Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

" Sid e ways" Sam my Sweet of Porter, Texas, dives int o turn one on San Jose 's fa med o ne m ile oval, Sweet finished 11th inthe main event . ro m le ft, M iss Camel Pro Vivian Chadbourne, R icky Graham , win ner ubba S hobert, and runner-up Scott Pa rker celebrate in the winner's circle . a rley- Davidson ) led Ekl und a nd klahorn a 's Ronni e J ones (G ilI / G F ac i ng/S hoei / Knigh t/ Megacycle) tlO th e fir st turn o f the ini tia l sem inal. but Boody took over o n lap two id n ever wa s h eaded . Mich igan 's om Maitland (Tex PeeIlShoei/ND/ iamond ) m oved into seco nd o n the m e lap and se tt led into a race-long lit Ie with Eklund and Feli cio. Ek .nd slipped off th e groove in turn I' and dropped to eighth on lap h t, while J ones moved into second. dy motored across th e finish line th room to spa re, but Maitland £ted Jones on th e back straight of white-flag lap to set up hi s second1'1' finish: Jones fini shed third. Howard led th e second semi in the Iy going, but Morehead drafted m on the backstraight on la p three ta ke over th e lead . Howard and rehead swapped the top spot until nine, when Morehead drafted ward at the stan/finish ,line to im the lea d for good. Texan Terry ovey (Hudd Raci ng / Shoe i/ Sisere/Hap Jones/Hi-PointlTsubaki / perTrapp) sta rted in second place, t slipped off the groove in turn one lap two, and dropped well back. vey and Pea rso n tangled in turn I' on lap four: both riders slid up to cushion, but both managed to y up. R ich Arnaiz (Arna iz Conuction/Blu-Arc) held third place m lap three to lap seven, but went wn in a simple slide-out in turn ee on lap eight; he was uninjured. o k inherited th ird and held it to finish behind Morehead and ward. Poovey finished fourth. st Chance Qualifier I' LCQ could have been called Peter Hook Show - Hook grabbed holesh o t and , never surrendered lead . Ki rk held second in th e ea rly s, with Jones in third and twoI' champ Ra n d y Goss (Be ll / rks /Marzocchi) running fourth . k sli p pe d off the g roove in turn I' on lap fo ur and did an excellent of keeping her Harley- Davidson two wheels while clipping hayes clear a ro u nd the turn . G oss ved into seco nd o n lap four a n d rrged on H ook. but ran out of ra ce ore h e co u ld ca tch up. Goss fined second, well in front of Poovev. usch...a n d Ileqrspn , ~ •• t J :;t. Jl i( '. , J u nior Nationa l Po int leader Brvan McD o well of Ca lif orn ia cl ai med'his th ird co n secutive Jun ior N a tional win, finis hing San Jose's mile in front o f Pennsyva n ia 's Eri c Sassaman a nd Cal iforn ia 's Ted Tay lor, in a weather-delayed, crash -delayed, Junior ma in event. T aylor grabbed th e hol esh o t, follow ed by Curtis Cannon a nd Sacramento winner Brian Bonesteel. Cannon drafted Tay lo r on th e ba ckstraight o f la p o ne, a nd Bonest eel settled into th ird pl ace. The riders ran in that o rder until lap four when Bonesteel went down in turn one, bringing o u t a red flag. Cannon retook the lead on th e s i n g le-fi le restart, with Taylor, McD ow ell and Sassaman right behind . McDowell got byTay loron la p six. then drafted Ca nnon on the backstraigh t to tak e the lead. Bo th Tay lor and Sa ssaman got by Cannon on lap eight, and Sassaman passed T aylo r for second going into turn o ne after th e duo took th e white flag, to set the finishing order. Jon Nunez of California finished fourth . and California 's Bruce Johnson took fifth. National Chandler led Graham, Parker . Shobert and Scott into tum one of the 25-lap National. but lost his lead to a hard-charging Graham on the backstraight. One lap later. both Chandler and Shoben drafted by Graham . while Parker contin ued to hol d down fourth a nd Scott slipped back to eighth. Springsteen mo ved into fifth on lap three. and on la p four Carr came out of nowhere to move into second behind Graham. then passed Graham to take the lea d. Graham. who was diving hard into turns one and th ree. retook the top spot one la p later. with Carr. Chand ler. Sh obert and Springsteen form ing a tight clump just behind h im. Carr had just regained th e lead . when th e race was red-flagged o n la p six because Hill we nt do wn in turn three and was knocked u nconscious. Hi ll wa s taken to Sa nta Teresa Kaiser H ospital for observation with facial cut s a nd a possible co ncu ssio n . Acco rd ing to AMA Director of Professio n a l Com pe titio n Bill Amick. Hill was no t inj u red