Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"I pushed all the way to 23 laps, and then I hooked my leg down in th ree and fou r," said Parker. "After I did th at , I knew I wasn 't going to catch him unl ess he did something stupid . He was getting somewhat conservative, but I cou ld tell that with three laps left, there was no wa y. "I knew I had to give it up," Parke r continued. "I d idn't want to, bu t I knew I had to. I was reeling him in, but time was ru nnin g out. When I hooked my leg, I told myself, 'Just rela x, it' s over.' But th en again, anything can happen . I'v e been to Lima . I know!" Carr sim plified his insp ired ride. "I stayed on th e bottom the .w ho le way, " h e said . " I was really getting goo d d rives off the bottom. I just rolled aro und the bo ttom the who le time. My fas test la p s o f th e night w e re in th e mai n event. The track got a lot quicker basically a half second or more a lap quicker. When a bike is working that good, i t' s lik e ca r v i n g a ho t knife through butter . I have never had a bike wo rk on a ha lf mile like this on e did to night." Jones finished out the nig ht in fifth. " If someone ha d told ine before the sta rt of the night that I was go ing to go ou t and wi n my heat, sit on the pole and run fifth in the final, I'd have sa id just give it to me a nd I'd be happy," Jones said. "Now that it's all over with, I'm disappointed . I got a little tir ed , bu t I rea lly got frustra ted and s tarted tryi ng differe nt things." Sad d lemen /Lan caster Harley-Dav idso n / Dodge Brot hers' Dan Bu tler overcame a fa u lty cl utch and a thi rd-row start to not ch his best finish of the year, a sixth. "After the semi , we burned the clutch up, so those gu ys just thrashed on it and put a new clutch in," Bu tler said: "It just didn't seat in righ t off the bat, so I had to wa it till the green light went on , an d I jus t stom ped it into gear. We came right on thr ou gh and I was in fourth, until we had that red flag. After a couple of false s ta r ts, th e cl u tc h got h eated u p an d started to wor k. I go t a good holesh ot. The tir e sta rted to come in, and it felt grea t. We just started comi ng u p to th e front and just kept chargi ng all the way. Th e bik e w as se t up aw esome. Ken ny (Mohler) did a grea t job to ge1 that thi ng di aled in for me." Rich King struggled home in seventh on his Corbin /Harley- David son Cy cle Center of Waterloo-backed Ha rley. "We were runn in g p r etty goo d tonight, m ad e some cha ng es for the main even t to go faster, and went backwa rds," King sa id . "It's jus t part of the teething problems with new equ ip ment. Eve ry th ing ran good. It was jus t m y fault. I gu essed wrong . The thing wasn' t pulling off the corne r like I wa n ted it to, so we put a tooth on it. In th e main, the track was faster and we wer e off to start with. The track went from being really slick and slow to tacky and fas t." .' Co m p le ti ng th e s ea t-spon sorship sa nd w ic h w as Saddlemen /Lanca ster Harl ey- Da vid son / Dodg e Br other's' Kevin Varnes, who m oved up all the way from las t on the first lap to fini sh eighth. (Right) Like Carr , Scott Parker had to come f rom the penalty line. He would catch and pass all except his arch rival by the end of the race to card a second. place f inish. (Left) Coming of age: Bryan Bigelow (11) ran up front all night in the main event , dicing br iefly with both Parker (1) and Carr before finishing third, marking the first Grand National podium appea rance of his career. "I was dead las t for a co uple of laps, th en th e bike started working for me, " Varnes sai d. "I passed a lot of guys on th e ou tsi de - they were hugging tha t low lin e," said Varnes. " It started get- ' tin g slip pe ry on the insid e, so I started to mov e up a littl e bit and started getting better traction . We w ere kin d of way ou t of the ballpark o n se tu p all day. We had to swi tch bik es. We ha d run th e t win gl e a ll d a y bu t h a d t o