Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Dirt Track Round 6: A llenCou tyF n airground s AMA GRAND NATIONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES help to the bike guys. You can' t predict this one (ma in). The track cou ld change and take you right ou t of the hunt. We just hope tha t w e guess right fo r th e main eve nt." Wh en a ll was sa id and d on e, th os e words wo uld prove to be prophetic. Heat two was all Roeder from start to finish. The so n of form er Harley-Davidso n factory grea t George Roed er made Pop proud as he used a midtrack line to threa d h is way throu gh th e first-turn bun ching and then sim ply left the competition in his wa ke. Harl ey-Davidson of Missouri/Dave Burks Mot orsport s' Kenn y Coo lbe th s ty le d into seco n d place, but that d idn 't last lon g, as Davis came af te r him : Th e North Carolinian tried to pin ch the '93 Rookie of the Year off in turn two on lap three, but Coolbe th found eno ug h bite in the track to esca pe. Da vi s mer el y rep eated th e process in turns three a nd four, and w his tled on by to ta ke th e run ner -u p s p o t. Coo lbeth retai ned third as the three pu t ya rd s of real esta te between the mse lves an d co nten ders su ch as Jay Springsteen , J.R. Schnabel and Mike Varnes. At the fini sh , Roed er had the win over Davis and then Coolbeth. The Ohioan almost made it look boring. " I hope I ca n d o that again in th e ma in event," Roedersaid. "It might be boring to everyone else, but it'll excite the hell ou t of me . Chico' s just got her working. She feels fast and sm ooth, and that makes it easy to run her in harder. The track seems to be in good shape, but it'll d eteroriate in eight or 10 laps with 18 guys on it. Getting the holeshot and ge tting ou t of the sp ray will take you a long way. It takes so much ho rsepower to pu ll that sp ray. " Heat three had to b e red-fla gged a l m os t immediat el y, as la s t week 's h ea v y cra sher, Dav id Rayburn , lowsided in turn three and then go t balled up underneath his KK Motorcycle Supply / DeFra nk Au tobody Ha rley-Davidson. This time, Rayburn was unhurt and made the res tart, which was completely domina ted by Parker and Mor ehead , the two thrillin g the crowd with old-school cus hio n riding . Th ey ra n side by si de down the, fro nt stre tch a cou ple times, playfully sw ip ing at one anot her wit h a free hand or leg as they roared into the corners full th ro ttl e . Parker then go t serio us and pu lled out a five-le ngt h lead on More head. Stylema st e r Cu s tom Motorcycl es' Steve Beattie and Moron ey's H-D-. backed Mik e Hacke r con tin u ed to d o battle fo r third , with the 'Canadian Nationa l Champion di ving underneath Hack er off the very last corn er to secure the final trans fer. Up front , Park er took th e win ove r Morehead with room to spa re. "I pu t my foot up by him when we we re go ing into turn one once," Park er said with a grin. " It w as right by h is hand, so I didn't want to tou ch hi m. But once I got rollin', though ... That' s a big pa rt of thi s pla ce, is getting ou t away from everyone so that yo u can run yo ur lines. Then you can run where you want to without so meo ne dictating where you s ho u ld go because of th e spra y. I feel good . It' s go nna b e a lon g race. Ju st gotta get that holeshot. " Parker's theory p roved tru e in heat four, as Harlev-Davidson of Missouri! Burks Motorspor ts' Joe Kopp go t th e hol esho t a nd was ab le to easi ly pu ll awa y from At herton, w ho wa s stuck en dealing with former TCR teammate Da n en en Butl er a fter Butler got away fro m his ,..: Te am Saddlemen /La ncas te r HarleyDavidson /Dodge Brothers teammate ..." Kevin Varnes. The tw o were side bv 18 side, criss-crossing, passing and repass- . ~ -5 (Right) Go Goo, go !: Loca l boy Geo Roeder II nearly caught his brake system on fire as he charged around the pea-gravel half mile. He was rewarded with a stout th irdplace fin ish . . (Below) Steve Morehead was one of the riders who bonused because of the restart. The 43year-old " Findlay Flyer" chan ged his gearing, went back out and fini she d fourth. ing for six of the 10 laps befor e Atherton finally d isposed of Butler, who then fell vict im to Varnes after Varnes used a high entry and th en cut d ow nt rack to