Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

An early lap charge out of turn four is led by Pete Hames (32) with Chris Carr (20) on the outside and Ronnie Jones (16) playing catch-up. AMA Grand National Championshipl Camel Pro Series: Round 18 Shobert nips Graham at Springfield By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard SPRINGFIELD, IL, AUG. 31 Honda factory rider Bubba. Shobert led a sweep of the first seven finishing positions by H,onda riders in the $40,000 Springfield Mile. Defending Camel Pro champ Shobert .nipp~ two"time champ Ricky b' h h G ra m y inc es at teen d 0 f the 25-lap feature event at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Shonl1 bert earned $6980 for his day's work in the Illinois Motorcycle Dealers Association-promoted event. ·· h h I t seemed ':'" Iy fHtlng t at t e race would go nght down to the wIre be~ween Sh~bert and ~raham.. The pair .had arraved at .Indla~apohs the prevl.ous wee~end ued with a record 1.5 mIle race.wmseach. They left Indy tied. at.16 wms each~ both pu:kmg up a wm m,thelndy Mile d?ub!ehea~er. Shobert s VIctOry ~t Spnngfaeld g!ves hl~ sole p?ssesslOn of the alI-time m.'le race wm record With a total of 17 wm '. Thtrd spot, back out of the draft of the lea~mg ~u~, went to Freddie . Spe,ncer Racmg s Doug Chandler, while fourth fell to veteran Hank SCOll of the KK Motorcycle Supply AftermarketTeam. Gill/GF Racing's ~onnie Jones rounded out tbe top fave with Spots StX and seven gomg to Ted Boody and Alex Jorgensen, respectively. Time Trials 6 , Picture-perfect weather greeted the 67 entrants who took to the "black gumbo" mile oval at the start of practice. Two sessions of practice on what two-time Grand National Champion and three-time World Champion Kenny Roberts once described as "the world's fastest dirt" dropped thenumber of riders who took time trial laps to ~2. Notable .among the prlaeu~e sessIOn casu;alues was \':fary and s Rodney Far~ls ":~o h.eard. expe~lSIve c1ankmg nOIses mstde hiS Ed Ftsher Honda. The immaculately-groomed mile oval produced an unofficial fastestever lap of 106.041 mph, turned in during practice by 1985 Camel Pro Rookie of the Year Chris Carr aboard the Electro-Lawwill Harley-Davidson XR 750. . The track slowed by time trial time. and Oklahoman Ronnie Jones turned in tlie fastest lap at 35.230 seconds, just over 102 mph and no threat to Graham's Springfield record of 34.54 seconds, 104..2 mph, et in May of this year. Graham wa the second fastest qualifier at35.332, Carr thethird faste tat35.343 Pete Hames the fourth fastest at 35.380, and hobert rounded out the tOP (ive with a 35.534 lap. The 48th and final qualifier was Mik Inderbitzen with a 37.217 lap. Heats Veteran Steve Morehead pulled the holeshot with his Tex Peel-tuned, KK Aftermarket Team Harley-Davidson XR750 at the start of the first of four IO-Iap heats and then hooked up in a multi-rider dice involving the likes-of three-time Camel Pro champ Jay Springsteen, George Roeder II, Ronnie Jones, Tim Mertens and former champ Steve Eklund. The race narrowed down to a threeman fight and the checkered nag saw jones lead Mor-ehead across the line in a phOlo finish performance. Timer Gil Dosmegan resorted to the Cycle News Finish Line Camera arid was joined in scanning the videotape !:>y Morehead's tuner, Peel. When the proper (rame flashed on the' screen, Peel turned and holding the thumb and index finger of his right hand an inch apart signaled to announcer Dave Despain the margin jones had beaten his rider by. Springsteen finished third. David Durelle pulled the holeshot at the start of the second heat but he was passed by Hank SCOll on the opening lap. ScOll and Dan Ingram appeared to make contact in turns 1-2 at the beginning of the second lap and Scott was forced off the groove and dropped back to 10th. Graham led laps two through eight and appeared to be home free. But on the white flag lap Chandler surprised Graham as he eliminated the gap Graham had built up, hooked on to Graham's draft, and shot by him on the backstraight. Graham returned the favor, drafting by Chandler down the from straight and the win was Graham's by inches over Chandler. While Graham and Chandler got most of tbe large crowd's attention, Scon got hi hare as he worked his way from 10th on the second lap to third by lap six and held that position to the finish to transfer to the main. Heat number three provided the cij,y's most drama. It started and the.n temporarily ended when Don Howard jumped off in turn twO to bring out the red flag. Howard was uninjured and returned to the grid for the restart. The restart saw veteran Terry Poovey and his Hud Racing- Honda, the only Honda in the heat, take the holeshot only to see Carr take the lead with a draft pass down the backstraight. The pair hooked up in a lead-swapping duel and they were joined by Don Estep and Scott Parker for a four-man run to the checkered flag. Parker slipped off the groove a couple of time, but managed to rejoin the pack each time. The checkered flag waved and it was Carr across the line first and then Estep who had out-foxed Poovey and Parker on the last lap. Poovey took third and Parker was semi-bound in fourth place, While the race was over, the drama continued as Carr coasted to a halt on the cool-off lap and began to push his bike. "A gear let go and destroyed the transmission," said Carr as former Grand National Champion Mert Lawwill began tbe task of replacing the XR750's gearbox. Pulling imo the pits, Poovey and his crew discovered that his Honda had blown a head gasket and they scratched from the main. The fourth and final heat lurned into a romp by Shobert after he and Hames diced for the first six laps. It appeared as though Shobert clicked on an afterburner after Hames led the sixth lap and that was that - Shobert was long gone. Hames held second to , the flag, bu t th ird was in question right down to the [inal lap. Veteran Alex jorgensen was the man in that spot when the checkered flag waved, having beaten Peter Hook and twotime champ Randy Goss to the line. Semis The first of two 10-lap semis that would transfer the first two finishers (rom each to the alional produced a five-rider duel with Eklund, Mertens, Durelle, Roeder and Tommy Maitland handling the mechanized swords. They finished in that order but for Eklund it didn't come easy as he slipped 'the groove on at least two occasions and had to use all his savvy to pull off the win. Hook led the field across the line at the end of the first lap of the .second semi and then took part in a fourrider .duel with Harley factory rider Parker, ScotlAdamsand Boody. Parker led laps four through nine, butthe lap that COUIllS was led by Boody and his College Bike Shop Honda. Parker took second to transfer to the main while Hook, in third, and Adams, in fourth, were headed for the Last Chance Qualifier. Last Chance Qualifier It was the second g-eneration-racinli:

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