Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Jon Cornwall (2 5) leads Ronnie Jones (1 6) on Saturday. (Below) C hris Carr (4 Y) picked up more points. Here he leads Terry Po.ove y . to GF Racin g 's Ro n n ie Jones and hi s XR over th e R&B H arley-sponsored XR of Chris Carr. Grah am. Hank Scott and J ay Sp rings teen took up ih e baule in heat four with th e three-counting for 34 mil e Na tiona l wi ns among th emselves-going a t it full-ti lt. The Ricky a n d Ha n k Show drew away from Sp ringsteen in th e final la ps with the two ta ki ng th ei r fig ht right to the fi nis h an d Graha m coming o u t on to p by two feel. Springsteen, slowed by w ha t he wou ld la ter call a "h un" engi ne, fi n ish ed thi rd over SCOll Pea rson . Semis T he two tickets to th e Nat ional in th e fir st sem i wen t 10 G oss an d Pete Hames a fte r a five rid er duel which sa w th e to p two runni ng in th e midd le a n d back o f the pack as m uch as u p fro n t. Goss an d Hames too k the 1-2 spots o n th e fi nal la p from Alex Jorgense n, G arth Bro w and Kirk . T h e decision in semi two also went 10 th e finish with Carr riding a sli ck fina l lap to hold th e cha lle n ge of Circl e Bell H onda r id er Pea rso n . Ca rr 's ma rgin o f vietory wa s a huge on e bik elen gth. Last Cha nce Qualifier " I kn ew I h ad the momentum and I was go in g to win," sa id Vent ura H-D X R750 rid er Don Howard aft er his one-leng th victory over DuVa ll Ra cing's Rodney Farri s in th e LCe;:!. Howard, wi th a jubil ant nature a kin to that o f SCOll Parker, was th rustin g his fist in th e a ir in a victory salute before the fi nis h , but h e made good hi s ea rlv celebrat ion. ''I' m 'lucky I' m even racing," continued Ho ward. " We h ad to cha nge the engine a fter time tria ls and th e on ly reason we ha d time 10 do it was because I was in the fourth hea l. " National "T he stra teg y h ere is sim ple," said Shobert, "get th e lead an d run with it, but that isn 't as easy as it so u nds. " Hank SCOll , th e defending n ighttime National winner, gave u p his front ro w sta rt 10 take a position o n row two directl y beh ind Shobert in hopes h e co u ld " h oo k u p with Bubba and Ri ck y a n d let them tow m e aro u nd ." Boody said h e felt a bit sick 10 hi s stom ach before th e stan, but that didn 't keep him form leadin g o ff the lin e. Parker, Sh ob ert a nd G ra ha m quickl y joined in a n d wi th th e fo ur taking turns in first through fourth - set o u t 10 break away fro m th e field . By lap five, Sco tt had work ed hi s wa y a ro u nd Moreh ead a n d Cornwell for fifth. The field decreased one wh en Hames retired with a bad cl u tch . Cornwell slipped off the groove a nd found himself ninth behind Carr a nd J ones o n lap eigh t. At the halfway flags it wa s Sh ob ert , ' G ra h a m , Pa rk er, Boody a n d SC in Oll the lead freig ht train with Moreh ead. Cornwell . Carr, Jones, Hook a nd Springsteen ; with an engine beginning 10 tighten up, foll owing. Parker 's ride u p from ca me to an en d as the field began lap 16. "Theen gine tied up," sa id Parker a fterward. Pa rker received a standing ovation fro m the fans a s he wa lked 10 th e pits. Alt hough posi tio ns cha nged co n stan tly within th e to p four, Shobert h eld sway wh ere it co unted - at the finis h line. Morehead in ch ed a way fro m Corn well fo r fifth leavin g Co rn well to try a nd h old off ch a lle nges from Jo nes, Filice, Sp rin gsteen and Carr. H oward was ci rcula ting in last · pl ace behi nd Goss a nd Jones after losing his bra kes. Shobert opened up breath ing room twi ce in th e fina l five la ps and