Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~W9P~ ~ U Kawasaki supportlScott Ma chine Works/Dennis Bruster bik e of Shoben. Jones, Fay and Mu eller held their p laces to the end . Poo vey was ecsta tic in winner's circle as h e stretched h is lead in the H- D Dirt Track Ser ies, in addition to th e ca sh he took hom e for th e win. "The track was rough out there." Shobert said. " I was riding a conservati ve race a nd was happy to finis h th ird. " • M Results ' ~ -:::t' C'l ..c ro ~ ~ 1. Ter ry Poovey (Hon); 2 . Rand y Goss (H· D); 3 . Bubba Shobert (Kaw ); 4 . Ron nie Jones (Kaw); 5 . M ick ey Fay (Hon); 6. David Mu ell er (Hon ); 7. Fran Brown (H· D); 8 . Rich King (Ho n); 9 . St eve Hall (Yam ); 10 . Ervin Smith (H·D) ; 11 . Tim Hou ghton (Kaw l; 1 ~ . Tim M ertens (Hon). Jones squeaks out top honors By Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR . 4 Ronnie Jones saw a low line and used it to edge past Terry Poovey for a win in the final at the Expert/Junior short track 30 program at Memorial Stadium. The cro wd was better Thursday, . but not th e track. Workers had filled in the three foot long, four- inch deep ruts which had developed in turns three an d four with moist limestone, .and it made traction elusive. " It 's like ice skating out there," said one rider. The first heat took three tries to get started. Steve Morehead put h is KK Motorcycle Supply/Horton Medical Supply/Bill's Pipes/Cyclear Fairingsl Hank Scott tuned Honda down in the first turn while in last. H e made the restart, but from the penalty line, and got a holesh ot on th e front liner s. But that was short-lived as ano th er rid er went down and the third restart was ca lled . This time Terry Poovey wa s cle anly away for th e win. Ronnie Jones took the next heat with Randy Goss, Dave Bradley, Greg Tysor, Tim Mert ens , Mark Mannschreck, and factory Honda rider Billy Herndon al so taking heat wins. The first semi battle of National numbers with #11 Scott Parker , #18 T err y Poov ey a nd #42 Steve Moreh ead all gettin g tickets to th e feature. Florida's Billy Labrie led th e second sem i wi th Goss and Drake clos e behind until a red flag brought abou t a single fil e restart. Goss and Labrie were a t the head of th e lin e a nd bolted on th e gr een light. Both were ridin g up in th e loo ser cus hion and makin g it work . " I ref use to rid e th e groove here," said Labrie. " I went o ut in th e cush io n and th e com bina tio n I had just seemed to work." After Goss an d Labri e came Dave Bradl ey in thi rd . J ones. Shobert, and He rndon along with Garth Brow, on the E:d Salley Racing water-cooled 250cc Yama ha , were th e class of th e third semi . Jon es wa s brushing th e ora nge co nes as he h u gged th e in sid e groove, bui ldin g up a co m ma nd ing lead . First Shobert , then H erndon moved p ast'Brow for pla ces in th e ma in. Fay. Tim Mer tens on the Bellevill e Honda and Mark Mannschreck sta rted au; in front of the fourth semi , but didn ' t fi nish th at wav. " Wi ld Will " Davis , a wi n ne r here o n the Novice/ Ju n ior night . had o ther pl ans a nd moved Ma nnschreck on to the tra iler a littl e ea rlier th an he woul d hav e lik ed . An nou nce r J oe Kell y lin ed up th e fie ld for the fina l wit h Ronn ie J ones on the po le. Fay a nd Poo vey put the Hondas ou t fron t with the Kawasak i 's of Jones a nd Sho bert next, in fro n t of the facto ry Har ley of Goss. Another lap a nd Poovey was o ut fro nt wit h J d d . d ones seco n an Fay thi r a head o f Shobert . Goss dropped out w it h engine troubl es wh ile Jones p repared to gi ve Poovey a lesson in passi ng o n th e groove. La brie was th e cro wd favorit e with roos tertai l passes wh ich . moved him u p th e field. J on es sn uck a whee l under Poovey a n d th ey rounded th e corn er side by side with J on es in front for good . Labrie wa s up aro u nd Sho bert a nd took th e lon g way to pass him with a sli ngs hot o ff th e cus h io n into th ird . Shobert held o nto fourth ahea d of th e Klotz/Wi seco bik e of Scott Parker. " I didn 't mean to slo w you down," sai d Poovey jok in gl y to Jones