Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

go t pretty rough and it was hard to find a smooth line. I'd have it going one lap, then the next tim e, not, there was such a fine line. I guess I sho u ld be happy to ge t ou t of here wi th fifth . It's fru strating ge tt ing u p th er e and ru nning up fro n t for a few lap s, then wa tching those guys go around. You' re kind of he lp less. That . was as fast as I was going to go . I just . co u ld n' t find a good lin e a n d ge t smooth and get a good rh ythm . The las t few la ps were better, after I got some pressure from Sco tt. All in all, another top-five finish is a good nig ht. It's time to go to bed ." Pa rker to o k h is H arley- Da v id son Mo tor Co mpany / AGV / Fick Excav ati ng Harley to a so lid si xt h over current points lead er Chris Carr, who is another of the walk ing wounded after his Hagerstown spill. The se ries p o int s leader's evening performance cou ld best be described as tentative. "We ll, I survived," Ca rr said. "I was co m fo r tab le a t the end of th e race. I fou nd a line, and I was r unn ing la p times th at w ere equal to what King was ru nn ing ea rly in the race," the HarleyDa vidso n of Sacramento / Phoenix Racing/ Big Vall ey Fo rd- ba cke d Carr said. "It just took me too lon g to ge t go ing. When you have a tr ack that is as tricky as th is one, it' s reall y hard." Polesitter Will Davis finishe d a di sa p po in ting eigh th o n h is Eaken Racing /Rod Lake /Racing for Kids' Harl ey. "I pretty much jus t go t a bad sta rt," Davi s sai d . "I th ought I'd be able to pa ss them using tha t line in turn three that I had used in my heat race. Th e ha rd er I tried the worse th at d ea l"got. I a lmost crashed d o wn th ere o nce an d go t up into the ha y bales. I had to give up o n that an d go ba ck to the bottom . By that tim e, I w as a .w ays back." HEAT S Kevin Varnes got the ho lesho t in the firs t hea t, over Kin g and Willie McCoy. It was short- lived, as King rocketed int o the lead and pulled to an easy win. Sadd le men / La ncaster Harley-Davidson / Dodge Brothers backed Varnes was a safe secon d , bu t McCoy was h a v in g p robl ems, as he was joined by Paul Morgan III a nd Steve Beattie, with Bea ttie m oving his Sty lemaster Custom Mo torcy cles-sponsored Harley into th ir d by the seven th lap, lea v in g McCoy and Morgan o ne more chance in th e semis. The second heat was q uite a m ix of vetera ns and yo ung lions. Bigelo w led Pa ul Bergstrom , Jay Springsteen, H ayden and Terry Poovey into th e first turn. Hayden charged arou n d Sp ri ngsteen in to second and bad ger ed Bigelow th e rest of the race. Bigel ow held fast to the na rrow groove whi le H ayd en tr ie d to ride the m arginal cu shion. Th e yo ungs ters ban ged away th e en tire 10 laps, with Bigelow co m ing away w ith the w in. Ba rte ls' H arley - Da vid so n / Real M cCo y' s Springstee n was con ten t to take th e last di rec t transfer. Ag u ila r led heat th ree into th e firs t tu rn , wit h Kopp an d Brett Land es right b ehind him . W hen th e pack hit turn three, Da vi s we n t h i gh and pass e d everyone except Kopp, w ho no w held the Iead. One lap later, Davi s was on top and pulling away to w ha t wou ld be th e fas test heat of th e night. Ko p p se ttle d in to second, w hile Carr w orked his way u p from a back-ro w sta rt to ta ke a d istant th ird . Da n Stan le y and Land es w er e semi bound . Mi ke H acker held the ea rly lead in the last heat , but soo n gave it u p to th e flying Roeder . As Roed er pulled away, Hacker settled into second . Dale Jennem an, Parker, J.R. Schnabel an d St eve Morehead were all shoo ting for third. Around the ha lfw a y poin t, Je n neman's Harley we n t on one cylinder, and he d ropped fro m contention . Pa rker and Sch na be l fo ught for a co uple of la