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(Above) Winner Steve Morehead (42), Scott Pearson (95) and runner-up Ted Boody (12) battle in the main.
(Below) Scott Parker (11) leads Ricky Graham (1) and Jay Springsteen in the final ; Springer finished fifth .
AMA Grand National Championship/Camel
Pro Series: Round 16
Morehead uictorious
at Lima Half Mile
By Gary Van Voorhis
LIMA, OH, J UNE 29
Steve Morehead broke a three year winless
streak in Camel Pro Series competition with
a victory in the Coors Ohio National Half
Mil e at the Allen Coun ty Fairgrounds. In the
winner' s ci rcle, Mo reh ead paid
tribute to all his famil y friends
.
'.
a n d fa ns m a ttenda nce, say m g,
" I had so many people riding
10
wit h m e o ut th ere I co u ldn't lose ."
The track is 30 mi les from Morehead 's Findl a y, Ohio , ho me an d he
h ad a very vocal chee r ing sectio n o n
h and.
T ed Boody, o n hi s College Bike
Shop H o nda , too k seco nd fro m Sco tt
Pea rson in a fin ish so cl ose it too k a
conference o f th e AM A officia ls to
call it. Pea rson , aboard a Bab e DeMay
tu ned and owned Harl ey-Da vidson
XR 750 for the race, felt h e shou ld
have gotten the nod. Both were out-
side challe':1gi ng distance of Mo~eh ead a nd h is K~ S upp~y/Storz/D.s/
Laube's Cycle City of Fi ndlay, O hIOsponsored H arl ey.
Bubba Shobert, o n a Team H onda
RS750, cru ised to a n ea sy fou rt h wi th
Harley-Davidson 's Jay Springsteen
tak in g home fift h .
Sh ob ert 's fourt h co mbi ned wit h a
10th by p o int s leader Do ug Chandler,
tightened u p th e cha m p ionsh ip ch ase.
Chandler st ill leads, bu t hi s ma rgin is
now o ne poi nt, 132 to 131, ove r Sh obert. T hird in th e sta n d ings changed
ha nds wi th Bood y now on to p over
Pea rson, 108 points to 106.
T he track wa s in good sh ape due to
continuous work by Bud 's Racetrack
Ser vice whi ch kep t th e du st down
a n d gave th e cus hion riders a place to
play wh ile th e low lin e rem a in ed rela tively brushed o ff.
Qualifying
Bood y led the 72 Experts loo kin g
for a spot in the 48 rider program
with a 25.834 seco nd tour o f th e track
in time trials. Cha ndler wa s second
quickest at 25.849 with Shobert and
Scott Parker fourth to round out th e
pol e sitters for the fo ur hea ts. T h e
track didn 't favor those out ea rly or
la te as Bood y was the 58th rider o n
th e clocks wh ile Chandler was th e
13th . Tim Mertens had th e dubious
h on or o f being th e 48th qualifier.
Heats
Bood y came from fourt h after the
o pe n ing lap shuffle to tak e the lea d
from Brvan Hardin a t the end o f la p
two . Samm y Sweet , o n th e Pyra m id
Bu ilders H arley, quickly moved into
second wi th Springsteen th en hounding Hardin for th ird . T h e four were
joi ned by Fran Bro wn for a trackwide d uel to th e ha lfway £la gs in th e
10-lap heat. For the fin a l five laps, it
was a Bood y/ Sweet/Springsteen show
wit h Sweet challenging Boody an d
th en being cha llenged by Sp ringsteen.
At th e finish , th e positions remained
the same.
Doug Davi s was th e firs t rid er to
run afo u l o f new AMA rules irist itu tedfor a sm oothe r runni ng progra m. He didn 't gr id o n tim e a n d wa s
excl uded from th e field.
Moreh ead, Honda 's Graham an d
C ha nd ler, a board hi s Freddie Spencer/SuperTrap p Racing Honda , ran
a crowd pl easing show o u t front with
Morehead and G raham dueling for
the lead whi le Chandler bla sted th e
h igh line, figh tin g to stay in str iking
d ista nce. Desp ite th e h eat o f battle,
G raham and Moreh ead were seen
mot ion in g a nd wa vin g to eac h o ther.
A cra sh by Del Beck on la p seven a nd
a su bseq ue nt red £lag brought th at to
a finish . Beck was o n ly sha ken up.
The race was calle d co m p lete with
G raham the win ner over Moreh ead
a nd Ch andler.
The th ird h eat wen t to a res ta rt
a fter Dan Bennett ticked a h aybale
o n th e back stra igh t a nd went dow n
hard. Ben nett took a trip to th e h ospita l for a brok en right leg .
