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/128001
(Left) Parker (1) se t sail early in the main, coming off turn two with Joe Kopp (43),Geo Roeder II (66), Steve Morehead (partially hidden) and Carr (4) in tow. The ninetime series champion appeared to have the win in the bag until Chris Evans fell on lap 23. (Below)The cruc ial moment came when Parker (1) got in too hot down low and had to scrub off s peed in turn three , allowing Carr to drive around the top off turn four and take the lead for good with four laps to go. might at Lima, Roede r watched as Carr got by him up around the top on lap 10. He then decided to h ead upstairs as well , bu t he made no further progr ess. Even so, the final podium spot seemed secu re, as fourth-placed Kevi n Atherton and fift h-placed Steve Morehead were well behind the top three that late in the going . Then came the red flag and the restart, and sud denly his chances didn't look so good once the cagey Morehead s liced arou nd th e top and pu lled in to thi rd as th ey go t un der way a gain. Roeder kept his cool, though, repassing Morehead and getting ba ck into third before the five-lap da sh was over. "I was jus t cru sin '," Roed er said of his pe rformance before th e rest ar t. "1 could see that those guys (Pa rker and Carr) were getting away fro m me. Then we h ad th e res tart. I t ho ug h t, 'T h is could be good or this could be bad : It wor ked ou t the same . It feels good to be lucky. I'll tell you what: Every time I've been on th e podium, it has been with Parker and Carr. Chico and me, we' re getting it togeth er." Morehead go t it together in the last five laps, too, after running a solid fifth aboa rd his F&S Harley-Davidson/KK/ Shep herd & Dra goo-ba cked HarleyDavidson . The 43-year-<>ld from nea rby Findlay, Ohio, has always taken like a duck to water, and tuner Gary Stolzenburg mad e s u re tha t Morehead had plenty to paddle with. Even so, Morehead faced tough competition in the form of th e TCR /Michigan HarleyDav id son Dealers Associa tio n-backe d Ath ert on for much of the distance before th e restart. In fac t, Atherton made the pa ss on Morehead for fourth on abou t la p 18, appea ring to ceme n t the top five in place. But as Morehead has proved in the pa st, you can never, ever cou nt him out. He jumped to third in the rest arted race and had a sho t a t the pod ium until Ro ed er s ho t back aro u nd him . Still, Morehead was happy to ultimately imp rove his finishing position by one spo t over w here he was set to finish befor e the Evans crash. "It just goes to sho w you tha t if two old d ogs ca n tra vel together, th ey can still hunt," Morehead said, reffering to him self and St ol zenburg . " It wa s a struggle. Eve ry bo dy was fas t, but we got her d ialed in for the end there. Gary worked hard on it. The guy had a 104degree temperature last night. He was sicker th an a d og. H e sho u ld n' t eve n have been her e: ' Fifth place we nt to Will Davis, who appears to ha ve rebounded so me w hat from his disastrous failure to qualify for the Mineral Wells Half Mile of a week ago. The Eaken Racin g-backed North Carolina speedster got in the show by finishing second to Roeder in heat race number two , and he was s ixth off the line in th e feature. Davis ran w here he cou ld , attempting to avoid the biting spray from the rear wh eels of the competition in front of him, and afte r a bri ef d ice with Athert on, he se ttl ed into a fas t- paced six th. Th e restart would be kind to him as well, as h e foll ow ed Morehead one spo t up the ladder in the five -la p d ice to th e fini sh . Afterwa rd , Davis cou ld at lea st em p a th ize with Parker , puttin g th e who le controversy into historical perspective. "At Lincoln, Nebr aska, in 1996, I was lead ing the race by a mile with one lap to go," Davis said . "I look ed up the front s trai g h ta w ay and I saw th e fla gman hold ing the whi te flag. Then, just before I go by him , he throws it to the side of the tra ck. I th ought, 'Wha t's this guy d oing?' Nex t thing I know, the red flag is ou t because Roe der's in the bales . Th e y r estarted that ra ce, a n d S teve Morehead w on it. Fu rthe rmore , Sco tt Parker had crashed wh ile leadin g the race, bu t his bike didn't quit, so he go t on it and kept going . He was about 12th. Then on the restart, he worked his wa y back up to like fou rth. Now, I was mad about losing that race, and I went an d told (AMA referee) Bruce Bober about it by myself, but I d on't remember anyone else crying abou t the restart there and wha t happened af ter it . Th is has happened before. I had the same thing happen to me." HEATS After suffering throu gh a bit of chop in both comers during pra ctice on the heavy pea-gravel surface that many rid e rs sa y is one of the la st tru e g r ea t Am erican d irt tracks on the series schedule, th e A M A and DM Promotions labo red long and hard to prepare a race track tha t wo ul d tu rn out to be much s moo ther through ou t th e eveni ng's races, alb eit with the constant maintenance that is required on a track of this kind . The action was its typical fast and furious. Carr wound up drawing into the first of. the four lO-la p heat s, a nd al tho ugh Ga rd ner Racin g /W alters Broth ers Harley-David son's Dan Stanley go t the no d o ff th e line, it was C arr w ho dropped low and th en roared up the slight banking to lead the field down the ba ck straight. USC Ra cing /Lancaster Harley-Davidson' s Bryan Bigelow also got und ernea th Stanley down the back straight on lap two. Carr pulled away, w it h Bigelow running seco nd before Corbin Racing / SuperTrapp's Rich King - who had actually been banished to the penalty line fo r ju m p ing the s ta r t caught the youngste r, drove low in turn one and snatched second away off tum tw o. Bigelow th en had to hold off the advances of both Stanley and Evans. Up fr ont, Carr s im p ly drew away , le a v in g King, Bigelo w a n d the rest behind by half a s traigh taway. Tha t' s how the y'd finish , althoug h Stanley did attempt a last-ditch pa ss on the low sid e ' of Bigelow to swipe third place. It didn't work. . "The bike is good," Carr said. "We' re trying a bunch of stu ff. That win doesn't really mean a w ho le lot because th ey usu ally wo rk a lot on the track befor e the first heat race." Even so, Carr ultimately set fast time, collecting a $100 bonus posted by Millstream Speedway, a nea rby car track. "That was nice," Carr sa id . "It' s good to see a car track tryi ng to give a little _ I II III .. ~ ... Q ~ ~ -: .~ ~ 17