p s before Pa r ke r m oved away and caught Ha cker. Pa rker was able to d rop Hacker to third on lap eight, but Hacker's problems w ere no t over. Team Pow ell /Sunoco/ MSR-backe d Schnabel w as able to mak e a last-la p, last- turn pass for third. HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE SERIES For th e first tim e in many weeks, th e A MA was abl e to fo llo w th e regula r program o rder with the Harley-Davidso n Sp ortste r Pe r fo r m a nce Series Na tio na l r u n n ing b efore the Gra nd Nationa l se mis. Th ree heat s we re u sed to pare the 29 rider field d own to 17 riders for th e main. . The first heat we nt to fast qualifier Nate Wait. The Mod est o Harl ey-Davidson-ba cked Wait too k th e lea d fro m Sco tt Scherb and pulled off th e wi n in th e fastes t of the three heat s. Paul Morga n III , Ky le Long , Scherb and Rob Miller were locked in a tight pack for second. Miller fell in tu rn o ne but was up qu ickl y , and th e race con tin ued. Long mo ved to second, over Morga n, w hile Joe D uvall outd ueled Donn ie Steward for fourth. Tom McG ra ne took the last tran sfer spot. Br ia n Thomas pu t his Jim Wagner / W id m a n Harley-Davi dsonbacked Sportster in front of the second hea t and easily took the win. The race for secon d w as tig ht w ith A I Ea die, W ill ie McCo y, Mich elle DiS alvo a nd James Hart in th e hunt. DiSal vo ca me away w ith se cond, ove r McCoy, Eadie an d Hart. Ga ry Rogers held on fo r th e last transfer. Yuhiko H irao led th e last heat , over Brian Kromroy, Roger Lee Hayd en an d Billy Ma rti n. Martin m oved into thi rd, and as Hayde n attem pted to re pass, he fell in turn three. Th e red flag ca me out and a singlefile restart was called for. Skip For dyce H arl ey-David son's Ma rtin moved ahea d of H irao and Paul Bergstrom when the racing res u med. Bergs tro m held second for a short ti m e before givi ng way to Shau n Ru ss el l. Bergstrom held o n to thi rd over Kro rnroy and a fad ing Hirao. Martin quickly too k command of the . main , with Wait a short distance back. Shaun Russell moved into second on lap three and closed on Ma rtin. Russell w as a tte m p ti ng to u se a hi gh li ne to challen ge Martin when he fell in turn two at the sta rt of la p six. Aft er a sho rt pause for th e red flag, th e rac e was restarted . M a r ti n o nce again took the po int , w ith Wait hot after him . As th e field thundered ou t of turn four to the green flag, Wait sp un d own, and by the time the dust se tt led, eigh t riders we re on t h e g round. W a i t, McCoy; Hart , Krornroy, Donnie Steward , Bria n Thomas, Rogers and Russell were all down. Wait and Kromroy both had to be transp orted to th e hospi ta l, forci ng a delay in the progra m . In all , five of th e rid ers wou ld be unable to m ake the restar t. When the actio n d id resume, Mar tin was up to th e task. . " I wa n te d to fi n is h it o n th e r a ce track," Ma rtin said after taki ng the w in. 'This has been a long tim e coming, and I didn't wan t anybod y to be ab le to say I wo n it because it was sho rt . 1 knew if 1 go t u p fro nt and m ad e the m ri d e arou nd me, it wou ld make it twice as hard for th em. 1 felt 1 cou ld se t a pace that was com parable to just about anyone out ther e." Modes to Har ley-Dav idso n / Do n Reeve Trucking 's DiSal vo held second ea rly, but gave w ay to a chargi ng Russell . The Miller Electric/ Bartels HarleyDavidson-backed Russell go t up off the ground twice to finis h second . Morgan and Bergs trom rounded out the top five , with points leader McCoy taking sixth. SEMIS Brent Armbruster led the first eig h tlap semi, bu t was qu ickly se t back by Morehead and Mo rgan. The KK Supply / F&S H arl e y- D a v id s on-b a ck ed Morehead he ld a sm a ll lead, bu t that lead evapora ted as Jess Roed er and Dan Sta nley caught him . Sta n ley shook free of Roeder and pushed his Ga rd ne r Racing /Springfield Armory /Walters Brothers Harley-Davidson -backed Harl ey into the lead for a cou ple of laps. More hea d ha d o ne g asp left and edged St anl ey a t the line; both were headed in to the main, while Jess Roed er and Mi ke Varnes wou ld ha ve to se ttle for top se mi mo ney. La n des pu s h ed his Ho n da to t h e fron t of semi tw o w ith Agu ila r and McCoy tucked in right beh ind . As Lan des started lap tw o, he a pparently lost an oil line. Wit h his tires well oiled, he fell goi ng into turn one. Just as qu ickly, all eig ht riders w ho had start ed th e race were d o wn in a pi le in th e firs t tu rn. Ag uilar's bi ke spectacu larly ca rtw heeled out of the tr ack. Afte r at first refusing a tr ip to the hospital, Ag u ilar rele nted and we nt in. The well-oiled track took considerable ti m e to clean up. Even tua lly th e g rader had to be b rough t o ut a nd th e to p, oiled layer of the track had to be removed. Only five riders w ould be able to make the restart. Desp ite goi ng th r ou gh tw o la rg e m ulti-rider pil e u ps, McCoy grabbed the lead on th e rest art. Ga rth Bastian a nd [ennerna n were giv ing chase. H arley- Last week 's winne r, Nicky Hayden (69), was stout again this week , coming from behind to pos t a fantastic second-place finish. Geo Roede r II (66) finished third on another non-cushion tra ck, while Joe Kopp (43) was fourt h. D a vi dso n Central / Fron tier Harley David son 's [enneman took the lead and held off the H arley-Da vidson of Dallas /Eagle Security-backe d McCoy to th e end . Gart h Bas tia n a n d Shawn Cla rk ro u nde d out the finishers. Billy Martin led Shau n Ru ssell and Te rry Poovey into turn one of the las t se mi, bu t Ru ssell h it th e ground o nce ag a in and th e race was red- fl ag ged. Marti n repeated h is holes ho t, a nd he held Poovey and Hacker off until the halfway point, w he n Poovey was able to . work his USC Racing/ Arai /Hap Jonesbac ked Honda into the lead . Martin had his hand s full trying to ho ld H a cker in third , a nd the 1-800FAST HOG /Moroney's Harley-Davidso n-ba cked Hacker was ab le to force his way around on the next to last lap. His blitz ca rried him rig h t to the rear of Poovey, and both were h eaded to th e Gra nd National. Martin would have to be satisfied with his Sportster win. GRAND NATIONAL King got the holeshot, and suddenly everyone else was raci n g for secon d . Bige low held it temporarily, but gave it up to Ro e d e r on la p thre e . H a yd e n droppe d Bigelow to fourth one la p later. Davis held fourth early but started to slip back qu ickly . "Tha t lin e in turn three was still the re to so m e degree, bu t every time I'd go aro und somebody an d try to cu t down, there wou ld be a p ack of them the re, a nd 1 did n ' t h a v e anywhere . to go ," Davis sa id . " It' s pathetic. We had fas t h e a t, a nd we re go ing good a ll day . That's the way it's bee n all year. It's killing m e, h k n ow th a t·llMay bh if we I if e can't wi n a a -mile we' jus t ave to wi n a mile next week. That would break this u p." Da vi s would end u p eig hth, w hile Carr motored around in th e mi d dl e of . the pack, moving from ni nth to seventh at the end. "TI1ey had to go out an d cut the track here an d there," Carr said . "The race track 1 rode in the main event was qu ite a bit d ifferent than th e one I rode in my heat r a ce. I just took too long to get d ia le d in ; once I go t d ial ed in m y lap times were okay. They we ren ' t spectacular, they wer en't lea ps an d bound s better than anybo dy else. We did all rig ht. We su rv ived. We' ll go on to Springfield , and we know we' ll have a better tr ack there." "I I 1&1 .. Q :ii Q '" '" '" ~ ~ CIl .c E -E. CIl rn 17

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