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/127965
DIRT TRACK A GRAND NATIONAL MA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Round 19: Del Mar Fairgrounds . second . A short distance ba ck, Terry Poo vey held Ken ny Coolbeth a t bay. Ju st w hen every th ing a p pea red to be se t, Land es ' bi ke mad e a cru nc h ing so u nd goi ng int o turn one on the las t lap . At the same time, Coolbet h made a pass on Poov ey and stole the last transfer into the main. Joe Kop p led Billy Ma rt in and J.R. Schna be l away in the last se mi. Kop p held a small lead , as Chris Evans stormed up to second . Team Powell /Van Beek Harlev-Da vidson 's Schna bel was not to be d ';nied this time, a nd he not on ly passed Evan s b ut slip ped by Kopp for one lap . Kopp retook the lead on the last lap, and both were head ed for the last National of 1998. Cor bi n Ra cin g / Sa n Jos e H a rl e y Davidson's Rogers took second, and the top two did pu ll away. Sadd lemen /l 800-FASTHOG's Eades dropped in to a battle for th ird with Modesto Ha rleyDavid son -backed Na te Wait. Jus t pas t the ha lfw ay mark, Shaun Ru ssell push ed h is Bar te ls ' HarleyDavi dson Sportster in to the battl e for third . As the field started the eighth lap, Eades un load ed big-time in tu rn tw o. TI,e race was red-flagged and eve n tually called com pl~te. 'Roeder was declared the wi nner over Rog ers, Russell, Wait, Sea n Lollar, Billy Martin , A.J. Herrera , Sco tt St u m p , T im Eades a nd C h ris Fitzhugh. HARLEY-DA VIDSO N SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE NATIONA L The last Na tional of the year came to the line, led by fast qualifier Bu tler. Somehow, Stanley led the pack into turn one from the second row, but Par ker was ted no time takin g over the point and put ting himself right w here he need ed to be in order to capture his ninth Grand National Championsh ip . Star ting lap tw o, the tigh tly bun ched pack bounced into turn one. Al most in slow motion , Hayden, who was in about fourth , spu n d own. Hayd en scra mbled to the safety of the hay bales as the followin g pack avoi ded his fallen Harley. The red flag came out, and there would be a complete restart. After locki ng up the series po ints title in La s Ve g a s w it h w ha t h e h im s elf termed a "medi ocre" rid e, Miller Electric/ Las Vegas Harl ey-Davidson / Texas H arl e y-Da v id s o n / Roed er H arl ey Davidson 's Jess Roeder was looking to do mina te the las t race of the year. The field charged th ree wide into turn one, with Roeder, Joe Eades and Gary Rogers a ll tr ying to sq ueez e through. Roeder led Eades and Rogers at the end of the fir st lap a nd appeared to be pu lling a\vay. 00 0'\ 0'\ ...... ...... N l-< ill .g ..... U o 14 GRAND NATIONAL / ' This time it was Park er awav first, bu t Stanley once agai n was right i~ the thick of things. Butler and Sp rin gst een were also up front. At the end of lap one, Parker was in control, with Carr giving chase. After a couple of la ps , it was apparen t that, barring mechanical failur e, the race and the points race were both over. Early on, Atherton held third befo re giving way to Roed er. At the end of five laps, Stanley held down fifth over Butler, Kin g, Kopp, Bigelow an d Morehead. Sta n ley, Butl er, Ko pp a nd Kin g wer e tig htly bunched until Sta nley slip ped . Th at seemed to brea k th ings up, a nd Butler closed on' Ather to n, w hos e race ended just after he finish ed his 12th lap. "Un fortu na tely, we lost a oil lin e," Atherton sai d . "I think we lost the line w he n I h it tha t h ol e . Wh en I hit th at hole, the oil started spra ying all over." Bu t ler b ro ke fr ee a n d .cl os ed o n Roeder. At the end of lap 14, both Roeder an d Bu tler sto rmed by Ca rr. Mid way throu gh lap 15, the red flag was out, as Butler's bike was in the par king lot outsid e of tu rn th ree. Bu tler was at firs t transported back to the pits , but it was then decided to send him off to the hospital to be checked out, as he had collected a fence post with his back. Kop p appea red to take ad va ntage of the rest art, as' he ju m ped fro m sixth to second going into turn one. He cou ld n' t (Above) Kevin Atherton (23) made a surprise return to action at Del Maraboard a loaner USC/Lancaster Harley-Davidson. Atherton transferred directly from his heat race and was running well in the main event before being s idelined by mechanical problems . (Below) Although he already had the title in hand, Jess Roeder (94) put in a solid performance in the Harley-Davidso n Sportster Performance National and claimed the win in the crash-shortened feat ure. ma intain it, ho wever , and was back in sixth a t the end of lap 15. Carr made the most of the restart by regaining second. "We put a new , s ha rp edge on the rear tire ," Carr said . "We felt we had to d o something in order to try to run wi th Scot t. Tha t was som ethi ng we cou ld do to tryand make a diff er en ce. The only o th er cha nge th a t mi ght have helped was if he'd have some how lost som e of his speed . He was flying in tha t main eve nt, no doubt abo u t it." Laps ran out for Roeder, and he finished a so lid third . "I stayed with the same line, even af ter the restart ," Roeder sa id . "Chris started off fas t, then kind of sl owed down, a nd 1 was ca tch ing h im at the end. With seven lap s, I might have go t-