Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.-. .-. .... Q.) ..0 8 Q.) ..... 0.. Q.) CFJ (Above) Bubba Shobert (6 7 ) leads eventual w inner Ricky Graham (1). Ted Boody and Jay Sp ringsteen (9) in the main. (Below ) Kenny Roberts (2 ) made his return to the dirt; here he leads Jimmy Filice. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 24 Graham by a whisker in Springfield Mile By Jack Mangus SPRINGFI ELD, IL, SEP T I R icky Graham, T ed Boody an d Bubba Shobert turned in yet a n o th er photo finish as they crossed the finish lin-e three abreast at the end of 25 laps of heart-throbbing, groundthundering racing in the Sprin gfield Stro h's Mi le a t th e Illinoi s Sta te Fairgrou nds Sunday afternoo n . For the fir st time in th e 12 AMA Grand Nationa l Championship Series d irt track racing , a h igh -speed video camera had been insta lled a t th e start/fi nish lin e and it showed th at G ra ha m was th e winner by less th an half a wh eel width over Boody and by no t much m ore over Shobert. T he same th ree ride rs had been in volved in an equa lly close fin ish th e previo us Sa tu rday n ight in Indi an apolis a nd the co n troversy over th e decision as to the ir finis h ing order there prompted the insta llation o f a finis h line ca mera at Spri ngfield . T he win was Graham 's fifth o n th e Spri ngfield ova l, a fea t accom p lis hed mi n u tes af ter h e had been ho nored by th e event's p romot ing body, th e Ill inoi s Mot o rcycle Deal ers Association , for hi s previous wins and for th e fa stest ever lap tu rn ed in on a mil e oval , h is May 27, 1984 qua lifying lap at an a verage speed of 104.203 mph. Accepting a pl aque in a ceremony co n du ct ed pri or to th e s ta rt of th e Nat ional , Graham was teary- eyed. " T h is m ea ns a lot to me. I've heard more than rnv shar e of boos here, but I feel I've done well o n what I co nsider my favori te tra ck, " said th e Team Honda rid er. Wh il e the boo-birds for some un known reason conti n ue to not accept G ra h a m , th er e wer e not hi ng bu t cheers wh en two-ti me Grand Na tio na l Cha m pion a nd th ree- time World Cham p ion Kenn y Ro berts was introduced . In fact, th e packed h ouse ga ve Kin g Kenn y a sta n di ng ova tio n as h e ma rked h is return to mil e dirt tra ck ra cin g aft er a n eigh t- yea r a bsence. Wh en as ked p ri or to practi ce if h e felt read y for wh at la y a h ead, Ro bert s sa id, " I don't ha ve the least idea ." As th in gs turned o u t, he didn't. After qual ifyin g 2 1st fastest, he di ced with J a y Spr ings tee n, Steve Mo reh ead , Tom Ma itland a nd J im Fil ice in h is h eat race, but slipped off th e groove several times and ended up fourt h. He was running o ff the p ace in h is sem i a nd cha lked up a DNF wh en his Men L a ww i l l H arl ey- Davidson XR 750 " tied up on th e back stra igh t." Ti m e trial s Ra in d urin g th e week d el a yed tra ck preparation a n d th e end result was a relat ivel y slo w tra ck th at p ro duced a groove durin g practi ce. H onda 's Shobert was th e fastest q ua lifie r with a 36. 184 seco nd / 99.49 mph lap, wa y o ff G raham 's reco rd 34.54/ I04.203. Bo od y, G raham, Maitland and Peter Hook ro u n ded o u t th e top five. Th e cu t-o ff time was 38.080. logged bv P h il C u lve r. a nd he became th e 48t h a nd fi nal qua lifi er o u t o f the 63 Experts who took time trial s laps. Heats T he sta rt of th e first heat was del a yed due to a m alfun ct ionin g sta rt in g lig h t. Referee Duke Olliges o p ted to use th e ca r ra ce lights mounted a bove turn o ne a nd o nce th at un it flas hed green it was Ca me l P ro Seri es point sta n d ings leader Sh ob ert wh o passed th e lights first. Sh obert ran away from th e field, crossing th e fin ish line for