Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Honda-mounted Hank Scott came w ithin six inch es of w inning th is yea r's Sy racuse Mile after starting the race in 1 1th place. Last Chance Qua lif ier . Carr, Brow a n d Brown fought over the one transfer to the National from the LCQ for th e first five la p s. Carr and Bro w , tradi ng positions, pulled away as Tammy Kirk moved up to ba tt le a nd then pass Brown. Brow led Carr into turn o n e o n th e la st lap with Kirk rapidly closing. Carr regained th e lead in turn three. The dash to th e flag sa w Brow m ove early on Carr and Kirk use Brow's draft to move into second a h alf bikelength short of winner Carr at th e line. National "The track is quite a bit differ ent this yea r," sa id th ree-time Syracuse w inn e r Sprin g s teen . " T he d ip between tu rns o ne a n d two keeps yo u from runnin g smoo th ly thro ugh th ere and turn s th ree and four a re a lways tri ck y. I'm getti ng o ff th e turns strong and th at's a p lu s." Tuner Paul Chm iel ch a nged the ca rbs o n Springste en 's XR750 for extra top end to give Springsteen m o re opportunity to utilize th e draft. " A mistake-fre e 25 la ps a n d so me luck is what it wi ll take to win," said H an k Scott to Louie Moniz as th ey we nt over Sco tt 's bike o ne fi nal tim e. In the H onda pits, Shobert was puttin g tear- oils on his h el m et 's facesh ield, wh ile Graham hel d a bag al ice o n his left thumb. Graham tagged a py lo n m a rk ing the edge of the track in p ra cti ce. " It's p robably broken ," sa id Graha m . " It 's not botheri n g m y ri d ing, but it will sure m ess u p m y golf game." Shobert led th e field a t th e end o f lap o ne as G oss trailed in last p lace after being bumped off th e groove in th e turn o ne traffic jam o n th e start. Sho bert , P a rk er , G ra ham a n d Boody broke away as Ra iney a nd Springsteen paired up in a fift h p lace ba tt le an d Chand ler led a pack of riders in a figh t for seven th . H a nk Scott, in traffic o n th e sta rt, was 11th. The acti on incr ea sed as th e fro nt fo u r swa p pe d p ositions wi th fourth to firs t and first to fo u rt h trad es th e norm . Ra in ey, with an en g in e that would sputter a n d m iss off a n d on , d ropped back in tra ffic as Sp ri ngsteen closed the gap o n th e lead quartet. Fil ice led th e battle for six th . On la p s six th rough 10 th e lead went from Bood y to Park er to G ra ham a nd then to Shobert at the start/ finish line. Jorgensen was in the pi ts o n la p 10 wit h " a n en gi ne problem we 'll check as soon as we get to California. " By th e halfwa y flags, Rai ney was out of ac tion wh en " the engine just quit." Boody led at th at point wi th Par ker , Shobert a nd Spri ngs teen in his draft and Graha m a few len g th s ba ck as H a n k Sco tt and Mo rehead bega n to close in. Filice, with handling p roblems, led Chandler. Mai tland, who h ad been in the pack fight ing for seventh and then six th, dropped to 12th afte r slip p ing o ff the groove. Sh obert reg-dined his momentum to lead th rough la p 16 at th e front of a seven-ride r stri ng with Mo reh ead a t th e rear a nd n o more th an a bikelength or two separati ng each ri der. Chandler led a torrid battle for eighth o ver H ames an d Fili ce. " I mu st h ave p ushed too hard early o n ," sa id Parker , " beca use a fter halfway th e front a n d th en th e rear ti re went a wa y and I co u ld n' t reall