Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bruce Johnson took h is Rotax to the w in in the Junior National after ta ki ng t he lead on lap six . Jon Munez fin ished second. _ ~ res ta r t. Butch Brandon g ra bbed th e ho lesho t o n hi s Rot ax . It was shor tlived , however, as Hill flew by to lead the fir st lap. Brandon held seco n d over Pa rk er, Sprin ger a nd N ickie Fo ntana. Parker go t by Brandon o n lap tw o a nd Sprin gsteen fo!l o wed suit bv d iving under Bra n don m tu rn one t~ start th e fifth lap. Hill was steadily pulling away fro m Parker while Poo vey had moved up to cha lle nge Springer for third. The o rde r stayed th e same to the fin ish wit h Hill and Parker going directl y to the ma in, a n d Sp ri ngs teen an d Poovey adva ncing to a semi. Will iam Davis , Billy H erndon , Pearson a nd Cornwell jumped th e gun a nd were sent to th e third rowan th e firs t attempt to start heat four. The second attempt saw Ronnie Jones getting punished despit e a verbal protest a nd only two riders, Fran Brown and Steve Morehead, remained on th e front row. When th e light turned green it was Morehead with the holeshot, followed by Brown and, surprisingly, Jones. On the second lap , Bro wn snuck by Morehead, with Jones an d Cornwell in pursuit. Brown opened th e biggest he at rac e lead of the night by th e ninth lap over Morehead. Jones , m eanwhil e. lost hi s hold on third to Cornwell as the Canadian sq ueezed by in turn !~ree; Pearso~ fi n ished fifth . In addi tio n to the wm , Brown had esta blished th at the hi gh line wa s beginn ing to work th e best. Rookie Winki e Freitas timed th e li ght perfectl y to lead h eat number five into turn o ne. Eklund was fourth , but q u ickl y shot into second by th e end o f th e first lap. Tim Merten s had his H onda in thi rd pl ace as Rusty Gour ley slid o ut whil e exi ti ng turn fou r. Eklu nd m oved into position to cha llen ge Fr ei ta s a nd began to seri ously work o n the Ro tax-mou nted rookie. On la p seven the hard work paid flU as Eklund - u sing a h igh line going in a n d sq uari n g it off - pu t his G reg Crow-tu ned, Gar?ner R acin g / Ara i-sponsored H arley m th e I ~d co m ing out of turn four. T om Maitland fini shed third with Mert ens fourth and Lance J ones fi fth . With a wider cus hion a nd a ro ug he r track th e six th and fin al hea t got underway with Shobert grabbing th e holeshot. The lead didn 't last. h owever, as Ted Boody shot by to lead th e first lap. Washington 's Randy Green was holding third a nd chargi ng a fter Shobert wh il e Garth Brow h eld fourth. By lap seven, Green was o n Shobert. and on lap eight, he snuck b¥ in t U1JlIQnfj . J H L if " .: ~ ( J( I : Boody co n tin ued to pull away an d Sh obert couldn't find a way aro u nd Green. Brow fini shed fourth with ' Dav e H ebb rounding out the top five . R ound o ne of Shobert's eventfu l even ing was over. Semis H a m es grabbed th e lead in turn one o f semi number o ne - but Kris Arm entrouru j umped th e lig ht a nd was sent to the back row. The res tart we nt to Estep, with H ames ta ki ng the lead in turn one at th e start o f lap two. Estep faded as H ames led a hardcharging Poo vey and Springst een . On lap three Fontana and Armentrout cra sh ed on th e exit of turn four and th e race was red-flagged. There was a single-file restart. and only seven lap s remaining. Hames continued to lead Poovey with H ook moving past