Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

J un ior Mike Stauffer took two first s and a second in Barberville. Texter (H·D); , 2. W ill Davis (H· D); 13. Bryan Haidin (W-R). EX C: t . Steve Burkho lder (Hon~ 2. Les Washbon (H-D); 3. Wi llie McCoy (H-D); 4. Steve Labordus (W·R); 5. Eric Rausch (Hon); 6. Charlie Orr (H·D); 7. Rob Nichols (H·D); 8. Darr in Erichsen (H· D); 9. M ike Inderbitzen (H~O); 10. M ike McDonnell (Hon); t t . Roben Farver (Hon); , 2. John Holmes (W ·R). Oklahoma's Ronnie Jones (16) edged Dan Ingram (31) in the AM I Dirt Classic Half Mile, the race which opened the Daytona D irt Track Series. 18 Hud Racing/ Arai/Megacycle's Ted Boody. Dave Hebb won last night's Expert C final and 'ton igh t he moved up to win th e Expert B main over Will Davis and Les Washbon. The Expert C win went to Steve Burkholder on the Ed Fish er Honda. . After winning last night 's Junior event, Mike Stauffer had to settle for second tonight behind Kevin Atherton on the Perry's H -D/Ron Wood/ Arai Wood-R o tax. Third went to Jason Fletch er .o n the Gary Edmonds-Bob Fl et cher WoodRotax. Coincidentally, . last night 's ProAm winner, Mik e Hale, also finished second. His runner-up finish was behind Grayboy Kawasaki 's Audie Huff Jr. and ahead of T&L Concrete's Brian Tillson. With th e temperature moving up into the 50's th e crowd was up with the stands al ong th e front straight about two-thirds full. The program was also run more efficiently than the previous night 's, due, in part, to several less red flags. And according to most of the riders the tra ck was a bit tackier and faster. Quicker qualifying times bore this out. Harley-Davidson 's Chris Carr topped th e 74 Experts in qualifying with a lap of 21.333 sees. , well under Dan In gram's fast lap of 21.475 from the previous night. Second, at 21.373, was Bryan Vill ella with Durelle third at 21.458. The top three riders were all riding sing le-cylin der machines. From the middle of the front row, Boody got the holeshot in the first heat, but on the third lap Carr went around him on the high side exiting tum four. On the same lap, Morehead passed Randy Texter for third and slipped under Boody in the final comers before th e checkered flag to take over seco nd. Villella held 0(( a persistent Jones to win th e second heat with David Miller third th e whole wa y. Steering clear of th e pack going into tum one o f the fourth h eat, Farris immediately took th e point and pulled away for th e fastest heat win of th e night. Durelle and Ingram followed at a distance to th e end. The fourth and final heat went to Tim Mertens with Terry Poovey probing for an opening, but not fi n di n ~ one. Chris Evans wa s th e final nder from th e h eat to qualify for th e final. By virtue o f winning th e B final , Dav e H ebb was th e last rider into the main. Seven of the 13 riders in th e main wer e twin-mounted with th e other six on 600cc singles. Twin-mounted Morehead jumped out in the front to start th e 14-lap feature event with Carr, Farris, and Boody trailing. Carr cra sh ed heavily o n th e fourth lap and th e field was set in a single file re-start. Damage to Carr 's m achin e included bent forks , a sm a she d muffler, and a " twea ked " frame, but he made the re-start after blaming only himself for the crash. " I tried clipping hi gh " sa id Carr, " an d I hit ·h is (Morehead 's) back tire. As the field paraded into turn one of the re-start with I J.Iaps to go, the top six riders were all twin-mounted. That would change. Deland H-D/ AI Muth H-D/Ron Wood-sponsored Durelle , on a Wood-Rotax moved into seventh at th e halfway mark as Carr, on the H-D 600R , made