Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

turns three and four. Vet era ns Terry Poo vey and Ronni e Jones were fifth and six th, respect ivel y, w it h Po o vey just dra fting past Jones at the finish to d ro p h im a s po t afte r th e Oklahoman had caug ht up to the Texan just before. Yo ung ic ky H a yd en o u tr a n old Steve Morehead fo r se venth, while Mike Ha cker an d Steve Beattie rounded out the top 10. to Tyer's, and he wound up co n troll ing th e race for most of th e res t of the wa y, taking the wi n over Kopp, Stanley and Ha yden . T yer w ound up fifth . HALL OF FAME RACE aUAUFYING Unli ke the previous year's Beer uts Dash qu alifier se ries, this year's Hall of Fame. race utilized a sa m e-day fo rm a t th at was si mila r to a s ta nd a rd Grand at ional fo rm at , but wit h a slig ht tw ist. Th e top three in each of the four eig htlap heat races would transfer d irectly to th e final, w ith the rest ge tti ng sh u ffled int o three eig ht- lap se mis . Only th e win ner of eac h semi would transfer directly, and after all three races wer e run, three (Above) Jay Spring steen (9) cashed in bigtime after finishing s econd in the 15lap final. Scott Parker (1) wound up 16th after his engine gave up the ghost. (Left) Willie McCoy (59) leads temporary teammate Jason Tyer (12N)during the 600cc Support Race. McCoy took the win, while Tyer was fifth. (Below) The day started on a sour note when Brian Shirley and Gary Rogers collided off the start, Here, race crews battle to put out Shirley's bike after it erupts in flames . Neither rider was seriously hurL en en en ~ :;; ~ "' g. U) 24 provisiona l sta rting spo ts we re g ranted to the three highest non-qualified rid ers in the AMA Grand a tio na l Dirt Track Series points standi ngs. There was drama right from the start of the first e ight-lap heat ra ce , as Roge rs /Lake Racing ' s Ga ry Ro g e rs missed a s hif t off the sta rti ng line and tan gled bars with other riders. As he was fall in g d o wn, Ro gers was str uc k wit h trem end ous for ce by Cozia h r Harl eyDa vid son' s Brian Shirley . The impact ripped Shirley's bike in ha lf, ruptu rin g the fuel ta nk and ig niting in to a fullblown conflagration. Fortunately, neither rid er was seriously hurt; Rogers made the restart, and Shi rley would return to race the Grand National the next day. After the clean, Poovey took his USC Racing Honda to the point and led all eight laps. H-D of Mis souri's Joe Kopp tried to pull out and sw ing past off the last turn, but Po o vey w a s tu n ed for bear, a nd he outran Kopp to th e lin e. Shaun Russell was a so lid third on the Bartels Harley-Davidson. Heat two at least featured a draftin g w ar, as Ca r r a n d Tea m 1-800FASTHOG' s Mike Hacker pu lled away from eventual third-place finisher Jon es and set up for th e last ru n to the line. Th ey crossed it side by side, wi th Ca rr just getting the nod over Hacker. Springst een go t a trem endous standing o vation for winning the third heat race after a wild dice with Parker and Steve Beattie. Chris Eva ns w a s up in there for a while, too. Springer jus t beat Parker to th e lin e by a wheel. Beatti e wa s third . F&5 Harley-Dav idson's Stev e Morehead got the ho le shot over Davi s in the final heat ra ce, but Dav is poured on the coals to record a co mforta ble wi n over Moreh ead a nd th e la s t r ide r to gai n entry to th e H all of Fa me race o n th e first try of the da y, USC Racing's Bryan Bigelow. The u sual s us p ects could be fo u nd up fro nt when the world 's richest dirt track race go t underway . Ca r r led Pa rker, Springsteen, Morehead and Davi s when the field hit th e s tri pe. Kin g w as al ready sho ving his way through the field as well, and he cau ght Kopp to run in th e lead draft before two laps were even in the books. Parker then reel ed in Carr at the e nt ra nc e to turn three on the th ird lap, and h e ducked under him to lead at the stri pe for th e s tart of th e fou rth lap. Sp ring steen, Morehead and Davis were all se t up in a single- file line behind th e two leaders. Th e sh u ffle co n ti n ued o n la ps five through eig h t, wit h Kin g , Da vi s a nd Parker runn in g three-wid e across th e line, rig ht behind Ca rr and Springer o n lap eight. Th ey th en st ru ng o ut again and, on e lap la ter, Parker' s day ended prematurely, th e vic tim of a broken pi sto n. Mo rehead had already falle n back be hind Poovey, w ho was still runn ing s trong in fif th . Jones a nd M orehead then began to draft back and forth for six th. Paul Morgan III w on th e firs t se m i, whil e Ki n g rebounded after dropping ou t or' heat one to win the second semi. Chris Eva ns ea rned h is way int o th e show wit h a wi n in th e th ird se mi. Aft er loo king at the GNC points sheet, Nicky Hay de n, Kevin Varn es a nd Ceo Roeder II were g ra n ted the three provisional start ing slo ts. 600 SUPPORT As a su pp lement to the HoF program th is year, the 600s took to the track for th eir ow n I S-l ap d a s h, th e top prize being $1000 to wi n. Dan Stanl ey got the holeshot and led the pack int o th e first tum, w ith promisin g Texas talent Jaso n Tye r and icky Hayden ru nnin g second and third . Tye r qui ck ly s ta r ted s howi ng off so me serious ho rsepo w e r aboa rd his Karl Kle ment-backed Ro ta x, as he led laps two through four w hen the pack hit th e s tripe. In th e m eantim e , Wi ll ie McCoy, Tyer's teammat e for a day, was working his wa y up fro m a po or start. McCoy w as running fourth by lap two , bu t he would take a. tum a t the fro nt on lap five, thus establish ing hims elf as a co ntender for the win. Tyer co n tin ued to be th e d om inant rid er in th e s ix-rider lead herd, w h ich no w co ntai ned Joe Kopp as we ll. Ha yd en led lap eight, but Kopp was in control o n la ps nine an d 10. Bu t McCo y had a p paren tly wa ited for the last five laps to gas it and show the field that his bik e was at lea st equ al 1. Chris Carr $20,000 10. Steve Beattie $3900 2. Jay S p ringsteen $12,500 11. Chris Evans $3800 $7500 12 . Geo Roeder II $3700 4. Will Davis $6250 13 . Kevin Varnes $3600 5. Te rry Poovey $5000 14. Shaun Russell $3500 6. Ro nn ie J o ne s $4750 15. Paul Morga n III $3400 7. Nicky Hayd en $4500 16. Scott Parker $3250 8 . S te ve Morehead $4250 17. Joe Kopp $3 100 9 . M ike Hacker $4000 18. Bryan Bige lo w $3000 3. Rich King '

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