Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS ERIES about all tha t we could do with it ton igh t. It kind of s tin ks when you're running up there like that and something like that happens, but it happened . It' s a bad deal; but yo u' ve got to have some luck , to o . It w a sn't o n m y s ide to n ight; maybe next w eek." Davis was ve ry upset with his finish . "This pl ace, " Da vis sa id . "You really have to h ave it hooked up . We had it th at w a y ; it' s just o ne of th ose cases w he re you try to make it jus t a little be tter and jus t ruin it. O h, w ell . Oh, well . At the sta r t of the restart, 1 was in fifth, but I w a s a bou t to fa ll dow n in every turn . The rear w hee l was so s lic k. 1 couldn't even think about going anywhere. We changed ex haus t s ys te m s, a back tire ·it 's hard to ex p lain. It was just an accumula tion of a lot of th ings that w e d id . I d o n't know why we d id it, but we did ." Roeder s ta r ted the ra ce in seventh , dropped to eig h th , and then fell on lap seve n. "I ju s t hit a hole and th e front e nd be in trouble. 1 just tried to pl ay it cool and play our cards a nd wait fo r a mista ke . If no one makes a mistake; you just s tay where yo u ' re at. " Kevin Varnes s pent a n o t her night moving up th rough traffic. "We blew a sh ock in the h eat ra ce , and that screwed us for a good starting position in the main event," Varnes said . "We had a good tire o n in the semi, but we were a little afraid to run the same tire 25 laps in the main. So we sw itched wheels, and I s trugg led the first six laps tr ying to g e t it to hook up. When w e ca m e in for th e red flag, w e s w itched back to th e sa me w heel w e had on in the semi. That ma de all the difference in the world rig ht there. We would've really been struggli ng if we cou ldn 't have switched tha t wheel. We got four main e vents o n th e tire; Hagers town, Sedalia, Jo liet, and now, to nig ht. We d efin ite ly got our hu nd red bucks o ut of it." Springsteen came in 10th and accepted his fate, " It was a sli p pery, ro ugh race tr ack , a nd I'm jus t kind of happy that 1 fi n- Brieflv - Scott Parker d id no t like th e Veg as trac k, a s his seventh-place linis h s howed, ished 10th," Springsteen sa id . "I' m jus t happy 1 finished. 1 did a little bit of pa ssing as th e ra ce went on . Ma ybe if th e race had been 50 la ps, I mi ght've caught up, but I doubt that." Bigelow was understand abl y upset with his race after getting off to a good sta rt but dropping to 1 I th o "I know th e rule 5.1YS that you ha ve to go through to the red flag, bu t I'm no t rea l happy abou t that call (las t- p lace starting s po t o n the restart) when it real ly wasn' t m y fa ult," Bige low sa id. " Bu t I fell down, a nd tha t was m y fault, so 1 guess tha t' s the way it is. There wasn't a whole lot of room to pass o u t there, and 1 was kind of surprised at how many g uys 1 d id get p a st. 1 was just kind of follow ing Sp ri nger th ro u gh the pack. I did n' t rea lly ha ve th e courage to do a lot of brave th in gs tha t 1 maybe could have d o ne; I' d already been down once. I jus t tried to p u t in a safe rid e to manage as ma n y p o in ts as 1 co uld, a nd that was " Steve Mo rehe a d felt he had extra incentive to capture the win. "Oh. God, this is great." he said. ' Dennis (Towne) has got a win: ning streak of his own. This was t he last half mile , and I couldn't let him down." "I've bee n able to get at lea st one every time we've bee n doing the Nationals ." said Towne . who had been a longtime associate of Will Davis before joining the FI!.S HarleyDavidson team thi s year. The wm netted the Ohio vetera n $5370 and assured him of a lie for fifth place in the points. "We were detuning the crap out of our bike," said Chris Carr. "That's probably the slowest bike I've ridden all year. It was the only way we could get it to work. " Carr's determined ride eamed him $3920 and a two-point lead going into the final race on the Del Mar mile. "Simple strategy going Into Del Mar: I have to win,' Carr said. "People are going to think the pressure is o!' me. but I don't thmkso. Scotty's won at Del Mar three out of four times.' 