Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Aver y Davis/Liv e Wire Elec.! Yamaha East Harley-Davidson, even he was shocked, but he tempered h is enth usiasm. " It's more or less like th e tracks back home. It has a not ch o n it. All I want is to ge t into the main. I turned in a lucky lap. That don 't get no money at th e end of th e da y." T erry Poovey was seco nd fastest at 26.370 seconds foll owed by Sh obert (26.445), Pearson (26.514, and Parker ,(26.547). Jones, at 26.550 seconds, was sixth fastest. California 's Scott Pearson led the pack for 15 laps at the M iddletown Half M ile; Pearson f in ished second. Oklahoma's Ronnie Jones took the lead from Pearson on lap 16 of the 20-lap f ina l and powered away to win his first National victory of 1987. AMA Grand National Championship Dirt Track Series: Round 9 Jones wins on the notch at Middletown HM By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Bert Shepard MIDDLETOWN, NY, J ULY 5 A few hou rs before the start of the Circle Bell Governor's Cup H alf Mile in Middletown, G F Racing's Ronn ie Jones was asked what he th ough t of the h eavily-grooved, hard-packed surface at O range . C~~nt.Y F~lfwoun dsI like It, the Oklahoman sai d. " It's just like the tracks I gre w up o n back hom e. It gets prett y slick. You can't make a cushion out of th em in th e da tim e." Later in th e. sun -.<1r<:nched ~fternoon, aft er taking hi s first National win of th e year , hi s o pi nion was little cha nged. " I can' t com plai n. When you win , you love it," he said. J ones pa ssed ea rly ra ce-l eader Scott Pear son of Circle Bell Racing on the 16th of 20 laps and went o n to win by abo ut 30 yards. Third went to pan- time privateer Bubba Shobert wi th H arl ey-Davidson 's Chris Carr fin ish in g fo urth a nd .Fr eddie Spen cer/ Su pertrapp Racing's Doug Ch andler cla imi ng fifth. Chandler moved into a tie with H arley-Davidso n 's Scott Parker at the top of th e AMA Grand Na tional Ch am p ion sh ip point sta ndings after nine of 19 events; both riders have 104 poi nts. Parker, who ran as hi gh as fourth in th e fin al , was slowed and fin all y forced o ut of th e race on the last lap with a broken fuel line. H e earned o ne point for the day. Carr and Shobert are tied for third in th e standings with 91 points eac h. Middletown marked Jones' fifth career National win and h is race winnings, excl uding co n tinge ncy monies, was $4045. Pearson took hom e $3035 for second pla ce and Sho bert pocketed $1900. J ean Bourret came down fro m Quebec, Canada, to easily win th e J unior Fin al o n his Deeley/Duval Perf. H arl ey-Davidson. Fell ow Can adian Steve Aselti ne, of Van cou ver, British Columbia , was a di stant second o n th e Cougar Gulch Dist.! Shoei / Deeley H-D with th ird going to the Ron Wood/MC Racing/ Ca m 2 Wood-Ro tax of Michigan's Brya n Ville lla. Grand Nationa l racing return ed to Middl etown for th e first time since 1979 with m ixed reaction. Most riders, incl ud in g po in t lead er Parker, were less tha n enth usiastic abo ut th e faci li ty. " It 's rea lly slip pery and ro ugh in a few spo ts," Parker said. "T h is is the first track lik e this we've seen th is seaso n . It's a little more foll ow -th eleader. I don 't think it 's a Nati onal quality facility. I'm not crying, but th at 's my o pinion ." " T he o n ly wa y to pass," sa id Camel Pro Champion Shob en, " is to force th em to make a mistake." Time Tria ls Of the 41 Experts signe d up for th e race , " Wild" Will Davis of Goldsboro , N.C., was the surprise fast qual ifier. When Davis sto pped th e clocks at 26.341 seconds aboard hi s Heats The first of four IO-Iap Expen heat races was ro lled to th e starting line promptly at 2:00 p .rn ., as schedu led. Th e tra ck h ad been co ns ta n t ly watered durin g prac tice and qualifyin g a nd was gra d ua lly ge tti ng faster. Davis LOok o ver the lead o n th e third la p a nd went on to win th e first heat by 4.45 seconds. KK/Laubes Cycle/John Dra goo 's Steve Morehead moved in to a perma nent second pl ace o n the seven th la p and Rodney Farr is moved into third and th e final di rect tran sfer into th e 15-rider main a lap later; Eric Ra usch a nd Don Estep, in fou rth and fifth respectively, were headed for the semi s. " It 's ge tti ng faster and faster o u t th ere," Davis ex p lained. " All the marbl es are getting brushed off the track. It 'll be like rubber o n pavem erit for the main." Ch andler got th e hol esh ot and led every in ch of th e second hea t, winnin g by 2. 13 seconds. George Roeder II, Sammy Sweet, and T erry Poo vey were a tri o runnin g for second and th ough th ey were wh eel-to-wheel, th eir o rder wouldn 't cha n ge. . Ch andler 's winning tim e for the 10 laps was more than a seco nd fast er th an Davis' tim e. The th ird heat was even faster and not surp risi ngly, it was Shobert at th e front. Sh oben, wh o runs nonCamel .P ro eve nts with product support from Bell , RS Taichi, Den nis Kirk, a nd Kerker, but without Honda facto ry backing, kept hi s margin on Ron n ie Jones at abou t 15 to 20 lengths for th e en tire -heat, Happ y Trails/ Ross MacDona ld! Shoei-sponsored Aaron Hill was a straightaway back in third place. Pet e Hames nipped Chad Felicio for founh. J on es noticed th at hi s GF Ra cing! Sh oei z Mega cycl e Honda w a sn 't quite hooking up and after the heat he set about correcting it. " I just wasn 't go ing fast eno ugh to catc h Bubba," J on es began. "The bik e was riding me. I cou ld n' t put it where I wa nted to pu t it. I was fighting it go ing in to th e corne rs." . Althoug h Shobert's heat win was the fastest up to th at point, it wo uld end up bein g th e second fastest of th e day. The foun h and fin al heat belon ged to Scott Pearson from th e ~een light to th e checkered flag a nd It took on ly. four minutes, 25.089 seco nds. Pear son was off th e line first , avoiding th e co nfusio n behind him that slowed a number of o ther riders, including th e entire facto ry Harley team of Parker , Carr, and Sp ringsteen . At th e end of th e second lap, Pearson had 30 yards on Springsteen with Ri cky Graham on the Tex Peel Harley third, Parker fourth, and Carr fifth . . By the halfway point, Springsteen had slid off the groove enough to let Graham and Parker past. On th e seven th lap Parker took his finish ing spo t o f secon d pl ace with Carr mo ving into third two laps later. At th e finish it was Pearson by 4.41 seconds over H arl ey team sters Parker

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