Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

- Wayne Rainey leads eve ntual w inner Terry Poovey (1 8) in the second heat. Doug Chandler (1 0) was seventh in the ma in; keeps second in series points. the previous lap. Jones moved his GF R a c i n g -s p o n so red Honda back around on lap eigh t and held it there through the start of the final lap with Goss and Maitland in tow. Goss regained the lead , but Jones drafted past and led off turn four with Goss' final ch arge two feet sh ort. Maitland wa s a bikelength back in third. Parker, having had th e lu ck to make the semi via his ninth place finish in his heat, made the m ost of it and emerge d from a four-rider bailie to take the win over rookie Expert Don Estep. This finish was also decided by less than a bikelength. Estep, o n th e G .A. Simmons-sponsored XR, tried his hardest to stea l th e win away from Parker, but couldn't quite do it. picked up some breathing room whi le Freitas was only one length up on Furlon g. ''I' m beginning to lik e this ," sa id Atherton of his five straight wins. " I hope I ca n ca tch Winkie in the points ra ce and win th e title, but it co u ld be hard if he keeps finishing second." "I th ought I m ight be able to make a move on th e Iin al lap, " sai d Freitas, " bu t th e tra ck ch an ged so much th at my co m bina tio n wa sn't working as well as I wanted it to. My tuner , Dave Bird, built me a reall y strong engine , now it 's up to me." " Brian an d Winkie h ad mo tor o n me," sa id third pl ace fini sh er Furlong. "I kn ev.. I had to use th eir dr aft if I wanted to stay with th em a nd th at 's wh at I did. Last Chance Qualifier R oger Thompson fell in turn one on the beginning of la p two of th e LCQ to bring out th e red flag and a fu ll restart. Alt hough not injured, Thompson didn 't rejoin the field . On the restart, Jimmy Fi lice, Dave D urelle and Canadian Jon Cornwell 'm o ved through th e ranks of the seven ri de r pack going for the lead to emerge as th e fro ntrun ners by lap seven. Da n -In gr arn joined the ba il ie, then slipped off the groove in tu rn four and was out of it. Cornwell took th e lead from Filice in tu rn three on the final lap, but it was Filice's turn at the finish as he pu lled ou t of Corn weirs draft to flas h across the line a scant six inches in front for th e win and the last ticket to the National. National The field for th e National was cu t to 16 wh en Springsteen scrat ch ed from th e field. The sickness whi ch has haunted Springsteen for over six seas ons once again robbed th e fans of a ch a nce to see the former three-t im e Grand Na tional C hampion in action. " T h e key to winning will be get- · ting th e right dr ive and leadin g off turn four on the final lap, " said Shobert before the start. "You want the lead rather than to have to draft past someone for th e win." Boody and a number of other H onda riders con cu rred . Shobert chose the outside pole position- next to the grandstand and right on th e groove-on the 6-6-4 three row grid with Graham, Ron n ie Jones, Bood y, Carr and Han k SCOll alongside. It was Graham with the holeshot into turn one. but Shobert led coming off turn two, with Graham, Parker and Rainey behind. Shobert continued to hold th e lead through the first five laps. . Poovey was the first rider to retire as an engine problem sent him to th e pits. Ra iney and Filice were both slowing with engine problem s which would event ually end th eir rides before the National was half over. The lead draft involved five riders - Shobert, Graham, Jones, Parker an d Pearson - with Shobert barely maintaining the lead a t th e start/ fin ish line th ro ug h the first seven laps. A similar battle for sixth with Carr leading Boody, Chandler. Hames ana Jorgensen took place not fa r behind the lead group. • On la p seven, Graham took over th e lead, with Parker in front on the next go aro u nd and Shobert battling J ones for fourth , Parker led off turn four wi th Graha m - on the grand- Junior National Bria n Atherton and Winkie Freitas continued their bail ie for the Junior National Championship with Atherton taking his fifth straigh t win in the series. Freitas, wh o has won three Junior Nationals, finished a strong second to maintain hi s lead in th e point standings. Atherton , the fast Junior qualifier at 95.240 mil es per h o ur, 37.799 seconds on his Ron Wo od Ra cing- . sponsored 500cc Wood-Rotax, quickly ' grabbed the lead in the final with Wade Cummings holding off Freitas and Brad Furlong. Freitas, the second heat winner, mov ed into second by lap five of the l2- lap ra ce with Furlong in tow, Dan Knecht and Curt Ca nnon crash ed on the next lap in turn four to bring out the.red flag. Cannon sustained a broken leg. On the restart, it was an instant rep lay of the same show with Atherton o ut front and Freitas holding off a determ ined Furlong. The three played it out to the finish as Atherton ' Scott Parker (left) looks on as Bubba Shobert and Miss Camel Pro Vivian Chadbourne celebrate Shobert's third mile win of the year. stand side - and Sh obert, on th e inside, flanking him as th ey passed. Graham took th e adva n tage a t th e line. Boody, on th e move, made th e lead p ack a six rider on e o n lap nine as he m oved into fifth