Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bubba Shobert (67) leads J immy Filice in t he f inal. Shobert gained· championship points on Doug Chandler with his fifth-place finish . of th e bike cha tterin g under bra king a nd tha t ma de it ha ndle bad enoug h th a t I co u ldn 't reall y push it:' sai d Sh obert . Park er, on his Bill Werner-tuned Ha rley, led start- to-fin ish in hea t three under a good bit of pressure from the Ba ylan d Raci n g / Sh o eil SuperTrapp Ha rley of Ji m my Filice. More head ra n a solid thi rd a ll the way, with Tom Mai tla nd a nd Fran Bro wn hounding him in the fina l laps. Nobody made a n y mistakes and the pos itions held. " I wanted to win: ' said Pa rker, "because a front-row sta rt o n a groove like thi s is very important. I bobbled o nce j ust a fter th e halfway flags, but lu ckily, Jimmy a nd Steve were too bu sy battlin g eac h o ther to tak e advantage o f it. " J ones, lik e he was tied to a str ing, rode 10 flawless laps in the fourth heat for the victor y. J on es' winning time was th e qui ckest o f th e heats and earned him cho ice of pole posi tion in the Nation al. Don H ow ar d , who it appears was bo rn with a perpetual sm ile spread acro ss his face, too k second with a solid ride while defe nding Camel Pro Series Champion Ricky Graham, wh o a ttacked the Peoria TT co u rse for the win, too k th e ca utious ro u te to th ird . " I had a no-mistakes rid e," sa id Jones. "That 's wh at it will tak e to win th e National. " " Fina lly, a race wh ere I didn 't have an y mechani cal probl ems, " sa id Howard. " La tely every tim e I'v e been going go od so me thi n g ha s g on e wrong with the bik e. Maybe m y lu ck is turn ing aro u nd." ·" 1played it carefu l." sa id G raham. " I go t off th e gas ea rly a nd onto th e brakes going into th e turns - a n d I probabl y loo ked lik e a rookie o u t there." Semis Sh obert earned th e sale transfer to th e Nationa l from th e first sem i via a green-light-to-ch eck ered-fl ag rid e with Terry Poovey no more tha n six bikeleng ths behind duri ng th e fin al six of the 10 la ps. Poovey con tin ua lly closed headi ng into the tu rns , but co u ld n 't ma tch the drive of Shobert . and h is Hond a off th e turns wi th h is Ga rdn er Ra cin g / Pa trick Ra cin g/ Shoei Ha rley. Pearso n , rid ing for Ba be DeMa y as he had a t Li ma, won the second semi by leadi ng th e fu ll 10 la ps. "A cha nge o f gea ring fro m the heat a nd a good start was the key," said Circle Bel l' s Pearso n. T he DeMay mount rece ives bac ki ng from Penn zoil a nd J oh n H all or a n . Last Chance Qualifier Ma itl and led the fir st two laps o f the Last Cha nce Q ua lifi er , but lost th e lead and th e o n ly ticke t to the Na tional to Poovey in a turn -three pa ss o n lap th ree. Fro m th ere to th e finis h , Poo vey was in command and never set a whee l wrong to wi n over Ma itl a nd. Junior National The 12-lap J u n ior National was a Winkie Freitas benefit race despite being red-fl agged on la p 10 after Steve D uff cra shed and was sha ken up. AMA o fficia ls decided to ca ll the race com p lete. For Freitas , the key wa s us in g th e same frame as he had winning last wee ken d 's P eoria TT ro u n d . " It worked grea t," sai d Freita s. " I was reall y com forta ble a n d I fell no bod y was going to ca tch me unless I mad e a mi stak e." Riv a l Brian Atherto n, n in e points behi nd in the J uni or-tijle cha se go ing int o th e Hamburg ro u n d, fin ished fifth aft er sp ending the opening laps o f the race slippi ng around o n a fresh rear tire unti l it go t scuffed in . Ather ton suspec ted he was down on pow er , a nd h is su spi cions were co nfirmed when a broken piston ring wa s discovered . " It's just go ing to make winning th e titl e a lill ie harder ," sa id Atherton . Freita s put hi s Shoei / Kni ghtbacked, Dave Byrd-tuned H onda in front o n the sta rt o f th e fin al a nd was never head ed . Ath ert on found himself bau lin g with Rusty Rogers, Les Wash bon and Ph il Vigneri for position with a ll qu ickl y gelling by. While Freitas set sa il, Rogers worked o n Vign er i a nd took second for good o n lap ei gh