Springer. On lap seven, Hames went wide. allowing Poovey and Hook to slide by, but suddenl y Hook lost the tail section of his bike and slowed considerably. Hames moved back into second followed by Springsteen and Estep and th ey stayed that way to the finish . Shobert was back for semi n u m ber two, and as the ligh t tu rned green to start th e race, he q uickly raised his hand. The rest o f the field took off, but wer e ca lled back for a restart. Shobert's Honda had developed cI ut ch problems and he used the time to get it worked on. It cou ldn't be fix ed and he had to sta rt without it. When th e light turned green , he slammed it in gear , but wa s midpack in turn o ne . The red flag came ou t again for n o apparent rea son. and with no one being sent ba ck for jumping the sta rt, th e flag remains a mystery. Mertens grabbed th e hol esh ot o n the th ird sta rt and led th e firs t la p before giving wa y to Bro w. On lap two. bo th Mertens a n d Pearson shot past Brow. a nd two laps later Pea rson na iled down Mertens. There wa s a lot of pushing and sho ving going on as Shobert m oved through th e field. H e wa s up to fourth on lap four,.third o~ lap fiv e and second on lap SIX . but It wa sn 't en o u g h . Pearson took th e win ove r Shobert with Cornwell taking third and Mertens fourth . Last Chance Qualifier The LCQ sta rted with a bang as Shobert went down hard exiting turn two ; Estep and Felicia went with hi m . Sh obert was banged up with a sp rai ne d thumb and twisted knee. bu t made i t ba ck for the restart. H ames led into turn one followed by Shobert. but Cornwell passed th e facto ry Honda rider to take o ver seco nd befor e th e en d of lap 9 Q~ H~ lIles con - Rookie of the Year in 1985. Chris Carr started 1986 w ith a thi rd place f inis h after dueling w ith Scott Pearson for most of the 25 laps. tinued to lea d as Ma itla nd cha rged in to seco nd with Sh o bert th ird . Shobert held th ird until the eigh th la p when he started slipping down th e fie ld . H am es took th e win a nd th e fin al spot in th e Nationa l, followed by Maitland, Estep and Shobert. Juniors Can-Am-mounted J o n Munez sat o n th e pole for th e J unio r final af ter posting th e fastest o f the two qual ifying h eats while th e R o tax o f th e othe r heat race winner , P .J . Sanchez. sat next to him. Munez h ad h eld off th e Wood-Rotax of Bryan McD o well while Sanchez h ad dealt with Bruce Johnson. Johnson and his Alma Transport/ Shoei-sponsored Rotax sto le the hol eshot. but .was q uic kly p ass ed by Munez. Munez led J o h n so n , Er ic Sassa man a nd R o bert Damron a t th e en d of the second lap . The o rder stayed the sa me until la p fiv e wh en Fr a nkie G arcia sn uc k by Damron for fourth. Meanwhile, J ohnson was sta rt ing to pressure Munez, and o n lap six he took th e lea d for th e first time. T he Ca lifo rn ia n held o n for th e fin al six laps to take th e win. M u n ez kept hi s hold o n second, wi th Sa ssaman, Garcia and L es Wash bon ro un di ng out th e top five. National Sweet sat o n th e pole fo r the 25-l ap National with H ill nex t to h im. Ek lund al so found himself o n the front row with Ca rr on th e second row a nd Pea rso n at th e rear. When th e light turned green, it was Bood y grabbing th e hol eshot by shooting to th e o utside. After so me fir st-turn bumping. however, it was Hill em erging with th e lead fo llowed by Sweet a nd Boody. Eklund ca m