a charge from the ba ck. A lap later Durelle was into sixth behind Morehead, Farris, Boo d y, Jo nes, and Ingr a m. . As Morehead and Farris gained 10 bike lengths on Boody In third, Durelle was catching him from behind, moving into fourth on the 10th lap with Carr into sixth. A lap from the end Durelle maneuvered around Boody on th e outside for third and inherited second when Farris's tire went flat on th e lastlap. The final order was Morehead, Durelle, Boody, Jones, a n d Carr taking fifth from Mert ens on the final lap. Morehead credited his wi n to h is association with former rider Hank Scott. " I've got o ne o f th e best guys in my corner and that's Hank Scott. He watches me in the corners and whe n I come in and tell him what the bike's doing he knows what to do. Experience like that you can't beat." • tI Results PRO·AM : 1. Audie Huff Jr. (H-D); 2. Mike Hale (H-D); 3. Brian TIllson (W-R); 4. Corl Und (Hon); 5. Cory Perreault (W-R); 6. Tim Petersen (W-R); 7. Pat Behr le (W·R); 8. Steve Manh (H-D); 9. Dave Duhaime (W·R); 10. David Lloyd (W-R); , 1. Kyle Long (H· D); '2. Bryan Pankey (H-D). JR; t . Kevin A then on (W-R); 2. Mike Stauff er (H·D);3. Jason Fletcher (W·R); 4. Marc Giff ord rNR); 5. Tom Majeski (H-D); 6. Kris Kiser (Hon); 7. Scon Buchan (H· D); 8. M ike McDonn ell (Hon); 9. Ji m Hauptm an (Hon); '0. David Reeves (W · R); t t . Craig Estelle (H·D); , 2. Don Manin (C-A). EX A; t , St eve Mor ehead (H-D); 2. Dave Durelle (W-R); 3. Ted 800dy (Hon); 4. Ronnie Jones (Hon); 5. Chris Carr (H-D); 6. Tim Menens (H·D); 7. Dan Ingram (H-D); 8. Rod Farris (Hon); 9. Bryan Villella (W-R); , O. David Miller (H-D); , 1. Dave Hebb (W. R); 12. Terry Poovey (Hon); , 3. Chris Evans (Hon). EX B: 1. Dave Hebb (W ·R); 2. Don Estep (H· D); 3. Gary Conkl ing ( H- D~ 4. Mark Gruber (H-D); 5. Rusty Rogers (H-D); 6. Brian Athenon (H-D); 7. Secn Adams (H-D); 8. Jon Cornwell (H-D); 9. Steve 8urkholder ( H on~ '0. Doug Davis (H-D); t t . Randy Jonestops'ngran1 at Barberville HM By Henny Ray Abrams BARBERVILLE, FL, FEB. 26 Ronnie Jones ki ked off the 10,000 Daytona Dirt Track Series with a narrow victory over Dan Ingram in the Opening AMA Eastern Regi ona l Championship Dirt Track Series round at Vol usia County Speedway on Friday night. Chris Carr was third. Jones led from the start and was out front when the race was redflagged on the fifth la p. P ut to the front of the single-file re-start, he was challenged repeatedly by In gra m, but a consistently better drive out of turn four gave GF Ra cin g 's Jones the win in . the $5000 half-mile. " I cou ld pull about a length on him in the very apex of the corner," _ Ingram explained, " I had better speed th ere, but I couldn't use it to get a drive on him coming out." In th e Expert B event, for th e fourth through sixth p lace heat race finishers, Chris Evans was ha nded the win when leader J on Cornwell broke down on the back straight of the final lap . . And the C final , for the seventh through ninth p lace heat placings, produced a runaway win by Dave Hebb. The Junior final was easily won by a rider who's been a Junior class rider for three years. Mike Stauffer, who's had difficulty financing his ra cing effort, took his first-ever Junior main on the Scott's Quick Stop,M-S Raci n g H- D: Craig Estelle was a distant second with Don Martin holding off Jason Fletcher for third. The evening's biggest ma rgin of victory went to Pro-Am winner Mike Ha le. Hale, on the H -D North Texas/ Redline Racin g Oil/Motorcycle Stuff Harley, crossed the finish line as Carl Lind a nd Clinton Vahsholtz battled for second in tum three with Lind getting the runnerup finish. The crowd for the first