switch to the s traig h t-u p engine for the heat. I think it ga ve , me an ad vantage in th e main , b ecau se it w as 's o ta ck y ou t th ere. It ' s ha rd co ming from th e ba ck, but Chris an d Scott d id. Th ey just go t it figured ou t soone r than I d id . I almost go t King on th e last lap, but he kind of d rifte d u p on me go ing into three. I shou ld h ave waited , but I go t u p alon gsid e him goi ng d own the back stra ight. We had a d rag race goi ng into the corner. I was try in g to hold th e outside, and he ' just kept coming u p, u p, up. It was clean , bu t I thi nk if I coul d ha ve surp rised him , I could have go t by." Bartel s ' H a rl ey -Da vid s on /R ea l Mc Coy' s Jay Sprin g ste en b oun ced around before coming home ninth. "The track w as a little slimy in the main even t, es pecia lly in turn three," Spri nge r sa id . "Rich King go t by me jus t after halfway, and he showed me a line getting int o tum three. I was all the way ba ck to 12th and worked my way back up to ninth. He sho wed me a line, and it s u re h elped . Everywhere e lse I w as holding my own, but ge tting into three I jus t could n' t get sto pped . I'd slide way off, a nd guys ke pt poking their n ose undernea th me ." Schna be l recover ed fro m his get-off to finish 10th. "We e nd ed up 10th - th at's w h at we're looking for, top- LOs." Schnabel said . " It wo u ld ha ve been nice to have been u p ther e a lit tle fu rther. We were third when I fell. I go t most of them off th e line . I went way d own low, and everybody slippe d a littl e high. I think I was up to eighth for a little while, then I dro pped b a ck to 10 th . I wa s getti ng 'thro ugh one and two pre tty good , b ut afte r !.fell in three, I just couldn't get in there decen t anymore." HEATS After a len gth y d elay because of slick tra ck conditions, and an impending curfew, the h eat ra ces were short ene d to eight laps. Ch ris Ca r r ha d set fas t qu a lif y in g time and raced from his pole position to a co m man di ng lead over Jay Sprin gs tee n a nd Kevin Ather to n . At her to n repea tedly tried to u se a high lin e to advance. Turn three clai med Athe rton on the fou rth lap, brin gin g ou t the red flag. Atherton rod e the ambulance ba ck to the pits, and th e race was restarted witho ut the TCR pilot. Carr picked up ri ght where h e left off, w it h Springs teen safe in secon d. A udiovox / Q u a ke r State /D onahue Harley- Davids on's Brett Landes pulled free fro m Johnny Murphree to get th e last d irect transfer slo t. . Will Da vi s led Bryan Bigelow a nd Willie McCoy into turn one of heat two, but Bigelow had the point at the en d of lap one. Davis was back in front one lap later, only to have Scott Pa rker slash his way by at th e w hite flag . Davis was a close secon d , with Bigelo w a d istant third over a battl e between McCoy and Dan Butler for semi starting spots. Dan St anle y le d Joe Ko p p, Mik e H ack e r and Geo Roeder in th e t h ird heat. Hacker was lead ing Kenny Coolbeth and Stanl ey at the end of the first lap . Lap two saw Stanl ey up front.again and Coo lbeth dropping off the pace. Lap three saw Hacker ba ck up front a nd hold ing a sma ll lead over Mike Varnes, Stanley, Schnabe l and Roed er. Schna bel broke free and took th e -lead from the Moron ey ' s H a rl ey-Da v id so n /1 -800FASTHOG-backed Ha cker. Roed er used a hig h lin e to pu s h h is Sc hae ffe r 's Ha rley-Davidson / Las Vegas H arley " Davidson-backed Harley into third . The last heat saw veteran riders Steve Morehea d, Ronn ie Jon es and Rich King race t o th e fro nt. Pau l Ly nch s tayed close for a while befor e dropping back . into a ba ttle w ith Gary Roger s. Jon es drove under Morehead exiting turn two on the third lap , and the m ove w as repea ted by King one -la p lat er. Jones cruised on to the fastest heat win of the ni ght. Kin g held off th e F&S Harley Davidson /KK Supply-sp ons ored Morehead for second . . 0> 0> 0> ~ 29

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