Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ DIRTTRACK AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 10 ~ Honda RS750-mounted Davis had every reason to be pumped. He had outlasted the weather that delayed this rescheduled race for four hours - the main event got the green light with the clock approaching 2 a.m., and he had fought off a last lap, last tum challenge from Rusty Rogers that saw Rogers crash to score the win. Chris Carr, who again is in a dose points race with fellow HarleyDavidson factory team rider Scott Parker, finished second - good for 16 points, taking that spot from third place finisher Larry Pegram in the last minute confusion created by Rogers' get-off. Four-time Grand National Champion Parker finished fifth and with the 10 points earned, he continues to lead the point standings over Carr, 155-142. The rain date for the originally scheduled May 30 event almost became history before it had a chance to get started. With half of the practice session in the books, the skies opened up and reduced the track to a red day quagmire. Perseverance by the track crew brought the surface back to some form of race worthiness in four hours. As always, the surface would remain the question - how much moisture would come back up to the almost saturated surface and how slick would it get? . Rusty Rogers (57) crashed on the last lap trying to pass winner Will Davis (21). Chris Carr (20) nipped Larry Pegram (72) for second after Rogers crashed. Time trials Carr's 1988 track record of 24.130 seconds remained intact after 53 Experts and 33 Juniors logged time trial laps. Rogers was the quickest rider, logging a 24.557 tour of the West Virginia oval. Only two other riders were able to break into the 24-second bracket - Rodney Farris with a 24.719 and Davis at 24.901. A starting slot in the $2100 Smitty Challenge, a five-lap dash in memory of longtime Harley dealer and racer sponsor "Smitty" Smith of nearby Moundsville, West Virginia, for the six fastest qualifiers was an extra incentive. Joining Rogers, Farris and Davis in that group were Mike Hale, Larry Pegram and George Roeder II. Dan Ingram', Ricky Graham, Carr and Kevin Atherton rounded out the top 10 qualifiers. The appearance by Atherton, who broke his arm in a road race practice session crash on July 1, surprised many if not all. Prior to practice and qualifying, Atherton said, ''I'm going to practice and see how it goes. If I can stand the pain I'll ride. Heck, it's been 17 days!" Heats By Bert Shepard PARKERSBURG, WV, JULY 19 hat do you think about this, . Ma?" y.elled Will Davi-s in the winner's circ;:le at West Virginia Motor Speedway in the wee hours of Sunday morning. "This is my W 8 second career win and my first with my mom watching. This (win) is different from the other one (Lima, 1989). I know how hard we all worked for this one." "The sun will be up before you know it," said Parker as he worked his way out of the swamp-like pit area for the start of the first heat race which got underway at 11 p.m. sharp. Each of the' four 10-lap heat races would advance the top two finishers directly to the National. Kris Kiser pulled the holeshot at the start of the first of four 1O-lap heat races but he was quickly swallowed by Rogers and Parker and with two laps in the book Kiser was in fifth as Carr and Graham also got by him. Rogers then brought out the first red flag of the evening with a get-off in tum one. His Honda had lost its chain before, during or after his hay bale exploding incident. The required repairs were made in the allotted time and Rogers took his place at the back of the field that lined up for the single file restart. On the restart, Graham and Rogers were both on the move and by the halfway flags Graham had squared off the race track to first get by Carr and then by Parker to take the lead. But things stayed exciting as Rogers had closed on the front-runners and in an attempt to move into second he drove low in turn three to momentarily hold the transfer ticket. But while Rogers fought to control his XR750, Graham almost lost control of his RS750. The ensuing rush to the checkered flag saw the tightly bunched quartet of Graham, Parker, Carr and Rogers cross the finish line in that order. Graham and Parker to the main, Carr and Rogers to a semi. "It would have been different if I had my right foot peg/' said Rogers, who lost the peg in his early lap crash. Nearly everyone had paid attention to Kiser's holeshot in'the first heat and for the rest of the evening, nearly every pole-sitter chose the inside pole rather than the outside one. First to copy Kiser wa~ Farris in heat number two, but it was Dan Ingram who had the point at the start with Farris in tow 'and Georgie Price watching from third. Ingram was riding the traditional high li!le and Farris was riding even higher. With half the race in the books, Ingram continued to hold off Farris as Atherton closed on Price. Atherton's efforts paid off as he worked his way around Price to take over third place_ That would all payoff as with just two laps to go, Ingram fell prey to a flat tire and dropped to 11 th at the flag. Farris took the win over Atherton, posting the fastest heat of the night. The third heat race got underway with Davis taking control from his inside pole position starting slot, but the race W9S halted right after it began when Tony Donahue unloaded hard in turn three. Donahue was through for the night and his misfortune was alternate Geoff Clark's ticket to the program: On the restart, Davis again took control, this time for good as he scored a wire-to-wire victory. Behind him, Terry Poovey and Roeder provided the action as they fought over the last transfer spot. Roeder ended up getting the runner-up spot, while Poovey was semi bound as was Jay Springsteen who finished fourth after a battle with Aaron Hill and Greg Crow. The fourth and final heat,was rushed to the line as rain threatened again. Mike Hale had the pole position, but 10 laps after the start it was Steve Morehead and 01' Paint, his venerable XR750, who got the checkered flag first. Morehead rode a flawless race to earn a front row start in the main event. Pegram mirrored Morehead's. ride, albeit a position down, to take the runner-up honors. Pegram had dosed on Morehead two laps from the finish, but could do nothing with him. Hale finished alone in third. Semis The first of two 10-lap semi-final races that would advance the top three finishers to the National required a second start as the first attempt was deemed to be a little ragged by the AMA officials. Rich King won the dash to the first turn when the green light flashed the second time, but he had Kiser and Springsteen right on his rear wheel. Springsteen squared the turn and led the field down the back straightaway. At the start of the second lap, Price drove under Fisher and Kiser in turn one, but he couldn't hold the drive and went down after a long slide. Kiser had no where to go and he ran over both Price and his bike. Kiser suffered a broken left leg, and Price was dazed, understandable when one looked at his cracked helmet.

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