Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Pearson heads Scott Parker, Doug Chandler (1 0), Ted Boody, M ickey Fay (13 ), Ronnie Jones, Randy Green , Billy Herndon (19 ), Charlie Orr (6 1) and Steve Eklund (8 ). (Inset) Jay Springsteen and Pearson. sing le a t th e track, to seco nd bes t ti me with Carr, Graham and Springste en fill ing out th e to p five. There wer e on ly 45 Experts on hand 10 vie for a spo t in th e 48-rider field so a ll made the program, Chris Carr lead s Bubba Shobert (6 7) and Ricky Graham early in th e 25-lap main. Graham went on to w in , followed by Shobert and Carr . AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 20 Graham, Shobert play in Peoria By Gary Van Voorhis PEORIA. IL. AUG. II Camel P ro Seri es Champio n Ricky G raham collected his first Natio nal win of the year with a victo ry o ver H onda teammate Bu bba Shober t in the P eoria TT. The vic tory marked Graham 's first time as m ain man in winner 's circl e since last year's late August da ytime Indy Mil e National. Graham , .1.2 Shobert a nd the rest o f th e fiel d were ca ugh t by surp rise wh en th e checkered flag flew , sinee th ere had been no white flag 10 signa l o ne la p to go. T he waving o f th e checkered fla g ended what ever last lap stra tegy Shobert mi ght hav e had o n tap. Shobert wa s di sappoi n ted a t th e o utco me. but tempered hi s feelin gs with th e fac t he padded h is tit le c hase p o ints lead ov er si xth p lace fini sh er Dou g Chandler. Both Grah am a nd Shobert were riding 600cc four-stroke sing les with Graham 's lookin g to ta lly like a mot o cr oss bike which had shown up at th e wron g track. Gra ham p rov ed it hadn ' t. Third a t Peo ri a, aft er leadin g I I of th e first 12 laps in the 25-lap National . wen t to ro oki e Expert Ch ris Carr a nd h is Ro n Wood Racin g-bac ked 660cr Wood-Rotax, Randy Green, aboard a H onda 600cc single spo nsored by Bel -R ay , Si m pson a n d Woodland H onda , fini sh ed fou rt h . H a rl e yDa vid s on ' s SCOIl P ark er fill ed o u t the top five o n h is XR750, Chandl er slip ped back in th e points chase a nd now tra il s leader Shobert by 14 points, 158 to 172. T ime trials T he Peoria track, a circu it j us t over half a mile in len g th, featu res a lon g from stra ig h t leading to a swee p ing turn one/two a rea before th e run to th e jump. A serpen ti ne left-ri ght- left set o f turns fo llows th e jump a n d leads 10 a n o t her sweeper before th e rider get s ba ck o n th e fro n t stra ig h t. The tra ck started o ut fas t, th en slo wed as it dri ed ou t. Shobert's o ne lap a t 26.715 seconds was qui ckest in time tri al s, but n earlv o ne- tenth o ff th e 1983 record of Ja y Sp ri ngs teen of 26 .61 1. P ark e r ma n ha ndl ed h is XR 750, weighing a t lea st 60 p o un ds mo re tha n the heavies t four-s trok e Heats A decis io n was made by AM A offi cials and the promoti ng Peo r ia M.C. to run th e full Nat ional p rogram first. T h e fir st heat was halted a fter o ne lap wh en Samm y Sw eet crashe d hard in turn two . Sweet en ded up with a bi g h eadache and pl enty o f bruises. On th e restart , it was Shobert from sta rt 10 fini sh o n his Skip Eakentuned mount. SCOll Pearson , opting 10 ride a Yamaha 750 borrowed from Gardner Raci ng 's Charlie Gardner ra ther than h is Honda 600 . ran in secon d all th e way , Dave Byrd a nd Pearson spent a da y long session setting the bike up for SCOll'Sriding sty le. Nava -sp onsored Bill y Herndon pressured P ea rson through th e fir st ha lf o f the 1O-lap he at a n d then se u led into a run to the fini sh in third. " I sa w 1 had a lock o n third," sa id H erndon, " a nd 1 pla yed it sa fe. 1 wanted to save m y racing for when it rea II y co u nted." Th e fir st he at proved to be th e fastes t of th e four a n d ea rned th e choice of pole position for winner Shobert. The seco nd h eat sa w a bailie from sta rt 10 fini sh with Parker co m in g o u t o n top o ver Doug Chandler a nd Mi ckey Fa y. Fay , on a Freddie Spencer/ Su perT ra p p Racing spa re H onda of Chandler, led th e scrap on th e sta rt. The position swa p p ing sta rte d almost im med ia tely with Parker a n d Fa y going a t it while Chandler watch ed from a bo u t five bikelen grhs back. Parker a n d Fa y traded the lead ba ck a nd forth until la p seven when Parker look over for good. Chandler then began 10 p ressure Fay a nd sli p ped int o secon d o n th e fin al lap a nd th e three ticket s to the Na tional were set. P arker was h is jubilant self, sla p ping the ha nds o f th e fans a lo ng th e from straight o n th e coo l off la p . It was Ca rr , o n th e Ron Woodbuilt a n d tuned \ \'ood-Rot ax, in a full-tilt baul e with Green a nd his Ca rl Blumfeldt-runed H onda . Carr inc he d a wa y in the fin al la p s of h ea t three wh en Green had his rear bra ke go a way . " O n th is track yo u can ' t push hard unles s you ha ve a fro m a nd rear br ake," sa id Green a fte rwa rd . " The bat t le for th ird was going so strong 1 d id n 't worry a bou t them ca tch ing me." P ete H a mes clai med thi rd a t th e fi nis h o n h is Gard ner/Griswo ld / Boa rd Racing H -D 560cc single, but until halfwa y through the final lap the p osition was up for g rabs. Tim Mertens, who held third most of the wa y, got bumped o u t in turn one of th e la st go -around with H ames and Jon Cornwell gelling by. " I'm n ot in th e points chase so I've go t nothing to lose riding th e bike," said Graham about his TT mount in motocross trim . The bike, built by Honda 's proj ects department, was ridden by factory MXer Ro n Lec hien to the overa ll win in last year's Fo urStroke Nationa l MX. For Peo ria it received an en g ine massaged by Ro b Muzzy. Graham grabbed the lead i n heat four with J ay Springsteen rolling past T ed Bo od y and his Co llege Bike Sho p- bac ked Honda 600 for second o n lap two. Graham and Springsteen sta yed in position to the finish in first ' a nd seco n d while third went to Boody a fter spend in g ne arl y th e e n tire 10 laps holding off Ro n n ie Jones and th en T erry P oovey in th e final laps. Semis The top two rider s from the two sem is ea rned tickets to th e National with Don Estep becoming th e second rookie Expert in the National via hi s first sem i win , Estep, a board a WoodRotax backed by G .A. Simmons Oi l Fi eld Constructi on, led Charli e Orr a nd hi s Arlington (Texas) Hondasponsored Honda 10 the finish after Ro ger Thompson took himself out o f second with a late lap cras h . Semi two sa w Ronnie Jones, also on a spare from th e Freddi e Spenc er/ SuperTrapp Racin g sta ble, take the wi n. Second was de cided i n the fina l in ches a s SCOll Adams and Steve Eklund ran side- by-side 10 the flag , Adams, on th e ABA Reco verv H-D 560, got th e n od a fte r a co n ferei-tce by finish line official s. Last Chance Qualifier Rodney Farri s' lead in the LCQ ( (,' (JIl / ; lI l1l'fl / () pagr 17)

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