Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ti tle co n te nder Will Dav is p ulled h is Tommy Cu m mi ngs/ Michigan HarleyDa vidson Dea le rs Associatio n-bac ked Harley out of the race. "There w asn ' t a nyt hi ng wrong wi th the bike - I just coul d n't see well eno ugh to go on ," a disappoin ted Davis said . "I didn't feel safe, and it wasn't goi ng to make any d ifference in the po int stan dings wi th me back where I was at. When Nicky fell in tu rn one, I didn't even see hi m u nt il I was past-h im . W hat really bothered me the most was the thought that so meone would fall in front of you and you cou ld n' t see him or tha t you wo uld catch a ho le and fall in fro n t of so me body else . If those guys could see and ra ce; the n more power to th em. They d eserve to win ." Also d ropping ou t on lap 12 was su rprise visi to r Kevin Atherton , who was running a stro ng fourth on his bor rowed USC Racin g /Lancast er Harley-Da vid so n / Dodge Brother s Harl ey . In Athe rto n's first ride of the season, he looked as stro ng as ever. "I ca me to wi n, " Ath er to n said . "I haven't been arou nd all year, but I came to win . It's all I've don e all my life. It's not like I'm going to forget how ." After being as low as 12th ea rly in th e ra ce , Ro se Ra cin g / Sch a effer' s Harley-Da vids on /B&B Tradin g's Kevin Varnes charged up to fourth. "I di dn't ge t the goo d sta rt I needed early, but I made up for it," Varnes said. "I jus t go t bla st ed the firs t co u p le of lap s, and it set me backward s. I could n't see anythi ng . It wa s just 'li ghts ou t: I just kept grabbing tearoffs, even trying to grab them in the m iddle of the corners . The restart really help ed us; I was a b le to get up front ri ght awa y . It seeme d like everybody starte d runnin g a lower lin e. I kept m y hi gh line, a nd that kept me out of the spray." Cor bin Racing /SuperTrapp' s Rich King sold iered hom e in fifth , despite his injured left hand. "The only time my hand really bothered me wa s when I'd hit th e holes," King s aid . " I' d clamp on to the bars tighter, and when I did that, m y hand hurt pretty b ad . That' s not reall y a n exc use . I wasn't up to speed a ll d a y lon g. I was hoping to come on late in the ma in again this year, but th e red fla g kind of sho t all my plans. They reconditioned the track , and the lines that I had th at w er e working were prett y much gon e. Th ose guys w ere a lot fas te r up top th an I was . When they smoothed their lines out, of course my low line that was already smooth - just slow ed down." The 1998 Rookie of the Year, Bryan Bigelow, finished out a strong year with a sixth-place finish. "That wa s abo ut as crazy as it gets," th e USC Racing /Lanca ster H arl eyDa vid s on /Dod g e Broth er' s-b acked youngster said . "I' m not going to try and foo l an ybo dy. It wa s a little scary ou t ther e. Abou t the third or fourth lap, the shock blew. It was still working a lit. tie, bu t all the rebound and d am peni ng was go ne. We we re just hanging on for d ear life ou t there." Gard ner Ra cin g / Walters Brothers Harley-Davidson's Dan Stan ley had the best mile rid e of h is career, a n d he ended up seventh . "We started th e Na tional off reall y good," Sta nley sa id . "I think I eve n got the holesho t into turn on e. Down the b ack straight, Parker got by me, and the n Chris got by go ing into tu rn th ree. Man, it wa s an awesome star t from the seco nd row, and the three of u s got away from ev erybody . There wa s no dust, an d there was no roos t. I was able to follow thos e tw o, and it was go ing to be a good race until I saw that red flag ." Even the second time arou nd , Stanley far ed well. "W e go t a nother good s tart on th e restart, ru nning fourth," he said . "I hit a cou ple of bumps, got roosted a couple of - times and dropped back a little bit. I felt really good and di dn't get too tired." An other rider sho w ing experi en ce well beyond his years was Nicky Hayden . The Tommy Cummings /Michigan Harley-D avidson Deal ers Ass ociati onba cked Hayd en go t up off the gro und, made the firs t restart from the pe nalty line and still worked his way back up to an eighth-place finish. "I got a great start and was moving up; I reall y felt th at I was go ing to be ' abl e to pass and get a p odium finish," Ha yd en sa id . "I was trying to go around on the outsid e and just caugh t a little hole, th e ba ck en d ste p ped ou t, and I spun d own. On th e re start, I h ad to come from last and 'got hung up beh ind a few guys . I was finally able to pass a couple of guys befor e th e se co nd red flag. Dead last to eigh th - that' s pre tty good, I guess. I