e o u t o f nowhere on lap tw o to m ove by Sweet a nd Bood y for seco nd place, but the rookie out front had o pe ne d a lead. Eklu nd began to reel in H ill o n th e fou rt h la p , with Sw eet , Boody, P ea rso n a nd Ca rr fo llowi ng. Pea rso n slipped by Bood y on lap five , a n d Carr di d th e same o n la p six. The o rder after six la p s read: Hill, Eklund, Sweet, Pea rso n , Ca rr, Boody and Parker. Ekl u nd was getting close to Hill by P j n~ tAe_Sf\TfIf I ~q ~~9 ~f~ ,i l] Pi? heat - going in high a nd squari ng it off. Sweet's h ope for a win started turn ing so ur o n lap nine when hi s H arlev sta rte d smoking a nd he slo w ly faded 'cram contention with a blown head gasket . While Sw eet was going backwards , Pearso n and Carr were on the move in third a nd fourth . On lap 12, Eklund took the lea d goi ng into turn th ree with Hill , Pearson a nd Carr fo llowing . Hill wa sn 't givi ng up a nd was th e front four were running togethe r. The 14th lap sa w Hill 's de m ise. The rookie lowsided between turns three a nd four a nd th e pack we nt by. Eklund was n ow in co m man d , with Pea rson and Ca rr still fighting for seco n d. Parker was fourth with King fifth . Hames wa s o n th e move a nd ch as in g King. Pearson a nd Ca rr cont in ue d to battl e. with Carr tr ying every th ing to sq ueeze by th e veteran . Carr tried in vain to ca tch Pearson as Eklund led th e field o ver the fin ish line for th e final time. H ames found himself in fourth place a fter disposing of Parker a n d King. It wa s Ek lu nd' s fi fth w in at th e Astrodome - th ree wins in th e TT and n o w two in the short track. " I' ve done well over th e year s here," Ek lund sa id . " It 's n ot a li ttl e narrow g roove a nd vo u ca n ride a ny w he re yo u want. I've trai ned hard fo r this and it shows up. I wa s paci n g m ysel f; the li tt le guy (H ill) was hauling , but I thought he was getting tired a t about th e threequarter mark." • Result s 25- LA P NA TIONAL: 1. Ste ve Elkund (H-D); 2. Scon Pearson (Hon); 3. Chris Carr (W ·R ); 4 . Pete Hames (H-D); 5. Scott Parker (H-D); 6 . Rich King (Hon); 7 . Terry Poo vey (H-D ); 8 . Ted 800dy (Hon): 9 . Randy Gr een (Hon); 10 . Steve Morehead (H-D); 1 1. Fr an Brown (H- D); 12. Dan Ing ra m (H-D); 13 . Aar on Hill (Rtx); 14 . Wi nk ie Freitas fRne) 15 . Sammy ; Sweet (H-D). JUN IOR NATIONAL; 1. Br uce Johnson (Rtxl ; 2. Jo n M unez IC-A); 3 . Eric Sassaman fC-A ); 4. Frankie Garcia (Hon); 5. Les W ash bon (H·D); 6. Robert Damron (W -R); 7 . P.J . Sanch az (W-RI; B. Jeff Fra zenburg (Hon); 9 . Ted Taylor (H-D); 10 . Gar t h M ul key (Hon ); 11. Larry Staggs (W -R); 12. Bryan M cDow ell (W · RI. AMA GRA ND NA TIONAL CHAMPIO NSHIP ; CAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Steve Eklund (20 ); 2. Scott Pearson (16 ); 3 . Chris Carr (1 3)' 4 Pete Hame s (1 1); 5 . Scott Parker (101; 6. Rich King (9); 7. Terry Poovey (B); B. Ted Boody (7); 9 . Rand y Green (6); 10 . Ste ve M orehead 1 5);.11. Fran ; Brown (4); 12. Dan Ingram (3 ); 13 . Aaron HIli (21 14 . Wi nkie Fre itas (1). JUNIOR NATION AL POINT STANDINGS ; 1. Bruce Johnson (20); 2. Jon M une z (16); 3 . Eric Sassam an ( 13); 4 . Fran kie Garcia (11); 5 . Las W ashbon (10 ); 6. Robert Damron (9); 7. P.J . Sanchez (B); B. J eff Frazenbu rg (7 ); 9 . Ted Tayl or (6); 10 . Garth Mulkey (5); 1 1. Larry Slap~sl 12/ an ~C Pt~711Ir)1 W , 7 l'

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