over Carr. Hames, with a badl y ch u n king rea r tire, ca me to th e pit ent ra nce , sto p ped to co n fer with hi s pit crew a nd th en co nti n ued a t a reduced rate of speed a ro u n d th e track. Parker, Shob ert and Graham can: tinu ed to trad e th e lead while Boody inc h ed his wa y into a ch all engin g ro le before dumpin g Parker and G raham to third a nd fourth o n lap 12. T he next time aro u nd , Bood y m oved past Shobert to lead a t the halfway flags o ver Parker, Sh ob ert 'a rid Graham with Pearson and Carr right behind. Jones continued to lead the fight for seventh over Chandler a nd Goss with Jorgens en th e fou rth member o f th e party, La p [5 saw Carr a n d Parker, run ning fift h and sixt h, lose to uch with th e front four after running high in turn one. The gap narrowed a bit on laps 16 and 17 before closing ba ck up o n lap 18. Somehow, what might have been a disaster was avoided just as the leaders were to start lap 18. Boody led by a bikelength as Graham and Shobert again went for a flanking pass, only this time there wasn 't a n y room for Graham on the gr andstand side and he sideswiped the wall before bouncin g out toward Sh obert. Luckil y, Shobert was able to move and give him room to get things under co n trol. Graham did just that a nd led th e next lap. " T he re had been room to make a pass on th e grandstand sid e on th e two laps before," said Graham a fterward. " Whe n I went for it , th ere wasn 't an y. I was co m m itted , but lu ckil y I bounced off the wall a nd Boody was far en ough a hea d th at I didn 't tick his rear tir e or it could ha ve been a bad accident. " The front five remained in co nsta nt flux through lap 24 with Sh obert, on lap 22, running fifth and wondering - h e was to say lat er - wh at h e wa s goin g to do to pull it o u t. Carr was a lon ely sixth with G oss and Ch andler going a t it befor e th e engine in G oss' bik e became "a total loss" three laps from th e end. J o nes and Scott then debated eigh th with Scott taking the upper hand. Estep, in 10th , was th e final rider running at speed, Bood y, wh ose adva ntage was in turns on e and two, led th e start o f th e fin al lap with Shobert , Parker. G ra ham and Pearson on h is rea r tir e. Sh obert took th e lead o n th e back stra ig h t, led into turn three, held th rough turn four an d poured o n the steam a s h e headed for th e chec kered flag. Bood y in ched up a lo ngs ide as Pa rk er did th e same to Boody. It wa s Sh obert a t th e line. , " I believe th at was th e to ug hest ra ce I' ve ever ridden ," sa id Sh obert. " It was wide open a ll th e way a nd wh en I go t dr opped back to fifth near th e end I th ought things were all ove r, a nd I thought things were all o ver earlier wh en Ricky smacked th e wall a nd th en alm ost hit me, but th at worked itself ou t al so . T od ay was a good da y a ll aro u nd," " I co u ldn 't seem to get thin gs working in the first ha lf of th e: National, " said Boody. "In th e la st half I really began to coo k. I wanted to lead off turn four on th e fina l lap, but SCally got in my way as I tried to put a drive on Bubba and tha t cost me because I didn 't have en ough m om entum to reel Bubba in." "I gave it ever ything I had," said Parker. "If I can get three m ore h orsepower, the H o nda riders are going' to have problems. " Graham was left shaking his h ead . after the finish . "I was con centra tin g so hard I didn 't see the white flag and didn 't realize there was one lap to go. The checkered flag surprised th e heck out of me. It was a gr eat race regardless." - Results 25 -LAP NATIONAL : 1. 8 ubba Shoban (Han); 2. Ted 800dy (Han); 3. Scon Parker (H-D); 4 . Ricky Gra ha m (Hon); 5 . Seon Pearso n (Hon ); 6 . Chr is Carr (H-D); 7. Doug Chandler (Han); 8. Hank Scon (Han): 9. Ronn ie J one s (Han); 10 . DonEstep (H-D); 1 1. Randy Goss (Han); 12 . Pete Hames (H· D); 13 . . A lex Jorgense n (Hon); 14 . Wayne Rainey (H· D); 15 . Jimmy Filice (H-D); 16. Terry Poovey (H-D); 17. Jay Springstee n (H- OI. . TIME: 14 min.. 58 .59 7 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 100.15 6 mph. CA MEL PRO SERIES POINT STAN DINGS: 1. Bubba Shoban (102): 2. Doug Chan dl er (B2); 3. Scan Parker (76): 4. Ted Boody (74); 5. Scan Pear son (64): 6. Randy Goss (581 7. (TIE) Ron nie Jo nes/ ; Alex Jo rgensen (49); 9. Ch ris Carr (46); 10. Pete Ham es (421: 11. (TIE) Steve Eklund/ J ay Spr ing· st een (35); 13. Terr y Poovey (3 3); 14. Rich Sch lachtar (26); 15. J im Filice (25); 16. Wayne Rain ey (21): 17 . (TIEl Hank Scott/Freddie Spencer/Randy Ren fro w (2): 20 . Keith Day (19). 12· LA P JUNIOR NATIONA L: 1. Brian Atnert cn (W -R); 2 . Winkie Freitas (Hon); 3 . Brad Furlong (H- OI; 4. John Faulknar (C-A); 5. Wade Coming (H-D): 6. Recil Han (C· A }; 7. Greg Gatliff (H-D); 8. Ja mes Faulkner (C-A); 9. Peta Goddard (Han); 10. Don Myers (H· D): 11. Den Knec ht (H· D); 12. Curtis Cannon (Yam). No ti me /speed due to restart . JU NIOR NATIONA L POINT STAN DINGS: 1. Winkie Freita s (137); 2. Br ian At henon (127); 3. Cun Can non (60); 4. Aaron Hill (59 ); 5. Ted Taylor (39); 6. A dam Sabedra (3 5); 7. (TIE) Frank Garcia/Ti m Skov (32); 9. (TIE) Keith Gregoi re /Randy Roose (27). 11

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