Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126965
fourth fast est with a 36.338 lap on h is Freddie Spe ncer/ Su per'Tra p p , Racing H onda, a nd Chris Carr on th e Mert La ww ill Harley was fifth fastest a t 36.378. Roundin g o ut the to p 10 qualifiers were Terry Poo vey, G raham , Alex J or gensen , Dan In gr am a nd Ronnie J ones. Heats Third place f in isher Ricky Graham. winner Scott Parker and runner-up Bubba Shobert celebrate. By J ac k Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard mechani cal p robl em s th at had pl agued' him as early as in hi s heat race. Ch andler, who " finished" in 15th p lace, is th ird in th e point sta ndings with 50 po ints. T he' Golden Anniversary Springfield Mil e o ffered th e racers th e la rgest dirt track p urse o f the seaso n a nd Pa rker took ho me the lion's sha re o f the S38,000 Expert portion o f the 40,000 purse. Parker earned S80 I0, incl uding con tingency money fro m H arl ey, AMA performa nce in centive bon us cash, a nd lap leader awa rds. R unner-u p Shobert earned S3725 plus la p lead er money, a nd Gra ha m pocketed 2595 plu s la p leader cas h . SP R ING FIE L D, IL, MAY 24 Time Tria ls AMA Grand National Championship Dirt Track Series: Round 4 Parker hogs spotlight at Springfield Mile '. "I've -come h ere and fin ished third, fourth and so on, but today was my day," said Scott .Parker after winning the 50th Anniversary Springfield Mile. The Harley-Davidson/ 10 B ell / C o o r s / T s u b a k i - kept go ing faster. I flunked ma th in school, bu t I thi ~k. it was abo~ t five s po nso r e d Mi chig an ' rider ' s . I d w as laps befor e the fini sh th a t I sli p ped Win ~as a p opu a r o n e a ? was th e groove and he ha d th e edge." th e fir st b y a H a rl e y nder at Par ker's win a nd Sho bert's seco nd Sp ringfie ld since Ri cky ,G ra ha m put them in a tie for the Gran d . I in October , 1983. Nat ion al C ha m pionshi p po int ran d Na tio na l Cha m p io n Bub ba sta nd ings lead wi th 52 points each . rert finished a clos e seco nd with Dou g Cha nd ler, who held th e points ',~ ' .. ier champ Ricky Gra ham third. lead goi ng in to the race, was in the Shobert paid tri bu te to Parker: " I hunt ea rly in the 25-lap Na tio nal bu t was rid ing at m y lim it but he j ust dropped out o n the 18th lap with ' Racing on wha t Kenn y Roberts o nce correc tly ca lled the " wo rld 's fast est dirt" was slo wer than in th e past as was expec ted du e to th e new for '87 -air intake restri cto rs. Wh ile riders have tu rn ed in 4 I officia l qualifyin g la ps of 100 mph or mor e, no one was ab le to do th at Su nday. ' H on damou nted Shob ert was th e fastest ' q ua lifer a t 36.032 seconds , just a tick o f tim er G il Dosm ega n 's clock over the 36-second mark that is needed to average 100 mph aro u nd the Ill ino is State Fa irgrou nds ova l. Par ker was just five-th ousan dth s of a seco nd slow er th an Sho bert with a time o f 36.037. Scott Pearson rode hi s Circle Bell Ho nda to thi rd fastest time a t 36.226 seco nds. Cha ndler was Bell evill e (Ill ino is) H onda-b acked Tim Merte ns p u lled the hol eshot a t th e start of the first hea t and led the firs t two la ps in fro nt o f a three-ma n fig ht invo lvi ng T ed Bood y, Shobert and Dan In gra m. In gram was riding th e Ed Fish er H onda that Rodney Farri s usuall y rid es. Farri s had su ffered brok en ribs in a ge t-off at th e previ o u s n ight ' s Sp r ing field R eg ional C ha mp io ns h ip ยท Sho rt Track. But o n th e third lap Sho bert , using wh at a n no u ncer Dave Despain described as "a bu sh el basket full of hor sepower ," draft ed d ea r of Boody and In gr am on th e back stra igh t and th en draft ed by Mert en s on th e front stra ig h t to tak e th e lead for go od. Sho bert o pe ned up a th ree seco nd lead by the fini sh of th e 10-lap race wh ile Mert en s fi n ishe d a lonely seco nd, two seco nds ahead o f Jorgensen, wh o was followed acro ss the finis h line by Boody, In gram and T amm y Kirk. Former Gra nd National Ch amp ion Steve Eklu nd dropped out of th e race on the seventh la p when his Gardner Racing Harl ey began to " tie up." . It was th e Bi ll Werner-tu ned Ha rley o f Parker' s that was in front whe n the seco nd heat field hit the firs t turn a fter the flash o f the gree n star ti ng Iigh t. Pa rker was foll owed close ly by Ha mes, J o nes, Grah am , three-time Grand Nati onal Ch am p io n J ay Sp rings teen a nd Rich Kin g. Sp ri ngs teen slip ped off th e groove in' turn o ne at the start o f th e seco nd la p a nd dropped o u t of the front ru nning pack. Parker held o ff the cha llenges of Jones a nd G rah am to ho ld the lead a t th e line th rough la p five, but go ing into turn one ,a t the start of lap six J ones took th e lead. J ones led down the back stra ig h t only to find himself dropped to third going into turn three as Graham a nd Parker, using the draft , passed him - Graham on th e in side. Park er on the ou tside. Graham led at the line as he wo u ld do a t th e end of th e next lap, but Parker held the lead a t the line o n laps eig h t a nd nine. The fin al lap sa w Parker and Graham conducting th eir own war as J ones had slipped bac k to a sa fe th ird. G raham, who has six Spring field Mile wi ns to his credit, put him self in the catbird sea t as he foll owed Pa rker out o f turn fou r and th en used th e draft to slip by for the win . beat in g Parker to the finish line by inche s. Followin g Gra ham , Parker and J ones across th e li ne were Hames, Sp ringsteen a nd Kin g. Mi n nesot a 's Dave Durelle pulled the hol esh otin hea t th ree a nd kept h i s Al Mu th H arl ey-D a vidson backed XR7 50 in fro nt until th e second lap when Pearson and Poovey dro pped him to th ird. By lap four, Poovey had establi shed h im self a s th e lea d er as Pearson a nd Du rell e fell behind. H onda-m ounted Poovey stretched hi s lead until he had nearl y two seco nds in hand o ver Pear son and that' s h ow th e ra ce en de d wi th Poovey, Pear son a nd Du rell e advanc in g to the Na tio na l. Garth Brow and Don Estep waged a wheel-to-wheel war th e entire race and th ey fin ished fourth a nd fifth , respectively'. Hea t fo ur saw Carr a nd J im Fil ice, o n the Eddi e Atkins- tu ned Harley,