy Cu m mi ngs / Mic higa n Harley-Davidson DeaIer s / Loral La ke Harley, ga ve up the lead to the hard cha rg ing Sp ri ngsteen a t th e ha lf w a y poi nt. Land es a nd Hayd en exc ha nged the last transfer spot a couple of tim es bef ore the Au diovox /Quaker Sta te / Donahu e Harley-David son-backed Landes nailed it down. The seco nd semi started out as much t h e s a me ty p e of dogfight. Bry an Bigelow led Pau l Mor ga n into turn one, bu t the youngs ters we re soo n joined by Dav e Ca m li n, Kevin Varn e s, Paul Bergstrom and Dale Jenn ema n. Va rn e s t ook o ve r th e le a d a t t h e halfway point , as he, Bigelow and Kopp all got by Camlin. Varnes and the USC Ra ci ng / La ncas ter H arl ey-Da v id son / Dod ge Brothers-ba cked Bigelow pu lled away, leavin g Kopp, Morgan and Camlin to battle over third . A tiring Camlin d ropped off the frantic pace, and Cozia h r H arle y-Da vid son /Bu ck /J on o ' s s p o ns ored Mor gan sent Kopp to th e tru ck for the night. GRAND NATIONAL The 18-rider, 20-lap Grand Nation al main event was called to the line as mid ni ght approached. At th e fla sh o f th e gree n light , Poo vey cam e from the mid dl e of th e front ro w for a sho rt-lived lea d . Morehead, starting a t th e top of the tra ck , bla s ted around an d took a hu ge lead down the back stra ight on the firs t lap . "More head really dropped the ham- me r rig ht off the ba t, a nd Scotty went with him," Carr sai d . "I had to deal with Poovey for a couple of laps. I was finally a ble to ge t by Terr y and run th em down." "Mo re hea d was runn in g real good , and he seemed like he had a pre tty good bike," Parker said . "I ran pr ett y mu ch as fast as I could . I don' t kno w if Chris ra n the first fou r lap s as hard as he could , but I wa s prett y su re we wo uld n't have a tire problem ." Mor ehead led la p on e ov er Parker , Poovey, Coolbeth, King and Carr. By lap tw o, Carr had worked his way to third, and the lead trio was about to sp lit from the other 15 rid ers . A broken sw ingarm-pivot bolt sidelined Morga n after 10 laps, and Landes ma de only 11 la ps befor e bra ke p roblems end ed his race. Coolbeth was settling in to a solid fourth as King broke free from the pack that he had been battling. In the closing laps, King a n d Cool beth cut in to the leaders' ma rgin, and King got by Coolbeth on lap 18, bu t Coo lbeth was not to be d enied his exceIlent finish. Also mo vin g up af te r his disas te r wa s Will Da vis. So me how, Dav is had clawed h is way into 10th at the en d of the first lap, bu t the rest of his climb to the fron t would be mu ch slower. "I was just hun g up in traffic," Davis said . " If I could have go t off up fro n t and not had to come th rough that traffic... But I missed it (the shift into second gea r). I think I just go t too excited. You have to be carefu l putting it in to secon d, and I th ink I just got the holeshot and go t excited ." Butler was also on the move. "We we re back in the pack and had to ge t around a few guys a nd find a good lin e. I started going in high and squ ared the corner off, and cam e back in ," Butler sa id . "O nce I sta rted d oin g that , th at ' s whe n I sta r ted ca tchi ng th em. We th o u gh t we had good ti re managem ent , so I started running a little bit hig her, chasi ng that moisture u p there. Once I got a couple of those guys back, I just put my head down and started reeli ng in Rich and the leaders. I was surprised when I saw Scotty and the lead pack; I thought I was fur the r back. We pu t thi ngs toge ther, and we're get ting bet ter on th is tir e-m a na gem ent deal. I just wish we cou ld have ru n the fuIl 25 la ps . Kenny (Mo hler ) go t th is b ike dia led in to n ig ht. He caIls it th e 'Thu nd erbolt." O ne rid er goi ng the ot her wa y was Stanley, after runnin g strong in theearly stages of the race. "I started ou t pr et ty well and moved up to around seventh," Stanley said . "I ran arou nd there most of the race, only But ler ca me ins ide of me o nce a n d nailed me pr ett y good . He hit my arm, and I blew the groove, and that started a chain reaction . I blew the groove a couple of times after that, u ntil I go t it back together and started riding better aga in. The midd le of the race was the wo rst for me . I felt goo d all night, a nd the b ike w a s wo rking, too; every th in g p retty

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