Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a: w ~ ~ => :I: '": a w e > ...J en "0 a: c( :I: C1. W ~ 00 :I: ..... '" a: w ~ ........ '" ~ > Cl(") '" 0 '" ........ ..... V 0 t:: :I: C1. ~ ~ Ted Boody was jubilant after his Louisville win. Flanking him are his father Ted Sr. (left) and tuner Tex Peel. AMA Grand National Championship! Camel Pro Series: Round q , Semis Boody in eommand at Louisville HM By Gary Van Voorhis LOUlSVILLE, KY, JUNE 2 Ted Boody, with a strong performance, took an easy win in the Louisville Half Mil~ National. Following Boody into the winner's circle in the 18th running of the race were Camel Pro Series poim leader Ricky Graham and Scott Pearson. Gary Scott and defending AMA Grand National Cham- 10 pion Randy Goss rounded out the top five. Boody took command on the seventh lap and pulled away to a comfortable lead. The Graham/Pearson/Scott/Goss confrontation was a follow-the-leader freight train to the finish. The victory, Boody's sixth ational win, was his first for Tex Peel Racing and jumped the Harley-Davidson XR750 rider from seventh to fifth in the point standings. Honda's Graham gained ground on Goss and now leads him 94 points to 83. Bubba Shobert, Scott Parker and Boody fall into line at 74, 70 and 64 points, respectively. Despite the valiant efforts by the cre.w of Bud's Racetrack Service throughout the program, it was impossible to groom the track suriace into a copy of what had produced a ride-it· nearly-everywhere track last went down in a long slide between turns three/four. Parker stayed with the bike and was quickly up, finishing llLh. Meanwhile, Scott saw daylight and scooted to the win with Pearson and Jorgensen earning tickets to the National. "I was just cruising up in the cushion. having fun," said Parker. ". hit a couple of bumps. the back end came around on me and down I went. It's as simple as that. Only you don't wan t to do that when you' re leading. " Rookie Mark Hanley and Dan Ingram sped away on the start of the third heat. Goss was mired in traffic after a slow start and was ninth at the end of lap one. The champ turned on the afterburners and was second by the end of lap three. Ingram crashed, unhurt, and was out for the night. Hartley, on the mitty's/Casey Cycle City/Sure-Fire-sponsored Harley, felt the hot breath of Goss with Number One taking over the lead with a pass into turn one as they started lap five. Goss stretched his lead to the finish with Hartley barely edging Steve Eklund for second at the £lag. The fourth heat saw Boody streak out front and lead start-to-finish for the fastest heat win of the night and the pole position for the National. Steve Morehead and Terry Poovey, riding injured Malt Rozowicz's bike on a one-time deal, put on a good show in their battle for second with Garth Brow closing in until his engine seized. Morehead held the upper hand on lap seven, but on lap eight he was coasting along the inside rail after his engine broke. Randy Texter, on the Eastern Harley-Davidson Dealers/ Cycle Experts-sponsored Harley, inherited third and made sure he didn't make any mistakes for his first trip to a National. year. The Junior National Championship program drew 60 riders in addition to the 80 Experts on hand. That put too many wheels on the track. Missing from the action for the fourth ational in a row was HarleyDavidson's Jay Springsteen. "Jay was sick during the week and we felt it was better that he sit this one out," aid Harley's Clyde Fessler. Time Trials Graham, who is surely the hottest rider on the circuit at this time, showed he was ready to race and logged a 24.459-second lap in time trials to put his name at the top of the qualifying list. Steve Eklund's 22.263second track record set in 1981 was never in jeopardy. Pearson, Goss and Boody followed with Fran Brown putting his Buffalo H-D/Stevens Racing-sponsored Harley in at fifth fastest. Peter Hook, at 26.342, earned the 48th and final position in the program. Heats Track, preparation_ an~ a, I.a.rger There was a good deal of controversy and confusion before the start of the first semi. Scott Parker, in the thick of the points race, was on the starting line. After many discussions, he was allowed to start. "I nadvertently, the line-up for each semi had been posted with separate alternates rather than one listing of three for both," said AMA's Bill Boyce. Parker was the only rider to show up as an alternate from the first two heats, even though he wasn't on the list, and got to ride when William Davis scratched. Parker and Scott Drake gave the fans a show with Parker's high line riding in contrast to Drake working the groove. In the end, it was Drake's low line style which put him in the National and Parker in the Last Chance Qualifier. Only the winner of a semi goes to the National. Mike Gilkey, aboard the Mike Santrock-sponsored Harley, earned his spot in the National with a startto.-finish ride in the second semi. Johnny Cooper made Gilkey work ~rhiswin. . than anticipated rider entry backed up the 8 p.m. starting time to 8:50 for the first heat. Anxiously sitting on the sidelines near the starting line and ready to race was first alternate Jimmy Filice. A gearing mistake during qualifying cost Filice a spot in the field. He didn't get to race. Graham went for the high line in the cushion from the start and almost immediately left the rest of the field behind. Shobert settled into second on the third lap by dropping Deeley Harley-Davidson-sponsored Jon Cornwell to third. Cornwell and Shoben traded second a few times, but it was Shobert out front at the flag. Graham had eight seconds on Shobert at the finish. A strong battle shaped up for fourth with Iveco-sponsored Harley rider Pete Hames edging Tim Mertens. Mertens was offered and readily accepted the use of Springsteen's bikes at Louisville. "I just took it up high and held the gas on all the way around the track," said Graham. "About halfway through the race I pulled both of my tearoffs off," said Cornwell. "I still tried to force Bubba to make a mistake, but I couldn't.' Parker, who loves to ride in the cushion, went for it on the start of heat two and had shaken off Gary Scott and Pearson by lap three. The Scott/Pearson battle, wi th Alex J orgensen in tow, began to close on Parker by the halfway point. On lap eight, Parker saw his roostertail spewing ride come to an abrupt end as he ,. .." t, I • Last Chance Qualifier Hames made the best of his final chance at making the National with a strong winning ride to grab the last starting position in the 15-riderfield. Hames had Mertens and Parker for company in the early laps with Parker finding his high line wouldn't work and dropping back. Mertens made his move for the lead in turn three on the final lap, but couldn't make it stick. Junior National Darryl Miller, aboard a Jim Sehltuneo, Mac's Machine & Tool/Castrol/Champion-sponsored Honda showed that four-stroke single power was the way to go for Juniors at Louisville as he took an easy win. "It's my first ride on the bike," .said '

• Cover