Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

any farther," Varnes said . "I was righ t there the whole time, then I'd try to go a lit tle ha rder and mess up. I jus t eased into tha t position and stayed there. I tried so me differe nt lines , like Rich Kin g' s down low, but I couldn't run there. Basically I was riding the same line as Roed er and Bigelow. I cou ldn't gain anything th ere and there wasn't enough moisture to move any higher. I'd liked to have had a little bit better sta rt. I did n' t get the start I wanted. I was o n the fro n t row, but Parker and Atherton bot h came aro und." Atherton m us t have gotten a hell of a sta rt, as he was on the third row . "T h is week was better - a t least I cou ld see the lead er at the end ," the BF/ LA F/ Mich iga n Harley-Davidson Deal er s Association-backed Atherton said , puzzled by his sevent h-place finis h af te r s licing a ll th e way to thi rd ea rly in the race. "We ca me fro m last and go t up to third . We were rea lly ge tting it on. I had made u p a lot of grou nd on Will a nd Ch ris . The n, one lap, the bike we nt com plete ly sideways co ming o ff of tw o . We th ou ght th e tir e w a s go ne . Th e thin g ju s t wa n te d to d o a d ou ghnut in th e middle of th e ra ce trac k. The tir e looked grea t w he n we came in; th e p ressure stayed the same as whe n we went o ut fo r th e main . event. The bi ke's fine, it ran fine , the chassis is fine . I have no clue. I wasn't doing anyt hing different; we were ru nnin g good la p s. The thing would just spi n . It ra n so good early on; a nd I mad e up so much ground, I jus t knew the worst I was go ing to do was thi rd. I tho ught, 'Gosh, I've got a chance at winn ing this t hing.' We were righ t there, and in the matter of a cou p le of laps we went fro m th ird to seventh or wha tever. We're banging ou r head on the wall. I've got no clue." Au d iovox/Qua ke r State / Do nah ue Ha rley-David son's Bret t Land es qualifie d for ju st his seco nd " big bi k e " Na tio na l in 1999 a nd m ad e a stro ng showi ng. Landes was stuck in 15th position at the end of lap one, bu t he moved all the way up to an eighth-place finish . "I thought I go t a d ecent start, (bu t) I guess not," Landes sai d . 'T ha t ou tside line was workin g the first couple of lap s, and I was able to move up on that grou p of abo ut five guys. It took me a while to ge t around th em. On ce I go t a ro u nd them , I started working on Kevin. I jus t ran ou t of time." Also a part of that big midpack war was Dave Burk s Mot orsports /HarleyDavid son of Missou ri's Joe Kopp, who boun ced arou n d betw e e n 11 th and eigh th, finally land ing in nint h. "I go t into a real hea ted battle about mid wa y with Sch nabel and Coolbeth and Landes and I don't know who else," Kopp said. "There were a bunch of them , thou gh . I was lucky to get out of that deal. Then Landes go t by me a few of laps later . We had it wo rking pre tty good. It w as just a slick track. I ha d a second-row start and didn' t ge t a very good start. It was jus t a tou gh track. It's hard to go fast on this stuf f." Rounding ou t the to p 10 was Tea m Pow ell /Sunoco /M SR' s J.R. Schnab el, the Wiscon sinit e also embro iled in a battle that saw the pack h itting the turns fou r-w ide a t tim es. Steve M or ehead, Shaun Russell, Coolbeth , Willie McCoy, • Jay Sp ringsteen , Johnny Murphree and Gar y Rogers filled ou t the finish ers . HEATS Fast qualifier Davis worked his way aro und KK Sup ply / F&S Harley-Davidson 's Mo rehead and used a line just off the groove to gain a huge lead. "I actua ll y r a n a li t tle abo ve th e (Above) Chris Carr was go ing for three in a ro w at Jo lie t. and were it not for a dialed-in Davis, he migh t have pulled It off. Carr wound up second, keeping hi s seasonlong streak of podium fin ishes al ive, . (Right) Defending Route 66 champion Rich King "learned" a little more about his Corbin Racing Harley -Davidson th is week, and he pUI it to good use, the Iowan tak ing thi rd in the feature, groove, bu t our heat race was abou t six secon ds fas ter tha n anyo ne else's ," Davis said after the hea ts were run. "It amazed me that no one else trie d it in the res t of th e heats . I figu red Chris would go up the re, but he stayed rig ht on the bo ttom." Morehead held off J.R. Schnabel for third as both went straight to the main . Ru sse ll got by Atherton as At her ton tried in vai n to make a high line work. Both riders would have another opportu nity in the semi. The second heat w a s a d a nd y, as so me of the yo ung lio ns ho oked up in an exci ting race. Bigelow led Coolb et h, Mike Hacker and Jay Springsteen (they w er en 't all yo ung lions) into th e firs t turn . Sp ri ngs tee n s lip ped h igh and dropped to fifth behind Chris Eva ns . Bigel ow a nd th e H arley-David son of Mi ssou ri /Dav e Burks M ot or sports sponsored Coolbeth dueled to the end, with Bigelow taking the close victory. Barte ls' Harl ey-David son /Real McCoy' s Springst een recovered to take the last transfer fr om Ha ck er. Eva ns, Willi e McCo y and Jaime Aguilar battled over starting position s in the semi. A talen t-load ed field to begin with, the way the third heat ended was amazing. Carr led off the line, with Pa rker, King, Steve Beattie and Landes in tow. Carr establish a small lead as Parker and King kept Landes just ou t of a transfer. As close as the actio n was, it didn't appear as though anyone could force a change. Suddenly, as Carr finished the seventh lap, his Harley gasped, and all three of his pursuers rushed past. Carr was back under full power quickly, but looked to be semi bound. Steve Faraci's white flag greeted Parker, King, Landes and a fast-closing Carr, who wen t hig h into turn one a n d lo oked to have momentum on Landes. But Carr was far from satisfied a nd, en tering turn th ree, he he ld it on way longer a nd blaste d arou nd everyone. Exiting turn four in the lead , Carr had go ne from looking a t a berth in a semi to a front-row start in th e ma in . T h e exciti ng r a ce left th e crowd bu zzing lon g aft er the bikes had hea ded to th e pits . Pa rker a n d Kin g we re left wit h second and third. "I had to d o so me thing," Carr sa id . "I d idn't wan t to sta rt the Nation al from the back." The ea rly -race problem that caused the fantastic finish ? "T he gas pe tcock got knocked o ff. Just one of those things." As good as the las t hea t race was, it was almost anticlimactic after Carr's eye-popping move, Dan Butler led heat four away, with Roed er , Kop p , Jaso n Sentell and Varnes giving chase. Lap three saw Varnes s lash from third to take the lead away from teammate Butler . One lap later, Roeder dropped Butler to thi rd and started closing on Varnes. With two laps to go, Roed er took the lead from Va rnes. While th is was goi ng on up front, Bu tler had been caug ht by Kopp. Butler lost his di rect tra nsfe r on the w hite-flag lap an d, along w it h Sen tell a nd Steve Liberty, wou ld ha ve to rid e a semi. SEMI S Cozia hr Harle y- Da v idson / Bu ell / Buck /M emphis Shades' Johnny Murphree led the first semi off the line over Lonnie Kopp, Russell and Garth Bast ian. Murphree pulled to a comfortable lead wh ile a sma ll wa r bro ke out over the last transfer spot. Russell pushed his Bar tels' Ha rlev-Davi dson/ Miller Electric of Houston-bac ked Harl ey into seco n d, bu t Sentell wa s a t te m p ti n g to . C> C> C> ~ 17

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