Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Still the man: Jay Sp ringstee n gamely hung o n to a worn-out motorcycle that was tryi ng to buzz him to sl eep, an d posted a fifth-p lace finisl). Springer said that he is extrem e ly pleased with the way his '99 season is goi ng, (Above - left to right) Davis , Ca rr and Parker ce leb rate o n the Indy Mile podium. M ean w hile, Atherton w a s rid in g a stead y fourth pl a ce , lo st in the chasm between Springsteen and Pa rker, ha ving caught th e latter briefly o n laps eigh t and nine. Atherton simply appeared to be stuck. "I s h o u ld have took mv time, like Scott d id'," Atherton sa id . ;' W he n they got away, I kind of conceded th e race. It was like, 'All righ t, settle down and try to figure this o u t.' And that's w hen I started catching up. Oh, well, that's ra cing . I d idn't want to see an y one o f those gu ys w in . They a re all clo se to me in the points ." Parke r appea red to be st uck, too , but th en, as Carr and Davis ca me together, Parker go t going. Th e champ ca me fro m w ay back to run a mere six len gths behind the lead pa ir on lap 20. He w as in the hunt for the w in on the very next circuit. Briefl~_ ..· . "W hen Kevi n had passed m e ea rlie r, I cha nged my lines because I knew that wh at I wa s d o in g was n ' t wo r k i ng," Parker sai d . " I dro p ped to th e bottom of the track, w hereas they were d riftin g up a bit h igh. Then I s ta rted killin ' 'em in o ne and two, but I w as breaking eve n in three and fo ur. I never did fin d a better line through three a nd four." Up front, Da vis figured tha t th e wily Carr wou ld b e knocki n g o n the d o or befo re the race wa s over. " It' s just a ca t-a n d -mouse d e a l, " Davis said. "Every th ing I d o, he ca n see w he re he' s pi ck in g up o n m e . Eve n w h en he caught m e, J knew tha t 1 di dn't wa n t to ra ce with him beca us e I kn e w th at would help Parker get up in th ere. Th en I sta rt ed losing th e fr on t end w ith abou t five la ps to go. I d on 't rea lly kn o w w hy . M a y be t hat 's ju s t w h a t h a ppens _ a fte r 20 laps o f w id e- open ra ci n g . Bu t that's th e firs t tim e that I' ve felt lik e it w as a r a ce to the fi n is h. I cou ld h ave bea t ' em . I just d idn' t get th e drive off of four tha t 1 needed." Wi th Da vis, Carr a nd th en Pa rke r in lin e for th e big showdown of f tum four, C a rr seemed to ha ve the best advantage, and he put it to good use as he crossed the lin e firs t, with Parker running just to h is left, abou t half a w heel be h ind . And tha t w as that, until next w eek. " I was n ' t tryin g to pl ay a ny m enta l ga mes with Will, [ was tryi ng to ca tch hi m ," Carr sa id . "I 'm s ure that h e wa s tr yin g to make a brea k, and if I w as in h is p o siti on, I wo uld h a v e d on e th e sa me thin g ." A fterwa rd , it w as broug ht u p to Ca rr th at w he n he won th e Ind y Mile in 1992, he w ent o n 'to cla im th e cha m p io ns h ip . scra tch their heads after their terrible day at Indy, as one machine after another we nt sour. " I don't know. M M or ehead said . · We think that w e . just had a bad can of gas. It sat In the truck all week, and they can sweat and you get a lot of moisture in the fuel. In the se mis. I jumped on my sec : .A c o rrectio n is in order. Las t wee k. we reported that Chris Ca rr had ond bike, and it dropped 'a cylinder just like the first one did. but I was won his 35th Grand National win. when in fact it was his 38th. The error d eterm ined that I w as going to mak e that main even t. Then. in the main. it came about as the result of our consulting the official AMAGrand Nation- melted a cylinde r. My Suzuki (Su pe r'Iracker) did the same thing in that al Dirt Track media guide when wntlng the story. It list s Carr as having a mainevent. It was just a bad night. Ali i did was get everything