Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

l/l ::E oct a:: III oct ~ a:: >- z z w I ~ l/l g o I a. (A bo ve) Winner Scott Parker leads Bubba Shobert in the main . (Below) Shobert and Parker trail second -place finisher Scott Pearson. AHA Grand NafiofUll ChampioJUhipl Camel Pro Series: Round I Par"ertops Pearson in Houston TT duel By Gary Van Voorhis H O UST O N , TX, FE B. 8 Scott Parker, in a no-mistakes ride, passed race leader Scott Pearson on the 20th of 25 laps and then held off Pearson's repeated challenges for the lead to win the Houston TT National. Steve Eklund, playing a waiting role in third for most of th e race, fo und he waited too lo ng and had to be content with S third place m oney a t th e fini sh . For H arley-Davidson 's P arker , the win m arked his fir st in a 'TT Nati onal. T he runn ing o f the National was m arred by a n accident o n th e fir st lap o f th e fir st res ta rt wh ich sent Ca mel P ro Series Champion a nd d efend in g race wi nner R icky Graham to th e hospital with battered ribs, a broken thu mb, a slig h t co ncussion a nd a co mpresse d vertebra . Graham had a lso been the ca use o f a n accide n t w h ich brought o u t th e red flag o n th e ini tia l sta rt . . Time trials G oss, sport ing his new H onda a nd th e lea thers o f Fr eddi e Spen cer Racing , tripped the timin g cl ocks a t 28.059 seconds to lea d a ll qual if iers. J imm y Filice, o n th e H appy Tra il s R acin g Honda , cl oc ked a 28.196 lap for seco nd with H o nd a 's Bu bba Shobert a nd Ricky Graham plus Steve Mong er rounding o u t th e top five . Mike Farley. at 29.273, was th e 48th a nd fin al qualifier for th e p ro gram. Heats Randy G o ss was th e crowd fav orite in the fir st of the four h eats wh ich tr ansfer th e top three fini sh er s to the National. His visions o f a p lace in the Nat ional ca me to a n abrupt end in a turn o ne cras h . G oss was u p qu ickl y and frantic work was done o n his bik e, bu t in th e end h e had to wat ch Ro n n ie J o nes, in a sta rt- to- finish rid e ou t front, take the win o n h is GF Racing H o nd a. Roo kie Expert C h ris Carr put h is Ro n Wood Racin g WoodR ot ax i n co n te n tio n ea rly, but co u ld n' t find room for a pass arou nd Jonesand fin ish ed seco nd . Kei th Da y, on the Do n 's Plumbing H onda , was a stea dy third th rough out. P earson m ov ed hi s Circle Bell spons o red H onda out fro n t o n th e sta rt o f hea t two a nd was never head ed . Ek lund. a three-tim e 'TT Nat ional winner a t H ouston , kept hi s Ro n Wood Racing Woo d-R ot ax cl ose fo r the entire 10 la p s o f the heat . but Pea rso n ke pt the u p per hand. Al ex Chris Carr (4Y) gets the jump on a fa lse start over Steve Eklund (behind Carr), Ricky Graham, Scott Pearson and Alex Jorgensen (44) in the main . J o rgen sen rode to a lo nel y thi rd pl ace fini sh on hi s Pi oneer T ruc k Lines Wood- Rotax w hi le a five-rider ba tt le raged beh ind, even tually being to p ped by Fi lice. T he th ird h eat sa w a good battle between Shobert a nd Terry Po ovey, o n the G ardn er Racing H onda . T he figh t fo r th e win went ri ght to the flag , bu t Shobert was in co m ma nd the entire ti m e. C har lie O rr a nd R ic h Ar na iz had a hot duel fo r th ird a nd e nded up cras hi ng together o n lap three wi th both going down a nd Pa rk er scooti ng th rough. Parker fin ished a d ista nt third behind Shobert a nd Po ovey. Mick ey Fa y pu t hi s Burien H onda into the lead o n th e start o f h eat four wi th Graham a nd Scott Adams close beh ind. On la p four, G ra ha m put h is fro nt w heel inside o f Fa y's as the two entered th e in fie ld a nd inch ed a head as th ey flew ove r th e jump. Fa y stayed close for two la p s unti l G raham began to m ove a way. Ada ms a n d h is A.B .A. Reco very Harley-Davidson wa tch ed the ac tio n from a safe th ird beh ind Fay. Semis Mike Sullivan 's run o u t front in the first semi lasted three laps. He-dding in to th e infield on la p fou r, Do ug C ha nd ler. o n th e Freddi e Spe ncer Raci ng H o nda n ipped by with Su llivan goi ng wide a nd T ed Bo ody sli ppi ng by a lso. Only o ne ri de r wou ld tr an sfer from each o f th e two sem is a nd i n thi s race that was