Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Fargo H arl ey-Da vidso n mount into third on th e fin al la p . Circle Bell Racin g 's SCOll Pearson a n d Boody pu t o n a show as th ey tra ded the lead back a nd fort h in th e fourth heat whi le GF Racin g 's Ronn ie Jones watched from third. The show came to a n en d o n lap five w he n Doug Davi s exploded the ha y bales on the outsi de gua rdrai l between turns three a nd four a nd the red flag came o u t. Davis was sha ken u p, but wa lked away. Bood y d id n ' t relinqu ish the lead on the six la ps run o n th e restart. Pear son a nd J ones traded seco nd four times on th e fin al lap with J ones ge ttin g secon d a t the flag as Pearson 's d raft an d pa ss move came up short. Th e fir st of a ser ies o f frustra ting rides for Chandler saw him finish fifth beh ind H ank Sco tt and sa w him head to th e semi . Semis The two semis, from which the top two fin ish ers wou ld transfer , were cut to six la ps each from IOsince time was getting short before th e live airin g of the LCQ. Pete H ames, on the Raci ng XR , Poovey and Estep took the race for th e win to the flag with things so close it took a conference a mon g AMA o fficia ls a nd sco rers to determine Poovey was th e winner over Hames by a matter of inches. Estep was a foot behind and on hi s wa y to th e Last Chance Qualifier. Kirk a n d Mike Hilley were just a bike-length behind th e front three. The win in th e seco nd sem i went to Hank Scott over Alex Jorgensen and his Pioneer Truck Lines/Storz/HiPoint/ Su perTrapp Honda. Sco tt and Chandler dueled in th e ea rly la ps with Er ic Rausch a nd H oward al so in th ere. In th e closin g laps, th ere was pl enty o f sh uffli ng with Scott an d Jorgy co mi ng o u t o n top as Chandl er had h is ho pe s o f making th e National da shed agai n . Last Chance Qualifier The time betw een th e fin ish o f th e seco nd sem i and th e gridding for th e LCQ was no more than eigh t minut es, but it ga ve J erry Griffi th o f Fredd ie Spe nce r/ Su perT rap p Racing enoug h time to cha nge Chandler 's rear tir e to a Mi chelin Hi-Sport stree t tir e with add itio na l groovi ng. It was a gam ble although Chandler h ad run th e tir e in practice and it wo rked well as it had wh en used for th e Sacramento Mil e Nat ional. T he prob lem was goi ng from a 19-in ch rear tire to a n IS-in ch one w hi ch Ch an d ler later sai d cha nged the gearing somewhat and di dn't ma ke it power off the corners as good, a ltho ug h the ti re had more tract io n a nd he tu rn ed better la p times. T here were two other problems: Estep and the CUlling o f th e LCQ to six la ps from 10. Estep and Chandler ba ttled every in ch o f th e wa y, trad in g the lead back a nd forth wi th eac h testing th e o ther's stren g ths. In th e end, it was Estep 's a bility to get a be tter drive off turn fou r tha t won the race for him. " I moved m y li ne o ut just a bit on the fina l two la ps a nd kn ew I co u ld get a good dr ive, " said Estep, "and th at was th e d ifferen ce." " I th ought I had Don covered ," said Chandl er. " He tried to d raft and pass me on earlier laps a nd never got pas t unt il we were over the start/ fin ish line. I felt I co u ld keep thi n gs the sa me on the fin al lap , but I wis h it had been a full 10 la ps beca use m y stro ng poin t seems to be a t th e end of th e races a nd si x laps wasn 't enough. I'm disappo inted. bu t th ere 's st ill a lon g way to go in th e season a nd a nything ca n ha p pen. Ma ybe m y bad lu ck is o u t of th e way no w." National The rough tra ck was th e topic of Hank Scott leads Scott Pearson and Ronnie Jones, Scott finished fifth with Jones sixth and Pearson seventh; Pearson got high in turn three on the next-to-Iast lap and was left behind. con versa tion among the majority o f the riders. " T he ruts and rough spots a re in a reas where you can't a lways see them," said Morehead. " Yo u 've got to rac