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/126976
The race was so tight during the first 12 laps that up to 10 riders shared the same draft and the top six riders swapped the lead constantly. Time Trials Shoben showed everyone the fastest way around the "Magic Mile" aboard his Skip Eaken/Ray Plumbtuned factory Honda, stopping the clock at 36.320 seconds to set fastest time, more than a full second off his own record of 35.259, set last year. Jones was second fastest with a 36.538 showing, LZ Racing/KK Motorcycle Supply's Doug Davis qualified third fastest with a time of 36.499 and Jorgensen claimed the pole position in heat race [our with a 36.612 showing. Eklund, Chandler, Graham, SCOll Pearson, Rodney Farris and Rainey filled out the top 10. Robert Farver was the 48th and final Expen to qualify from the 53, riders who made the allempl. His cutoff time was 38.983 Heats Pearson was first off the line at the start of the initial IO-Iap Expen heat race, with Hud Racing's Billy Herndon and Shoben in tow. Shoben dtafted past both riders to take the lead ~t the end of the back straight and never looked back. Pearson hounded Shoben from second until lap five when a rod broke in his brand new RS750 engine, forcing him out o[ the race. Herndon and Maryland's Rodney Farris traded second for the rest of the race with Herdon getting the nod at tl:ie. flag. Shoben's winning time was 6:08.281, seven seconds faster than heat two, the second-fastest heat. . Rainey nailed the holeshot at the start of heat two, but Graham dove under him in turn four to take the point position before the first lap was, complete. Graham sellied into first and pulled away, while Jones and Terry Poovey bumped Rainey to founh by the midway point and rode in a dead heat for second place for the rest of the race. Graham, sponsored by Arai/Bel-Ray/ERC/Tsubaki, had a comfortable lead at the checkers while Poovey niped Jones by half a length. Rainey was semi bound. Doug Chandler led Shobert (1), Terry Poovey (18), Graham (3) Chris Carr, Scott Parker, Alex Jorgensen (44) Hank Scott (14) Rodney Farris (92) and Jim Filice (17Z) out of tum four early during the final. Heat three featured an intense ballie between Freddie Spencer/ SuperTrapp Racing's Chandler and factory Harley-Davidson rider Chris Carr,. as well as a superb comeback ride by Carr's factory Harley teammate,' Parker. Chandler and Carr traded the lead continuously for the first seven laps before Chandler finally pulled away for good on lap eight. Carr held onto second but Parker, who rode from filth to third around Davis and Jimmy Filice, almost nipped Carr at the line. Parker came up half a length shon, but third was good enough for the last direct transfer to the feature race. Boody dogged Jorgensen for the full 10 laps in the fourth Expert heat race and got around the Pioneer Truck Lines/Indian MC Supply/ Storz/Hi-Poim/Red Line rider a couple of times, but in the end had to settle [or second. Sweet and Eklund traded third for most of the race with Sweet claiming the final transfer spot at the checkers. Semis KK Motorcycle Supply's Hondamounted Hank ScOll swapped the lead with Rainey for the first [our laps before taking firm control of the first 10-lap Expen semi on lap five. Steve Morehead, riding an H-D Motor Co.lR&B Harley-Davidson borrowed from three-time National Champion Jay Springsteen, came off the staning line in founh and charged hard. He bumped Rainey to third and took the lead from SCOll on lap nine with an inside move going into turn one. ScOll retook the lead in turn three, however, and held on for the win. Second place put Morehead in the main; Rainey's third earned him a spot in the Last Chance Qualifier. The second semi was red flagged on the first lap when Randy Texter blew an engine going into turn three, causing Brian McDowell to go down hard into the hay bales when the pack scrambled to get around TextC!r. McDowell went to a nearby hospital on his own and returned with a bandaged throttle hand and broken finger.