serio us ly. . Carr led rhe.single-Iile restart with G raha m , Shobert, Pa rk er . Cha ndler a nd Boody in tow. Springer was behind Bood y. but went hi gh in turn o ne a nd lost several po si tions. G ra ha m and Carr tra ded first o n la p s eig h t and nine. but both ride rs were draft ed by Chandler o n th e backstra ig h t o n lap 10. The fierce baule co nti n ued wi th Carr rega ining the lead o n lap I I, a nd Park er mo ving into seco nd . Ca rr. Parker . G raham , Chandl er an d Shobert were running a very close 1-5. whil e Springer moved . . uP into six th pl ace. Graham moved from third to fir st in turns one a n d two on lap 13, but lost th e lead to Pa r ker o n th e backstra ig h t, while Sh obert, Chandler. Carr a nd Springsteen rounded o u t th e top six . Parker held a narrow lead. with Graham. Shobert an d Carr taking turns knock ing on the door. Carr's race was suddenly over on lap 15 whe n h is engine let go o n the fro nt straight, as h e made a move for first. By the.18th lap . Shobert and former teamma te Graham disp laced Parker to a close th ird . with Chandler runn in g fourth , Springsteen fifth . Scott sixth and Bood y seventh . Par ker got by Graham. then on lap 20, Graham passed both Shobert an d Parker on the backstraight; going into tum three. Chandler nailed all three frontrunners to claim the point position. The lead changed again at the start/ finish line when G ra ham and Shobert drafted past Cha nd ler. Laps 21-24 was a game of " yo u draft me. I' ll pass you " between Shobert. Graham. Parker a nd Chandler. whi le Springsteen pushed hard to catch the front-ru nners - he finally caught them on the fina l lap. Shobert took the white flag with Graham. Chandler and Parker right behind h i m . Graham passed Shobert on th e back stretch, then Par ker moved from third to first place with a daring dive in turn three. Parker got sideways coming ou t of four. a nd the bobble was the edge Shobert needed to ta ke th e win. Graham p laced third in the five-way p hoto-finish cluster; Cha nd-: ler ha d to sett le for fou rth and Sp ri ngsteen co u ld n' t better h is come-frombehind fifth p lace. "I knew I couldn't lead through turns one and two if I wanted to win th e race. then R ick passed me and 1 was able to get a good slingshot." sa id Sh obert a fter th e race. " I wanted to lead o ff turn four. but when Pa rker pa ssed me . 1 had n o choice . Then h e Jay Springsteen finished the National in fifth place. got a little sideways. Th e condition of the track was good. Everybody thought i t would be faster because of the rain . bu t it was the same old San Jose." " I knew I had to get through three and four real good and beat them down the straight," Parker said. " As 1 came out of three and four 1 got a liu le sideways and that 's all it took . It was definitely a good race." • Results 25-LAP NATIONA L: 1. Bubba .Shobert (Hon); 2. Scott Parker (H- Dt; 3. Ricky Gra ha""tt! on t 4. Doug Chandler (Hon); 5. Jay Spr ingsteen (H-D); 6. Pete Hames (H· D); 7. Hank Scon (Honl; 8. Tad Boody (Hon); 9. Oon Howard (H-Dt; 10. Peter Hook (H-Dt. 11. Samm y Sweet (H-D); 12. Rodney Farris (Hon); 13. Tom Ma itland (H· DI; 14. Alex Jo rgensen (Hoo); IS. SIeve More head (H·D t. 16. Chris Carr (H-D); 17. Aa ron Hill (H· D). 12·LAP JUN IOR NATIONAL: 1. Brya n McDowell (H· D); 2. Er ic Sossaman (H-D); 3. Ted Taylor (H-D); 4 . Jo n Nun ez (Rtxt; 5 . Bruce Jo hnson (Rtx): 6. tunis Cannon; 7. Bobby McOowell (Hon); 8. Steye Duff (H· D); 9. Tim Skoy (W·R); 10. Eric Green (H· D); 11. Donn ie Harre ll rw·R). AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES POINTSTANDINGS: 1. Bubba Shoben (72t; 2. Scon Parker (611; 3. Chr is Carr (47 1; 4 . Doug Chandler (43); 5. St..a Eklund (4 1); 6. Ted Boody (34t; 7. Pete Hames (32); 8. SCOII Pearson ' (29); 9. Ricky Graha m (26); 10. (TIE) AlexJorgen· sen/ Hank Scon (2 1); 12. Rodney Farri. (20); 13. Sammy Sw eet(1 8); 14. TerryPoovey (16 ); 15. Steve Morehead (13); 16. Don Howa rd (II); 17. J ay Springsteen (10); 18. Randy Gr een (9); 19. Rich IGng (8); 20 . (TIE) Keith Day/ Fran Brown (7). JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPiONS HIP POINTS STANDINGS: 1. Bryan McDowell (63); 2. Eric Sas· sama n (!\5t 3,8ruce Jo hnson (41 ); 4. Ted Taylor (39); 5. Les Wa shbon (37); 6. Frankie Garcia (35); 7. Br ian Bone stee l (34); 6. Bryan Vinana (32 ); 9. Jon Nunez (30t; 10. Robert .D a mro ~ (27), • • __ " . _ .• 7

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