Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Junior National winner Bryan Villella (cent er) is flanked by third place fin isher Kev in Atherton (left) and run ner-up Darell Dav is (right). Ted Boody (1 2 ) and Rich King (80) hit the finish line at the end of the Last Chance Qua lifier in what was truly a photo finish . Timer Gil Dosmegan rev iew s the Cycle News Fin ish Line Camera's tape after the LCQ; it showed King edged Boody by less than an inch. Junior Final The Ju nio r program saw WoodRot ax rider Dar ell Davis turn in th e fastest q ualifying lap, a 37.49 1second tour of the mile ova l, but it was Scott Stump, on the Smi tty's Harley- Davidso n- bac ked XR 750 who wo n the first o f two heats over ' Erik Graybea l, Kevin Atherton a nd Davis. Wood-Rorax-mounted Bryan Villell a wo n the secon d hea t over Chance Darl in g and Craig H owar d. Stump led the firs t four laps of th e 12-lap fina l, bu t Vill ell a took the lead for good on the fifth la p , a la p tha t saw G ra ybea l dro p ou t of the race with mechan ica l p robl em s. Ville lla p ulled away fro m Stu m p, whose Harley so unded as if it were misfiring, a nd ro m pe d home the winner by four seconds. Once Stum p slip ped back to fo urt h, wh ere he · would fin ish, Davi s and Atherton di ced rig h t down to th e finish line over seco nd p lace. T hat spot went to Davis by in ch es. R on Wo o d /Hi -Point/ Sh o e i/ Cam-2/D ia m ond-b a ck ed Vi llella, who was a lso sporting a KK After market Racin g Team lo go on hi s lea thers, sai d, " Win ni ng sure feels good. My arms were getti ng tired from holdin g it wide open." National Wh ile no one was ab le to crack th e 100 mph barrier in tim e tria ls, the track had been wa tered p rior to the start of the 25-lap Natio na l a nd . a ll pred icted it wo u ld be faster th an it had been in the qual ifyin g races . Pol e sitter Shobert p u t his R.S. T a ich ilBel llDenn is Kirk /Kerk er H onda on the lin e, th ree spots in fro m the gra ndstand wall. Occupying the front row with Shobert were Filice, Poo vey, G raham, Mert en s and Park er. Sho bert led th e " Rolli ng T h u nder Sho w" o ff the lin e a nd arou nd th e mi le oval on the first la p, closel y foll owed b y P ark er , Me rt en s, Cha nd ler , Jones, Graham , Filice, Pearson and the rest of the field. Sho bert slipped o ff the groove in turns one- two a t the beginning o f the seco nd lap but recove red masterfull y a nd pulled back in to lin e in thi rd . Par ker led Cha nd ler, Shobert, C raham , Mertens, J ones a nd Felice across th e line at the en d of la p two. Lap three sa w th e beg inn ing of race- lo ng cha nges in the froill ru nni ng pos itions with Pa rker holdi ng the edge at the lin e at the end of laps th ree and fou r, a nd Sho bert in fron t - narrowly - on laps five th rough 10. La p five saw Ham es slow and then sto p on the back straigh t, o u t of the . ra ce wi th mechan ica l p rob lems. " You co uld say it was a bad da y for Gardner Ra cing," said Ham es' tea mma te Eklu nd who had been side li ned earlier in the da y wi th simi lar p ro blems. Lap 10 saw Springs teen pu ll into the pits wit h sus pected p isto n fai lure. G ra ha m led lap I I, fo llowed closely by Sho bert a nd Parker: with Cha nd ler ru nning fourth , Poovey fifth , and Pea rson six th, followed by Mertens, Scott, J ones, J or gen sen , Fi lice, Durel le, Ra iney, Kin g a nd T ex ter. Graham contin ued to lead at the li ne a t the end o f th e next seven la ps wh ile Par ker a nd Shobert argued over seco nd . Beh ind the front ru nn in g trio, Sco tt, Pearson, C ha nd ler, Poovey a nd Merten s were hook ed u p in a pos itio n swa ppi ng du el th at was narrow ed do wn to four riders whe n Cha nd ler dro p ped o u t o n lap 18. " I do n't rea lly know wh at happen ed ," sai d Chand ler. " It started slo wi ng down a nd the n it felt like it was tiein g up , so I p u lled off." On lap 19 Sho bert a nd Parker dropped Grah am to third. Mert en s crossed th e line in fourth , just in fro n t of Sco tt, Pearson a nd Poo vey. La p 20 sa w Durelle dro p o u t with suspected cl u tch failure. • Durin g th e fin a l five laps it became ap paren t th at th e race would be decided in a fin al la p run for th e flag. Parker a nd Shobert seeme d to hold a n edge o n G rah am , wh o nonetheless hung right in with them o n th e straig hts a nd in th e corners. Behind the front runners, the fig h t for fourth never let up as Pearson, Poovey, J on es, Mertens a nd Scott swa