Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

McDowell, the top J u n ior in the coun try last year, diced wi th Chandler, Ingram and Pearson before slowing and dropping back out of the hunt on lap seven . The following lap saw Chandler break away from a Pearson/Ingram duel and lock up second. Pearson took third over Ingram after taking command o f that sp o t·in turns three-four on the last lap. McDowell finish ed fourth. Third fast est qualifier Morehead had th e pole for th e third h eat but he never ran higher than sixth and dropped out of the ra ce on the eigh th lap. "It dropped a va lve," sa id an obviously di sappointed Morehead who al so h ad to scratch from th e potentiall y . lucrative Camel Challen ge. While Moreh ead was having p roblems, young Chris Carr was having a field da y. He started from th e penalty line after having jumped th e start, shot through the field to cross the line in second behind St eve . Ek lund at the end of the opening lap, then broke away from a dice ' with R ich King and Don Estep on th e third lap and sailed home th e winner of the heat. There was no pleasure sailing going on behind him , though, as th e fight for second and third wasn 't over until the checkered flag waved. The record book will show that Pete Hames was second, Don Estep third, R ich King fourth and 1979 Grand National Champion Eklund was fifth, but the book won 't show the furious pass/re-pass fight that went 'o n throughout the race. R on nie Jones, who had qualified 20th and nearl y a full second off Shobert's fast time, led the opening lap of the fourth and final heat. Poovey took over on the third lap, after the second go-around had been led by Mertens, and seemed set to cruise home the winner. Poovey, Jonesand Ted Boody ran 1-2-3 with gaps separating them until the eighth la p when it was apparent Jones was beginning to dose on Poovey. Oklahoman Jones caught up to Texan Poovey at the start of the tenth and fina l lap, drafted by him on the backstraight and held on for the win in a near photo fin ish. Boo dy finished a lonely third ahead of a ba ttle for fourth between R odn ey Farris, now aboard the Kenny Tolbert Harley after riding the first half of the season o n the Ed Fisher Honda th a t Ingram is currently campaignin g, and Honda-mounted Mertens. A review of the Cvcle News Finish Line Camera's videotape showed Farris won that fight by inches. The heat was a bummer for Alex Jorgensen as the fourth fastest qualifier dropped out of the race with a mechanical problem that h e would later say was , "something internal in the top end," Jorgensen thus joined Morehead in scratching from the Camel Challenge, Semis The two IO-Iap semi-final races advance the top two finishers to the National and riders in positions three through seven to the Last Chance Qualifier, and more often than not turn out to be close contests. Semi number one was just that, a close contest, and although for awhile it appeared as though McDowell would become the first rookie Ex pert to qualify for a National dirt track fina l this year, that was not to be. McDowell, Howard and I n gra m made it a three-rider fight as the laps ticked off. The scorer's sheets showed McDowell th e leader on lap eight, Howard out front on lap nine, and .th en Ingram first across the finish line, . with Howard second and McDowell a disappointed third. The second semi turned into a six- rider war that was won after so me of the best racing of the season by Iowan R ich King. The race became a five-man fightafterdiminutiveTed Taylor dropped out of th e draft on lap nine, and going into th e final lap it was anyone's race. King led Eklund into the Nationa l, wh ile Mertens, Keith Da y, Farris, Taylor ' and Randy Texter headed for th e LCQ. King, who's made several Nationa l finals after qualifying for hi s first o ne at th e Ma y Springfield Mil e, said, "I couldn 't do it without rnv sponsor G eorge Garvis of C a rvis H onda Town ' a n d John Kit e o f Missle Engineering. Those two take total care of th e bike and I j us t do the riding." Camel Cha llenge After telling ann oun cer Dav e Despain and the crowd that h e expected the race to be a dash for the gold with no strategy involved. Shobert said, "If I win it, then how ever I did it, I'll tell you it was my st rategy. If I don 't, well .. . I'll come u p with an excuse later. " Poovey brought a chuckle from onlookers when he said, "I've got to win it; my litt le girl needs a swing set." Joining Shobert, Scott, Poovey and Carr in the Camel Challenge were Ingram and Parker, replacing Morehead and Jorgensen. Carr pulled the holeshot and led into turn one but it was Poo vey who took over the lead down the back straight and led across the line at the end of lap one. The second lap saw Poovey and Carr hook up while th e other four riders dropped a bit back off th e front runners. By lap three it became apparent that the race was going to be between Honda-mounted Poovey and