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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126982
Shobert takes a v ictory lap around the Springfield oval. The top six riders in turn one on the final lap : Chris Carr (20 ), Terry Poovey (1 8 ), runner-up Ricky' Graham , (3), w inner Bubba Shobert (1), third place f inisher Scott Parker, and Hank Scott (14) . Fairgrounds' ova l at 35.314 seconds, 101.942 m ph. Veteran Hank Sco tt, wh o has announced he'll retire at the end of this season, and hi s KK Aftermarket Race Team H on da were seco nd fastest at 35.319. Steve Morehead , wh o was riding a Honda p rep ared by Scott, logged th ir d fastest time, 35.22. H on da -mounted Alex J or gensen and Poovey were fo urth and fifth fastest, wh ile Harley factory rider Chris Carr was sixth fastest. The six fastest qua lifiers qual ify fo r th e Ca mel Ch all en ge race. R o u nd in g ou t the to p 10 qual ifiers, all und er 36 seconds and th us all over 100 mph , were Dan In gram, Parker, Graham an d Scott Pear son . The 48th and fina l q ual ifyin g spot was filled by G eo r gia 's R obert Nich ols at 37.819 seco nds. Heats Exiting turn two on the final lap, Graham and Shobert lead Scott, Carr, Parker and Poovey. AMA Grand National Championship Dirt Track Series/Camel Pro Series: Rounds 15/14 Springfield Mile thriller to Shobert By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard SPRINGFIELD , IL, SEPT. 6 tty' ou have to leave your brain in your tool box, " said G rand N ational Cha m pion Bubba Shobert p rior to the Camel Challenge race a t the Springfield Mile. Shobert was Ierri f . h re ern n g to the act that In t e six-rider, five-lap Camel Chal lenge events strategy doesn 't . ' 're wid come Into play - they re W I e- 6 o pe n dash es for the go ld. Wh a t Shobert didn 't kn ow a t th e ti.me was that the 25-lap, 50th Anmversary Spri ngfield Mile Nat ional would also be a wide -open " dash" for th e gold. Sho bert came up sho rt, way short, in th e $ 17,500 Camel Challen ge race th at saw H arl ey-David son factory rider qu.is ~rr nip Terry Poo vey at th e fini sh line to earn th e $ 10,000 winner's share of the purse. Bu t the Honda factory rider cam e back to win th e Nati onal, a race two-time Gra nd Natio nal Cham p ion and sixtim e Springfield Mile winner Ri cky Graham described as " the to ughest race I've ever run." Arai / Bel-Ray/ERC Ra cing Fuels / Ts u ba ki -sponsored Gra ha m fi n ished second on his H on da, j ust inches behi nd Shobert , and Harley factory rider Scott Parker was a very close third. Wi th the biggest purse in dirt trac k racing up for grabs, 40,000 in the National a nd 17,500 in the Camel Challenge, Shobert earned $6680 for his day 's work - $500 in AMA Performance Incentive Award (a program that pays $500 to each of the 20 top Experts based o n the previous season's Camel Pro dirt track point standings who pre-enter and attempt to qual ify) mo ney, $1000 for his fifth pl ace finish in the Camel Ch all enge, and $5180 for winning the Nationa l. Shobert also pi cked up $20 for each lap he led , unofficiall y $400. Second in the Na tional rewarded G raham with $3435 and third earn ed Parker $2240. The AMA cond ucted random drug testing after th e program concl uded. Under th e supervision of AMA dirt trac k man ager J.B. Norris, Ron ni e J on es, T im Merten s, Bill y Herndon and Scott Stump subm itted urine sam ples which will be sent to a laboratory for ana lysis. Time Trials Fifty-seven riders entered th e event and it was Shobert wh o logged th e fa stest lap on the Ill in ois State The first four srots on th e front row for the first 0 four 1O-lap heat , races th at wo uld transfer th e top three to the Nati onal and riders in positi ons four through nine to sem is were occupied by Sho bert , Parker, G rah am a n d three-tim e Grand Natio nal Champion Jay Sprin gsteen. It didn't take an expe rt to predict th at th e qu alif ying race would be a heated one. Graham led Parker , H erndon, Shobert, Don How ard , Sp rings teen and th e rest of th e field across th e sta rt/finis h lin e at the end of th e openi ng lap, bu t la p two saw Shobert in fr on t. Sho be rt a n d G ra ham swapped th e lead back and forth whi le H oward, who hasn 't com pet ed o n the. Camel Pro circuit for q uite some ume, was running a su rpnsingl y strong th ird , ahea d of Parker. Parker finally go t by Howard o n th e eig ht h lap and he closed .o n Shobert and Graham o n the final lap in turns three-four. But Parker's char ge had co me too lat e and th e fin ish read Shobert , G raham and Parker, the same order they finished in th e National la ter in the da y. Howard and h is Aztec Racing/ Ventura H -D/Storz/H-D Motor Co.sponsored Harley were fourth and semi bound. T he heat was run in 5 mi nu tes, 57.898 seconds and would turn out to be the fastest of th e four heat races. Du rin~ the race a speed trap at th e start/fini sh line "caught" Shobert at 129.310 mph. Scott, wh o has won 17 Nationals, led the second heat from start to finish, crossing th e fin ish line with a two-second lead over runner-up Doug Chandler. Wh ile Scott was running all alone up front, Chandler had to fight for position up until the eighth lap . Roo kie Expert Brya n