thou ght I'd do better on the second restart, bu t I,on ly passed one guy . Then I was able to ge t by Kopp on the last lap for eighth ." Mi ssouri Ha rley-Davidson /Dave Burks Racing's Joe Kopp had come into th e d ay with high hopes, bu t he "settled " for ninth. "I go t great sta rts in all th e m aineve nt sta rts but just spooked myself a few tim es and just wasn' t putting it on the line like so me o f th e o the r g uys we re, " Kopp sai d . "I hit so me real big holes down in one an d two , and I didn' t like that - I guess it sca red me a little. I tried to just salvage w ha t I had . Scotty m ust h a ve fo u nd something way u p h igh w he re h e was ru n n ing , but I couldn' t see going into tu rn thr ee." ,(Top) "Gave it alii had": Chris Carr's loss of the title by two points belied his superb second-place performance on the roughand-tumble Del Marracing surface. Carr has finished second in the series standings six times dur ing his career. (Right) Geo Roeder II had his best season ever in 1998, and the cushion-riding Ohioan found the Del Martrack to his liking, as he earned third place - his best career finish on a mile. RC Truc king /Bartels' Harley-Davidson's Jay Sp rings teen fin ished off a so lid year wit h a 10th-place finish. "In the main, you wo u ld ge t sprayed . d o wn a n d th en yo u couldn't see th e ru ts ," the three- time G rand Na tio na l Champion said . "On ce you got racing by yourself, it was all righ t;-then you could see the holes and you could go above or below them. Any little bit of stu ff on your shield and you couldn' t see. Then, going , into three with the su n going down, it was pretty bad. I w en t tw o laps before they threw the red flag, and the only way I knew somebody was down was the big hole in the tarp in turn three." HEATS The heat-race la ps were cut back in an effo rt to save the trac k, and for th e most pa rt the finish order was set well b efore t he e ight laps w e r e up . Ja y Sp ringsteen had se t fast qualifyin g heat ti me, but he w as n o m atch for Chris Carr in heat one. The rac e had to be red-fl ag ged , as Cozia h r Harley-Davidson teammates Pa ul Mor gan III and Johnny Murphree go t tangled up in turn tw o. "W h en Johnny fe ll, I saw his fir st bounce, so I got on the gas and tried to ge t through the hole on the outside," Morga n said . "I could n' t make it, and he hooked my han dlebar with his arm. It pushed me up in to th e hay bales, a nd down I went, too ." Bot h ri ders wo u ld eventua lly be tra nsported to the hospital afte r first just wanting a ride back to the pit s. Carr easily won t he res tar t, w ith Springsteen a so lid seco nd . The en tire fiel d look ed to be evenly spaced, with F&S Harley-Da vid son / KK Motor cycle Su pply's Steve Morehead taki ng the last d irect tra nsfer from this heat. Ken Coo lbeth, Mike Hale, Ja im e Ag u ilar and Michelle Disalvo were semi-bo und . The seco nd heat w as domina ted by Da n Bu tler, as he rod e by the hay ba les ea rly and bu ilt a huge lead . A th reerider battle over the last tw o tickets to the mai n even tua lly s p rea d out, w it h N icky Hayden finish ing secon d ove r lon gtime Amateur Na tional riv al Bryan Bige low. Will Davi s was the victim of the yo u ng chargers, and he w as sem ibou nd , a lo ng with Brett La ndes, J.R. Schn abel , T ommy H a yden , M arco Mor ello and Brian Krom roy. Geo Roed er II took the ea rly lead in the third heat, but Kevin Varnes, wh o is establishi ng himself as quite a rim' rider, took the high lin e to th e win. Roeder hel d on to second , wit h Dan Stanley a safe third . Chris Evans, Sha un Russell , Terry Poovey, Paul Bergstrom and Mike Inderbitzin rou nded out the finis hers. The last heat saw Scott Parker giv e the first indica tion of what was to come. Par ker gra bb ed t he e arl y lead o ve r Kevin Atherton and a su rprising ly fas t Ga ry Ro g ers. Pa rke r s tayed jus t far enough ahead of Athe rto n to be co mfortable, a s Ro gers fe ll v ic tim to hi s Co rbi n Ra cing teamma te , Rich King, and then Joe Kopp. After King took over th ird, th e tr ansfer positions were se t. Kop p wo u ld lead Rogers: Willie McCoy, Joe Ead es, Chance Darling, Lonn y Kopp and Randy Berem an to the semis. SEMIS Bartel s' Harl ey-Da vid son ' s Shau n Russell led the first semi in to turn one, bu t Will Davis ma de qu ick work of the youngster and proceeded to run away. Russell was able to hold off a closing Willie McCoy, with roa d racers Tommy Hayd en and Mike Hale runnin g fourth and fifth . Gary Rogers blas ted to the lead in the sec ond sem i, with Bret t Landes a safe ,......, N l-< C.J ..0 o ..... u o 13

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