00 0\ 0\ ,...... ~' ...... ~ QJ ..0 o ..... u o 18 Ninety Grand National wins and eight Orand National Championships give Scott Parker plenty of 'confidence going into the fi nal round. "It's perfect going into Del Mar." Parker sa id. "I've got to win. I've got to beat one person - that's Chris. Ki ng's four points behind: if he wins, I've got to ge t second. I would win the tie breaker (haVing the most wins) from all of them. I'm in the perfect position. I go real wellat Del Mar." Scott Parker's pro blem wit h 'his knee see ms to be not as day and you -can see severe as was firs t feared . " I wal ked o n it all a little bit of swelling. but it's been wrapped pret ty tight all nlqht." Parker sa id. ' We struggled a little bit but just tried to put the whole package together. I felt comfortable ; I felt like we had the bike working 'semi-better.'" His appraisal of the rough track was not as posrtive. "It's really a shame to come to a track like this and race a National Champions hip race ." Parker said. "I don't think there is one guy out here that would say they enjoy racing took off o n m e," Roeder sa id . " It's jus t o ne o f th ose things ; it' s just a bad track. 1 g u ess I go t too relaxed . I thought 1 was jus t cru is in g . At a place like th is, you ca n ' t be a g gressi v e . You just ha v e to s tay smooth and hold your lin e. I don't kn ow how Morehead does it. " Just w hen Morehead's victory seemed assu red, his bike started making scary sounds. Th e bark of a misfire put some suspense into the last couple of laps. "Jus t a minor setback," Morehead joked. "Really, 1 ju s t about died, but w e think it ju st picked up a piece of dirt in th e ca rb u re to r. It wouldn 't run w ide o pen, but when 1 backed o ff, it would ta ke off a nd run." Morehead still finished with nea rly a full- straigh taway lead . l~ Las Vegas MotorSpeedway Las Vegas, Nevada Results: October 3, 1998(After 18 0119 rounds) HEAT 1 (10 la ps; 9 rid ers, to p 3 Ira ns fe r): 1. Jot. ' Kopp (H-o); 2. C hris Carr (H-D); 3. Dan Stanley (H- D); 4. Ja y Sp ringsteen (H- D); 5. Stev e Libe rty (H- D); 6. Willi e M cC o y ( H· D); 7 . Bill v Martin (H- D); 1:1 . Mike lnderbitzin (I-I-D); 9. Lonnie Pauley (He n). Tim e: 3 min .•58.187 ~'C. H EAT 2 (10 (;IpS; 10 rid ers, lo p 3 tr an sfer) : 1. Will Davis (H·D ); 2. ("",-'0 Roeder II Hi · D,; 3. Nickr Ha yde n (1 -1·0) ; 4. Kevin Varn e (H-D); 5. J.R. Schna bc (H·D ); 6. s on it ' beside s Morehead - tonight. If it was s mooth. I wouldn't have a problem with it. If it's a slippery race track, we can deal with that. It' s just full of holes and bumpy; it's just a bad race track. This is supposed to be a National-caliber race, and this was far from It. If we can't build a better race track. we don't need to come back here. This is the second year, and I don't think there 's a rider here that thinks that this track is better than last year's. If anything, I thought it's a worse race track." Ric h King had an amazing string snapped at this. the next-tolas t race of the season . King had not only qualified for every National. he had done so straight from his heat without haVI ng to ride a semi. His heat-race spill changed that. "It's the team; we 're dialed in most of the time right out