Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

D A A "'f-=I C> D A Parker (center) acknowledges the cheers of the vocal pro-Harley crowd in the winner's circle at Lima. with Carr in lOW. Graham a nd Carr sq ua bbled over second place a ll th e wa y to th e chec kered flag . Going into turn th ree on th e final lap Graham stu ffed [ 0 th e in sid e o f Carr and won th e dr ag race to th e checkers. . Parker cha rged past Ted Boody on lap o ne o f th e third h eat , th en stea dily pulled aw a y to tak e th e vict ory a n d record th e fastest heat race time o f th e night at 4:23.530. Behind Parker . Darrin Eri chs en rode a great race o n hi s Patrick Racin g/ Skat / Sm itt y's/Bell /Valvoline/F&S/ Mik e Erichse n / MBL-bac ked H arl ey 10 na il down seco nd ahead o f Boody. Ch andl er: who cha rte red a flight to mak e it 10 Lima for th e race aft er racing a t Elkhart Lake earlier in th e da y, reel ed off the win in th e secondfast est heat of th e night. Orient. Ohio's Estep cha lle nged Chandler in th e mid portion of th e race. but sett led into second. T erry Poovey kept th e lead duo in sight th e wh ol e race a fter battling with Estep in th e ea rly goin g a nd took th ird. Semis Two . of th e last three. transfers to two 10-lap sem is. In th e first race. Ash ton got o ff to a grea t sta rt. bUI by lap five a cha rging C hris Evans had reeled in Ashton. Ash ton to wed Canad ian Eva ns a ro u nd for th e n ex t two laps. th en lost th e lead o n lap seven. Evans went o n to claim th e transfer to the ma in , while Ashton was rel ega ted to th e Last Chance Qualifier. . Dan In gram led th e fi rst six laps of th e seco n d semi. o n ly 10 dr op o u t with mech anical p roblem s o n lap seven. handing th e lead 10 Brian Hardin. Hardin roll ed on to th e win by a good-sized margin. last Chance Qualifier G eorge Roeder . II h ad th e quick reflexes in the LCQ. but had his hands fu ll with Doug Davi s. Davis grabbed a hot. outside line a nd rai led past Roeder on la p o ne. th en proceded to run away from th e field for th e fin al transfer to th e m ain. Junior National Heat race winner Darrell Davis p il oted h is Ron ' Wo od /Sh o ei/ T subaki-sponsored Wood-Ro tax to th e. holeshot in t?e 12-lap jun!or Da vis a ll th e wa y down th e back straigh t a nd took over th e lead. Kevin Athert on co m p leted th e lead tri o and th ese three riders di ced a ll th e wa y to th e chec kers. Ville lla held the lead a ll th e way. but th e best race was for seco nd r.lace. Davi s held onto seco nd until th e halfway point o f th e final , wh en Athe rton edged by. For th e rest of th e race Ath ert on managed to hold off Davi s's adva nces 10 claim runnerup honors behind Vill ell a. Vill ella 's win tightens up the junior National point sta n d ings. with Davis holding a slim sevenpo int cus h io n. 98-91 over Vill ell a. " I su re wanted to get these g uys back on th e ovals where I ca n do . so me th in g ," said Vill ella. wh o fai led • 10 qualify for th e las t two junior Nationals. both held on TT tracks. " H o pefu lly I ca n be there all th e time a n d Darrell a nd I ca n battle it out. " National Parker . who won th e inaugural National Half Mil e a t Lima in 1984. turned hi s o uts ide. front row starting position into th e first place spot in n e with Morehead takin an outside line to ch a lle n ge him. As the pack came off turn four on la p one it was Parker out front with Morehead and Pearso n in tow . Parker kept up his fast ea rly pace on lap two as Morehead kept in close co n tact with th e Harley factory pi lot. Estep was on th e ga s and worked his way by Pearson for third place. while Ch andler a n d Carr were both makin g up time aft er medi ocre sta rts . Moreh ead slowed on lap three and eventua lly dropped o u t o n lap 10. Es te p moved into sec o n d when Moreh ead started to drop back and th e flying duo of Chandler and Carr advan ced 10 third and fourth. respectivel y. On lap four. Chandler and Carr railed pa st Estep to set up the battle for th e top three p osit ions for th e remainder o f th e race . On the fifth circu it, Carr rocketed into seco nd and he an d Cha ndler hooked up. then started to reel in . Parker. Carr and Chandler spent the next four laps narrowing Parker's lead ana by the halfway point in th e 20-lap final the top three were a ll within a co u p le of bike lengths of eac h o ther. Chandler wa s try ing to use an outside line 10 work hi s wa y by Carr. but h e co u ld n't seem to find an o pen ing. Boody. wh o was runn ing in the m iddle o f th e pack . slo wed and coas ted down th e front stra ig h t on lap 12 a nd dropped o u t. Ca rr was . whittling away a t Parker a nd by lap 13 h e had pulled even with his Harl ey-Davidson teammat e. On lap 13, Carr moved to the inside and got by Parker in turn one. but Parker retaliated and th e duo ran side-by-side down th e back stre tch a n d threw th eir bikes side wa ys into turn three almost dead-even. Parker hung tough and led Carr through turns three and four. th en pulled a little distance o n th e front stra igh t. Carr kept it clos e on th e next lap. but th en on lap 15 Parker started to stretch it out again, while Chandler zeroe d in on Carr. The finishing positions were basicall y set after th a t. " I got in th e lead th ere briefly. but I lost my brakes ha lfway through the race." said Carr, " I had to go into th e corn er s a n d just throw it sideways." Chandler mad e a last-l ap a ttac k on Carr 's second pl a ce s p o t. but co u ldn' t find a way to ge t by and settled for third. Estep rode a consistent race in fourth , holding the

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