Chandler. Bood y chased Ch andl er i n vain whi le in turn bei ng sta lked by J a y Sp ri ngstee n. T he posi tions rem ained the. sa me to th e flag . The raci ng got m ore spir i ted in sem i tw o wi th Bell evill e H onda 's T i m Merten s a n d Ra n d y Green , o n the Bel -Ra y H o nda, di cin g for th e lea d a good dea l o f th e time. G reen h eld the upper hand th rough the first six la ps-wit h Merten s tak in g o ver th e lead enteri ng t he in fiel d o n lap seven. G ree n waited unt il near th e end o f th e final la p befo re m aking h is m ov e. G ree n a lmost got the d riv e h e need ed ex iti ng th e inf iel d , but th en a pparen tly m issed a sh ift ca using h im to lose second to Dan Ben ne tt. Last Chance Qualifier Bo od y held th e lead i n th e LCQfor th ree la p s unt i l he ran o rr th e track enteri ng th e infield a nd d rop ped to las t by the time he got back o n th e track . G reen qu ickl y grabbed th e lead, o nly to lose it to Springst een . Green g ra bbed i t back wi th less th an tw o la p s to go a nd hel d o rr Spri n gsteen fo r th e win a nd the fin a l s po t in th e National. Junior National Championship Winki e Freitas wasted little time in building a co m ma nd ing lead in th e 12-lap J uni or Nat iona l o n hi s Blend zall-backed Wo od-Rotax . H e left th e starting line like h e was shot from a ca n non a nd never look ed back, la p p ing a slo we r rider near th e end o f the ra ce. H onda rider Kei th G regoire a nd Can -Am rider Ra nd y Roo se batt led thro ugho ut the race for second wit h th e nod go ing to Gregoire. National t\ good d eal o f walking and inspectin g th e track we n t o n p r ior to the National especia lly by Parker a nd tuners Al Sta ngler a nd Tex Peel. " It's a crap shoot here a t H ousto n ," sai d Peel. " You ha ve to know the odds a nd ho w to p lay th em . We spent about 20 m inutes look ing a t th e track a nd feel th e kev will be r iding th e lo w line in tu rns o ne a nd tw o . Even th ough Scott doesn 't reall y lik e to ri de th ere, th at' s wh at he's goi ng to d o unl ess h e ge ts a sig na l to m ove u p ." Pea rson , a lways a good starter, wa s the first rider away from th e 6-6-3 grid a nd led th e pack into th e infield. H ead ing fo r th e ti ght ri ght-hander after th e jump. Gra ha m slid d own with Shobert. Fa y a nd Poo vey a lso in vol ved . The red flag ca me o u t to sto p th e race. Franti c work o n both Shobert's a nd G ra ha m's bik es ens ue d with everyo ne mak ing th e restar t. Pea rson aga in led the field into the infi eld a nd this tim e Graham got tapped go ing o ver th e j ump a n d cras hed hard , resulting in a n a m b u lance ride to th e h ospita l. " I' ll see if I ca n m ake it three good starts in a row ," sai d Pearson as h e sa t o n th e sta rti ng lin e wa iting. P ea rson was good to h is word a nd had Sho bert, Eklund , Jones. Carr (the o n ly rook ie in th e field ), Fa y, Chandler, Parker a nd th e rest fo llowi ng. The race qu ickl y sett led into a three-rider batt le a mong Pearson , Shobert a nd Ekl u nd w ith th e th ree swa p pi ng th e lead a t va rious points o n the tra ck a lt hough Pearson was h o ld ing th e lead where it cou nted. Pa rker. cu tti ng th rough traf fic. moved in to fourth o n lap six a nd th en m ade the battle for th e fro nt spot into a four co ntender o ne. J ones th en joined the fra y to m ake it five in th e lead pack. T he five co n ti nued th eir wheel-to wheel duel th rough la p n ine wh en J ones slipped back a bit a nd Parker a lso lost co ntact a fter cli pping the h a vbal es a t th e sta rt / fi n is h line a fte r a m ov e ex iti ng th e infi eld sent him o n a w id er line th an pl ann ed . " I d idn 't let th e p robl em o f h itti ng the ba les bot he r m e," Pa rker sa id lat er. " I knew if I kept u p m y rh yth m a nd stuck to m y stra tegy t hat I co u ld ca tc h back up ," Whil e Shobert a nd Ek lund wer e bangin g o n each o ther for secon d, Pa rk er was m o ving qu ickl y back into a cha llenging posi tio n. Pea rson , riding smoo th ly o u t front, was well a wa re o f w ha t was go in g o n beh ind him. "The closer t ~ey got. the loud er th e

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