Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Boody was the fourth fastest on his new.fioI'lGa, with ... time of.yj. . "I wanted fast time," Graham said later. "You can run 'er in high right now, but you have LO be real careful. I played itLOo safe; I could have hung it Oul a liule more, but we're Lhird and thal's good." Bubba Shobert (1) leads Hank Scott (14), Ricky Graham (3), Jay Springsteen (9) and Ronnie Jones (16) in the night running of the Indy Mile; Shobert took off to a two-second win over the field. The battle for second between Scott (14) and Graham (3) was the only race up front after Shobert disappeared shortly after the halfway mark. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 16 It's Shobert by a mile at Indy opener By Paul Carruthers Photos by Bert Shepard INDIANAPOLIS, IN, AUG. 23 Ho-hum. Team Honda's Bubba Shobert turned what is usually close mile racing into a sleeper tonight, beating KK Supply's Hank Scott and privateer Ricky Graham by over two seconds in the opener of the twin Indy Miles held on a h'II . '. C ~ YnIght at the IndIana State Falrgrounds, 't 1\ J l;j ..... ',' I' I I hobe.rt was untouchable in the 25lap National. He LOok the lead for good on the 11th lap, streaked away from the pack, and was never challen~ed. Harley-mounted Scou and Honda-mounted Graham had a racelong duel [or second that went to the wire, with Scou getting the nod at the line. In his best-ever mile finish, Hondamoumed Ronnie Jones rode a somewhat lonely race to finish fourth. Fifth place went to Harley-Davidson's Scon Parker, over a tight-knit group made up o[ Doug Chandler, Ted Boody, Randy Goss and Jay Springsteen. In the race for the NationaJ Championship, Shobert added even mOTe padding to his already cushy point lead, which is slowly becorningalmost untouchable. His challenger coming inLO the Indy opener was 19-year-old Chris Carr, but the Harley pilot finisheda lowly 11th. Shobert now leads Carr by a whopping 56 points, with Parker another II points back in third place. The AMA made sure they wouJdn't have a repeat episode o[ Shobert's run-LO-the-nag weave at DuQuoin (Shobert criss-crossed his way down the front straight in an effort to hold 0[[ a drafting Carr). Be[ore the race, o[[icials told riders that they would be watching both the [ront and back straights. ''I'm glad they warned them," Carr said. "We all want a clean race and it's not fun LO get cut off at 130." The AMA also announced that the Juniors wouldn't run in the night race, but would see action in Sunday's day edition of the twin billing. The expected return to mile racing by road racer Wayne Rainey never materialized. A chassis sat naked in Ted Boody's pits (Rainey had worked a deal LO use it while supplying the motor), but apparently a motor wasn't finished in time. Qualifying The Indy track showed signs o[ being quick in practice. An extralarge [ield o[ 76 entries laid down a wide, ridable groove, and when quali[ying began, the track lived up to its promise. Alex Jorgensen surprised the paddock when he £lew through the timing lights Wilh a 37.1681ap on his R8cB Harley-Davidson to take fast time. Second fastest on the night was Carr's 37. I74-second lap, and privateer Graham was next at 37.258. Ted Heats II wasn't a good night for pole sitters in the heat race ,and the bad luck started early for [ast-qualifier Jorgensen. Jorgy was involved in a threerider crash in turn three on the opening lap o[ heat race one. The other crashers were Scon Pearson and David Miller, but all were okay. Jorgensen's crew wem about the task o[ repairing his bent bike (a pew set o[ exhaust pipes were [itted), but the job wasn't done in lime and Jorgy was yanked off the grid. . "Well I guess I wasn't out on time," a calm-under-the-circumstances Jorgensen said. Pearson rejoined the fray when Harley's Jay Springsteen grabbed the holes hot on the restart. Nine laps later, Springer led Tammy Kirk and Dave Hebb across the line [or direct tickets to the National. Early second place man Randy Texter coasted into the pits on lap eight; Don Estep also su[[ered mechanical ills and was seen coasting in turns three and four. The second heat didn't give any reprieve to the pole siuer. Carr started out in third place, but ended the race [ifth and would have to go to the semi. Meanwhile Doug Chandler, Steve Eklund and Lance Jones were doing batlle up £Tont with the lead constamly changing. Suddenly, however, Scon (KK Supply Aftermarket Team/Bob Donabedian) joined in, drafted past the leaders on the last lap and LOok the win. Chandler finished second with Jones, Eklund and Carr rounding out the top five. Heat two was a [ull two second faster than heat one. Graham turned in a spectacular performance in the third heal. After jumping the gun on the fiTSt anempt at the start, Graham wa demoted to the third row. A start line tangle [01lowed with Keith Day tumbling down the front straighl. On the second re_ start Graham (Honda!ArailBeI-Rayl Tsubaki/ND) was fourth inLO turn one and took the lead [or good [our laps later. Graham took a 2.1 second win over Ronnie Jones with Don Howard third. Rodney Farris was bauling with Graham and Jones when he crashed in turn three on the fifth lap. Even starting [rom the back, Graham's heat was the [as test at that point; he completed his 10 laps in six minutes, 16.972 seconds. That, however, was before Shobert and Randy Goss struued the.ir stu[[ in the fourth and [inaJ heal. II was Boody leading the pack in turn one with Parker, Gos and Shobert following. Shobert moved imo second on the second lap with Goss now in fronl. The Honda [acLOry pilot took the lead on lap five, surrendered it to Goss on lap six, and ootained it for good on lap seven. Parker finished third with Boody fourth and Morehead fifth. The Shobert/Goss duel turned the timers at6: 16.662, making it the fastest heat o[ the nighl. Semis Carr switched from a rear Goodyear to a Continental [or the semi. The race was quickly red-nagged when Brian Atherton and Peter Hook collided shortly after the light turned green. Eklund grabbed the holeshot on the restart with Carr following, Pearson soon moved into third, but his race ended on the 'seventh lap when his bike broke. Carr closed the gap on Eklund (Arai/CastrollGardner Racing), but I 01 ~ I i I

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