Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Dirt Track Round 7: Indiana State Fairgrounds AMA GRAND NATIONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES prematurely fromrow two, as did Hayden and More head from ro w three. Once under way, Parker grabbed the holeshot, leading the field onto the back straight with Carr, Davis and a balls-out Springs teen running hot into th ree , When they crossed the line, Parker led Springsteen, Atherton, Carr, Davis , Springsteen, Hacker, Butler and Ha y, den. On the second lap, Carr appeared to ge t a bit of a break from the pursuing pack, and he held tha t advantage for just one more lap before Davis came up, took the lead , a nd then a ttempted to check ou t. "The only thing that we d id from the heat race to the ma in eve nt was put on a Co n tinen tal tire: ' Davis said, "This p lace ge ts a groove on it, an d Continentals - when they ge t warmed up - seem to work pretty good . We looked and saw what Chris had on his bike, and if h e had n' t run one, th en we probably wouldn' t have, either. Anyway, when I looked back and saw Ch ris, he was just stayi ng there." From about lap five to lap 16, Davis appea red uncatchable, while Carr, Atherton and Parker still ran close even though there were no pos ition changes taking p lace among them. All the action was then focused on a tight ba ttle (Above) Once Davis (21) took the lead on lap four, Carr (4) had a heck of time running him down. It would take Carr 12 laps to catch Davis, and Parker (not shown) another four laps to catch them both. (Right) Kevin Atherton (23) diced briefly with Parker (1) before "skati ng" to a fourthplace finish . Many riders sa id that the Indy track was slicker than usual , although they still gave a thumbs-up to the track prep crew. go ing to "run the same lines in the main . Th e winner w ill be whoever can s tay h ooked up a n d k eep th e gas o n the longest to ca rry tha t s peed o n to th e straightawa y." Carr certainly was able to do just that in the third heat, and he was never challen g ed a s h e pu lie d ou t to a halfstraightaway advantage by the time the race was over. In the ab sence of their challeng e for th e lead, Sch a effer' s H arley-Davidson /H-D of Las Vega s / KK-b ack ed Roed er, Gardner Racing / Sp rin gfield Armory / Walters Brother s Harley -Da vid son ' s Dan Sta n ley a nd Saddlem en Racin g /Lan cast er HarleyDavid son /Dod ge Brothers ' Dan Butler battled for th e tw o rem aining transfer spo ts. After nine of the 10 laps, Butler go t a clear-cut advantage off of turn tw o and secu red second, while Stan ley drafted past Roeder for third . Carr was practically in the pit s by then . "I was able to ge t aw ay and cut so me really good laps," Carr said . "I was able to try some lines and' find ou t that my tire worked good everywhere." USC Racing's Terry Poovey mad e his en presen ce kn own in th e fou rth hea t, as g: the old Texan wo u nd u p his "brand new" Honda RS750 - the last ever to be - . built - a nd proceed ed to battle it ou t wi th a pair of yo ungs ters in the form of ..., Ha rley- Da vi dso n of Mi ssouri / Da ve 18 Burks Motor sports' Kopp and Sad d le- :i- 3' men Racin g /Lan cast er Harley-Da vid son/ Dodge Brothers ' Kev in Varnes for the win : Poovey ran only as far back as thi rd, we ll forward of the vain fou rthplace battle between Stylemast er Cus tom Motorcy cles ' St e ve Beatti e a n d Gardner Racing /Springfield Armor y / Wieb ler' s Harle y-D a vid son ' s Da v ey Carnlin, before cycling back to the front a nd taking th e lead on lap six. In th e dash to th e fl a g , Kopp tr ie d to run arou nd Poovey in turn three, but he couldn' t ge t it don e, as Poovey held him o ff, while Va rnes co llec te d the fina l trans fer spot w ith a third -place finis h. "The th in g w ork ed good," Poovey said of the Honda. "The race track was wo rking good for me then . I figu re I had 'e m cove red . It's jus t hard because these guys race every wee k, and it takes me to the end of the heat to catch back up wit h them." SEMIS Th e first se m i s howcased a fran tic fou r-rider tussle for jus t tw o berths in the feature, Roed er, TCR's N icky Hayden, Team Pow ell / Sunoco Race Fuel's j.R . Sch nabel and TLC Raci ng' s Chris Evans all wanted one of the two spots, but only tw o cou ld have them . All took turns leadi ng the race, including Evans, wh o pu t a gu tsy move on the other thr ee to take the lead in tu rn one on lap six. However, Roed er and Hayden ul ti- mately came across the line first and secon d to advan ce. There was even mor e d icing in th e second semi, mad e all the more interesting by Moreh ead, who was back out aboa rd his second (D sick motorcycle. It s ta r te d acting up , a n d the old g uy loo ked to b e finis h ed for th e night. Then , while Russell, USC Racin g / lancas ter Harley-David son 's Bryan Bigelow and DPC Racing /H-D of Dallas rid er Willie McCoy battled up front, Morehead 's mount came to life aga in, and he re jo in ed th e fray . Seco nd across th e s tr ipe on the la st la p, he was q uic kly re shuffl ed to fourth d own th e ba ck straight. The cagey veteran then th rew ca u tio n to the wi nd, ban zaiing a rou nd all three rid ers in turn th ree and leading them to the stri pe off turn four to tak e an incredible win, Russell was second , Co olbet h ran away w it h an a nticlimac tic th ird se m i, although Camlin, Beatt ie a n d Ro g e rs La ke Raci ng / Mitch e ll' s H a rl e v-Da vid s on of Mod esto's Ga ry Roger s were locked in a fight for secon d pl ace. Thou gh th ey we re thr ee-wide as they hit the stripe on lap six, Camlin eventua lly go t free an d too k th e fi n a l trans fe r s pot of th e evening, beh ind winner Coo lbeth. GRA ND NATI ONAL The first attemp t at a start was abo rted w he n Va rnes and Sta n ley ju m ped amo ng Roed er, Kopp, Butler and Hacker. King lat er jo ined the fra y as well. That order shu ffled and reshuffled; with Kopp ultimat el y m akin g the ri ght moves to earn the sixth po sition, over Kin g, Po o vey , Butler and la tecom er Coolbe th . Hacker d ropped out w it h engine problems and wa s cred ited with 16th, ah ead of Morehead - whose mo tor cycle finall y did give up the ghos t - and Stanley - wh o mad e o n ly fiv e la ps before retiri ng with bike problems, " I had a good line in turn on e up high, but that lin e wen t away," si xth placed Kopp sai d . "The guys up front mu st have been usin g it. Springer was in front of us, and I moti oned to Butler to get in line so that we could draft up to Spring er, but he wo u ld n' t do it. Fina lly, 1 got int o line behind him , Then I blew turn one really bad with abo u t four laps to go. I caught King, but I could n' t catch Springer." Springer, in turn, cou ldn' t catch anyone ahead of him, either. In fact, as the race wore on, the bad vibes from w ha t he later called a "tired " motorcycle w ore him down, "Tha t th ing was just vibratin' like a so n of a bit ch," Springstee n said aft erwa rd. "My hand s a re a ll tin gl y rig ht now. It was spinnin' off the corn er, too. I was ge tting a lot of wh eelspin. 1 ju st w at ch ed ' em get farth er a n d fa r the r away from me."

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