Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ m 0 II: : w X Ul f lII: w 1J CD > CD Ul 0 0 I- ~ x 00 CL ~ ,.....; ~ 00 ..... "J ~ bf.J ~ < f.. Hank Scott (14) and Ted Boody ran it right down to the wire with Scott claiming the win by three length•. Scott celebrate. hi. 16th National win. the 11th coming on a mile oval. . Scott ha. won four of seven at DuQuoin. AMA Grand National ChamHionshiR/Camel Pro Series: Round 18 Hank Scott edges Boody in DuQuoin Mile By Gary Van Voorhis DUQUOIN, IL, JULY 28 Hank Scott, biding his time until the final laps in the DuQuoin Mile National, snatched the win from Ted Boody by a margin of less than three bikelengths at the completion of 25 miles. Boody set ;:t strong pace from the start, gambling he could break away from the field and still have enough 6 ru bber on his rear tire for anOlher charge in the last laps should a challenge materialize. Boody lost his gamble. Steve Morehead made it a threerider sweep for the non-factory-backed ranks with a come-from-behind charge to third. Scou's win broke Team Honda's lock on the top spot in mile Nationals previously run this season and the SCOlt/Boody/Morehead triumvirate marked the first factory shutout from a top three placing in nearly a year. All three were Harley-Davidson XR750-mounted. Honda's Doug Chandler and Harley's Randy Goss rounded out the top five at the finish. Missing from the action up front were Scou Parker and Ricky Graham. Parker's factory Harley struck electrical problems before the halfway point while Honda's Graham had head gasket problems on his RS750. BOlh were reduced to circulating at a snail's pace and finished 15th and 16th, respectively. Goss came away from the race with a double bonus in the points. He gained an additional four from the AMA appeal board's decision to suspend Bubba Shobert for six Nationals, retroactive to the Hagerstown National and including both dirt track and road races, plus another 10 on 9raham's finish out of the poi.nts. Goss nQw leads Orahalll'by 14 points. 165 to 151. Parker's no-points ride allowed Chandler to close within five points, 135 to 130, while Boody lurks in fifth at 121. Qualifying Graham, to the surprise of few, was the top qualifier and blasted Hank Scou's 1978 track record of 35.956 seconds at IOO.122mph with a 35.423/ 101.628 trip around the egg-shaped track at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Steve Eklund cranked his Garl Patrick-built Harley XR to a 36.237 clocking ahead of Morehead, Chandler and Terry Poovey. Goss, with brake problems in his qualifying run, was 23rd quickest. Curt Rehmert was the 48th and final rider to make the program for the National out of the 62 riders on hand. His time was 38.204. Heats The opening three laps of the first heat saw Graham, Poovey and Parker engaged in a wheel-to-wheel duel for the lead. Graham broke away on the fourth lap to leave Poovey and Parker swapping second. Pete Hames quickly carne up to make it a three-way duel, but lost the draft on the seventh lap and could't draw another bead on the battle ahead of him. Parker tapped Poovey on the hel met and gestured to him as the two crossed the start/finish line to begin lap nine. Poovey held off Parker to finish second behind winner Graham. Both Parker and Hames complained to referee Duke Oliges after the race that they were getting sprayed with oil from Poovey's bilee. "I checked the bike and there was a problem with the sump," said Tex Peel about Poovey's bike afterward. "It'll be straightened out by the National. " The second heat was a dogfight with jon Cornwell, Gary Scou and Eklund swapping the lead although eight riders were in the front-running pack. By the halfway point, Eklund, had secured the lead from Scott with Cornwell, after a slip off the groove, back in third and rapidly catching back up. Eklund opened up some breathing room and held about 20 lengths on the Cornwell/Scott fight for second as the eighth lap neared completion. Eklund suddenly slowed heading for the white flag and the last lap while Cornwell, on the Deeley Harley-Davidson-sponsored XR, and Scott £lew past with the rest of the field soon doing the same. Eklund coasted to a halt on the back straigh t. The fight for second now became one for the win while a five rider battle that had been for fourth took on new significance. Cornwell won, holding off the challenge of Scott. Ronnie jones, on the Fargo Harley-Davidson XR, barely edged Chuck Springsteen for third and a spot in the National. Eklund was disappointed, but looked on the brighter side of things. "I think we've cured tht; probltm of the missing horsepower," said Eklund. "Now we've got to get the engine to stay together. A broken wrist pin ended my ride today." Steve Morehead put his Paul Chmiel-tuned, Esquire/KK Motorcycle Supply-sponsored Harley into the lead of a seven bike battle for first in heat three. Morehead lost the front spot to Goss on lap seven with Boody, on the Tex Peel Racing/Gastrol-sponsored Harley, then taking the lead on lap eight. Fran Brown, Scott Pearson and Peter Hook had been engaged in the early battle for the lead, but lost the draft and hovered close enoufi1;h behind in a swapfest over fourth. Boody sttengthened his hold' on the lead over the final lap with Goss fending off the challenges of Morehead' for second. The only real runaway of the heat races occurred in the fourth heat when Hank Scott set sail on the start, taking advantage of a raging battle for second to put his Sisemore/KK Motorcycle Supply Harley on cruise control. Tim Mertens, Doug Chandler, Rod Farris, Bryan Hardin and Alex jorgensen mixed it up in an early bade with the closing laps seeing Chandler and Farris fighting for second while Mertens shadowed them. Scott came home an easy winner while second went right to the finish with Chandler leading Farris to the checkered flag by about three bikelengths. "The groove is getting wider and you can run the bike harder into the corners," said Scott. His heat was the fastest of the four, earning him the pole position for the National. Semis The top two finishers from each semi would go to the National and in the first semi a crowd of 10 riders strung together like a train, dueled for the spots over the first five laps. Lance jones played engineer for three laps before Hames pushed his way past and into the lead. Hames, on the Iveco-sponsored Harley, commanded the final laps with privateer jones trying a draft and pass maneuver on the charge to the checkered £lag which fell half a bikelength short. Scou Pearson led the opening lap of semi two, then Tom Maitland and Mertens blew by on lap two. Maitland held command of the next four laps until Mertens zipped into first with a pass into turn three. Hardin, after passing Pearson, dropped Maitland to third on lap eight as Mertens pulled out some breathing room. Hardin held off the challenges of Maitland to earn his second National start this year. Last Chance Qualifier Pearson wanted the one advancement position to the National up for grabs in the LCQ badly, but two laps into the race engine problems with his XR ended his day. Tammy Kirk then ran out front for nearly three laps before slowing with tire problems. Fran Brown took over, then it was Chuck Springsteen's turn and , then Peter Hook got his' chante out

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