Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126919
Steve Eldund (8) beat Shobert in the beet; Tom Maitland (301 topped Jay Springst..... (9). Bubba Shobert led the main event from wire-to-wire at the "Thunder in the Hills" Parkersburg Half Mile. Harley-Davidson-mounted Chris Carr did his best to reel Shobert in during the feature race. but the defending champ refused to yield. ' AMA Grand National Championshlp/ Camel Pro Series: Round 11 Shobert shows 'em at Parkersburg HM By Farren Williams Photos by Bert Shepard PARKERSBURG, WV, JULY 19 American Honda's Bubba Shobert took a wire-to-wire win over Chris Carr during the inaugural running of West Virginia's "Thunder in the Hills," AMA/Camel Pro Series half mile. Shobert felt nagging pressure I from California's Carr for most of the 20-lap feature race, but managed to edge away from the H-D Motor Co.lLawwill/Electro Heavy Equipment/RS Taichi-sponsored rider in the final few laps of the main event. Maryland's Rodney Farris, ridingan Ed Fisher/Mach' Racing/Gary Nixon/Mike Sponseller/Nolanponsored Honda, came oU a £rontrow stan to follow the front-running duo home in third, holding of[ a strong, race-long challenge from Oklahoma's Ted Boody. Fifth place went to former National champion Steve Eklund of California. The Camel ProChampionshiphal£ mile was the first-ever National-caliber din track competition held at the new $2 million West Virginia Motor Speedway facility. Temporary, ponable lights were brought in so the race could be run at night, and approximately 5000 spectators paid to see the show. , "I've finally matured into a hal£miler," Shobert said after the race. '" knew , had to get a good start. , was worried after my heat race because second place could have given me a back-row start. Luckily' was in the second-fastest heat and got a frontrow start - then I got the holeshot. " Carr came 0(£ the front row right behind Shoben and Farris, disposed of Farris on lap six, then spent 14 long laps in a vain attempt to find some way around the defending National champ. "I kind of got tired toward the end and couldn't get the bike to do what I wanted it to," Carr said. "Eventually (Shoben) just got away from me. The guy's hard to beat. He always seems to be tough come main event time." The night's big loser was factory Harley rider Scott Parker, who failed to qualify for the National main event when the engine blew on his XR750 during the evening's first heat race. Shoben's win, ,coupled with Parker's bad luck, gave the defending national champ a 153-128 lead over Parker in the Came-I Pro Series point standings; Carr is third in the standings with 110 points. The long-awaited Camel Pro Series debut of Continental's wide-bodied Conti/Blitz dirt track tire had little impact on the evening's racing, but that didn't stop the new tire from sparking controversy. During the riders' meeting, veteran tuner Tex Peel suggested recent AMA approval of the tire be rescinded, and asked that the tire be banned. He said the wide-bodied construction of the Conti/Blitz makes it impossible to use the tire on Harley-Davidson or Wood-RolaX motorcycles without extensive swingarm and/or suspension modifications. Since the tire will bolt right into a stock Honda frame, Peel said the use of the tire could give Honda riders an unfair advantage. Continental tire representative Wes Cooley admitted the Conti/Blitz is O.200-inch wider than Carlisle's AMAapproved dirt track tire, but he insisted his company's tire was not designed to give Honda riders an undue advantage. "We never intended to upset anybody," Cooley said. "We never intended for the tire to be a problem for the Harley-Davidson riders. We did our testing with Honda because they were willing to wear out motors testing the tire. It's designed for the mile because that's where the problem (of excessive tire wear) is. We've tried to develop a tire that will go 25 laps without wearing to the cord. The AMA should have written tire widths into the rules; there is no such rule." The Conti/Blitz made fiule impact at Parkersburg. After one practice session around the smooth, wide, race track, designed primarily for stock cars, almost every rider in the field who had Continentals on his motorcycle switched to Goodyears. Time Trials Chad Felicio of California set a fast qualifying time of 25.137 seconds aboard his RBR Serv/ShoeilHiPointiKaI-Gard/ND Harley-Davidson. Honda-mounted Farris stopped the timers at 25.321 to claim the second-fastest lap, and Doug Chandler of California made the third fastest circuit on his Freddie Spencer Racing/SuperTrapp Honda, stopping the clock at 25.549 seconds. Rounding out the heat-race polesiuers was Ohio's Don Estep, who took fourthfastest time at 25.579. The 48th and final rider to make the program from a field of 57 Experts was Harleymounted Robert Sw~ten; his cut-off time was 26.458 seconds. Fast Junior qualifier was Ted Taylor, who completed one lap in 26.066 seconds. Heats Felicio passed Parker on the back chute during the initallap of the first 10-lap heat race, but immediately threw it away in turn three, bringing out the red flag. Felicio's bad luck continued when he rejoined the grid but was moved to the penalty line when officials ruled he attempted to jump the light on the restart.