dirty." sum of 34 wins. unless you add them up. at which point you will leam that there is a discrepancy in the AMA's math. We apologize to Carr. who Though his moto rcycle ran to the finish, N icky Hayden suffered now has 39 wins and is tied with the Iaie Ricky Graham for third on the through a bad night of his own. ultimately finishing 13th after placing much higher expectations on himself. By his own admission. Hayden seemed to GNC winner's list. face a myriad of problems, none of which he could place his finger on. .Joe Kopp competed on a brand-new. from·the-ground-up Harley-David- "What didn 't happen?" Hayden said. "It beats watchm' • not by much. but son XR750 at the Indy Mile . The bike. which Kopp rode to sixth place, is it beats it." owned by enqine- tuning wizard Carl Patrick. "It's Carl's bike, and he just let us use it. so we're runningit on the miles." Kopp said. "Everypiece on Tempers flared during the scratch qualifying heats , as Mike Hacker and Dan S ta nle y had a run-in on, then off, the track, On the track. Hacker it wa s brand -new. and it ran like a bans hee . got into the back of Stanley 'Just as the two were crossing the line behind Prior to the running of the Indy Mile . the AMA informed riders that a heat winner Steve Beattie . When they pulled in, Hacker was quick to get c ha lk line would be placed some eight feet from the outside wall , and off his motorcycle and give Sta nley a shove . " He' s a durnbass." Hacker said later. "He went to the outside of Beattie. then he cut back to the that the dirt from the line to the wall would be dug up. Any rider spotted inside of Beatt ie . Iwas going to run up the inside and draft them both, but running on or outside the white line would,be docked one lap. This was done to correct a long.standing problem at Indy- the fact that the wall in when he cut back across. I ran right into his pipes . lf he 's going to commit front of the main grandstand is so high that spectato rs cannot see the rid - to the outside, then he need s to stay to the outs ide. That' s how I see it." ers as they cross the finish line if the riders .are running the extreme ou tDan Stanley, on the other hand. saw things differently. "I think that s ide edge of the racing s urface. Although many rtde rs objected to the potential penalty, it tumed out to be a no n-Issue . as all were able to run Hacker ass- pac ked me;- Stanley said while pointing to the tire marks on comfortably to the left of the chalk line when they exited tum four for the his pipes and numbe r plate. "I was gelling a run on B eattie , and then he started moving over, so I had to, too. It's just a standard deal. If a guy's run up the front st raight. W movi ng ove r, then you have to move over. " Wh en given Hacker 's expla- .After s ucha fantastic run in his heat race , Terry Poovey was rather disappo inted with his eighth·place finish in the Grand National main event. "I couldn't see .. that's my story:" Poovey said. "I put six tear-off s on jny helmet and I used 'em right up. Look at rnyfaceshield." Indeed. Poovey's s hield appea red to be plenty sandblas ted. Poovey also claimed that this In'dy Mile track was different from the norm. "It wasn't the usual Indy tonight,- he sa id: "Itwas really slippery." . Ste;;e Morehead and his F&S Hariey -Davtdson team we re left to nation of the incident. S tanley replied, "No. I got in behind Beattie. and he 'started moving over to the ins ide of the track. I don 't know what he ~Hacker) thought Iwas doing. I'm s ure we' ll kiss and m~ke up. " Finally. co ngratulations are in order for AMAdi rt track official C arol Meiferdt. wno celebrated her 40th year of se rvice with the AMA at the Indy Mile . Meiferdt began her officiating duties as a road race sco rer with the associa tion. "Ivoluntee red in '59, " Meiferdt said. "Buzz (her husband Buzz MeiferdO got roped in in '61." . ' "That has no relevance w ha tsoever," Carr