Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

l!') 00 0') ...... Terry Poovey didn't w in any of the f ive events in the shortened series, but consistent finishes gave him his third series title. Jacksonville Half Mile w inner Ted Boody gets help from w ife Terri and father-in-law Norm .McDonald in winner's circle. Dayton~ Dirt of Poov ey o n th e fifth lap an d held h im o ff for th e win. Chandl er moved into th ir d wh en teammat e Randy G oss d ropped o u t with engine troubles on the ei gh th la p , an d recorded his best fin ish of the season. Pete H am es moved into second in th e sta n d ings with a fourth a nd fas t qualifi er Ch ris Ca rr was fifth . Bra d Furlong , of Centralia , IIIi· nois, won the Junior fin al a hea d of Mick ie Fontana a nd Robert Lewis Jr. a nd th e Novice m a in went to Bri an Bon esteel with Ran dy T urbe tt a n d Eric Sassa ma n follow ing. T he J acksonville race, orig inally sche d u led for Frida y, March I, was rain ed o u t a n d resched u led for toni ght , Mar ch 5. The weather was more coope ra tive and th e sta nds were cl ose to ca paci ty a t th e sho rt halfmil e facility. The 36 Novi ces ran th rough five heat s to qual ify for th e two Ill-rider semis wh ich would adva nce th e rid ers to the main. John Resso III took th e first sem i on hi s H onda with Turbett secon d and Crai g Est ell e Track Series JaxHM to Boody By Henny Ray Abrams JACKSONVILLE , FL. MAR. 5 Ted Boo dy, on the Megacycle Cams/College BikeShop Honda RS- 750, took over the lead in th e Harley-Davidson Dirt Track Seri es point standings with a hard-fou gh t win o ver Terry Poovey a nd Doug Ch andler in th e Expert main event a t th e SupezSports-promoted J acksonville half-mil e at J ax Ra cew a y. Boody , the 1984 series winner, took th e lead from th e Gardner Racing/Shoei H arley-Davidson .. -- --_.. -....... • • __ ••• • • •••••••• - •• • • _ •••• •• • • • • - ... .. .. ~~ .~ ~ . ~ .~~ . ~ • •••• . ~ ••• • • • • • • 1 Ronnie Jones raises a clenched fist after his third consecutive Expert/ Junior short t rack v ictory at Memorial Stadium . th ird. The seco nd sem i was won by Bonesteel with Ron Bertrand seco nd and Ro bert Dam ron th ird. Turbett go t th e hol esh ot an i! began to p u ll aw a y fro m the 10 ride r field at the beginning o f th e 10 lap fin al , but grad ua lly Bonesteel, o n th e House o f P o wer/Mar io Bern ardin i Wo od Rotax , reele d him in a nd p assed him a t th e halfwa y mark . Dam ron was pulling aw ay from Bertrand and Estell e wh en Sassam an mad e his mov e a nd slid into third. Sassaman on th e Tayl or White Racing Wood-Rolax pressed for seco nd , but th e move was a lilli e too lat e a n d he had to sett le for third behind Bonesteel and Turbett. Estell e and Damron took fourth and fifth , respectivel y. "T u rns three and four were tri ck y, but I talked with Junior Dominic Michaud a nd he was goin g lowhigh-low into three because of th e ruts . I gave it a shot a nd it worked," sa id Bon esteel. Brad Furlong proved ro be the best o f th e 10 Juni or s from th e field of 65 th at had tran sferred to the fir st semi with Rusty Rogers second. The second semi wen t to Micki e Fontana with Keith Gregoire a nd Ben Siudara close behind. - Siuda ra went do wn on th e fir st lap o f th e fi na l a lo ng with Brad Furlong, but, alt houg h Furlong mad e th e resta n , Siudara didn 't , a nd had to be tak en to th e h osp ital for o bservatio n , Furl ong led th e restart with Fon tan a second, Grego ire third, and Lewi s fourth . Gregoire slip pe d off th e dark groove a t the halfway po in t lettin g Ru sty Rogers and Domin ic Mich aud by wi th Greg G atl iff ge lling past a lap la ter. Furlon g , unfazed by th e first la p mi sh ap, sped to the win wi th Fontan a and Lewi s in lOW. Pete H ames led th e tri o of himself, Randy Goss a nd Steve Moreh ead in th e firs t Expert semi . The tri o ran a head of a separate battle for fourth invol ving Chris Carr a nd Dan In gra m . Goss was using a low er line but Hames was sticking o n th e groove frus tr a tin g · th e Fr eddi e Spen cer Ra cing/SuperTrapp rider. But coming o u t of th e last lap Goss slid underneath Hames and hooked up bett er for the cha rge to th e £lag winning by less th an a fool. Moreh ead held 0 11I0 third ahead o f Carr, Hames a nd the Tex Peel Racing mount of T om Maitland. T erry Poovey jumped in to th e lead • ( : .1 " • ) • ~ I I \ \ , I of th e seco n d semi with Boody and M.J. Sponsell er-sp onsored Rodney Farris in third a head of Raben Crabbe on th e Lan ca ster H-D a nd Goss' tea m mate Dou g Chandl er. Farris wa s sell in g up Boody o n th e h igh side a nd went aroun d h im o n th e fifth lap. A lap lat er Chandl er go t by, but -Boody was sa fe in fourth. Poovey's margin at th e end was three lengths ov er Farris, with Chandler , Boody, and Crabbe behind. Once again in th e fin al, Poovey got th e holeshot, but thi s time Boody was heading forward a n d not backwards. Ham es wa s third a nd Crabbe a surprising founh a hea d of Farris a n d Goss. Goss moved up into third on lap three wh ile teammat e Chandler wa s having hi s probl em s gelling past Crabbe. H ames held off Ingram for sixth. On th e fifth la p , Bood y drove around Poovey for th e lead wi th Goss on the move in third. T he three began opening up some .brea th ing room on Ch andler who fin allv worked his wa y past Crabbe. On th e ninth lap Goss' RS-750 began smoking badly a n d he pull ed out whil e runn ing th ird. " It just tied up tighter than hell ," tuner J erry Griffith s sa id . " It do esn 't saun a too good." Meanwh ile Boody wa s ga in ing th e slig h test of margins on Poovey and at th e checke red £lag h e had a two len gth lead with Chandl er third by a few feet a nd H am es fourth, a bo u t 50 yards back . H ames had been h oping to do bet ter but sa id th at hi s G ardner, Griswold, Board Racin g H-D " had been mi ssing a ll weekend. We've been tryin g to get th e mi ss o u t an d I guess th at 's wh at we'll do wh en we go home. I got a good sta n , but th e tire wa sn 't workin g ver y well. " Chandler said, " It was a typical sta rt for me. Th e H arleys sh ould be better on a tra ck like this , so we've been tr yin g thin gs on th e half miles, lik e su spension and chassis things. There isn 't that much passing here and I wa s surprised to co me from wh ere I did. If I co uld have gotten around Crabbe soo ner I might have gotten Poovey at th e fini sh. " " I got T erry down the back straigh t. He was spinning co m ing out of two a nd I got a beuer drive," Boody explained. " I was having a lot of trouble out th ere. It was slippery and I I,, ". • s r : ... .. ( • ' I

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