e, think a bo ut holding on and co ncentra te on wh at 's goin g on a ro un d you. In a ny case , it's th e sa me for everyo ne. " G raham decid ed not to run the television ca mera set up because h e had encou ntered a handling problem a nd felt it m ight be due to th e location o f the signal relay box o n hi s rear fender. T he p roblem persisted withou t th e unit. T ed Boody offered to run th e camer a, but th ere wasn ' t time to ada p t th e rear sea t assembl y to h is bik e since it was fitted on a single shock-s tyle sea t a nd Boody's bike is a co nventio na l twi n shock set up. Springsteen, o n th e pol e for th e start , was left sitt ing o n th e lin e when th e sta rt ing light turned gr een . " I kicked th e tra ns m issio n into gear a t th e tim e th e sta rte r turned th e board sideways ," said Springsteen , "an d th en I looked down for so me dumb reason . Wh en I looked up th e light wa s gree n an d I was still sitti ng th ere." Shobert , Parker , Bood y, G raha m , Ronnie J ones, Pea rson, Carr, Mor ehea d a nd th e rest of the field didn ' t sit th ere. It was Shobert a nd Parker up fro nt a n d fig h ting for th e lead for th e first la ps whi le Springsteen ca rved h is way throug h traffic to fourth by lap three beh ind Boo dy. O n la p five, Poovey coasted to a stop just past the start/finish line with a blown en g ine . " T he engi ne was a bit down on pow er on the start a nd I had an idea it might no t mak e it," sa id Poovev. 'I want to thank Eddie Adkins for giving me a cha nce on th e bike aft er I had problems wi th my equ ipment." Estep was the nex t ri d er to have problems and it cost him any chance of a good fin ish . In q ui ck suc cession the a ir clea ners got knocked off his ca rbur eto rs, hi s brake lin kage broke a nd he covered o ne of h is carbs wi th h is leg wh ich ca used the engi ne to go on one cylin der before he rea lized wh a t th e p robl em was . " I guess it j ust wa sn ' t my day, " sa id Estep la ter. By lap eig h t o f th e 25 to be run , Boodv had moved in to make it a th ree-ri der pack up front with Shobert lead in g Pa rk er a nd Boody. A d istance back ca me Springs teen wit h Graham a head o f Pearson, Ronn ie J ones, Ca rr an d Rodney Farris. T here were p uffs o f smoke com ing from Mor eh ead 's bike. The top fou r remained the same through th e laps leading to the halfwa y flags while from fifth on back th ere was a good deal of position ch anging, Morehead was sho wn th e bl ack flag on lap 12 because of an o il leak , H e pi lied. Boody, after letting Shobert and Parker put some di stance on him, moved quickl y back into contention on lap 14. Meanwhile, Parker h ad a stra p break on hi s steel skid shoe a nd spe n t nearl y three laps tryi n g to shake it loo se w h ile trying to maintain hi s posit io n. Boody qu ickl y took advantage o f Parker 's problem , but Sprin gsteen was too far back to press. Boody put a move on Shobert to take th e lead o n lap 16 with Sh o bert back o ut front on th e next la p . Park er was tr yin g to mak e up grou n d, but with out hi s skid shoe he wasn 't a ble to charge into th e corners. Sprin gstee n was a d istance a head of Pear son an d Ronnie Jones while Farris a nd H ank Scott had a battl e for sevent h . Ham es becam e a retiree as he coas ted to th e side o f th e track near turn o ne on th e begi n n ing o f la p 19. T he rea l test beg an in th e fin al five laps a s Boody and Sho bert swapped the lead. Firs t Shobert a nd th en Boodv led at the line with Sho bert hol d ing th e poi nt as they sta rted la p 23 and stay in g very low in tu rn s o ne -two to keep the adva ntage off tu rn two a nd into turn three. Wi th two laps to go, Boody was within two lengths o f Sh obert wh ile Pa rker was safe in th ird. Springsteen wa s cas ting g lances over h is shoulder a t th e Scou / Pearson/ Ronnie J o nes freight behind him as he slo wed to " keep from getting to ta lly bea ten to d eath" o