Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bryan McDowell (above) took a slim win over Curtis Cannon in the Junior National. start/finish line. The opening lap was led by Pearson, lap two by Ronnie Jones, laps three and [our by Carr, and lap five by Goss. Garth Brow, who was in the middle o[ the duel, was black-nagged on lap six due to a smoking engine and he pulled imo the pits on the [allowing lap. What had become a four-man duel. suddenly became a three-rider fight as the ignition shaft broke on the HD Dealers Association XR750 ridden by Goss. Goss'coasted LO a'sLOp at the beginni.ng o[ the backstraighl and watched the rest of the race [rom the guardrail. Carr and his H-D MOLOr Co.lElec.tro Heavy Equipmem Co.- ponsored XR750 crossed the finish line [irstto take the win just inches ahead o[ Jones and Pearson. Heat four was also full o[ close racing as [our di[[erem riders took turns leading the race. Chandler and his Freddie Spencer Racing/SuperTrapp Honda led laps one, two, three through seven, and ni'ne, but it was Henry Ford Scott who led just one lap and that was the one that counts - the last one. Finishing a very close second was Harley factory rider Parker, who had slipped the groove on more than one lap, while third wem to Chandler. David Durelle and Roger Thompson took fourth and fifth afte.r having been in the hunt [or most o[ the race. The first o[ the [our heats had been the fastest, running in five minutes, 55.898 seconds, and that gave Shobert the pole position [or the National. Semis With only the LOp two finishers [rom each of the IO-Iap semi-[inals advancing to the main, it quickly became apparent in 'the first semi who the two would be out o[ that race. By the end o[ the second lap, Sweet and Morehead had opened up a gap on the rest o[ the field which was led by .Eric Rausch. Morehead and Sweet swapped the lead back and forth, but Morehead, who has been trying his hand at some sprim car racing recently, had the upper hand comingoutof turn four on the final lap and he held off the draft pass attempt o[ Sweet to win. The second semi saw two-time Grand National Champion Goss coming LO the line at the last minute. He had been told that his dropping out o[ the heat race had eliminated him from the program, but just minutes before the start o[ the second semi he was told he was in the race. He frantically put on his leathers as his crew hustled to repair the damaged igni tion. "Chuck Springsteen had a new shaft and he loaned it to us," said Goss, poiming to his mOLOrcycle and the duct tape holding the unit LOgether. The crew's effort paid off as Goss took the lead [rom Peter Hook on the second lap and romped to the win. (Above) Doug Chandler leads eventual winner Hank Scott, Tim Mertens, Harley Davidson's Scott Parker and Peter Hook in heat race four. (Below) Goodyear tires returned to National dirt track racing at Springfield. Hook took a distant second to also earn a spOt in the National final. Last Chance Qualifier' Only the winner o[ the LCQ goes on to the National and for seven laps it looked like' Dave Hebb and his Dodge Bros. Racing Harley were home free as he opened up an eight-bikelength lead. But on lap nine, Tommy Maitland, Thompson, Durelle and Tim Mertens closed on Hebb.· Hebb got a good dri ve off turn [our to lead the pack down to the white £lag, but on the final lap the drafting and charging o[ Thompson, Maitland and Mertens took them to the [rom and they finished 1-2-3 in that order with Hebb a disappoimed fourth. Thompson hadn't seen the checkered [Jag as he was sandwiched by M'!.itland and Mertens at the finish line and he turned in one more hot lap all by himself to make sure. National A quick check of the grid revealed that Goodyear's return to dirt track racing was paying off as the majority o[ the riders had opted LO moum that firm's tires. All [our heat race winners had run Goodyear rear tires; Shobert and Carr had run Carlisles up [ront. Parker pulled the holeshot but pole-sitter Shobert had the lead as the field came roaring out o[ turn twO on the opening lap. Grabbing the most attention was Goss, who had blasted off of the third row and with a daring inside line had worked his way to fourth by the end o[ the initial lap. • Shobert led the first eight laps of the 25-lap race, but on lap nine he was dropped to fourth at the line as Graham, Chandler and Parker drafted by coming down the [rant straight. A four-man battle over the next few laps saw Shobert lead lap 10, Chandler hold the point at the line on laps II and 12, Shobert back 'in [rom on lap 13, Graham leadin.g laps 14 and 15, and Parker in from