Throwback Thursday: Kevin Atherton Sets the Pace at Del Mar (1996)

Larry Lawrence | January 11, 2024

“Cupcake” had an Outside Shot at the Title that Year Going into the Finale

In this week’s Throwback we dial back our time machine nearly 28 years to October of 1996 and that year’s AMA Grand National Championship finale at the magnificent Del Mar (California) Fairgrounds Mile. The chase for the No. 1 plate came down to the final race that season. Kevin Atherton had to win and hope factory Harley-Davidson rider Scotty Parker would somehow finish worse than 16^th in the main event. In this shot we see Atherton (No. 23), on his TCR Racing Harley XR750, battling early in his heat race with Davey Camlin (No. 27). You can also see Michael Varnes (No. 24), Chris Evans (No. 15), Brent Armbruster (No. 73), Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (No. 31) and Dan Stanley (No. 60) in the shot, wonderfully lit by the late afternoon, autumn coastal sun. Atherton did what he had to do, winning this heat and then running away with the main event, winning by 13 seconds. But Parker ran a conservative race, ran a safe distance back in second and clinched his seventh AMA Grand National Championship.

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