pped positio ns in a tig h t pack. Parker led Shobert a nd G raham across th e line at th e end o f th e 24th lap a nd the chess ga me was o n. As th e three dove into turn three, a ttem pt ing to set up one another for the last. dash down the front straigh t, a ll hell brok e loose in tu rn fo ur. Wa yne Rainey's rear tire exp loded, litter in g th e turn with lar ge ch u n ks of rubber. . . " I tho ugh t a rim had exp loded," sa id a still wide-eyed Ra iney , 10 minutes after the inci den t. " I thin k I sensed the tire was go ing flat a few laps earlier a nd I had obvio us ly slo wed down . Look at th e hunks (which h is crew had co llec ted o ff th e trac k a fter the race), I hadn 't even scru bbed mu ch rubber off it. Can you bel ieve that?" Ca lli ng o n a ll hi s experience and natural riding a bility, Ra iney kept th e slewi ng Ho nda up on two wh eels a nd p u lled o ff th e track j ust as Park er, Sho bert a nd G ra ha m came barreling th rough turn fou r. At the line it was Parker the wi nner , Sho be rt seco n d by 15 feet , a nd G raha m third. Fourth, wh ich belonged to H ank Sco tt a t the end of the previous lap , went to Pear son, with Poovey, J ones, Mertens and Sco tt, dropped to eigh th on the last lap, foll owin g him across the lin e. Pa rker took a victory lap wi th th e chec kered flag th rus t high and one cou ld a lmost hea r him screa mi ng over the roar of the crowd a nd the sound of his engine. Once he go t to the win ner's ci rcle a nd near a mi cropho ne the ent ire 'sta te of Illinois p rob abl y hea rd his victory whoops. " Bitchin ' ! J ust bitchin' I If I can ride arou nd a track wide open, well that's just bitchin '!" screamed Parker. " I decided to follow 'em in the middle laps and the n give 'em hell a t the en d ," co n ti n u ed P a rk er, adding, "And I did, didn't I?" T he cro wd roared it' s approval. " I wa nt to th a nk Will ie Werner my tu ner, a nd Al Stang ler who helped us ou t today . Harley-Da vidson for ever !" Tires were the main su bjec t a t the . post-race p ress conference, but the top thr ee fin ishers said they had had no rea l prob lem wi th thei r tir es. In fact , Parker 's rear tire - a Goody ear, as were th e othe rs - was the o ne th at sho wed the most wear and it still had a handfu l of la ps rem ain ing. " Sure, we saw the hu nks from Rainey's tire when we ca me through . the last turn," said Parker. G raham added , "T ha t wo uld have worried me if we still had some left to run ." Shobert said, " If we're wearin g o u t tires we can sme ll rubber and I didn 't sme ll any rubber burning tod a y." • Resu lts 25- LAP NATIONAL : 1. Scott Parker (H- D); 2. Bubba Shobert (Han); 3 . Ricky Graham (Han); 4 . Scott Pearson (Han); 5 . Terry Poovey (Han); 6. Ronn ie Jo nes (Han); 7 . Tim M ertens (Han); 8 . Hank Scon (Han); 9 . Alex Jorgensen (Han); 10 . Jim Filice ( H- D~ 11 . Rich King (Han ); 12 . Randy Texter (HD); 13. W ayne Rainey (Han); 14. Dave Durell e (HD); 15. Dou g Chandl er (Han); 16 . Jay Springsteen (H· D); 17 . Pete Hames (H-D). 12- LA P J UNIOR NATIONA L: 1. Bry an Villella (VoIR); 2. Dar ell Davis (W -R); 3. Kevin Atherton (VoIR); 4. Scott St ump (H· D); 5. Craig Howard (W- R); 6 . Jon Nunez (H· D); 7. Gr eg Logue (Rtx); 8. Recil Hart (Rtx); 9. M ichael Scott (Rtx); 1D. William New kirk (Han); 11. Er ik Gr aybeal (W -R); 12 . Chance Darling (H-D). AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHA M PIONSHIP DIRT TRACK SERIES POINT STA NDINGS : 1. (TIE) Bubba Shobert /Scott Parker (52); 3. Doug Chandler (50); 4. Ricky Graham (37); 5 . Terry Poovey (36); 6 . Ronni e Jones (32); 7. Chris Carr (31) ; 8 . Scott Pearson 1 6); 9 . A lexJorgensen (23 ); 10 . Ted 80 0dy 2 (16); 1 1. Rich King (14 ); 12. (TIE) J immy Filice/ Steve Mo rehea d (11); 14 . (TIE) Don Estep /Pete Hames 1 16 . (TIE) Hank Scott / Tim M ert ins (8 ); 9); 18 . (TIE) Rodn ey Farr is/Aaron Hill (6); 20 . (TIE) Sammy Sweet /Keith Day (4 ), JU NIOR NATIONA L POIN T STAN DI NGS: 1. Bry an Vi lle lla (7 1); 2. Darr ell Davis (45); 3. Eric Gray beal (36) ; 4, Scott Stump (3 5); 5 . Steve Ase lt ine (34) ; 6 . Craig Howard (31) ; 7. M ark Corsett i (26 ); 8 . Chance Dar lin g (24); 9 . Jo n Nunez (23); 10 . Kenneth Nett o (19); 11 . Kevin Athert on (13); 12. Randy Fisher (12); 13 . (TIE) Bobby M cDoweli / Don nie Harr ell /Eric Gr een (9); 16 . mE) A nth on y A lves/G reg Logue (8); 18 . Recil Hart (7); 19. (TIE) ~ Tony Holdsclaw / M ichael Scott (6).

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