afterwards. "It was a co m p letely different tra ck last night an d 1 was usin g th e sa me set-up. " . " Las t night wa s pretty bad with ruts down to th e pavem ent, but tonight's worse," said Sh ob ert. " I t's rough out there." Labrie, on hi s self-spo nsored Honda with help from Woody Kyle, had the same view. "It was real sli ck in th e fin al. 1 decided to ride up h igh and 1 went from 12th to Srd ," he said. Jones' co m ments were conci se. .'I'll tak e all of Kawasaki 's money." • Results 1. Ronnie Jones (Kaw) ; 2 . Terry Poovey (Han) ; 3 . Billy Labrie (Han) ; 4 . Bubba Shobert (Kaw); 5. Scott Parker (Hon) ; 6 . Mickey Fay (Hon) ; 7. Tim Mertens (Han); 8, Steve Morehead (Hon); 9 . Bill Herndon (Han); 10. Dave Bradley (Han); 11. William Davis (Kaw); 12 . Randy Goss (H· D). Jones all the way By Hanny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 5 Ronnie Jones ruled the final all the way in the Expert/] unior short track program at Daytona's Memorial Stadium. A to rren tia l ra in sto rm whi ch' er u p ted j ust after th e con cl us ion of . the Superbike race had threat ened to ca nce l the program , but so me quick work by th e tra ck prepara tion crew and AMA o fficia ls got th e program going a little lat e. But o nce it go t sta rtedi t was over in a n hour. After drying th e track, ride rs were giv en two practice laps before thei r elim ina tio n heat s. Bubba Shobert had th e wea th er-aff ected surface dialed in with a win in the first of th e eigh t heat s. T im Mert ens , T er ry Poovey, Matt Rozowicz, T im Houg h to n, Bill y La brie, Will Davis, and Dave Bradl ey each won their respective heats. Ra n dy Goss led T ed Boody, o n a WKR Kawasa ki bo rro wed from La nce Jones, a nd Tim Houghton a t the start of the first sem i. Goss slid wid e o ff the groove, Jettin g a few ride rs pas t a nd had to work hi s way bac k th rou gh tra ffic. Boody had tak en over the lead with Davis mo ving lip behind him an d th e fina l transfer of Goss. Li tt le pass ing was don e in the third sem i as Labrie co nti nued h is winn in g ways in the cus hion, ta king David Bradl ey and Erv in Sm ith to th e mai n even t wit h h im. Un like the previo us ni ght, Terry Poovev wasn ' t co nten t wi th seco n d beh in d Scott Parker an d beat him for th e win in th e third semi. T hird belon ged to severa l different peop le, but whe n the chec kered flag fell it was Wi llie Cra bbe's. T he final sem i o f the ni g h t provided th e ca pacity crowd with so me close racing a nd leader changes. Tim Mertens led ear ly, bu t wa s displaced by Ronn ie J o nes. Sco tt Drak e he ld th ird u nt il Gart h Bro w tr ied th e "Labrie line" a bo ve the groove a n d moved past both Drak e and Mert en s for a n event ua l seco nd. Merten s' p ipe fell o ff on the last lap knocki ng him o ut o f the co m pe ti tio n. Less th an five m inutes after th e last sem i fin ished th e fin al was brought to th e lin e in a light dri zzle. Menacing black clouds hung overhea d as the field h it th e first turn with J ones o u t front a n d o n the groove. Labrie, Poovey, Bood y a nd Davi s foll owed wi th rid ers three abreast p ick in g th eir favorite lin es on th e wet tra ck . J on es kn ew where he liked it and stre tched his lead o n seco n d pl ace Labrie. Labrie co ul dn' t make up any space on Jones, but wasn 't losing any to Poovey and stayed in a co m forta ble second. The battle for fourth was between Crabbe, Brow, Parker and Davis. Parker was holding it until he slipped wide and Brow and Cr abbe sco oted under him. Crabbe, riding out of Norm 's Motorcycles in Maryland, took th e fourth spot ' and his best finish of the.week , Brow had to settl e. for fifth ahead of Goss and Parker. " I had too much luck tonight, " Jones said. " I had a bad start last night and had to move up. It wa s real slick tonight, but it was working on the inside. The bike was slowing down a little at the end." Having said that he was h appy just to mak e the ma in , Labrie was more th an happy to finish second. " It was hooking up better in the loose stuff. 