of the truck at every race track." he said. "We 've been able to run up front at most heat races . We were at the front tonight; It was just a little bit of rider error. I got trapped in some marbles and down I went. I don't really feel bad with fourth tonight. with all that we went through. It was kind of a gift to get fourth. One way or another, the hand will be okay next week. It felt better when I was on the motorcycle than it did once I stopped. I don't know if it was the vibration or what, but after I stopped. it really started to throb and get sore . I think it will be all right. hopefully.Harley-Davidson of Missouri/Dave Burks Motorsports teammates Joe Ko p p and Kenny Coolb e t h both had solid rides on their Carl Patrick-built Harleys. ' I just wish I had started out the year like this ." Coolbeth sa id. "During practice, I thought that this was n' t going to be my type of track , but the track kind of changed, and I just stayed right on the bottom. We got it figured out for 'my heat." After his solid third-place finish, Kopp was looking fo rwa rd to the last race of year . " W e' ve be en roll ing .. but D el Mar is going to be the one,- Kopp said. ' I love that place ; I've done better there than any track year to year. I'm going for it next week.There 's nothing to lose." . A disap pointed Will Oavis remained somewhat optimistic, as he sits 16 points out of first place . ' There's still a s light chance ." Terry Poovey (H ~ O ); 7. P.ml Bergstrom (H-D); 8. Dol le Ienneman ( H· D) ; 9. C hris Eva ns (H- D); 10 . Bri a n Kro mroy (H-D>. TIme: 3 min.• 59.226S('C. HEAT 3 no laps: 10 riders, lo p 3 tr an f(Or.: 1. Ken Coolbet h Jr. (H-D); 2. Bryan Bigelow (H-D) ; 3. Shaun Ruscc n (H-D); -t. Rich King (Hon): 5. Pau l Morgan III (H-D); 6. Johnny Murphree (}I . O); i . Brett Landes JH' D); 8. Greg Teague (H-D); 9. Dan; Camlin (H-D); 10. Michelle Disalvo (}-I -D), Time: 3 rrun., 58.056 sec, HEAT 4 (10 I.~ps.; 1IJ riders, lOp 3 tr,Jn~fer); 1. Steve Morehead (H=-t»; 2. 0.10 Butler Ui-D>; 3. Gary Rogers (H-D) ; 4. joe Ead ... (H -D) ; 5. Iaime Aguila r (H-D); 6. ~ Mar co Mor ello (H-D) ; 7. Lon ny Kop p (H·D) ; 8. Scutt Pa rker (H-D); 9. Pau l lwa naga (H-D); 10. Eli Price (H- r», Time: 3 min.• 55.256.....' c. SEMI 1 (8 lap s: 9 riders, top 2 tnn"fer): 1. Greg Teague (H- D); 2. Steve Liberty (11-0 ' ; 3. Terry Poovey (H-D); 4. Joe Eades (H-D); 5. Lonn y Kopp (H·D); 6. Paul Morg an III (H-D) ; 7. C h ris Evan .. (H -D) ; 8 . M ike Inderbitz ln (1-1.0); 9. Eli Price (H ·D). Time : 3 min ., 10.305 Sl.'C . SEM I 2 (8 lap!i; 9 riders, top 2 Ir;lns (er ): 1. Rich King (Hon) : 2. &"1I1 Pork er (H-D); 3. Brett Landes (l-lt D) ; 4. j .R. Schnabel (l-i-D): 5. Jitimt' Aguilar (1-1- 0); 6. D.l ll· [cn uema n 0{·0); 7. Willie McCuy (H- O); 8. Lonnie Pituley (He n): 9. Michell e Disalvo Il-l-D). • Tim e: 3 min .• 09.795 ~'C. SE M I 3 (8 I;lps; q riders, lo p 2 tu n!'dl."r): 1. Kevi n Varnes (H -D); 2. jay Springsteen H I·D); 3. Billy Martin (1-1·0); 4. Johnny Mu rph ree (1--.1-0); 5. P,lU ( Bergstrom (H·D); 6. Mar co Moreno (H- D); 7. Brian Kromroy (H -D); 8. 0 .1 \'1:Caml in (H-D). Time : 3 min ., 10.530 ~'C. C RAND NAT IONAL (25 laJ"io; 18 riders): 1. Stew Mo reh ead (H-D); 2. Chrts C ur (H-D); 3. Jut' Kopp (lID); 4. Rich King (Hon); 5. Ken Coolbet h Jr. (H-O) ; b. Dan Butler (H-D); 7. Scott Parker (1-1-0); 8. Kevin Varnes (HD); 9. jay Sp rings teen (Ii -D); 10. Jay Springs teen (H-D); 11. Bryan Bigelow (H-D); 12. Will Dav is (H·D); 13. Gary Roge rs (H· D); 14 . Ct.'O Roeder II (H · D); 15. Shaun Russel l (H-D) ; 16. Nicky Hayden (H-D); 17. GH.