Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 8: Route 66 Raceway AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSERIES Landes was moving up the w hole race and really enjoying his newfound su ccess, "It's been so long since I've raced 25 l aps, I thou gh t it would seem like forever," Landes sai d . "I never saw the halfway (flags), but when I saw the fiveto-go, I wasn't eve n tired . I was really feelin g g oo d . It' s been s u ch a long drought. I'm just happy to be back in the m ai n. Th e last coupl e of m onths, we've had some problems, but I th ink we'll be read y for Oklahoma City." recrea te th e high-line magic that put him in last year' s main. It was not to be thi s yea r, despite the fact he held second on the last lap. Russell fou ght back and m o v ed h imself into t he Grand Nati on al. Ath erton led the second semi all th e wa y. Harley-Davidson of Dallas /Eagle Securit ies-b ack ed Willie McCo y kept Butler a t ba y for eight laps, sending the Michigan rid er to the van. Land es led the last sem i int o the first turn over Brent Armbruster a nd Paul Lynch. Landes conti nued to lead at the end of the first lap over Lynch, Aguilar, Hacker and Armbruster. By the halfway po int of the eight-lap race , Landes held the point ov er Hacker. Aguilar, Lynch and Gary Rogers appeared to be fighting over the $4 10 t~ i rd - p l a ce money with one lap left, bu t Hacker suddenly slowed, and the Roge rs Lake Racing / Mitc hell's Modesto Harley- Davidso nbacked Roge rs ou tfough t Agu ilar for the last sea t in the main , HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPOR TST ER PERFORMANCE NATIONAL J.R. Schnabel captured the first HDSP h eat ove r series points lea d er Ga ry Roger s and Shaun Russell. Russellwas able to gra b second on the last lap. Th e Tryce Welch / Widman's Harley-Davidso n-ba cked Schna bel's hea t win was the fastes t of the nig ht. Ja m es H a r t , C h ris H art a n d Tim Eades also m oved a lo ng to th e ma in . (Above) Aside from Carr, Geo Roeder II seems to be the most consistent rider on the circuit this season. Roeder ran as high as second before s lipping back to fifth, thus posting another top-five finish. (Right) The Jol iet round marked the return of the wild and fast J ohnny Murphree. The former Rookie of the Year, who has been side lined with injuries since the Harrington Half Mile, made the main eve nt and finished 15th. GRAND NATI ONAL Bigelow charged into tu rn one from the inside of the firs t row, w hile Ca rr sta rted on the outside and carried more momentum through the tu m to grab the lead at the end of lap one . "I' m not known for my good starts, but that w a s a prett y good one ," Bigelow sa id . "I just tried to keep as cool a head as I could, and if so meone got by me , I tri ed to stay calm. I'm not Scott Parker, Chris Carr or Will Davis yet , but we're try ing to learn from them ." After le ading the first lap, Carr look ed to be in position to pull away, but it nev er happened . " Ea rly on , the bike was wo rkin g good, " Carr said. "La ter, as th e tra ck went away, my setup went away, and I struggled , The bike was sliding around . quite a bit, but it was controllable. It wa sn 't violent. I did the best I could, but Will was just yank ing me off the turns. I tried running with him, but it just made it worse. I ju st wanted to find a place where I fe lt lik e I cou ld get a d ecent . Brieflv.... '- . . Ch ris Carr is redefining the word consis tency. Carr has finished no worse than third inany' champion Da ve Camlin had his return. short- . circuited while leading his qualifying heal His 4&6 Cycle Sportster's rear wheel locked up entering iurn one, Camlin hiq h-sided and was body-slammed in turn three, Camliri was able ' to return'and ride liis Gardner Racing Harley in · the Grand National program. Anin th in the third semi ended his night , J .R. Schnabel :ended up on the injured Stephanie Welch's Widman's Harley..Welch had turned the bike over to fellow Pro-Sport rider Tom McGr ane, but McGrane was tied up at .the Amateur Nationals.' Schnabel went on to se t fast heat lime arid n.aba second-place finish in the main, of the first seven races and now holds a 44point lead over Scott Parker and Kevin Atherton. Carr realized his good fortune at Joliet. where defending champion Parker went to the' sidelines with a mechanicalproblem. "It's a tough break for Scotty," Carr said, "I've been · there befeire.· r know how it ·feels , That' s a tough thing for him. It' always sucks to have mechanical failure: r bet nobody feels worse than Biil Werner right now. When I realized I . Scott P ark er got a little help from his didn'thave anything for Davis. Ibacked off , At friends. After watching ' the fi nish' of the race that point. Ididn't know Parkerhad broke. butl · from the back straight: Parker was pushing his evin 'knew I needed to beat number.one..