th e win as th e battle for seco nd a nd thi rd exi ted turn four on th e fin al lap. T ha t battle involv ed H ank Scott, Randy Goss, Alex J orgen sen , Pete Hames a nd Dave Hebb for much o f th e 10-lap race, bu t a t th e finis h lin e it wa s Scott seco nd , a nd Goss third. T hey wer e in th e Na tional wh ile th e ot hers had semi-fina l races to co m pete in. Boody and his College Bik e Shop Honda pu lled the h ol esh ot in hea t number two , but u nlike Shobert, he had co m p e ti t io n . H a rl ey 's Scott Pa rker worked his way up to a nd by Boody going down th e backstraight on th e third lap and u ntil th e eigh th lap it looked like th e finis h line ca mera might get it's first test. That didn 't happen a s Bood y broke away from Pa rker a nd sa iled h om e th e win ner. Parker was seco nd, a good distance a head of rooki e Expert Chris Carr, wh o took th ird a head of a closin g Rod Farris. Graham held th e pole for th e th ird h eat b ut h e had fail ed to notice th at starter Steve Faraci's sta rti ng light had been repa ired . As G rah am riveted h is eyes on th e d istant tra ck lig h ts, th e gree n flas hed o n th e regu lar ligh t a nd the fiel d wa s o ff and gone a s G raha m sat th ere. Ron n ie J ones a nd hi s GF Racin g H ar ley led Don Howard an d thefield across the line for two laps as G raha m worked h is way thro ug h the pack. Third after just one lap, G raham and hi s Sparky Edmonston prepared H o nda were seco nd at the end o f th e th ird lap. Graham then dra fted past J o n es on the ba ckstrai g h t on lap four and that was th at. Sh owing th e horsepow er of th e works RS750. Graham wa lked aw ay from J ones to tak e th e ch eckered flag first. J ones sa w what appeared to be a secure seco nd p lace fin ish go up in a puff of dust whe n he slipped the groove in tu rn o ne o n th e n in th la p which a llowed H o ward to slip u nder h im . H oward fi n ished seco nd and J ones thi rd , a good dis ta nce ahead o f a ba ttl e that saw Doug Chandler finish fourth a head of Sco tt Pearson. H eat fou r was w ha t the hu g e crowd was waitin g for : th e first mile tra ck ap peara nce by Roberts since 1977. The starti ng grid a lso held so me other fa vorites o f d irt track rac in g fans in th e lik es of a ll- time reco rd winner J ay Springsteen an d popular Steve Moreh ea d , wh o wo n both th e L ima (O hio) a nd H ambu rg (Ne w York ) H alf Mile Natio na ls ea rl ier in the season. . Ro bert s pulled the holeshot a nd led th e field into turn o ne, but Springsteen a nd Mo reh ead gobbled him up exiting turn two and led h im across th e lin e for th e nex t three laps. Ro bert s was hot o n th eir heels, but h e slip ped the g roove in turns o ne-two o n th e fourth lap and Springsteen and Mor ehead opened up a gap. Maitland , a board th e T ex Peel-p rep ared Harley, ga ve Ro berts som ething else to think a bo u t o n the fourth lap, but th en he too slip ped the groove and fell back to sevent h . As th e h alfwa y flags were displayed, Fi lice a nd h is Ba yland Racing H arley - sans the fuel injection tuner Eddie Adk ins had installed for th e prev ious weeken d's Indy Miles were dicing with Ro berts. T he figh t between Roberts, th e mentor, and Fil ice, his pro tege, a llowed th em to close up on Spri ngsteen a nd Mor eh ead an d m ak e it a four-rid er fight to th e finish . With everyo ne o n hand on feet a nd screa m ing, Roberts led th e quartet ac ross th e lin e on th e seventh a nd eigh th laps, bu t h e slip ped off th e groove on th e fina l lap and the checkered fla g saw Springsteen ta ke th e win by in ch es over Morehead , Filice a nd Ro berts. . An exha us ted Roberts sa t in hi s mo torhome after the ra ce, soa king a

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