Shobert led the restart wi th Tex
Peel Racing 's T ommy Maitla nd in
to w and Pete H ames, o n th e Gardner/Griswold/ Boa rd Racing Harley:
righ t behi n d. J ohnny Cooper, Terry
Poovey a nd Dan In gr am the n moved
in to m ak e it a six rider due l for the
top three spots. Mait la nd closed o n
Shobert , but th en los t gro und a nd
Hames m oved in to ta ke the figh t for
second to th e £lag. Hames. ro de the
low lin e whi le Mait land stayed up
high and got strong drives off tu rn s
two and four to ho ld second a t the
£lag . Winner Shobert was a good distance out £ront.
T he fourth hea t saw Pea rson grab
th e lead a nd open a bit of brea thi ng
room before Rod ney Farris moved
h is Du vall Ra cin g/Gar y Nix on/Cycle Experts / M.J . Sponsel ler-bac ked
Harley into seco n d ove r last yea r's
winner , Scott Parker. The two moved
in o n Pea rso n , going three wid e on
th e track whi le jockeyin g for position. Chris Carr a nd Chuck Springstee n h ad a similar fight going for
fourth. Pear son ope ned some breathing room in th e fin al la ps an d took
th e win whi le Pa r ker took com m and of th e duel for seco nd a nd h eld
oH th e cha lle n ges o f Farris on th e
fina l lap. Carr was the winner in th e
ba ttl e for fourth.
Semis
Canadian Chris Evans, on th e Sehl
Ma n ufa cturing-backed Ha rle y, and
KK Motorcycl e Suppl y's Gary Scott
engaged in a cro wd p lease r in the first
sem i. Scott, to the ch eers of th e fa ns,
took th e lead from Evans with three
laps to go. Eva ns ca me back strong to
g ra b th e win a nd th e o n ly transfer to
th e Nati on al.
Dan In gr am turned in a co m ma n ding ride in semi two a board h is Waiters Brothers-spon sored Harley to tak e
an easy win . Poovey tr ied to make up
grou nd and tu rn th e runaw ay into a
ba ttl e, but had to hold off the adva nces o f Carr. In gra m a dva nced to th e
Nat ional.
Last Chance Qualifier
Fran Bro wn , back in actio n after
bein g sideli ned since early March by
a raci ng accident in which he sustai ned a broken upper rig ht arm a nd
ligament damage to hi s right knee,
ea rn ed the fin a l spot in the Na tional
with a win in the LCQ. Cha lle ngers
Scott and Po ovey took the heat o ff
Bro wn when Scott crashed and Poovey ca me up with a sick engin e.
Junior National
Mike S ta uffer led h ea t wi n ners
Brian Ath erton a nd J eH Sizem ore o n
ap
th e open ing lap of th e 12 1 Nat ion al.
H onda rider Sizemore took over on
la p two with Ha rley-mounted Sta uffer
back on top as th e ha lfway £lags ca m e
o u t. At herton pushed ha rd to keep
th e two front ru n ners close an d moved
back int o th e battle on lap eig h t. Series points lead er Winkie Freitas ran
up nea r th e front in the opening laps,
bu t sli p ped slow ly to th e rear by lap
eig h t.
Stauffer a n d Sizemore contin ued
th eir battle for the lead with Atherton
wat chin g fo r a mi stak e by one or
both . Sizemore moved away from
Stauffer as th e white £lag waved while
Wood-Ro tax rider Ath ert on closed.
Athert on made a move o n Stauffer for
seco n d in turn three a n d th e two
touch ed wheels wi th Ath erton a n d
th en Stauffer goi ng down . Recil Ha rt
and Dona ld Beauvais, running fourth
an d fifth su dde n ly found themselves
in winner 's ci rcle with seco nd a n d
third .
Priva teer Sizemore sai d his secret
was "roll ing on th e gas just so o ff th e
tu rns a nd keeping th in gs smooth ."
I had a p ro blem wi th th e front en d
an d the bik e didn 't hand le too well ,"
sa id Hart's Cycles/Neil Keen -backed
Hart a bo u t hi s ride. " I jus t. stay ed
with it an d th in gs pa id o ff."
Bea uvai s, from Val D'Or, Q uebec,
Ca na da, used a n interpreter to tell
everyo ne h e was very h appy to be in
winner 's ci rcle and to th ank h is sponso r Les Petr ol e's Ch arl es Arcand.
National
You 've go t to fig u re out wh at yo u r
lin es are a nd th en stay with th em ,"
saidMoreheadon hi s strategy Ior th e
