Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-.. .. 0.. ~ Alex Jorgensen takes a victory lap after winning the IT. The pass that wasn't: Bubba Shobert (1 ) f lew high and landed hard trying to pass A lex Jorgensen (44). A tankslapper ended the attempt. (Below) Chris Carr rode his Wood -Rotax to third place after qualifying fastest. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 3 Jorgyedges Shobert at Ascot By J ohn Ulric h Phot os By M itch Fri edm an GA RD ENA. CA. APR. 18 Alex Jorgens en wo n the Ascot TT, beatin g off a last-lap, off-the-j ump pass attempt that ended in a tank-slapper for defen din g Camel P ro Series Champion BubbaS h obert. Chris Ca rr fin ish ed th ird. J orgen sen W Q tQ~ ra ke, r ell.! dul d Aue . . 1 to rain on the orgi nal April 5 q~te on . ~ W~~- ~pt~x ~O . Shobert ro de a Honda 600. with Carr on a nother Wood-Rot ax 600. Scott Parker's seventh p lace fi n ish behi nd Steve Eklund, Pete H ames and Doug Chandler kept h im in the Camel Pro Ser ies points lea d , with 38 points to Carr's 36 and Shobert's 32. The win was j orgenson 's 10th in Camel Pro Series co mpetition and hi s fifth TT victory a t Ascot, tyin g Gary Scott's record for firs t p lace finishes a t the tra ck. Carr was fast qualifier with a timed lap in 44.144 seco nds, ahead of Shoben's 44.741, Randy G reen 's 44.751 o n a Honda . Keith Day's 44.905 on a nother Honda a nd Scott Pea rson 's 44.915 on his Dave Bird Kn igh tl Wood-R ot ax. jorgensen was IILh fastest a t 15. 118. Hames' ninth-fastest qualifying lap a t 15.087 seconds wa s h is fir st complete lap o f th e da y o n hi s Gardner Harl ey-Davidson 600. Hames' bi ke was hauled down from Harry Lillie's n orthern Californ ia sho p unfinished after Lillie became ill dur ing prepara tion; it seized in H ames' first halflap of p ra cti ce. Hames co uld n't use his spare bike because Steve Ekl und was rid in g it, bu t Sal Hoffman rebuilt H ames ' bike's engi ne in time for H ames to q ua lify, th e bike still smo king out th e exhaust p ipe; H a mes outqualified H o ffm an , who was 15th fastest a t45.1 36 seco nds, but was o utq ua lified by Ekl und 's six th -fastest 44.987 seconds. Scott Pea rso n 's fifth -fast est time of 44.945 seco nds was a victory of sons; tuner Dave Bird had the right footpeg on Pearson 's bike m oved down and forward to accornodate the restricted m ovement in Pearson 's injured right kn ee. Right turns were he ll. Pea rso n sa id before th e race, but left-banders were no problem. Pearson actively promotes what ma y be the longest lis t o f spo nsors in raci ng, incl udin g Circle Bell Enterprises, Sh oei, Ca rlisle. !"lap j ones, Red lin e O il, SuperT rapp , SoCaI Racin g Fuel , Tsubaki cha in , H i-Point, Miku ni , K&N, Kal G a rd , N D, Grand Prix Pl a st ics and Work s Performa nce Product s. Randy Green tu rned h is third- fastest time •on a Panther Racin ~ •framed J e • •• • • •• • •• • •• Honda tuned by Ca rl Bloo m field ; the fra me, built by Ca na dia n Led Szmek a year ago, mounts th e sw ingarm .pivo ts co nce ntric with th e co u ntershaft sp roc ket. Li ke most of the field a tAscot, G reen used Works Perform ance shock absorbers designed an d tuned by G il Vaillancourt. Th ree-tim e Cam el P ro Series Champ ion jay Spri ngsteen didn't even ma ke it to qual ifyin l$ before withdrawin g fro m th e race. Ill. It didn 't tak e Carr long to put hi s Ron Wood/Harley-Davidson/Shoeil RS Taich i Wood -Ro tax 600 o u t in fron t o f th e firs t 1O-lap h eat ra ce; wi th in a co uple of laps Ca rr had two seco nds on H am es. Kirk Strong, Rich Kin g and Ronn ie j ones. By th e last o f the 10 la ps, Ca rr was a hea d by five seco nds and Strong and Kin g were both out of th e race. j ones was third beh in d Carr an d H a mes, wit h j o n Corn well fou rt h a nd rno tocrosser Warren Reid fifth o n Horst Leim er 's AT K. The 10 la ps rook 7 m inutes, 3 1.125 secon ds to com p lete. As Le imer tol d it, Reid 's Rot axpowered bik e wa sin mo tocro ss trim a t n oo n the da y of the race ; he lowered it and installed Class C tires and Reid showed up , fo r tech ins pe ction in motocros s leathers and bright orange sho u lder pads . He had problems passing tech because the bike's footpegs weren 't padded with rubber, being standa rd serra ted steel motocross pegs, a nd he had problems getting hi s full a ll otme nt of severely rationed practice time, h e said . He said he felt lik e he wa s o u t of place. but was h avi ng ' fun a ny way. T erry Poo vey jumped his Har leyDa vid son o ut in fro nt of the seco nd heat. ahead o f Shobert , Mickey Fay and Ricky Gra ham. whose Honda ha d su ffered a broken cl u tch p ushrod a t the sta rt of practice; Graham had missed practi ce wh ile mechanics Spa rky Ed mo nsto n a nd Rob MU1.zy cha nged the en gi ne. Fay a nd Gra ha m both st u ffed it undernea th Shobert going im o th e righ t-h and tu rn before th e TT j u m p on the first lap, but by th e th ird la p , Sh obert was in second p lace agai n . Shobert gained his most grou nd slid ing int o the first turn, pa rt of the half-m ile tra ck , a nd took the lead on th e fou rth lap. At th e end of 10 laps, Shobert had three seco nds on Poovey, who had th ree seconds on G raham. T im e for the h ea t was 7 minutes, 33.969 seco nds. Medford , Oregon's j eff Harsha put h is Yamaha into th e lead off th e sta rt £'. J. .. • to. J ') ~ • ( "' Ii I ... J J ' '"

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