eac h tim e made a sma ll sli p in turns three a nd four wh ich a ll owe d him 10 be ca ug h t. T he fin al lap saw G raham tak e th e lead fro m Sh obert heading into turn o ne . Sco tt th en dr afted past for th e lead going into turn three as th e rest bunch ed up behind to set up a four rid er dr ag rac e o ff tu rn four 10 th e flag. Th e gr oove was wide enough for two riders, but th ey were four a breast co m in g to th e flag with Shobert , Graham, Scott and Boody from pit side to gra ndstand wall u nder a blan ket. Graham had h is wheel a h ead at th e li ne. The resu lts read Scott, Shobert, Boody. In Shoben's m in d th ere was a q ues tion as to who wo n as he came down th e fro n t straig h t o n th e coo l o ff lap a nd head ed to ge t the checkered flag for a vic tory lap. It was gi ven to G raham and Shobert was o bvio us ly displ eased, bu t Skip Ea ken , Sh obert 's tuner, q uickly q u iete d h im do wn . " I was co m in g off the turns slow ea r ly in th e race," sai d G raham " an d I decid ed to spee d it up, bu t o nly lost grou n d. Once I slo wed a bit through the tu rns I made things wor k better. It wa s a heck o f a race no mat ter wh ere yo u were. " Both Sh obert a nd Bood y fel t th eir fin ish in g p ositio ns weren 't correc t. " We n eed a fin ish lin e ca mera for races like th is," said Bood y. " In a finish lik e th at yo u can 't separate who finished in wh at position n o ' mauer h ow m a ny people you ' ha ve chec king." "Hey', I finished as lOp American," sa id Harley rider and fifth place fin isher Morehead . "That ought to be wo rt h some thing." The Co rn well pits were boun cin g with glee ove r hi s sixth. " I' m g lad Hank gave me a fro n t row stan . I wa nted to nip Steve, bu t h e got a wa y fro m me lat e in the race. Brian Ol sen and Len Shipley did one hec k uva job wi th m y en gine ." Sunday T he re were a lot of red eyes a mong th ose wh o had spe nt lon g h ours ove rn ig ht ge tti ng ready for Su nday 's Na tio na l. Bill Werner, Sco tt Parker 's tu ner, was among th ose yaw n in g. H e got o ne h our o f sleep a fter a long sessio n o f en g ine rebui ldi ng. T he re were a lso a number o f riders lookin g for rides a fter running ou t of re pair time, sp a re p a n s or a ny co mbi nation of thin gs. Terry Poovey was a mong th e lu cky o nes as he picked up a rid e on Carr's spare af ter en ding h is Sa tu rday n ight wit h engi ne pro blems o n both hi s Gardner Racin g bikes . Time tr ials Springsteen was th e. Iirs uro .break Ha n k SCOll 'S 1980 0 ne-lap q ua lifying record of 35.283 seco nds with a 35.251 blast. Shober t took th e record away three m in u tes lat er with a 35.2 11p ass th at he ld for top tim e. Sp ri ngs teen, H ank SCali, Moreh ea d a n d Ca rr fill ed o u t th e top five in th e 48-r ider field. T here were 59 riders a tte m p tin g 10 qual ify. Heats Sh obert , as h e h ad done th e ni gh t befo re, wo n th e fir st h eat a nd with it the cho ice o f pol e po sition as th e track bega n to slow before ge tting faster lat er in th e da y. Boody chased Sh ober t before Sh ob ert turned up th e wic k a bit an d th en settled in 10 hold o ff th e Pi oneer T ruck Lines/S torz XR o f Alex Jorgen sen . Rod Farris put in a stro ng ride from 10th 10 fourth, but co u ld n' t ca tch Jorgy. Parker, Sp ringsteen , Mik e G ar riso n a n d Wayn e Rain ey set up a battle in heat two . Rainey, o n th e Ro berts.' La wwill Racing Harley sponsored by Electro West, PJ I and Simons, fared a lo t bett er th a n on Sat urday .wh e,n Ra in ey had .an exhaus t p ipe 11

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