Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 3: Delaware State Fairgrounds AMA GRAND NA TlONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES D ut By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Fotos HARRINGTON, DE, MAY 22 f you can call going two races without a win a slump, then Scott Parker has just broken out of a slump. H took the Harley-Davidson Motor Company / AGV /Fick Excavating-backed series champion until the 12th lap of the 25-lap Grand ational to get by early leader Chris Carr at the Delaware State Fairgrounds. Parker then held a commanding lead when the race was red-flagged on lap 24 after Johnny Murphree bailed· off while exiting turn two. Scoring was reverted back to lap 23, the race was called complete, and Parker had ltis 92nd Grand National win. Round three of the American Motorcyclist Association's Grand National Dirt Track Series by Drag Specialties came to the Delaware State Fairgrounds half mile under the very real threat of thunderstorms. The weather concerns forced the track crews to limit the amount of water applied to the new limestone surface. "I didn't get a great holeshot," Parker said. "We were up in the real deep stuff because Roeder picked pretty close to the outside, and I wanted to be the outside guy. When I let the clutch out, it just bogged down. Sometimes, with a twingle, that's what happens." At the flash of the green light, Chris Carr went right to the front on his Harley-Davidson of Sacramento! Phoenix Racing/Big Valley Ford-backed Harley. "The bike was working great when the cusltion was still there and it was damp; then it got dry and hard," Carr said. "Scotty seems to be able to go good on that type of track, a lot better than I can. The fact that he grew up on the stuff helps. I never saw pea gravel until I was 17 years old. I think he was born in a bed of it." For the first half of the race, Carr appeared to be in control. Then Parker turned up the wick. '1 was running in up high, then I cut to the bottom, where there wasn't any dust," Parker said. "1 cut my laps, but 1 screwed up one lap and he reeled me right back in. Then I just got back on my line and was able to pu]] clear. 1 knew 1 could cut some good laps, but it's easier when you're behind, where if I'd have been in Chris' position, doing the other side of it, you get conservative. You get to cruising around, thinking everything is fine and you've got a good lead. Chris looked back about three laps before I I II !!Iii lIlii III :! ~ :iii Q • m _ N ~ ~ 12 c<\ught him, and he had a good lead then. He didn't look back for a few, and the next thing you know, 1 was right next to him. Then you start trying to hustle, and on a track like this, you fight yourself when that happens. BilJ (Werner) had the bike working exce]]ent. AU I had to do was ride it." Rounding out the podium was one of Ohio's cushion-track masters, Geo Roeder II. The Schaeffer's HarleyDavidson/Las Vegas Harley-Davidson/KK Supply-backed Roeder's race could easily be called an adventure. As many as five riders were battling over third for the majority of the race. "I was just looking for someplace where the bike would work," Roeder said. "It finally got to where it was working pretty good. I messed up a couple of times. I found a line, and I was catching Will, and I got too anxious. I should have just eased the gas on. I got on it too hard. After about the third time that I screwed up, I finally said to myself, 'Settle down and just ease that gas on, because you've got the line.' I knew I had the line on those guys, and I just needed to take my time." Also heavily involved in the fight over third were Chris Evans, Kevin Atherton, Will Davis and Bryan Bigelow. Daytona wiriner Davis worked his way from a second-row start into a fourth-place finish. "We got a decent start, but the guys got away up front," the Eaken Racing/Dick Ford/Rod Lake-backed Davis said. "They were setting a pretty good pace, and I think I was like sixth or seventh. Then I worked my way up to third. I stayed there for a while. Then I almost crashed down in turn three and let Roeder get back on my wheel. We. battled, and he got the best of me." Fifth went to the resurgent Kevin Atherton. The Tom Cummings Racing/Duraliner/Yeti-sponsored Atherton was in the middle of the action all night. "I don't think we had the bike working real good," Atherton saidd. "Early on, I thought we would have to make some tire decisions, but I don't trunk it mattered which of the three tires you used. The guys that had their bikes working the best were Parker and Carr, and obviously they split on u . We were real fast early, and of course the track changes as the race goes on. 1 just ended up fighting the thing the whole time." ot surprisingly, former Canadian National Champion Chris Evans was a force up ltigh on the cushion's edge. But as the faster line came in on the bottom, Evans was forcect to drop down out of the dirt, and he ultimately finished sixth. "The race track started coming in, and 1 moved myself from sixth or seventh up to third," the American HarleyDa vidson / Jaybra ke/Su perTra ppbacked Evans said. 'The track just dried out and got rougher. Then guys started eking by me on the bottom, but it was a good, solid ride. I had to come down and ride the bottom. I almost jumped off, but I'm pleased." Dropping from that pack to finish by ltimself in seventh was USC Racing/ Lancaster Harley-Davidson/Marshall Di tributing's Bryan Bigelow. "[t just got pretty dry out there," the 1998 Rookie of the Year said. "I was in the first heat race, and there was a ton of traction. I kind of got spoiled and tried to ride as hard in the main as I did in the heat, and it just didn't work." Coming into the night, BF / LAF / Michigan Harley-Davidson Dealersbacked Nicky Hayden was the points Breakin' through for 921: Reigning AMA Grand National Champion Scott Parker scored his first win of '99 at the Harrington Ha" Mlle. Parker carne from behind to pass Chris carr for the lead in the crash-shortened race. leader, but the part-time dirt tracker struggled just to finish eighth on the pea- gravel oval. . "It felt good, but I knew [ was going . to struggle here," Hayden said. '1 have only ridden a 750 on pea gravel a few times - maybe three times last year and once this year. I've just got to get used to it. We were going a little bit slow all night, even in practice. The first lap, I kind of let those guys push me around in the first turn. I got roosted, and think I was about 14th, but I moved up to eighth. My bike was good, but I was just kind of struggling a little bit. Once I got going, I started picking some guys off and I moved up." Corbin Racing/H-D Cycle Center of Waterloo-backed Rich King appeared to be in the hunt early in the race, but he faded to a ninth-place finish. "At the start, I was going right up to the front," King said. "It felt really good. Then I started catching some holes and ruts and kind of started going the other way. I moved up and could see WilJ and those guys. I even caught up enough to race with them a little bit, but I just wore myself out." Rounding ou t the top 10 was fast qualifier Dan Butler, who almost ended his night early when he feU in the first heat. But the Saddlemen/Lancaster Harley-Davidson/Dodge Brotherssponsored rider came back with a semi win to make the Grand National. "That's not where we wanted to be

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