n th e rough track . Shobert's four length adva ntage o n the start o f the final la p grew to a good 20 lengths at th e fin ish. Bood y, seeing there was n' t a nyone within striking di stance a nd also tired by th e rough tra ck, didn 't press Shobert 's a dva n tage. Parker had eno ug h of a n adva nt age o ver Springs teen not to worry a bo u t h is third p la ce finis h . " If I ha d anoth er lap I bet I wo u ld have ca ugh t Springer ," sai d H ank SCOll, wh o finishe d fifth . Sco tt he ld of f Ro nnie J ones' fina l la p ch arge and Jones fin ished sixt h . " I got j us t a bit h igh in turn three," sai d sevent h p lace fin ish er Pearson. " It was j us t a little bit , bu t it was enough to ruin m y fin al lap stra tegy." " I guess it wo n ' t reall y sink in that th is is my fo urth mi le win of the year unt il to morrow," said Sh obert, " I reall y want to thank Skip Eaken and dedicate this win to him. He builds the bike, I just ride it ." Junior National Brian Atherton took his Ron Wood Racing Wood-Rotax to his sevent h Junior National win of th e season with rival Wink ie Freit as finishing seco nd. Freitas still holds a slim five p oint edge in the ch a m p io nshi p poin ts stand in gs. H arley-Da vidson rider Wade Ca mlin, th e pole sitte r in th e National by .001 o f a seco nd o ver Atherton, gav e Atherton a run for IOof th e 12 laps in th e fina l before hi s ch arge en ded with ap pa rent engine problem s. Camlin led th e fir st five laps with Athert on th en moving out front on lap six a n d holding o n . Freit as , afte r com ing off th e start nea r th e back of th e pack , quickl y sliced h is wa y th ro ug h traffi c an d wa s third by th e sixth lap. Camlin's problems moved Freitas to secon d with Brad Fu rlong holdin g o ff th e ' la st lap charge o f fello w H arl ey ride r Mike Stauffer for third. " T ha t was th e tou gh est rid e I'v e had in a Na tiona l so fa r," sai d At he rto n , who figured it was hi s 171h birt hda y present three days early. It was a ba tt le of the broken co lla rbo nes whi ch Frei tas and Camlin waged. Eac h is recovering from a recent break with Camlin ge tt ing h is doctor's O K to race on Thursday. Ca m lin's Ha rley is sponso red by Dennis Hicks an d tu ned by Dan Wessling. • Result s 25 -LAP NATIONA L: 1. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 2. Ted Boody (Hon); 3. Seen Parker (H-D); 4. Jay Spr ingsteen (H· D); 5. Han k Seon (Hon); 6 . Ronnie Jones (Hon); 7 . Scon Pea rson (Ho n); 8 . Rodn ey Far- ris IH-D); 9. Chr is Carr IH· D); 10 . Lance Jon es (H-D); 11. A lex Jorgensen (Han) ; 12. Ricky Graham (Han); 13. Dan Ing ram (H-D); 14. Don Estep (H· D); 15. Pete Hames (H-D); 16 . SIeve Morehead (H· D); 17. Terry Poovey (H-D). Time : 15 m in .• 21 .670 secs. Av erage speed : 97.649 mp h . CAMEL PROSERIESPOINT STANDINGS; I .Bubba Shobert (151 1 2. Doug Chand ler 114 1); 3. Ted ; BoodYI12B ); 4 . Scon Pearson (114); 5. Scon Parker 1103); 6. M ike Baldwin 1 69); 7. RonnteJones (6B); B. Ja y Springsteen 1 65); 9. Chr is Carr (64); 10. Rich Schla chter (63 1 11. Alex Jorg ensen 162); 12. Terry ; Poovey (59); 13 . Randy Goss (5B); 14 . Pete Hames (54 1 16. Randy Renfr ow 153) 16. (TIE) Miles Bald; ; win /Alan Labrosse (47 ); lB. (TIEl Ricky Graham/ Wayn e Rain ey (41); 20. Steve Eklund 1401. 12 -LA P JUNIOR NATIONAL: 1. Brian Ath erton (W · R); 2 , Wink ie Freita s (Han ); 3. Brad Furlong (H- DI; 4 . Mike StauH er IH-D); 5. Jamey Peacock (H-D); 6. Aaron HiIlIH-D); 7. Les Washbon IRtx); B. Bruc e John son IH-DI; 9. Dan Knecht (H-DI; 11. Greg Logue IRtx); 12. Wade Camlin (H-D). Ti me : 7 m in .• 42.64 sees. Average spe ed : 93 .38 mp h. JUNIOR POINT STANDINGS; 1. W ink ie Freita s 11B91 2. Brian Atherton (164~ 3. Aaron Hill (BB); 4. ; Curtis Cannon (60); 5. Brad Furlong 1 47); 6. Frank Garc ia (431; 7. (TIE)Wade cam lin /Recil Hart (4O~ 9. Ted Taylor (39); 10 . Tim SkovI36). 15

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