(Number) broken Harley home. "Igot a boost from K 21 wasn't the guy to worry'about in the points Varnes: then Kenny Coolbeth pushed me the yet. Now he 's getting closer. Whoever.isin rest of the way in," Parker said. "That's hfe in. sec ond in the points. that's. who I've got to the city. There 's still a lot of season left. " . Parker probably would rather have had Varnes beat," and Coolbethbeat Carr in the race. . . .. For the· second year, dust was a major problem, Practice had to be halted several limes ,wiil Da.vis had almost a perfect day "The due to lack of visibility. With the track being . first part of the -day, dry, slick. wet. it didn't .hard-packed. watering did little to solve the make any diff.e rence.- Davlssaid. "The bike ' problem. "We've been trying to get chemicals worked great. Everything was perfect. That's , into .the track for two weeks . but the track the way they are .. when you win, rt seems like ownerswould not allow it,". event coordinator those are the eas iest days. I'm pretty happy. Mike Farley said. "Our hands were pretty well .We're ready for the rest of them'now;" said tied. I know what this track could be. but we . Davis, "In practice. I could tell what the other have to be 'a~le to prepare it" guys were doing. and when I rode our spare bike, I was having the sa me problems they' a M o st' o f th e riders .v o i c e d displea sur e C> C> C> ~ 18 w Ther e ere: was w ater just off the grtiov~ in with ·the track's condition. "They're ali race the heat race . If t hey had wet it before the tracks , and we all have' to go to the same . main event. I think itw o'uld have ·been better place and deal with the same problems , but yet. I would have moved up there again. It surtonight. was.a bad deal." Kevin Atherton said. prised me that they' didn't water the track "We realiy appreciate the fans that 'did stick before the main." . around tonight: We'know'how good a fan they are: To have ' such a beautiful facility'and then Cozi":hr Harley-Davidson's Johnny .Mur" have to'put up with' this 'kind o surface - it's a phree returned for the first time since his f shame." .. " ·crash in Harrinqton. Delaware. on May 8. After' struggling eerly . last in his qualifying heatand A co uple of riders ·returned to the Hailey- eighth in bisreqularheat .. the youngster solidly won .his semi before fini shing off his night Davidson S portster Performance Series. .one .successfully . the other not so . Fo rmer series ,with a 16th inthe Grand National. d rive and kee p the wheels in line. I was runnin g a bit wider line tha n Will was, and every tim e I tried to go d own lower where he was goi ng into the corne rs, I'd just get really sideways in the mi ddle." Roed er 's race fell apa rt slig htly after he lost seco nd to Davis on lap seven. "I was hoping they wo uld put a little water down before the ma in e ve nt," Roeder said . "I thou ght that wo uld keep th e top open a little longer, it was drying ou t so fast . That's the wa y it goes. I'm really happy with fifth . I thought it wo uld be a struggle he re all d ay . Last yea r we didn 't even m ake the m ain here. The bike worked good right from the ge t-go. Chico' s been working hard , and the bikes are running good . This is about as consisten t as I'v e been sin ce... I've nroer been this con sistent. " A t th e halfway point, th e mid pack ba lli e conta ined Kopp , Cool beth, McCoy, Schnabel and Landes. The racing wa s fierce: "It was just as slick up high as it was down low. You cou ld go three and four abreast , like we we re, pretty easy," Kopp said. "The bo ttom had a little bit better trac tion, but yo u cou ld ge t a bette r d rive off th e to p , You wou ld lose ground go ing int o the tu rn s bu t cou ld ma ke up for it coming out. That's w ha t made it in teresti ng - the p assin g w as so methi ng . So m ebo dy wou ld pa ss m e go ing in, th en I' d ge t a drive co m ing o ut. You just never kn ew w ho it was goi ng to be. If yo u we re go ing fast, yo u could pass." DP C Ra ci n g / Bik e rs C ho ice / T u cke r Rock y ' s W il lie McCo y h eld o ff Sco tt Stu m p an d Rob Miller for th e secon d h e at w in . Pa u l Norma ndin to p p e d Miche lle DiSalvo, w hile Pau l Ber gstro m s lip ped around Jo h n Fa u lk ne r o n th e last lap for the last tra ns fer. Th e last hea t was fu ll of action as Mi tchell's Modesto Ha rley-Davidson / A merican Ma de Suspens ion-backed Na te Wait wa s holding off the cha rge of Brian Kromroy. As many as six rid er s we re in the hunt for third place. Jus t at the halfway point, Bret Beyer got into the s ide of a rider in tu m one and highsided viol ently. Beyer was s lammed hard, and the red flag came out. Unfortunately , Bey er' s night was over, and he was transported to the hospital with a broken arm. On th e restart, Wait and Kromroy were joined by Billy Martin up fro nt, with Al Eadi e, Kyle Long, Yuhi ko Hirao and Joe Eades fighting ove r the last two tickets to the main. They wo uld finis h in that order. Th e National too k on a whole new com plexion when Schnabe l an d Stu mp ju m ped the start off the fro nt row . In all, ther e were six riders on the pe nalty line .• When th e gree n light did flash , Wait led into turn one, wit h Kro m roy, McCoy a nd Rogers right beh ind him . McCo y had th e lead over Roger s and Wait by th e en d of the first lap, and he was on his way to his firs t Na tional win. "I need ed that reall y bad," McCo y said. "I kn ew I needed a good start . It's

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