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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126951
Steve Morehead clinched the series with one round to go. Ted Boody (121. Will Davis (21 I. Terry Poovey (181 and Steve Morehead come off the starting line. "Wild Wi"" Davis won the second night of Junior/Expert short· track racing,at Memorial Stadium in Daytona Beach. Wiseco/Spectro DT Series M,orehead clinches' Daytona title By Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 8 KK Motorcycle Supply's· Steve Morehead clinched the $10,000 WisecolSpectro Daytona Dirt Track Series championship with a fifth place finish as "Wild Will" Davis took the win on the second night of Junior/Expert short track . . raCIng a t Memona1 Starn urn. Morehead earned the $4000 top prize with one round to go in the eight-race series when he finished fifth and Rodney Farris, second in the points going into tonight, finished fourth in his scratch heat and failed to advance to the main program. Morehead, on the Tex Peeltuned AD600R, ended the evening with 90, points to Farris's 69 with Sammy Sweet, seventh tonight, third with 59. Shoei/Hap Jones/Portco. Sprockets-sponsored Terry Poovey fought his way to second on the AI Lamb Honda with Lhirdgoing toTed Boody on the College Bike Shop(Arai/Fox Racmgmount. D~rell DaVIS, theonly Jumor In the l2-nder mam, fImshed fourth. - Ronnie Jones, who'd won the previous night's main event, was off to a rough start, with a connecting rod failure in practice. After installing a spare500cc·engine-hedidn'thavea spare 600cc engine - he was leading the first of eight he.ats when the· motor blew .in turn three on the last lap leaving a trail afoil. Dave Durelle went on to the win. Poovey took the second, and 'fastest, heat win. Kirk Strong, WiPl" Davis, Darell Davis, Rusty Rogers, and Dan Ingram won the third through seventh heats, respectively. Ted Boody won the final heat on the top of the groove after being forced high in a. turn one squeeze and making it work. "It worked in the heat,let's hope it stays that way," Boody said. The first semi was a two-rider duel with Poovey pressuring Ingram all the way with Sammy Sweet doing the same to RJ Thompson. Poovey's drive to the checkereq flag out of turn four gave him a narrow win over Ingram. Sweet made his move squeezing under an angry Thompson going into turn one on the white flag lap to take third. Will Davis used the dtive out of turn four to pass Darell Davis on the fifth lap of the second semi for the victory. George Richtmeyer was the third, and final, .transfer tq the 12rider main from this semi. Morehead was on the second row pole in the third semi, but scooted into third off the start behind Boody and Rusty Rogers. He passed Rogers at the start-finish line at the.half-way point and finished about 40 yards behind Boody with Rogers hanging' onto third. Steve Eklund briefly led the fourth semi before slipping back, while Kirk Strong moved up and took over the lead. Strong held on to the end with Dave Hebb second and Eklund third. Strong jumped the light in the final. and was sent to the penalty line . leaving a five-man front row with Boody on the pole an'd Will Davis at his side. On the second start. Will Davis jumped into the lead followed by Boody on the outside and Darell Davis third ahead of Morehead, Poovey and Sweet. Poovey took over fourth on the third lap with a better drive than Morehead out of tbe fourth corner. "There was a little more rubber on the outside in four," Poovey explained. Boody pressed Davis until the sixth lap when he bobbled in the middle of turns three afld four and Davis pulled . away. On the next lap Poovey went under Darell Davis going into turn one with Davis sliding toward the hay bales. "He slammed mecomingintoone,': . Davis said, but Poovey disagreed. "I don't think I hit him. It was clean," he·said. On the 10th of 14 laps, Poovey made his next move slipping under Boody exiting four as Davis cruised to ~he win. The order at this point read Will Davis,.Poovey, Boody, and DareU Davis with Morehead in fifth from the third lap. The order wouldn't change although Darell Davis made an unsuccessful bid for third. "I tried going under him up there," Davis said pointing towards turns three and four, "And I hit his rear tire and almost went down." Poovey, who hadn't made the main thl; previous night, found that part of the problem was mechanical. "We changed tbe camshaft. It pulled out. of the comers last nigbt, but it wasn't. fast enough. I was just trying hard tonight and it worked." An ignition problem had hampered Will Davis on Thursday night and he said that once that was fixed "'Everything worked great. The groove was a little wider tonight and it all came together. I have my dad, Avery Davis, to thank for this and Harris Merritt also,"the Shoei-sponsored Davis said.• Results JR/EX: 1. Willis Davis (H·D); 2. Terry PooVey (Han); 3. Ted Boody (H·D); 4. Darell Davis (W·R); 5. Steve Morehead (H·DI; 6. Dan Ingram (H·D); 7. S,!!!,.my Sweet (H-DI; B. Rusty Rogers (H-D); 9. Dave Hebb (H·D); 10. Steve Eklund (H·D); 11. George Ichtmeyer (W·R); 12. Kirk Strong (Han). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Steve Moreheed (90); 2. Rodney Farris (69); 3. Sammy Sweet (59); 4. Ronnie Jones (57); 5. Ted Boody (51); 6. Pete Hames (48); 7. (TIE) Dan IngramlTerry Poovey (421; 9. SconAdams (271; 10. (TIE) Brian Atherton/Billy Herndon (26). Jones takes Memorial Sta'dium short track By'Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 5 Defending Daytona Dirt Track Series Champion Ronnie Jones won the opening J unior/ExpeIt Short Track at Memorial Stadium. The GF Racing/ShoeilMegacyde/ KnighUStump Insurance-sponsored Jones had the fastest beat and semi, and' was never challenged in the main,' the sixth round of the din track series. Darell Davis, one of the two Jun- . iorsin the main, was second and SCOl[ Adams was third. . Steve Morehead, who finished fifth in his semi and failed to transfer to the main, still leads the series point standings with 80. Second is tonight's sixth-place finisher Rodney Farris with 69 and Jones moves into third with 57. Playing before a near sell-out on a chilly 50 degree night, Jones was one of seyen National numbers to post heat wins. Kirk Strong, Chris Carr, Farris, Sammy Sweet, Pete Hames, and Ted Boody also took heat wins. The 'Ione non-National numbe.r to . win a heat was Junior Darell Davis whose heat race win was the third fastest. The top three in the four lO-rider, eight-lap semis would advance to the main. J ones went £lag-to-flag in the first semi with Adams riding the high line to second around third-place Farris who moved' up to the top to fend off Terry Poovey for the final transfer from this race.