Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128013
"I'm happy with third behind these guys (Carr and Parker); th ey' re the best in the busi ness ," Hacker said. "The first half of the race, I think that we were all just tak ing it easy, except for Chris - he took off. We were jus t try ing to conserve tires and make sure that we had enough (tire), but I'm happy with third." King acquitted himself well aboard his Sam Wessely-tuned XR750, finishing fourth on the heels of his fifth-p lace finish at Dallas and his win at Springfield. He got off to a great start, actually leadin g Carr off the second corner in the main even t, and he ra n no lower than fourth for most of the race. Although he could do littl e about the str eaking Carr, th e 36-vea r-old Iowan found himself well in position to' pull off a podium finish late in the race, on ly to blow it in the last two corn ers. Needless to say, he was less than happy about the night - but not in the way that yo u' d expec t. "I just cooked her into turn three, try,ing to draft Scott off of tu rn four, and I screwed up," King said . "I about took him and Hacker both out, and I kind of feel bad about it." But what about the yea r? "Oh, I'm real happy abou t the year ," he said . "Th e w ay th at m y s po nso rs pulled togeth er for me, I'm real happy abou t that. I wish that I would have had the ch am p io ns h ip, but don't feel bad about the year that I'v e had. " The 34-yea r-old Davis kind of bookended the sho w via his fifth- place start and fifth-place finish . In between, however, the North Carolinian appeared to be giving it all he had, and with decent re sults, as he ran insecond pl ace for much of th e first half of th e race. But th en a rare and s il ly g re m li n b efell Davis , as a wheel bearing began to seize on his Harley-Davidson. By Davis' own a d mi ssion , it wasn ' t bad, but it w as enoug h to rob him of the speed that he need ed to stay in seco nd place. "Steve Morehead was in front of me on the start - I had to start on the second row - and I had to dodge him going into th e first corner," Davis sa id . "I don't kn ow what he did. But I was tickled to d eath with the start tha t I h ad . I was actually catching Chris, but then it was like I ran into a wall. We had a wheel bearin g go out. Tha t kind of stuff just drives Skip (Eaken) crazy. I don't kn ow if we would hav e caught Chris, but I felt like we cou ld have stayed in second. It ain't like that's something that we've got to work ou t, tha t's just something that happens . That's just racing." Joe Kopp fini sh ed sixth in the ma in event, w i th ve ter a n s Terry Po ove y , Steve Morehead and Ronnie Jones, and then Kevin Varnes, round ing ou t the top 10. Stev e Beatti e fin ished 11th for the seco n d con secuti ve w e ek, wh il e Ja y Spring steen was 12th, Bryan Bigelow was 13th, J.R. Sch na be l was 14th a nd Gary Rogers 15th . Willie McCoy, Shau n Russell and Dale [ennem an occup ied the 16th th rough 18th spots, resp ectiv ely. HEATS The an em ic rider count that befell the Dallas Mile one week earlier was apparent again in Sacra mento , as a total of 31 riders signed up in the Grand Nation al class; it takes 48 rid er s to fill a no rm al field . That number was cut by on e more r ight off th e bat , a s Sprin gfield ' A r m or y / Wa lt er s Brothers H arl eyDavid son rid er Dan Stan ley cra sh ed through the turn-three gua rd rail on just the se cond lap of practice, ending his evening about as early as he could have (see Briefly...) Varnes and Davi s jostl ed back and forth early duri ng the firstl0-lap heat race, but it wasn' t long befo re Kopp was up in there wi th them, and the three rid ers quickly s h u ffle d aw a y fro m th e fourth- and fifth-running du o of Beattie and Schaeffer's Harley-Da vidson /Las Vegas Harley-David s on / KK' s Geo Roeder II. As the race progressed, Kopp seemed to have a good advantage off of turn two, and he could hold the lead on the back straight, but he would lose that advantage to either Varn es or Davis on the fron t chute. Varnes, meanwhile, was pulling off som e rather gu tsy low-lin e passes on the other two