t with Wa sh bon movin g a ro u nd Vigneri one lap la ter and the positions ho ld ing to the red flag. It wa s the firs t time in th e winner 's circle in a Junior Nati onal for Rogers a n d Wash bo n. Rogers thanked Ro b Cr abbe for letting him rid e th e H-D 500 Crabbe uses for sho rt tra ckin g as well as Virg inia 's Rich mond Cycle Cen ter. Rich a rd , Dudley a nd Ha yward Neace o f Nea ce Brothers in Midd leport, New York , p lus Da le Brown ATV wer e th anked by WoodRot a x rider Was h bo n. National " Weca n turn the title cha se aro u nd wit h a good fin ish ," said C hand ler's tu ner J erry Griffith . " We've got a front row sta rt a nd o ur lu ck has been good beca use we broke a rocker arm in o ne engine during p ractice th at cou ld just as easily have ha ppened in the heat race." G riffith's remark a bou t luck wo u ld come back to haunt him. (Above) Parker, Tex Peel, Morehead and Boody in the w inner's circle. (Below) Doug Chandler is now just eight points ahead of Ted Boody (12). " Rac in g on a groove like thi s is like ro lling di ce," said Parker' s tun er , Bill Wern er. " If yo u 're lu cky the d ice wi ll come up yo ur number. If not , th ere are a lo t of o ther co m bina tio ns." Werner lengthened th e inta ke man ifo lds to give Par ker mor e lowen d power off th e turns. " Hey, I'm full of ho pe so let 's see wh at h a ppen s, " said Moreh ead . " Den n y Laube, o ne o f m y sponsors, is g iving me a hand a nd h e' s going to be m y good lu ck cha rm ." . Th e fro nt row of the 6-6-3 grid saw Cha nd ler o n th e grandsta n d side with J ones choo sing to sta rt from th e next spo t, which was ri ght o n th e groove. Farris, Par ker. How ard and Ca rr filled th e lin e to th e p it side . Bood y. Fil ice, Brow , Pea rson, Hames a nd Morehead filled o u t row two with Graham , Poovey a nd Sho bert look in g a t th e 12 rid ers in fro n t o f th em fro m row three. Ca rr was a way o n th e turn o f the g reen from h is spot in th e loose stuff a nd ca me o u t o f th e clas h in turn o ne with th e lead. Boody a nd Mor eh ead were am ong the ba sh-fest whi ch sorted itself o u t with nobod y going down . Ca rr led J on es, Parker , Farris, Morehead , Graham , Pearson. Poovey and C han d ler a t th e en d o f la p one . G raham 's rid e en ded in tu rn IWO of lap two with clu tch prob lem s. Chandler jo in ed Graham o n th e sidel ines, but h is prob lem wa s a thrown cha in. " I wasn't sure wh at th e problem was at first. " said a d isheartened Cha nd ler. " I saw th e cha in was off a nd th a t it wasn 't broken. I lost two laps putting it back o n a nd got back into th e race hopi ng a few riders wo uld drop out a nd I co u ld get some points. It's rea lly a bummer beca use I was in good position before th e cha in ca me o ff a n d when I got back in I was ru n ning laps as fa st or faster than Moreh ead ." Meanwhi le, Mor eh ead wa s working turn three and four ma g ic a nd pa ssing o ne rid er per lap. In th e heat of th e ac tio n , Jones, running seco nd, went down in turn four , slid up into th e ha ybal es a nd ca me a wa y with a brok en finger o n his left ha nd . Morehead took th e lead from Carr o n the next g o-'round a nd never gav e it up aga in. " I won the regi onal here last year by r idi ng through turn three up in the cus h ion and then br inging the bike down to th e groove in tu rn four," sa id Moreh ead . " It worked , but I real lv didn 't kn ow if it wou ld unt il I tri ed. " Boody moved to fifth by la p six beh ind Park er, Farri s and Ca rr. One lap lat er a sh uffle took pl ace in the positions that p ut Bood y into seco nd a n d dropped Ca rr back 10 eig h th behi n d Sh ob ert . Carr lat er claimed Farris had banged him off the groove. Farris said there was a lo t o f hard ra cing going o n betw een everybody. By the ha lfwa y flags, the top eight had settled into pos ition with More head feeling heavy breat hi ng by Boody and Pa rker not far behi nd a nd on th e move. Farris. Pearson, Sho bert, Fi lice and Carr duked it out wit h some swa p p in g , but were back in line at the finish. (Co n tin ued 10 page 31) 19

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