rail under Butler in turns one and two on lap eight. Atherton d id catch Kopp, atte mp ting a simila r man eu ver off tu rn four to take the lead , bu t Kopp had too mu ch momen tum . With that, the top three we re se t. A disappointed Bu tler was sen t to th e sem is, whi le Ko p p , Athe rton and Varnes we re through to the main . "I co u ld hear someon e d own th ere on the last la p," Kopp sai d. '" used a tot all y d ifferent lin e than wha t I was u sing in practice. Ju st w at ch in g Scott and Chris made me d ecide to cha nge, and it worked . We al so cha nged th e gear for the heat. I don't think I'm going to change that for the ma in eve n t. The track is a little smoother now. It' s not quite a s d eep. Fron t row , hol esh ot that's what I want." SEMIS The action in the semis was, if nothing else, p redictable, as the heavy-track rider s that most th ou ght s ho u ld ha ve mad e it through to the main fro m' the heat races did so in the semis. Stanl ey, the fastest hea t winner in the rained-ou t 1998 edition of the even t, led Team Powell /Sunoco's J.R. Schna be l for th e d istance in semi number o ne . Sp ringer went flag to flag in semi number two, while hard-ridi ng N icky Hayden - on leave from the AMA ro ad race wars ran second, only to be passed by a completely berzerk Eva ns jus t bef or e th e flag. Evans was in, Ha yd en and the rest we re ou t. Butler, wh o finished second at Lima in 1995, mad e th e s ho w w ith a good rid e to win se m i number three, w h ile Hack er was just barely able to fend off a late-charging Willie McCoy for the final transfer spo t to the main. GRAND NATIONAL Fast-timer Carr chose the third spot fro m th e outs ide, lea vin g Roeder and then Parker to his right, while to his left w ere Davis, Kopp, and King on th e ext re m e in side. When the green light flashed, all 18 riders hit the firs t turn, sending up a tremendous cloud of dust. Parker emerged from the fallout w ith the lead , whil e Roed er, Carr, Morehead, Ath erton, Kopp and Davis fann ed ou t behind him in sea rch of a place to run w here th ey wou ldn't ge t roost ed. Five laps in, Parker was alread y s lip p ing a w ay, th ough Roed er and Carr w ere holdin g th eir own. Most of th erid ers we re findi ng a good place to run abo ut mid way up th e race tra ck, excep t fo r King in 10th , wh o was running around th e bottom, and Va rnes in ninth, w ho was wa y , way up on top. Kopp a nd Beattie were fighting ov er the seventh spot, just ahead of them . Springsteen , meanwhile, was way in the back of the pack. "Back in the back, tha t's where yo u could find me," sa id Springsteen, wh o finished 15th, the bruises and cuts on his arms clearly showing the effect s of the sa ndblasti ng that he had bee n receiving. '" was back there with Hacker and Butler. That spray is so dam n bad you can't hard ly s ta nd it. It was bea tin g u p my face shield . [ shou ld h a ve changed shields before I we nt ou t there." Up fron t, Parker wa s running his ow n race, while Roeder and Carr maintained their positions. Morehead was a so lid fourth, while Atherton and Davis began to figh t over fifth . '" wa s just rollin g arou nd out there," Parker said. '" glanced back and could see Roeder in one and two eve ry once in a whi le, but I was d oing fine. , was just doing my own thing." Ca rr continued to head close r to the top as the laps wor e on. It would help him get by Roed er on lap 10. '" was jus t following Parker, trying to r u n w here he was n' t so tha t h e wo uldn' t spray me ," Roed er sa id . "He kept sp raying me d own so ba d . Th en Chris passed me u p high, so I wen t up th ere . It was a smoo the r lin e , bu t I couldn't go as fast up there." Once free of Roeder, Carr attem pted to cu t int o Parker's lead, and at firs t it a p p ea re d a s th ou gh h e .mi ght ge t it d one. Carr was clearly eating up time on Parker at the entranc e to turn on e, but then he would lose it coming off two. At the other end of the track, the opposite was true . "I wa s going way deep a nd cutting across the cushion ," Carr sa id. "But I wore that line ou t." Other t han th e co n s ta n t battle between Ki ng and Varnes, th e only other real close cont es t was the one for 13th, as Coolbeth and Bigelow argued

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