on lap 16. From that poim on it was flip a coin time as far as predicting a winner. Farris was the first rider LO drop out of the race. he was sidelined with a malfunctioning shift mechanism, and he was soon joined in the pits by Morehead when thl! Findlay Flyer's Harley quit on him when the two bolts holding the ignition unit on broke. Hames and Poovey also DNF, and Thompson was circulating very slowly, slow enough LO be lapped on lap 22. The order across the line on lap 23 read Shobert, Carr, Graham, Parker, Chandler, Goss and SCOll and the fight had the crowd screaming. Carr led the. pack imo turn three on the penultimate lap, but at the line it was Graham in [rant. The last furious charge around t.he oval saw Graham get a strong drive out of turn four and he headed for the, checkered [Jag knowing that everyone behind him would be attempting to draft by. As Graham's [mnt tire hit the finish line, Shobert and Carr had started LO pull by him on either side. Their charges came up inche short and Graham had scored his sixth Springfield Mile win. Graham, who admits that Springfield is his favorite track, said, "I have what you call privateer syndrome. After several years o[ being'a spoiled brat - a factory rider - it has taken me some time LO get my head on right. It really feels good to do this on my own. I've got only one big sponsor and that's Arai, but I also have some good product sponsor as well. "You can't back 0[[ in a race like the one we just ran. I was pretty sure I had it. Believe me, I needed this win real bad," said Graham. To which Shobert quipped, "Ricky sure did need this one. He JUSt bought a new motorhome and I think he just won enough to pay for it." Third-place finisher Carr said, "I had a shot at it. I almost got a good enough drive to get Ricky out of turn four, but I didn't quite make it." A quick look at the rear tires on the bikes o[ the LOp [our finishers was encouragi ng as the Goodyears on the top three finishers still had plenty of tread left, whereas fourth-place finisher Chandler's had been scuffed off three-quarters of the way around the left side. Junior National With most of the crowd long gone, the Junior class riders rolled out for time trials and Norco, California's Curtis Cannon posted fast time at 36.2 seconds. Two heat races were run and Bryan Villella LOok his Wood-Rotax to the win over Recil Hart and Eric Sassaman in the first, while Harley-mounted Bryan McDowell led Ted Taylor and Erik Graybeal across the finish line in the second. The Junior main was a two-rider show. Pole-sitter McDowell led the field across the line at the end of every lap of the 12-lap race, but he had his hands [ull holding off Cannon, who had to start on the back- row after having run outof gas in his heat race. In addition to his handicap start, Cannon had to erase from his mind the fact that he had broken his leg at this track last year. McDowell and Cannon finished a very close 1-2 and 21-year-old McDowell summed up the race by saying, "That was awesome!" Awesome indeed, as McDowell and Cannon's duel saw them log laps at over 100 mph and average 99.034 [or the 12 laps. • Results 25-LAP NATIONAL: 1. Ricky Graham (Hon); 2. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 3. Chris Carr (H-D); 4. Doug Chandler (Hon); 5. Scon Parker(H·D); 6. Hank Scott (Hon); 7. Randy Goss (H-D); 8. Sammy Sweet (H-D); 9. Ronnie Jones (Han); 10. Scott Pearson (H-O); 1 1. Peter Hook (H-D); 12. Tammy Kirk (H-D); 13. Roger Thompson (H-D); 14. Pete Hames (H-D); 15. Terry Poovey (Hon); 16. Steve Morehead (H-D); 17. Rod . Farris (Han). TIME: 14 min.. 33.271 sec. A.VERAGE SPEED: 103.06 mph. JUNIOR NATIONAL: 1. Bryan McDowell (H-D); 2. Curtis Cannon (H-D); 3. Brian Villella (Rtx); 4. Recil Hart (C-A); 5. Eric Sassaman (H-D); 6. Erik Graybeal (W-R); 7. RonWiliiams(H-D); 8. Steve Duff (H-D); 9. Don Myers(H-D); 10. James Faulkner (C-A); 11. Ted Taylor (H-D); 12. Brian Duncan (W-R). Average Speed: 99.034 mph. CAMEL PRO DIRTTRACK SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bubba Shobert (97); 2. Scon Parker (84); 3. Doug Chandler (65); 4. Chris Carr (60); 5. Ricky Graham (46); 6. Scott Pearson (42); 7. Steve Eklund (41); 8. Pete Hames (39); 9. Ted Boody (34); 10. (TIE) Randy Goss/Hank Scon (30). JUNIOR NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bryan McDowell (99); 2. Eric Sassaman (73); 3. Brian ViIlellaI6.5),£JLe..Washbon (46); 5. lad Taylor (43); 6. Bruce Johnson (41); 7. Frankie Garcia (40); 8. Brian Bonesteel (34); 9. Curtis Cannon (32); 10. (TIE) Robert Damron/Bobby McDowell 131 ). 7

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