sai d. " I won it in 1994 and I didn't w in th e cha m p io ns h ip t ha t yea r , The ke y to th e series is beating th e guys th at you' ve got to bea t week in a n d wee k out. I've just been d o ing tha t so fa r." _ Indiana Sta te Fairg rou nds Indianapolis , Indiana Res ults : July 3, 1999 (Round 7 of 21) HEAT 1 no tap..; 11 ri ders. to p th ree tTan!lted : 1. Sco tt Park er UI -o); 2. Jay Springs tee n (H- D); 3. Rich KinJ; (H-D); 4. Kenny Coolbeth (H -o); 5. Bryan 8i~dow (H-O); 6. Chris Evan s (H·D); 7. C ary Rogers HI-D) ; 8. Jim Sumn e r (J 1-0); 9. BilIv Ma rtin (I 1·0); to. Iosh But ler (Ii -D); t 1. j cme, Mcllvcn.l (1-1-0) . Time: 6 m in.; 18.843 sec . HEAT 2 no lap s; 10 ri d ers, top three lra n,,(er): I. Will Da vis (H- D); 2. Ke-vin Atherton (H- D); 3. Mike Ha cker (H-D); 4. Shoun Russell Hi-D) ; 5. Bn-t Beyer (f lD); 6. Brett Land e (H· D); 7. Ken Yod er Jr . (!i-D); 8. s Robert Kna pp (H- D); 9. Devon Prit chard (H- D); to . Stew Morehead (H-D> . .. T im e: 6 min .: 1·1.086 St.'C. HEAT 3 (10 lap s; to rid ers. lo p th ree transfer): I. Chris Ca rr (H-Ol ; 2. Da n Butler (H ·D); 3. Dan Stanley (H-D); 4. Gl'O Roeder II (H- D); 5. Willie M cCo V 0 1-0); 6. r .1ul Lynch (H-D) ; 7. JR Schna be l (11 -0>; 8. Mike Varnes (J 1·0); 9, KyleLong (H· D); 10. joe y Brock (H· I) . T ime: 6 min.; 121 95 St'C. H EAT 4 (to lap s; to ri d ers . to p three tra nder): I. Terry Poovey (Hun) ; 2. Joe Knpp (J·I·O) ; 3. Kevin Varnes (H-D); 4. Steve Beattie (H-D); 5. Nicky Hayden 0'1·0); 6. Ga rt h Bastian (H-D ); 7. Dale Ienneman (H-O); 8. jaime Ag uila r (H-D) ; 9. Wade Camlin (H -D ); 10 . Da ve y Ca mlin (H-D>. Tim e: 6 min.: 16.953 Sl."C. SEM I 1 (S lap s; 9 riders, to p two transfer): 1. Ceo Roed e r II (11-0 ); 2 Nicky H ayden (H-D); 3. Chris Evans (H·D); 4. BreI Beyer (fl. D); 5. JR Schnabel (H· D); b. Ja ime Aguilar (H-D); 7. BiUy Martin (H-D); g. Rober t Knapp (H· D); 9. j oey Brock (H· D). T ime: 5 min.; 8.307 St.'C . SEM I 2 (S I.Jps; 10 riders, lo p two tr.ll n ~.Jl' r): 1. Steve Morehead (H-D); 2 . Sh aun Russell (H- D); 3 . Bryan Bigelow frf-D ); 4. willie :vIcCoy (f- -D); 5. Ga rt h Bastian f (II -D); 6. Mikl" Varnes (H-D); 7. Jim Su mner (H-D); 8. Ken Yoder Jr. (H-o); 9. ja me, Mcll vena (H· D); 10. Wad e Camlin Il-i Dj. Tim e: 5 min.: 65 10 St.'C. S EM I 3 (8 loli p S; 10 eid ers, to p two t toll n sf~r) : 1. Kennv Coolbetb Jr. C H-D); 2 Da ve v Ca mlin (H-D); 3. G,uy'R ogers1li -D); 4. St e ve Beatti t" (H -D); 5. Dal e Jenneman (1-1-0); 6. Paul Lynch (I·{·D); 7. Brett Landes (H -D); 8. Kyle Long (H- D); 9. Dev on Pritchard 0-1 -0); 10. jos h Butler (H -D ). Time: 5 min .; 3.888 !'4..'C. G RAND NATIONAL (25lo1pS; 18 ride rs): 1. Chris Carr (H-o); 2. Scott Parke r (H-D); 3. Will Davis (H-D); 4. Kevin Atherton (H-D); 5. Jay Srrin~,tl-c n (H· D); b . Jue Kopp (H-D); 7. Rich King (H -D); 8. Terry Poovey (l ion); 9. Dan Butler (1 -1-0); t o. Kenny Coolbeth lr. (H-D); 11. Davey Ca mlin (H-D); 12 Ceo Roeder II (H-O); 13. Nicky Hayden (H -D); 14. Sha u n Russell ( H~D); 15. Ke vin Va rnes ( H ·D); lb . M ik e Ha cke r ( H -D ); 17 . Ste ve More hea d (H-D); 18. Dan Sta nley (H-D). T ime: 15 min.; 28.824 St.'C. AM A GRAND NATIONA L DIRT TRA CK SE R IES IIOINTS STANDINGS (a fter 7 of 21 rounds): 1. Chris Ca rr (132/ 2 wins): 2. Sco tt Parke r (106 /1 ); 3. Kevin Atherton (95/ 1); 4. Rich King (83/1); 5. Will Davis {79/U; 6. Jay Sp rings tee n (72 /)); 7. (TIE) Gl.'O Roeder 11 / [oe Kopp (58); 9. Byron Bigelow (54); 10. Nicky Hayden (5(1); 11. Kt.'IUl Coolbeth Jr. (44); 12. Kevi n Vam..'S (4..,) 13. Dan Y ; Butler (43); 14. Mike Ha cker (38); 15. T..-rry Poovey (34); 16. Steve Morehead (33); 17. Steve Beattie (3]); 18. Shaun R\L~ ....II(29); 19. B Landes (2b); 20. j .R. Schnabel (2 1) . rett Upcoming Rounds ; Round 8 - Joliet, Illinois . July 10 Rou.nd g - Oklahoma City, Okla homa , J uly 17 19

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