every time that they ran into turn one. Davis appeared to be just bidin g his tim e, waitin g to make the right move a t the right time. In the end , Kopp led off turn four only to ge t edged ou t by Varnes, while Da vis was right w ith them in th ird, wit h a ll three riders go ing st raig h t th rough to th e m ain event. Th e wi n marked th e first time that Varnes had do ne so in a mile heat race in about four years. " Ye a h , s ince th e H ond a da y s, " Varnes sa id. "It was hooked u p , and that works well her e becau se every thing is so slippery. It just see ms to track grea t all the way a ro und th e co rn ers. We're usin g a Continental tire, and that see ms to be work in g bette r than the Goodyea rs. It' s n ot w e arin g o u t like th e Goodyears. It is help in g me ge t off the corner so that I can get a good draft on gu ys. I wanted to lead it go ing into turn one, and I did. I hugged the inside of the b a ck s t ra ig h t, but Jo e go t b y . Th e r e wasn' t enough room for Will to get by. I got a good run on Joe co ming off turn fou r, and we got him. It was close, bu t w e go t him . Now w e're o n th e front row." King sho we d th at he was ga me for an other mile win, as he led all 10 laps in the second heat race, moving awa y from Sp rings teen an d Bigelow, who engaged in a battle of age a n d e xp e rien ce vs . yo u t h a n d e n th usias m o nce fo u r thpla ced rid er Schnabel fell off the groove and all but gu ara nteed himself another night of compe titio n in the semis. Wh ile Springer and Bigelow d rafted back an d forth, King was able to slip away for the w in . H e h ad a bo ut fi v e len gth s o n Springer and Bigelow wh en it was over. Sp ringer w on th at age- old battle, thi s tim e, finishin g second, w hi le Bigelow ra n third. Af te rwa r d , w in ner Kin g seeme d quite pl eased with his performance on the mile. . "I'm a stud, bab y," he joked . "Is that how big thi s track is? A mil e? I didn't set my trip meter. "I just got a good start," King continued. "Sp rin gs teen a nd Bigel ow w ere battling eac h other. Th ey just cou ld n't catc h me .because they were battling . I thin k tha t once Springer broke loose, he (Top) Carr simply refused to be caught in the shortened main event , leading all 20 laps and reco rding his 40th career Grand National victory. (Above) the battle for second came down to the wire, as Scott Parker (1) came from 10th to finish second, while Mike Hacker (67) was third. Rich King (80) finis hed fourth in a must -win situation. (Right) An unfortunate wheelbearing seiz ure cost Will Davis a shot at a podium finis h. Davis was fifth. started to run me down, bu t it was too la te." Mo re hea d, Hacker a nd Parker wen t a ro u n d a nd a ro u nd in th e third heat race - arguabl y the best of the eve ning . Morehead go t the holeshot, wi th Parker . an d Hacker in tow, and the thr ee quickly m ov ed a way fro m Ro g ers, T eam Undo's Brett La n d es , Jenn eman a n d Co ziahr Har le y-Da vid son ' s Bria n Shirl ey to put a lock on th e tran sf er spo ts. The race intensified, starting with lap five, wh en the three ran acro ss the stripe side by side, with Hacker appearing to ge t the best run to the line. Parker a n d Mo rehead e a ch led o nce in th e ens ui ng lap s, but the kid from Virginia was showi ng his hand for the nigh t, and it was a good one. 'H acker crossed the lin e in ch es ahead of Mo reh ead , with Parker third . "I feel real good," Ha cker sai d . "The bike's wo rking really good today. Mike Wh eeler has got us a real stro ng hor se, and 1seem to be rid ing the track good. It feels real good to me, and I think th at I h a ve a real good cha nce in th e main eve nt if 1 can keep my head together . I think the start is going to be very important, es pecia lly if th e y cu t the main even t. We're having real bad tire wear. 1 d on 't think that a tire will go 25 laps." Carr gave his fans a sneak preview of the main event wh en he holeshot and led from start to finish in the fourth and final heat race. Poovey, Jones, McCoy and Russell wer e hot on his trail for all of a lap before Carr began domina ting the race , 17