Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 9:-State FairSpeedw.ay AMA GRAND NATIONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES four on the first lap, and it was still pretty slippery, I go t more sid ewa ys tha n I wa nted, an d Chris cu t to the bott om , He mad e .som e good laps and had a clear race track. I was just back a little too far for too lon g," Stanley held down fourth early in the ra ce bu t gra d u ally lost posit ions a n d ende d the race well off the pace in 16th positi on. Despite his clu tch problem s, Butler came from the third row to sixth on the first lap , the n d ro pped as low as ninth be fore working his wa y bac k to a sea son-best sixth-place finish. "I cou~d n' t even pu t it into gear until (Left ) Parker (left) checke d o ut t he scenery , while Carr (c enter) celebrated and Bigelow (rig ht ) cond ucted interv iew s on th e victory podium. (Below ) Texas rid er Willie McCoy landed his second Harley-Davidson Sportster Perlormance Series win in a row during ' th e curlew-shortened ma in event. SEMIS The semis were also sho rte ned, down to six laps from eight. Da n Stanl ey an d Dan Bu tler took control of the first semi, wit h Pau l Lynch on ce again ru nning just ou t of a transfer: Butler took con trol a t th e ha lfway m ark, w it h th e Ga rd ne r Ra ci n g / Sp rin g fi el d A rmory- backed Stanley gra bbi ng the last ad vancement slot. Willie McCoy quickl y p ut his HarleyDavidson of Dallas / Eagle Secu rity ride out fron t of the second semi, with fellow Texan Gr eg Teague pushing his Allen Mari on ea ux-backed Harley in to seco nd , ov er Jai me Agui lar and Terry Poov ey. McCoy pu ll e d to a n ea s y wi n, w it h Tea gu e a lso m oving o n to the Grand N ational ma in even t. Ga r th Bastia n 's la te- ra ce ch a rg e fell s ho rt a s he ou t.dueled Aguilar for third. Kevin Varn es got the ho lesh ot in the last se m i o ve r Johnny Murp hree an d Kenny Coolbeth. Coolb eth sho wed his pow er as he led from the end of the first la p . Varnes fini shed a so lid seco n d , w hile Tim Ead es mo ved up to third over Murphree and Billy ~artin. " !Iii ::Iii ~ IIIii III .. II liii " .., '" ~ r:O ~ N ~ .., 30 GRAND NATIONAL Aft er a few tries , Davis led th e 18r id er Gra nd N a tion a l into turn one. Almost im med iat e ly, Davis sta rted to fad e, droppi ng to sixth by lap nine. He w as able to hold that p osition for eight laps; then thin gs fell .apart for the tw otime Oklah oma City winner. " I d on ' t h a v e a clu e, n ot a clu e, " Davis later said of his demise. "I felt like I'd never been on a motorcycle before. We ran goo d all nigh t, go t a good hole sho t, th en , I d on 't kn ow. We cou ld n 't tum. Every thing I di d, the thin g tried to throw me on my head. We d idn't have anythi ng d ifferent from the heat, and we ran pl enty good in the heat. [ couldn't ge t stop ped go ing into th ree an d kept running off the groove, then I cou ld n' t get going. I've never felt like this. I can 't say it was spi nning and wo uldn't hook u p . It was hookin g up. I' ve ne ve r had that problem enteri ng the corner and through the corn er." Jones thrilled h is large hometown crowd by lead in g fo r two la ps before being pa ssed by Bigelow . " In the h ea t r a ce I w as g e t ti n g throu gh one and tw o perfectly, but that li ne wasn ' t th e re in th e ma in , and [ neve r could find one that felt as good ," Jones said . "I was Teall y struggling in th ree and four after it got slicked off. [ couldn't get the thing to stay on the bottom. It wou ld ju st ska te off. 1 was just trying to ride and see w ha t ha ppens. 1 knew that [ w ou ld make mist akes and I got ou t there," Butler said , "When the seco nd yellow light came on, I stomped it in to gea r and took off. Ho pefully this is ou r tu rna ro und point. This will help a who le bunch." . King's seven th-p lace finish was d isappointi ng for him. "Aga in th is week I wen t from th e fron t row to the back and then star ted to move back' u p," sa id Kin g. "We had a pr etty good setup, took it off an d tried to go fas ter, and we wen t backw ard s. Abo u t mid way, we w ere rolling pretty good , but we just di dn't have enough to ru n up front. It was just a bad call on my part. " Another rid er fighting his se tu p was Morehe ad . "When we went ou t for the heat race, the fron t end was pushing," Morehead sa id , "We went the wrong way tryin g to fix it and I got an understeer. I had to hold the fron t end up with my leg, and the fir s t co u p le of lap s I kep t a lm os t crashing . I worked my wa y to last and then came back to 13th. It took me four or five laps to figure h ow to rid e th e darn thing . That was it. The rider called the wrong sho t." HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE SERIES In an effort to get the HDSP Na tional in before the cu rfew , the heat races were. cut to fou r laps and an eigh t-lap main" was scheduled. A l Ea die ro d e hi s Ill in ois HarleyDavi dso n-backed Sportster to the firsthea t win over fas t qua lifier Na te Wait, Pau l Bergstrom and Brian Kromroy battled over third . Three riders w ere sho oting for o n e la s t tr ans fer s p ot. Ga ry Rogers sen t Michelle DiSalvo a nd Joe ' Duvall to their vans for the night. DPC Racin