Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Doug Chandler (centerl poses with family and crew after winning his second straight Hinsdale TT at Santa Fe Speedway in Illinois. Junior National winner Bryan McDowell (20YI powers away from runnerup Dan Butler (71 xl and Dallas Mayer early in Junior mai~ event action. Ronnie Jones (161 prassured Alex Jorgensen for second. but was lucky to finish third when his engine went sour during the final laps. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 13 Chandler chews 'em up at Santa Fe TT By Farren Williams Photos by Bert Shepard Time Trials HI SDALE. IL, AUG 3 California's Doug Chandler looked into his dirt track history book, pulled out a tire that was supposed to be obsolete, and used his unconventional· choice of rubber to run away from the field at the Camel Pro Series 'IT National at Santa Fe Speedway. In an attempt to gain some 14 hook-up on the surface of Santa Fe's traction less 3/4-mile TT circuit, Chandler gambled by fitting an oldtime Carlisle Universal to the rear of his Freddie Spencer/SuperTrapp RS 600 Honda, and his gamble paid off in a big way. The ancient Carlisle tread pattern - combined with Chandler's aggressive, throttle-up, slide-itsideways-through-the-sweeper riding style - earned the Californian his second Santa Fe TT. win in a row. The victory made Chandler the second "We were the only twO guys who tried the Universal," jorgensen said. "We took a gamble and it paid off. I thought we should have had a better track today, but it worked out good for me - I can't complain." But most riders did complain. The lack of traction and excessive dust prompted two-time Hinsdale winner Chandler to describe the track as "terrible." AMA Eastern Referee Duke Olliges agreed. "I asked for more (calcium) chloride (to be put on the track to hold moisture in the surface), but it's not working," Olliges said. "It's terrible. If it geLS too dusty, I definitely will stop the race." Today's TT competition did little to change the complexion of the battle for the National Championship. Camel Pro Series Point leader Bubba Shobert failed to qualify for the National when his factory Honda threw a chain while he was running second in the day's fastest heat race, and Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker, who is second in the standings, failed to capital ize on Shobert's misfortune. Parker crashed in turn one on the· first lap of the main event, possibly fracturing his left thumb, and picked up only one point on Shobert when he remounted and finished 14th; Shobert leads Parker 173-139 in the standings. Chris Carr, who finished eighth at Hinsdale, is third in the standings with 133 points, and Chandler is fourth with 112 points. rider in AMA history to capture backto-back wins at Hinsdale; the first was Steve Eklund, who won the race consecutively in 1978 and 1979. Alex jorgensen, another northern Californian and the only other rider in the 15-rider field who chose to use Carlisle's Universal, finished second on a Wood-Rotax. Oklahoma's Ronnie jones, who nearly blew his engine in the final five laps, nursed his ailing Honda home to take a very lucky third. "Alex and me were the only ones to use those tires," Chandler said. "They worked good, but they went away in the end. This stuff isn't the funnest stuff in the world to ride on." Shobert was the fastest rider around Santa Fe's slippery speedway. He stopped the time trial clock at 41.034 seconds to earn the pole position in the night's first heat. Other heat race pole-sitters included Carr, who powered his Ron Wood-prepared 600cc Wood-Rotax single to a second fast time of 41.423 seconds; Pete Hames, who qualified third fastest at 41.604; and former National Champion Steve Eklund, who rounded out the top four with a 4 I. 685-second time. The fastest junior to qualify was jeff jones, who turned the timersat43.020 seconds. Heats Mickey Fay jumped into the lead at lhe start of the firsl 10-lap heal race, with Shoben and Roger Thompson in tow. Shobert took the lead with an infield pass on lap three, but lost his drive chain landing off the first of two infield jumps one lap later. He rolled the chain back onto the sprockets of his bike and restarted, but finished well back in 10th .place - one position short of a semi berth. Fay won the heat, while Chandler moved from fourth a t the start to second at the flag. Canadian jon Cornwell finished third over Keith Day; Thompson faded to sixth, behind Rich King. Scott Pearson took the holeshot over Carr in the second Expert heat race. Pearson held off Carr for three laps, but lost the lead when he bobbled powering into the infield at the beginning of lap four, and Carr immediatley pounced on the opportunity. Pearson pressured Carr for a couple of laps, but slipped to third place on lap six when Randy Green picked him off in the infield. Carr collected the win over a hard-charging Green, while Pearson finished a distant third. Scott Adams and Doug Davis rounded out the top five.. Dan Ingram led Pete Hames, sponsored by Gardner Racing/Arai/HiPoint/HoD, off the line and through the infield at the beginning of the third Expert heat, but the order was reversed by the time the duo raced through the sweeper and onto the front straight. jones, who was third off the line, pressured Ingram in the early going, then passed him on lap five to take over second. Hames opened a big gap to take a very comfortable win over jones, who finished with as much comfort over third place Ingram. Terry Poovey held fourth from flag to flag; Tim Mertens finished fifth. Two-time National Champion Ricky Graham - riding a WoodRotax borrowed from Don Estep after the engine blew on his own RS600 Honda during practice - led everyone into the first turn of the fourth Expen heat. His ride came to an abrupt halt, however, when secondrunning Parker dumped his factory Harley hard as the duo entered the infield, taking out Graham in the process. A few seconds later, jorgensen and three-time National Champion jay Springsteen tangled and went down going over the first jump, and the race was red-flagged. Eklund, backed by Arai/Castroll Gardner/Hi-PoinLlH-D, took control al the restart and led the race from wire-to-wire. Parker was second off the line and chased the Gardner racing pilot for eight laps, but surrendered second to a determined jorgensen on lap nine. Graham argued over fourth with first-year Expert Wink Freitas for the first few laps, but got by for good on lap five. At the checkers, Eklund led jorgensen, (sponsored by Pioneer Truck Lines/HiPoint/Swrz/Diamond/Barnett/ Works Perf.), Parker, Graham. Freitas, and Springsteen.

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