Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Gary Scott finished fifth. (Below) George Roeder heads the Junior main over Winner Chris Carr (Y41. Don Estep (99) and Chad Felicio (Z55). Bubba Shobert leads a pack of riders consisting of Randy Goss (11. Ricky Graham (3). Doug Chandler (10) and Scott Parker (11) in the final. In the 12-lap final, Carr breezed along to his fifth consecutive National victory by a margin of 12.27 seconds. Don Estep, Carr's Wood-Rotax teammate, followed in second until he cartwheeled his bike down the track in the esses. He was unhurt. Second place wasn't decided until the flag with Brad Furlong topping Mike Arthur after stalking Arthur for most of the race. "Most of my sponsorship comes from my family," said Arthur. The Hollister, California, rider noted that former dirt tracker and road racer Don Castro was also from the same town and that he carries Castro's former Junior number. "He told me to keep it going strong," said Arthur. Furlong, riding for Marlin Hart Racing, planned his last lap move. "I knew if I kept on going I could catch him," said Furlong. "On the last lap my strategy was either to pass him and finish second or fall off trying." National The Peoria M.C. c1ubgrounds' natural terrain track has changed over the past two years. It has gOllen faster, but at a price according to some. Previous to the 1983 National, the track was conditioned with waste oil and was a "demanding, rider's track which required plenty of stamina," according to 1980-81 winner SCOll Pearson. An Environmental Protection Agency ban on using waste oil left the club with no choice but to go to calcium for eliminating dust problems. "This year, more than last, the track has grooved up in key areas like the entrance to turn one which makes any racing more follow the leader than strategy and guts," said Pearson. The 6/6/5 grid for the 25-lap National had Graham, Goss, Shobert, Fay, Arnaiz and Chandler lining up - spectator to pit side - on the front row. Shobert's line led him into turn one first, over the jump, through the esses and then through the sweeping arc of turns three/four before heading down the front straight and ending lap one. Goss, Graham, Chandler, Fay, Parker, Hames and Gary Scott followed closely ahead of the rest of the field. The top seven remained the same on lap two with Graham and Chandler getting by Goss on lap three as Goss dramatically lost ground. "I was using the rear brake in the esses and the lever caught in a rut or something," said Goss of his problem. "Suddenly, there wasn't any more lever. It was twisted around behind the footpeg, not bent, just twisted. It took a long time before I could get used to braking only with the front brake. Once I got used to that, I began moving up a bit and looking for riders dropping out." By lap five, Shoben had opened some breathing room over Graham with Chandler trailing closely as Parker led Fay, SCOll, Hames and Eklund. Parker picked up his pace and began to put pressure on Chandler on lap seven as Shobert continued to inch away from the field. Shoben remained in command on lap 10 while Graham continued to hold second over Chandler and Parker. Scott's battle for fifth with Fay came to an abrupt halt as Fay slipped all ~e way to last before eventually retirmg. Meanwhile, Hames was leading a six-rider battle for sixth with Eklund, Cornwell, all the way from a nearly last place stan, Pearson, Arnaiz and Jones in tow. King led Sweet in 12th, followed by Green and the limping bikes of Morehead, Goss and Fay. At the halfway flags, Cornwell moved by Hames to into sixth, setting the cast for the top six. Shoben began to slow when the line he was using "didn't seem to work as well anymore." Graham quickly took advantage to close the gap, although the top six remained in order through lap 17. Eklund had his ride in seventh end on lap 18 with an easy slide out in turn one. He was quickly up and back in action, but it cost him seven positions he couldn't make up. Laps 19 and 20 saw Graham move in on Shoben while Parker held his edge over Chandler with both SCOll and Cornwell moving up on the front running four. On lap 21, Graham moved past Shobert for the lead exiting turn four with Parker making his move and closing on Shobert's rear tire. Corn- well was pressuring SCOll for fifth. The final three laps saw no position changes although one slip by any of the top four as well as SCOll could have altered the finish. Graham, Shobert, Parker and Chandler took the checkered flag in a single file line with about 15 bikelengths separating first from fourth. SCOll'S margin on Cornwell for fifth was less than one bikelength. Graham's 11 minute, 18.458 second ride for his second straight ational win and fifth of the season, broke the track record of II min., 33.648 secs. set by Jay Springsteen last year. "I rode my XR as hard as I could," said Parker in winner's circle. "I rode the wheels off that thing. When we got close to the finish I had two Hondas in front of me and one right behind and I told myself there was no way the finish was going to be a Honda sweep. I made one strong move in turn four about two laps from the end which might have gotten me the lead if it had worked, but I gota little out of shape." "I was planning on this being my first TT National win," said Shoben, "but I was having trouble getting into turn one in the late laps. I saw what the good line was after Ricky got the lead, but then it was too late to get the lead back." "If you want to be known as a TT rider then the best way is to win the Peoria TT," said Graham. "I've wanted to win here ever since I started racing. I knew I had a good chance but I needed to catch Bubba first and he wasn't slowing down any in the first half of the race. Once I got close enough to put pressure on him I felt I could take advantage of his problems with turn one. That's the way it worked out. • Results 25-LAP NATIONAL: 1. Ricky Graham (Han): 2. Bubba Shoben (Han): 3. SCOlt Parker (H-D); 5. Doug Chandler (Han): 5. Gary SCOlt (C-A): 6. John Cornwell (H-D); 7. Rich King (Han); 8. Ronnie Jones (H· D); 9. SCOlt Pearson (Han); 1D. Pete Hames (H0); 11. Rich Arnaiz (H·D); 12. Sammy Sweet (H-D); 13. Randy Goss (H·D); 14. Steye Eklund (H-D); 15. Steye Morehead (H-D); 16. Randy Green (Han); 17. Mickey Fay (H-D). Time: 11 min.• 18.458 secs. (Record.1 (Old record: 11 min., 33.648 sees. by Jay Springsteen B/83.) AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPI CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Ricky Graham (201): 2. Randy Goss (200); 3. Doug Chandler (155); 4. SCOlt Parker (1 48); 5. Ted Boody (138); 6. Bubba Shoben (121); 7. Alex Jorgensen (108); 8. Terry Pooyey (80); 9. Mike Baldwin (77); 10. (TIE) Pete HameslSteye Morehead (75); 12. SCOlt Pearson (61); 13. Gary SCOlt (58); 14. Jimmy Filice (56); 15. Hank SCOlt (54); 16. Steye Eklund (49); 17. Wes Cooley (47); 18. (TIE) Jon Cornwell I Rich Schlachter (42); 20. (TIE) Ronnie Jones/Kenny Robens (40). 12·LAP JUNIOR NATIONAL: 1. Chris Carr (W·R); 2. Brad Furlong (C-A); 3. Mike Anhur (C·A); 4. Geoge Roeder (H· D); 5. Roger Thompson (H-D); 6. Chad Felicia (RlX); 7. Joe Green (Yam); 8. Jeff Jones (Yam); 9 Mark Diesi (H·D); 10. Randy Comer (Han); 1 1. Thomas Heid (Han); 12. Don Estep (W-R). Time: 5 min.. 34.414 secs. JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS, 1. Chris Carr (269); 2. Don Estep (168); 3. Roger Thompson (148): 4. Duane DuYall (147); 5. Mike Anhur (1 19): 6. Dayid Miller (84); 7. Chad Felicia (81); 8. Brad Furlong (53); 9. Randy Bird (52); 10. George Roeder (47). 13

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