Harley-mounted Carr. The two swapped the lead back and forth around the oval with Carr having the edge at the lin e on every lap, including the fifth and final one. Poovey led Carr out of turn four in the final charge to the flag but Carr drafted by and nipped Poovey at the lin e, much to the delight of the obviously pro-Harley crowd. In doing so, Carr logged a lap at 104.315 mph, th e fas test -ever clocked on a mile d irt oval, although one that will go into the record book with an asterisk since only tim e trial laps count as officia l record laps. In practice for the May Springfield Mi le, Carr had been clocked at more than 106 mph. Carr's "fastest-ever" lap came on a track that had been beautifull y prepared and remained that way throughout the day's racing, providing the competitors the opportunity to run three and four abreast in th e corners. Miss Camel, Galia Gomez, presented Carr with his $10,000 winner's check as tuner Mert Lawwill looked on with an ear-to-ear smile on his face. "I'rn real proud to have won this race and to be ab le .to say that I've gone around Springfield the fastest, although I know it won't count as a record. I'm especially proud of having done it on a Harley Davidson," said Carr. Runner-up Poovey was obviously disappointed in having just missed out on what would have been his biggest payday ever. "I've been in several of these Camel Challenges this year and I'm going to win one of them before the year is over, " said Poovey, who agreed with a reporter that his second place earnin gs of $2500 would buy his daughter a swing set. "Yes it will , but a $10,000 set would have been nicer. " Parker was third, Scott fourth , Shobert fifth and Ingram sixth. Chris Carr (20) nips Terry Poovey (18) at the f inish line to win the Camel Challenge ra c e . Carr and Poovey dueled th roughout the five lap race . Despite the fact that his name was misspelled on the replica check. Carr is obviously happy over his $10.000 w in . Last Chance Qualifier On ly the winner of th e LCQ advances to the Na tional and .Ior seven laps it looked like Ted Taylor, the smallest rider on the ci rcuit, would be that man, but Taylor was dropped to second by Keith Day on lap eight and Day romped home the winner. Taylor dropped all the way back to seventh, saying la ter , "I rookied out." Mertens and Farris had yet another photo finish battle, joined this time by Herndon. Mertens took second with Farris third and Herndon fourth. National Pole sitter Shobert ch ose to start the National three spots out from the . grandstand and he obviously knew what he was doing as he pulled the holeshot off the line and led Carr, Scott, Graham, Poovey, Estep, Pearson and the rest of the field across th e line at the end of lap one. Lap tw o saw Eklund drop out of th e race when "something broke" inside his Gardner Racing Harley XR750. . Shobert held the front position at th e line, challenged closely and led by Carr at other spots o n th e track, on lap s two through seven. Carr led a t the line over Shobert on la p eigh t whi le behind them Chandler, Graham, Scott a nd Poovey were hooked up in a drafting pass and re-pass battle while Parker seemed to be co ntent in following th em . The four-m an draft pulled that g ro up right up on th e leaders on lap nine and it was Freddie Spencer/ SuperTrapp Racing's Chandler into the lead on th e ba ckstraight, through turns three-four and across the line on that lap with the order right behind him reading Shobert, Carr, Scott, G raham , Poo vey and P arker. From that point on the rac e was truly what Graham la ter described as his "toughest ever" and as being so intense that h e "co u ldn' t breathe." The order at the end of lap II was Shobert, Chandler, Carr, Poovey, Scott and Graham with Parker still close but not in the pack. Shobert led and Poovey was second at the line on laps 13 and I4 and those two led the pack acro ss the line side-by-side on lap 15. With the fight being carried on all around the oval, three- and four-man abreast charges into the turns a nd down the straights became the order of the day and all involv ed knew that one miscue could drop th em o u t of the draft and out o f th e hunt. Scott led the pack across the line at the end of the 16th lap, foll owed in order by Carr, Graham, Sh obert and Poovey with Parker beginning to catch up to th em . Lap 16 saw Chandler drop out of the race with an undiagnosed en g in e problem. "Something broke inside," said Chandler afterward. Position swapping co n t i n ued with Shobert o u t front at th e line at th e en d of laps 17 a nd 18, and th en Scott i n front ov er Poovey with Shobert third at th e en d of lap 19. Lap 20 saw Parker hook up with th e front runners; th e order a t th e end of that lap was Sh ob ert, Scott, Graham, Poovey, Carr and Parker. Pearson and Jones were dueling over seventh, a distance back from th e lead (Co ntinued to page 39) 7

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