~g Teague (H· D); 18. Steve Liberty (H·D) . Tim e: n / a. due to nod flag. AM A G RAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POI NT STAN rnNGS tAf ter 18 of 19 ro unds): 1. Chris Carr (275/3 wins); 2. Scott Par ker (273/6); 3. Rich King (268 / 2) 4 . Will Davis (259 / 4) ; 5. SIeve Mo reh e a d v (174/11; 6. Jot.' Kop p (150; 7. Ke in Varnes ( 49); 6. Jay Sp ringsteen (145); 9. BryoJ n Bigelow (127); 10. Dan Butler (25); 11. Ken C04.llbt-t h Jr . (106) ; 12. Ct;"O Roeder II (93/1); 13. Da n Stanley (90); 14. Mike Hacker (87); 15. Nicky Ha yd e n (86) ; 16. Brett La ndes (77); 17. J.R. Sch nabel (59 ); 18. D.1Vt' Camlin (57); 19. Terry Poovey (56) ; ZO Pa u l Morgan Itt (52). o HA RLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFOR" MANCE NATIONAL (12 l,;Ips; 17 Riders ): 1. Sha ul' Ru ~St'II; 2. Gary Rogers : 3. Brian Kromroy; 4. Nate Wait; 5. Bill y Martin; 6. Joe Duva ll; 7 . Pa u l Morg an ; 8. Ies s Roeder. 9. John Faulkner: 10. Willit. MI. · -coy; t t . Yuhiko Hirao; 12. Sca n Lollar: 13. Tom MI. -Grane; 14. Geramv Rack ley; 15. Sco tt Deu bler: 16. Scot t Stu mp; 17. Eades. Tim e: 4 min.• 56.665sec. HARL EY-D AVI D SO N S PO RTS TE R PER FOR MANCE SERIES POINT STA NDI NGS IAlI er 12 of 13 7 rou nd s): 1. Jes s Roed er (l l'l /4 win s); 2. She u n Russell (162 /1); 3. Ga ry Roge rs (147); 4. Sco tt Slump (131); 5. Bri an Kromroy (121 ); 6. Billy M,utin (106); 7. Mike Hacker (99/2); B. (fIE) Dave Ca mlin (2)/Willie McCoy (91); 10. Tim Eades (66); 11. (TIE) P.1U( Bergstrom /Tom McGr ,1n e J r . (59 ); 13 . Ryan Brow n (56) ; 14 . Jo h n Faulk ner III (54); 15. Alan Eadie (54); lb . Pa ul Morgan IJJ (48 ); 17. Yuhikn Hirao (47) ; 18. J.1ml~ Ha rt (45); l Q. Oc rorny Rackley ()R); 20. JOt_'Ead es (35 / 1). Tim Davi s said, " not a major one, but it' s st ill a po ssibility. You neve r know . " Jay Springsteen was the favorite of the crowd (which was reported to be more than 7000J at Las Vegas . The vete ran came home a creditable 10th. "The changes I made to the bike before the se mi made It worse ,- Springst een said. "The bike just wanted to sta nd up in the corners . We made a bunch of changes for the main and everything worked good . I tried to lower the gear to bog the motor off the comer, because it was so slippery. It would bog a ways. and then it would just light up harder yet. I was trying to change the rpm of the engine. and ~ did help a little. I got going better in the main event. I started moving up after the restart; I was happy to finish 10th. So. we did all right for starting dead last. " On Sunday, Kevin Varnes and his longtime girlfriend, Colle en Miller, were married at the Special Memories Wedding Chapel in downtown Las Vegas . On Friday night, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted the last Hot Shoe National of 1998. The dosest race of the night also se ttled the closes t point race of the season. Harley-Davidson of Missouri/D ave Burks Motorsports/Bill LePage 's Ken Coolbeth topped BBRP/C ircle F RaCing Frames/G ardner Hecinq-spcnsored Dan Stanley in the 600cc Expert class . St anley had led by three points co ming in. but the win was worth a four-pomt advantage and Cgolbeth came away the champion. Roeder's H·D/ Mike 's H· D·backed Geo Roeder once again captured the 750cc class . A sixth-place fi nish se aled the title for Roed er. USC Racing/ lancas ter H·D/D odg e Broth ers -backed Oan B ut le r ca me away with the win. Corbin Racing/S an J ose H·DlRogers Hactnq-backed Gery Rogers sealed the Harley-Davidson Sportster Performance title win with a victory, and Jayco Construction/Hart Racing/STC Trucking's Bri an S hirle y took the 600cc Pro-Sport title just by qualifying for the main event. In the main. he finis hed second to his closest riva l " Indian MC Supply/Gutte ridge H·D/Di em's Cycles-backed Tom McGrane J r.

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