1 remember when Guy McClure raced here he co u ld ride aU over th e track, but it 's not like that a n ym ore ." Third place fini sh er Poovey was co untin g th e po ints. Alth ough he had sai d that he was taking eac h event o ne a t a time, he had to be thinking of cl inc h ing th e seri es title a nd $5000 first p rize from Harley-Davidson on Saturd ay nigh t. • Results 1. 'Ronnie Jones IKawl; 2 . Billy Labrie (Hon); 3. Terry Poovey{Hon); 4 . Willie CrabbeCYaml; 5. Garth Brow (Yaml: 6. Randy Goss (H-O); 7. Scott Parker (H-D); 8 , Fran Brown (Yam I; 9 . Dave Bradley (Kaw); 10 . Ervin Smith (H -O); 11 . Will Davis (Kaw). • Poovey cops big bucks • agaIn By Hanny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH . FL , MAR . 6 Texan T erry Poovey wrap ped up th e $5,000 .ro p prize in the $50,000 H arley-Da vid son Dirt Track Seri es with one event left, by pl acin g third in th e fin al n ight o f s hort tr a c k ra cin g at Da yto n a ' s Mem orial Sta diu m . Ronnie J ones was th e big winn er o n the sho rt track. Poovey's co nsiste ncy was th e key wi th second pl ace finis hes a t Tampa. Savan nah , and T h ursday n ight's sho rt track, thirds a t Fri day a n d Sa tu rday n ight 's short tracks, an d w ins a t Barbervill e a nd th e Wed nes day ni ght short track program. " I di dn' t win th e m ain, but I won the series." Shoei/ Cas tro l sponsored Poovev said. " I t was a littl e easier wi n n ing it with o ne race to go ." Oklah o m an Jones, o n th e Kaw asak i Motors / Wo rks Perfo rman cel Viper Fra mes /Vera's Leathers Kaw asa ki short track er tuned by Bob Den ,'nis, foll ow ed hi s fourt h o n Wedn esday night with win s o n Thursday a n d , Friday, an d a fourt h agai n o n th e , fin al ni gh t. In a ddi tio n to th e purse m on ey, J on es picked up a n extra $1,500 in co nti ngency money from Kaw asak i. " T he bike' s working so well 1ca n' t bel ieve it," said Jones. " T h is co nt ingency money from Kawasaki reall y helps out. I got $500 for winning on Thursday and $1000 for winning on Friday. I've got a pretty good hold on second 'p lace in the points sta n di ngs. Only Shobert can overtake me. " Wh ile Jones and Po ove y were more concerned with the points ch ase on Saturday night, Harley factory.rider Randy Goss was busy passing riders and putting on one of the best displays of short track racing seen in Day tona in years with a win in the Expert/v Junior event. "Wild Will" Davis, of North Carolina, took the win on Tuesday's Novice/Junior n ight on the . Sure-Fire/Carlisle/Tilley 's H-D I Avery Dav is sponsored Yamaha. And on Monday's Novice night Mark Hartley won on the Casey Cycle City l Posey H eating and Air Conditioningl Gary Nixon/Ted Yarborough sp on sored Honda. The fourth and final night of racing played to a sell-out crowd and started right on time with the threat o f incl em ent weather loomingominousl y in the clouds. Rider turnout was good with th e four nights of hard racing not showing on the two- stroke . ma chines. Bubba Shobert started off the night right with a win in the first heat . Ronnie J ones, Terry Poovey, Randy Goss, Dave Bradley, Fran Brown, Scott Drake a n d Jeff Joiner a ll follow ed with heat wins. Shobert was in the first sem i .a nd had little trouble handling Ronnie J ones. Tim Merten s moved p ast Will Davis for thi rd late in th e race and had to hold off a chargin g Tim Hougton. Scott Drake and G oss were th e fir st off in th e seco nd sem i with th e battl e for third between Ted Boody an d Mickey Fay. G oss pr essured, Drake h eld , a nd Bood y hung on to m ak e th e points-p ayin g main. Bill y H erndon started off th e third semi by fallin g m otionless in turn th ree. br in gin g out th e red flag. Poov ey led the first a nd seco nd starts wit h Ga rt h Bro w and Fran Brow n in tow. Bo th Poovey a nd Bro w strengthen ed th eir positions by the end o f th e eig h t lap race. T he last th ree riders to mak e th e fea tu re co mpe titio n ca rne from th e fou rt h sem i. with Dave Bradl ev bein g joined by J eff Join er a nd Stev~ M or~ head. Bill y Labrie tried th e high lin e he'd been usin gj h« P Il ~ 1 f'(IV d vs·.I\u(

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