y track goi n g into th e turns or get a d rive co m in g off." Al th ough losing a bit o f ground, Par ker was sti ll sixth o n lap 18. Wi th five la p s to go it wa s Shobert and Graham five len g th s up o n Boody/ Springsteen as Park er, Scott a nd Mo reh ead follo wed . Graha m led la p 21 over Shobert wi th Scott third o ver Springs teen as Boody began to h ave h is rear tire slip a bi t as a result of h is ea rly la p charging. Spri ngsteen was back to fifth o n lap 22, but that o n ly m eant h e was about 10 len g th s o ut of th e lead. Parker a nd Morehead, in sixth a nd seventh , respe ctivel y, wer e a distance ba ck . Scott swe p t into th e lead o n th e start o f la p 23 ove r Sho bert wi th Sp ri nger, G raham a nd Boody in tow . Mor ehead took sixth over Parker. Off turn two , Sp ringer took seco nd fro m Shobert. Shobert was back in front as the white flag waved , but Springsteen took o ver in turn o ne with Scott behind. Scott went by Springsteen for the lead in turn three as Shobert got sucked in by th e draft a nd nea rl y h it Sp rin gstee n while almos t being hit by G raham as h e maneuvered to avoid a n accid en t. T he run to th e flag from turn fo ur saw Springsteen lead off a s Sco tt se t up for a fi na l mov e and Shobert lurked ri ght beh ind. At the last possible instant, Scott pulled o u t to draft arou nd Spri ngsteen. Scott was six inc hes sh y o f the line whe n Springstee n 's wheel ro lled across it. Shobert Harley-Davidson 's Scott Parker f inished eighth in the main, one posit ion ahead of Doug Chandler. Parker is now just 12 po ints beh ind Chandler . was ha lf a bikelength ba ck , w hi le abou t 10 lengths behind ca me Graham and Bood y. " Can yo u believe it? " shou ted a jubilant Springsteen. " II's number 40 a nd, boy, did I work for it. I just took ad va ntage of the little mistakes everyone else made an d tried not to m ak e a nv rnvsel f.' " If I had made a m ove earlier to go by J a y," sa id Scott, " Bu bba co u ld have used both o ur drafts to ta ke th e wi n and lea ve u s watching him get the flag . I waited until th e last ins ta nt to m ak e m y m ov e so Bubba cou ld n 't get by eith er me o r J ay." . ''I' m h appy wi th third, " sai d Shobert. " I ca me so close to crashi ng in tu rn three o n th e last lap th at thi s is a lmost a g ift. I added to m y poi nts an d it was a good race." Junior Na t io nal Bri an Atherton 's win in the Jun ior Nationa l o ver Winki e Freitas tightene d up the points cha se between the tw o for th e title to a scant two -point margin in Freitas' favor as th e series heads wes t for th e fina l th ree rou nds. Frei tas holds 272 points to th e 270point to tal o f Atherton . The fi nal was cut to six la p s by ra pidly a p proac hing darkness an d the hurry-u p a pproach left a bi tter taste with rider Don Myer s a n d his crew as Myers foul ed a p lug o n th e starting line and didn 't get i t replaced by the tim e the referee signaled the starter to sta rt th e race. " It wasn 't fa ir. We d id n 't get ourfu lltwo m inutes to ma ke repairs," sa id a member of Myers' crew. Freit as led early before Ath erton got around and then hel d on for th e win by a bou t three bi kelengths. Freitas blamed third place finisher Ben Si udara for cos ti n g him h is best shot a t a mile win , say in g , "I got run into by number n in e o nc e a nd th a t nearl y knocked me off th e groov e and then he did it agai n . T ha