Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 8: Route 66 Raceway AMA GRAND NA TlONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES By Dave Hoeni g File photos by Flat Trak Fotos 16 JOUET, IL, JULY 10 o und e ig h t o f th e Am eri can Motorcy cli st As so ci at ion ' s Gra nd National Championship Series by Dra g Specialties came to the Route 66 Raceway half mile, and Will Davis re-established himself as one of the premier half milers on the circuit. Davis had to w ork hi s Ea ke n Racing /Rod Lak e /Racing For Kid s-spon sored Harley up from a slo w s ta rt to ta ke h is 23 rd GNC win afte r series poin ts lead er Chris Ca rr, looki ng for his thi r d consecutive win, pushed his Ha rley- Dav idson of Sac ramento / Phoe nix Racing / Big Valley Ford-backed Ha rley in to the early lead w hile Davis fou nd h imself in six th position a t the end of lap one. "I was hopin g to ge t a little be tter sta rt, bu t after about the fourth or fifth lap, I could tell C hris wasn ' t re a ll y hooked up tha t good ," Davis sai d . "I still had to get by those guys an d I just kept telling myself, 'Don't ge t overanxiou s, start cha rging and make a bunch of mistak es.' I d id n't wa n t to ge t my tire hot, so I just hung in there." Davi s had d ominat ed th e ac tion a ll night on the slick, dusty oval. "Ski p (Eake n) w en t to wo r k this week and go t th e chassis reall y di aled in," Davis said . " It wor ked from the first practice on . It was unbelievab le. It was perfect." The new-for-1999 Will Davi s /Eaken Racing union started off the year with a win at the Daytona Short Track, but as the series moved on to the hal f mil es and miles , the team struggled to get on the same page with its 750 program. "We worked on the motorcycle a lot this past week," Davis said. "We went more in th e d ir ect ion of w ha t we th ou ght it would take on a slick track. Th e new things we tried wor ked great. I'm rea dy for the rest of these half miles. I hop e they're all slick. We need ed this. We've been pretty quick eve r since Daytona but just haven't been ab le to put it all toge ther. I either had my head stuck in my bu tt or we had so me bad luck. Now I'm looking forward to the rest of .the year." It wa s 18-y ea r-old Bryan Bigel o w wh o led the field int o the first turn during the 25-1ap feature, but the USC Racing / Lancaster Harley-David son / Marshall Distrib uting-backed youngs ter saw Carr quickly sweep around the outside to lead la p one. Bigel ow th en se tt led into second over Geo Roed er II, Scott Parker, Kevin Varnes and Davi s, and he held s teady for three laps before fallin g to the pressure from Roeder, then Davis and Kevin Atherton, who had started on the third row. " Ea r ly o n, I was running a higher line that w a s w orkin g p retty good ," Bigelow said. "In the middle of the race , every now .and then somebod y would just sneak on by me. I think I got a little frus trated and maybe go t on the th rottl e a litt le hard." just two laps into the race, defending series cha mp ion Scott Parker's race was ove r. The Harlev-David son Motor Company / AGV Helmets-sp onsored Parker's hand sho t in to the air as he entered turn one, a nd the fie ld sc rea med by a s he coas te d o ff th e tra ck o n th e bac k straig h t. "Whe n it rains, it pours," Parker sai d . " It felt g ood . I wa s ju st w aitin g for thin gs to weed ou t, playing it conse rva ti ve . Th e engin e just s ta r te d boggin g d own. It felt like it wa s go ing to seize. Probably so mething tied up, and it was over. I go t off the race track, watched the race and then pushed it back to the pit s." Co nsi deri ng th e fact that th e track was a narrow notch, there was a lot of passin g go ing on all through the field . With th e eve r-exciti ng Sch a effer ' s H arl ey-Da vid son /La s Veg as Harl eyDa vid son -ba cked Roed er in second , Davi s, Ath ert on , Bigelow, Varnes, Rich King, Willie McCoy, j .R. Sch nabe l and Kenny Coo lbeth rou nded out the top 10 at the five-lap ma rk. Dav is was meth od ically working his way to the front. "I was able to figure out some lines by watching the semi races," Dav is said . "Getti ng in to turn three d own low , I was able to gai n a lot of time d ow n there." . Davis finally took the lea d on the ninth lap and it was appa rent Carr d idn't have an ything left wit h which to retaliate . "We got out front a nd tried setting sail, but someone hooked on to me," Carr said . "Will was fast all nigh t long, from practice on. I knew he was goi ng to be tough to beat. He ran so me really good lap times in the heat race, and I never go t anywhere near them . We made a few adjustme nts to the bike, and we did the best we could tonight - (and) that was finish second." Another rider moving up from deep in th e p a ck was th e Co r bi n Racing /Harl ey-Davidson Cycle Center of Waterloo-backed King, who cha rged all the way to third by the 16th lap . "I d on 't kn ow whe re I was the first lap - a round 10th or so," King sa id . "I kn ow I was a long way back . It seemed like I passed everybody but two . It was a go od race fo r u s. We learned some thing s aga in this week and got a podium fi nis h . We're happy. I was really catching Chris. After I got into third, I was reall y closing for abo ut two or three laps. I just seemed to ge t to a plateau to where I just couldn't advance anymore. I think a lot of it was the line I was run- Will Davis (21) scored his first 750cc win of the year at the Route 66 Half M in ile Joliet, Illinois , giving him two wins for the season. Bryan Bigelow (11) led the race briefly, dropped bac k to s ixth an d ultimately finish ed fourth. ning into tu rn thre e, and turn one was jus t heating up the tire too much. I think I just cooked the tire and didn't seem to ha ve the drive the last five lap s. All in all, we had a good run. " A fter d ropp in g as low as s ix th, Bigelow recovered to capture the best finis h of his sho rt career. "Abou t halfway th ro ugh, I ca lmed down a little bit a nd s tarted p ickin g the m off again," Bigelow sa id. "I think yo u need to be there a few times befor e yo u can ac tually win o ne . I know w e we re pretty close tonight. This is pretty u nbe lieva ble after last week, not making the main eve nt." Roeder made a strong ru n on a type of track that has never been his cu p of tea . . "Not too bad ," he said. "I can 't complain. I was ru nn ing secon d there for a while. I tho ugh t I was go ing .to follow Ca rr a ro u n d a nd m a ybe ch ase h im d own. Th en 0 1' Davis we nt arou nd me and kind of brok e my conce nt ra tio n. I tried to 'get on the gas too hard and lost a few mor e position s. I kind o f se tt led d own and go t back around Atherton, but th en Bigel ow got by me . I hung right. th ere w it h Bigelow, so we did good . That's pretty go od for a slick, old , na st y , di rty ra ce tr a ck - fo r me , anyway." Saddl emen Ra cing /L ancaster H ar ley-David son /Dod ge Bro thers ' Varnes rode ri ght on the edge of the lead pack bu t couldn't advance beyond sixth. "I got to sixth, then I just couldn't ge t

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