g /Biker' s Cho ice-ba cked Willie McCoy ra n way wi th the second heat , finishing his four laps almos t four seco nds faster than the other tw o heats, Billy Martin was a distan t bu t safe second. Trapper McD ani el, Th om a s McG ran e, Don al d P a ul and Ke vi n H ilbe rt ro und ed ou t th e 'second-h eat qu alifiers. that I cou ld n' t keep a smooth line. [ figu red th e 'o ther guys woul d be st ruggling, too . They wer e getti ng throu gh the middle better - that's the whole key here. 1 w as worse th a n [ had been in three and four and not as good in one and tw o. Fortuna tely 1 got a good start and was running oka y." Jones wo u ld eventua lly also be se t back by Carr, Park er an d Coolbeth. Bigelow lost th e lead to Carr, a nd Park er also set the you ngster back eventually. . "A second-row s ta rt was n' t wha t I wan ted, bu t after those gu ys ju mped off the fron t, it gav e me a good ho le to get a good launch ," Bigel ow said . "I knew there would be some gu ys coming up to race, bu t I didn't think it wou ld be Chris a n d Sco tt , s ince th ey ju m p ed . W h en Chris flew by me, [ knew he had to be on the gas hard . I tr ied to just foll ow him and see wha t he was doi ng. It was p re tty ea sy to se e he was jus t going plain faste r than [ was, riding the same lin es . Sco tt pressured m e a n d go t around. I jus t wasn ' t qu it e as fast as him, either. [ learne d a lot." Parker had to be a lot more method ical, as he was buri ed in 15th position at the end of lap one. "There was a nice gap, and 1 got a p ret ty go od hol esho t:' Pa rker said . "I ju st got balled up behind so mebody in the corner: Chris wen t on the ou tsid e and had a little momentum. He was able to ro ll around th e outsid e in one and tw o. I went on the ou tside in thr ee and Briefly~_ _ ·••.. . , d~ring ihe break after q~alifying , which ",it the ' ·track greasy. A drYing agent had 'to be added. before th~. act ion could resume. . . J a y .S p r i n g st e e n .has something new in'.lt should have been a break for the rest of the field when Chr i s C a r r and Scott P a rker: ' sto re for next week 's DuQUOin Mil e. "We've we re ' se nt t o .th e p ena lt y line : b ut w hat . got us a brand-new onefor DuQUOin . brandappeared atthe time to be a' cos tly mistake for .new 'everyt hmq, " he said. " New whee ls. new" : the se rie's po int s .Ieeders was quic klyover- : frame, new motor..new "everyt hing: Ji m Kelley come . : 1 was thinking,· 'Man, this sucks.' but' is go ing to finish it dow n at Kenny' s (Tolbert) . since Parker was -back there; too.. that -I'd just . this wee k," do the best that I could. - said .Carr , " I was a . little torq ued, but I got over it pretty quick.. . It .Consecutlve w ins -by Willie McCoy have was an unfortunate thing for us, but it worked pushed theTexan into t he Harley-Davlds on ·out . W e ran one-two: " . . ·.S POrt st er Perfo rmanc e Series po ints lead , . . . .' However, the top three riders are very dose: ' Chris Carr's points lead has .l1Cj w grown to ' McCoy has .' O with Shaun Russell and Gaiy g.. 48' over Parker . Rich King 'Ieapfrogged over Rogers right behind wit h. 107 .and .' 00 poi nts ;' Will Davis and Kevin .A th ert on int o thi rd , 15 respect ively, .. po int s be hind Par ker, Davis .rriaintained' his " , . fourth place in the standings . while Athert on B rya n B ige low ' savored 'hi's' first 'podium fi~-. .took the biggest blow. Atherton 'dropped from ' ish long intothe night: " lt'sq ettinq .to be more ' a tie with Parker for seco nd to 'fifth aft er failing fun every week." said Big elow : "I' m really. to mak e ·the main eve nt. ' A th erton suffered : happ y to ,Qet t hi rd . Yo u' ve got .16 b~ t here through a majo r get -of f in the first heat and ' every now and then to feel what it' s like to run didn't come out for the semi.....Kevin' s goil1g to . with them, I' really had a ·1 of fun riding Wit h': 6t be" ok ay: 'bat he Is pre tty : shake n up, " TCR . those guys. l.just can' t say enough about my , . .team owner Tom Cummings .said-.·..He ' asked . team, They do-anyt hing for me, W e all wo rk me if I wa nted him to ride his semi. but after a ' together, It 's unbelievable.. j ust like Chris'. ] shot.like he took , it's just 'notwort h th e ris k. ~ '. ' said: When a team jells..there's nothil1 bette " g . .. . . , : Those boys .rnlqht be in big trouble. because ·The Oklahoma City -National saw the return .to . we 're getti ng hooked right up." dirt tr ack raCing of PACE Motor SportS as ' , " . . event promoters. W,ith a vendor midway, vin, ·. .Pre-ra~e ' activity .i nci~d~d a trib ute to lon~time: i agebike show , live band dUril1 'the rider auto- .' Ok lahoma City track guru Harold Murrell. . g 'graph' sess ion 'and flreworksehow 'throughout who' recently passed away after.abatt le with the night. the event lived uptoitaOklaborna . ~a n c er , M ur rel l ' s wi dO ,w; Sh erry : was t he ' Cy cle Fest name. Th e only downside came as. event's Grand Marshal, and forme r evimt pro.J:lACE:,· in an' atte mpt to opel1. up thetrackto . rno t er Ro nnie J on es prese ni ed her wi th a multiple-line .racinq, a~plled w ater, and calcium : dozen-roses. .. .. " . " .' . . . . , " li's

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