Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Doug Chandler leads Scott Pearson (95) and Ronnie Jones in the main. (Below) Pearson. Jones. Hames and Shobert race for second. Defending National champ Ricky Graham (1) and Bubba Shobert catch Ronnie Jones near the end of thernain. A lex Jorgensen trails Shobert. the checkered flag while reigning National Champion Ricky Graham, of Team Honda , came from an eighth place start to finish third. Graham's Honda teammate, Bubba Shobert fin ished fourth an d surren-. dered h is point lead to Chandler by the slim margin of two points, 122 to 120 in Chandler's favor. Pea rson 's second place finish vaulted h im into third at 93 points - over Ted Boody at 92. Boody did not make the National. The Santa Fe track was rough, ru tted and d us ty, but tha t was only half the worry because th reatening weather was in the area: The AMA prudently ra n a hurry-up program with the Experts run ning straight th ro u g h their National program before the J uniors set a wheel o n the track for eliminations. Time trials Shobert immediately set his stamp on the proceedings with a 40.407 second lap in qualifying to set fast time. Steve Eklund's 1978 track record of 34.69 wasn't in any danger. Randy Goss a nd th e Bel -Ra y/ Si m p so n / Wo odl a n d Honda-sponsored Honda of Rand y Green were a few ticks behind Shobert. Chandler took fourth quickest time. Dave Mi ller, at 43.313, was the 48th qua lifier for the program. Heats AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 16 Chandlersupreme 'a t ,S ant a Fe TT By Gary Van Voorhis H INSDALE, IL, JUNE 21 Doug Chandler collected his first Camel Pro Series victory ofthe season at the San ta Fe TT and wi th i t took over th e series point lead. Chandler moved his F reddie Spencer / 18 SuperTra p p Raci n g Honda into the lead over the Circle Bellsponsored Honda of early leader Scott Pearson on lap four of the 25-lap National and neverlooked back. Pearson followed Chandler to Ronnie Jones, the 1980Santa Fe IT National winner, put his GF Racing/ Gill Manufacturing H o nda into' the lead of heat one only to have Shobert take it away in th e third la p with a clean pass as the two headed into a tight rig h t-ha nd turn after the first jump in the infield . T he story of the race was Graham and hi s charge from ninth on the start thro ug h traffic to third by lap eight. Shobert led J o nes by a good distance a t that time and Jones was up nearly four seconds o n Gra.ham , a gap he co uldn't close . Shobert's heat win proved to the fastest of the four, earning him the pole choice for the National. Pearson led start-to-finis h in hea t two with Fr edd ie Spencer/S uperTrapp Raci ng's Ra ndy Goss applying pressure a ll the way. Goss was also under pressure from Terry Poovey and then Scott Parker. It was Parker prevaili ng for third after gaining some breathing room when Poovey ran off the track late in the race . Parker was third at the finish with Poo vey back in fourth . Steve Eklund, on the Arai/Hi- Point Wood -Rotax. and Pioneer Truck , Lines/Storz/Hi-Point-supported Alex Jorgensen had a good battle for the to p spot in heat three wi th Eklund leading the confrontation for eight laps. Jorgensen made a move on Eklund o n almost every lap at the tight righthander in the infield. On la p nine, he faked an inside move, then an outside o ne and then maneuvered inside to gain posi tio n a nd move by. Try as he migh t, Eklund couldn't get back around and J o rgy came home the winner. Green, who was apparently ca ug ht sleeping on the start, moved through traffic from 10th, only to be caught in a four-rider ba ttle for thi rd . Dan Bennett, leadin g the pack, crashed o n la p seven and Green swooped into th ird and a starting spot in the Nationa l. ,. The fourt h heat was red- flagged a t the end of the sixth lap after a ligh t shower started. At that time, Chandler he ld a good lead over the Gardner/ Griswo ld / Board Racing H a rl eyDavidso n of Pete Hames and Ri ch King's Garvis Honda Town Honda. Due to the weather, the heat was called complete and the top three were in the National. Semis The rain forced the AMA and promo ter Howard Tiedt to loo k for a way to gain time. It was decided to cut the semis to six la p s from 10 and transfer the top two finishers rather than the normal. one each in addition to dropping the Last Chance Qualifier. The bottom line was that the National ended up wit h 16 instead of 15 riders. Terry Poovey, on the Gardner Racing/Lillie Harley , set himself up in the lead of semi one and moved away from a fight for seco nd led by the Best Machine/Steel Masters Wood-Rotax of rookie Do n Estep. Estep got the nod and the two were in the National. Tim Mertens had his Busch / Belleville H onda- sponsored Honda leading the field in semi two, but by the mi ddle of la p three it was rookie Chris Carr with the lead on his R&B HarleyDa vid so n /R o n Wood-sponsored Wood-Rotax. Carr blasted by Mertens orr the big j um p and split with the lead. Meanwhile, Ted Bood y was trying everything he co uld to reel in Mertens for the fina l spot in the Na tional. He fell short. , "I did the best I could," said Bood y, "only to night it wasn't good enough. I'll get back the points I lose at Pocono." National There was li ttle breathing time between the last semi and the gri dding of

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