t's not th e way to race." Atherton was all smiles a fter h is win. " T h is is the seve nth m ile in the series I' ve won th is year an d I' ve closed th e p oints gap to j us t two on Winki e. T h e battle is going to go righ t to th e finish ." " If I ca n' t win th e title ba ck h ome in California, " sa id Freit as, " th en 1 ca n't feel bad if Bri an beats me." Novice Invitational The Novice riders inv i ted to ta ke pan in th e Syracuse Mil e program a nd get their fir st tast e o f mile racing had to wai t a long time for their time on th e tra ck, but th ey made up for th e lo ng wait by turning in a torrid race. Bryan Villell a pulled o u t o f a threerider pack containing P.J. Sanchez a nd R on Bert ra nd within feet o f th e finish line to snatch th e vic to ry. Sanchez was cas t in th e runner-u p spot by i nc hes while Bertrand was a half a bikelen g th short and third after a h ard race. Eric J ohnco x trail ed th e lead tri o in fourth bv a short distance a t th e finish . . The ea rly laps sa w a tight pack up front with it fin all y brea king down in to the top th ree. The tr io trad ed th e lea d ba ck a n d forth with Vill ella and Sa nchez testing eac h o the r o n draft a n d pass moves o ff turn four as th e • fin al laps ran down. Results 25 -LA P NATIONAL: 1. Jay Spr ingsteen (H-Dt. 2. Hank Scon (Hon); 3. Bubba Shobe rt (Hon); 4 . Ricky Gre ham (Hont. 5. Ted Boody (Hon); 6. Steve Morehead (H-D); 7. Scott Parker (H-D); 6. Doug Chandler (Hon); 9. Pete Hames (H-D); 10. Chris Carr (H-D); 11. Gary Seen (H-D); 12. Jim Filice (H-D); 13. Tom Mait land IH ~ O ); 14 . Ronn ie Jones (Hon); 15 . Randy Goss (Hon); 16 . Wayne Rain ey (H-D ); 17 . A lex Jorgensen (Hon). TIM E: 15 min.. 07.2 1 secs. AVERAGE SPEED: 99.204 mph. CAME L PRO SERtES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bubba Shobert (2361 2. Ted Boody (200t. 3. Doug ; Chand ler (174t.4. seen Parker (162 t. 5. Seon Pearson (129); 6. Ricky Graham tI 25); 7. Chr is Carr (104 t. 8. J ay Springsteen (100); 9. Ronn ie J ones (9 6); 10. M ike Baldwin (B9); 11. Hank Sean (831; 12_ SI eve Mo rehead (8 1); 13 . Randy Renfr ow (80); 14. Alan Labrosse (76); 15. Pete Hames (70); 16. Ale. Jor gense n (6B); 17. Dan Chivington (66); 18. Rich Schla cht er (63); 19. (TIE) Randy GosslTerry Poovey (62). 6-LA PJU NIOR NATIONAL: 1. Br ian Athe rton ryvR); 2. Winkie Freitas (Hon); 3. Ben Siuda ra (H-D); 4. Les Washbon (Au); 5. Gregg Gatliff (H-D); 6. Br ian Bonest eel (W- R); 7. Phil Vigneri (C-A); 8. Dan Knecht (H· OI; 9 . Nicky Fon tana (Honl; 10 . Wade Cam li n (H· D); 11. SIeve Duff (H· D); 12. Don M yers (H-D). TIME: 3 min .. 52.48 6 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 92.932 mph. J UNIOR NATI ONAL CHAM PIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Winkie Freila s (272); 2. Brian At herton (270); 3. Aaron Hill (126 ); 4. Brad Furlon g (67); 5. Wa de Cam li n (66); 6. Don M yers (65); 7. Cuni s Cannon (60) ; 8. Les Washbon (58); 9 . Frank Garcia (52); 10. Recil Hart (49). 6-LAP NOVICE INVITATIONAL: 1. Bryan Villella (Hon); 2. P.J . Sanchez(Rtx); 3. Ron Berl rand (Rtx) ; 4. Eric J ohnc ox Ie-A); 5 . Craig Estelle IRtx) ; 6 . Eri c Sassaman (Rtx) ; 7 . Lar ry Berth old! (H·O ); 8. Steve Alexa nder (Rtx); 9. Keit h Olsen (H-D); 10. Glen n Hughson (Hon); 11. Jack Mayer (H-D); 12. Mike Scott (H-D). TIM E: 3 min.. 58.423 secs. AVERAGE SPEED: 90.595 mph . 7

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