of three da ys of racing at Barberville was extremely small, due, in some part, to unseasonable temperatures in the upper 30's. . The fastest Expert in timed qualifying was Ingram with a lap of 21.475 on th e Modern Tire/Jack Kolbe/Diamond Chain X R-750 Harley twin. Second fastest, and riding a Honda XR600 single was Marioneaux Racing/Shoei/Hap Jones' T erry Poovey a t 21.761. Steve Morehead, Don Estep and Will Davis rounded out the top five. After wat ch in g the J unior h eats and semis from near the start-finish line, Ingram decided to start the first Expert heat in the fourth spot in from the grandstands. Unfortu nately, he got sideways when the green light flashed and Ro n n ie Jones was first into tum one. Jones wo uld sta y there and win by about 30 yards over Ingram with Ted Boody th ird the entire way. The top three riders went straight to the Expert A final. J o nes discovered a crack in his engine cases after qualifying and had to swap engines with h is spare bi ke. Harley-Davidson factory ri der Carr and Rusty Rogers fell early in the second heat to bring out a red flag, but o n th e re-start Carr broke away from the start, tailed by Poovey. Rodney Farris, and co tt Stump. Farris dropped off th e pace, safely, a h ead of Stump, as Poovey pressed Carr, eventually fini shing seco n d a bo u t three-quarters of a length behind winner Carr. Dav e Durelle passed leader Morehead on the white flag lap of the th ird heat, beating Morehead to the flag, Tim Mertens ran third the who le race. The final Expert heat saw Estep first into th e first tum and also across the finish line. A few feet back Scott Adams took second and Brian Bonesteel won th e rac e-long battle with Les Washbon for third and the final transfer to th e Expert A main. The start of th e Expert final saw Jones jet into tum one first, followed by Poovey a nd Ingram with Davis and Morehead just behind. Carr moved into fourth on the third lap with Morehead back to fifth ahead o f Es tep : but a red flag stopped th e race on the sixth lap when Mertens and Durelle went down, uninjured, in turn one. On the single file re-start, Jones was again the first tum leader with Poovey second ahead of In gram, Carr, Moreh ead, Estep, and Boody. Ingram moved Po ovey off the groove going into rum one of th e second lap of the re-start (la p six overall) and went after Jones. Poovey found himself having to deal with Carr whi le Boody led Farris in fifth. Morehead dropped out o n the seventh la p with ignition prob lems. The on ly change in the top eigh t to the end of th e race was a last la p pass by Carr of Poovey going into turn three on the last lap. " I went around him on the outside. I just held it on. I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier," Carr said. "I knew the guys behind me co u ld n 't catch me if I screwed up," the third place finisher said. Runner-up I n g ra m sa i d that, although Jones ' Honda seemed· stronger tha n his H arley he "had to keep on trying. Ronn ie's a rea l good groove rider . I a lmost h it h im right up there in tu rn four." Almost getti ng h it by In gram was only one of Jones's problems. "My shield fogged up on the second start and I was nervous for a few laps. I wasn't getting as good a bite on the re-start. I don 't know if it was because the tires cooled down when we stopped for th e red flag or not," Jones said. • Results PRO-AM : , .M ike Hale (H-D); 2. Carl Lind (Hon); 3. Cli nt on Vasholtz (Hon); 4. Brian Tillson (Rtx); 5. Audie Huff Jr. (H· D); 6. Dave Duhaime (W· R); 7. Gordon Schopieray (Hon); 8. David Lloyd (Rtx); 9. Kyle Long (H-D); 10. Mi ke Butl er (W-R); , t . Mik e Ludden (Rtx); , 2. And y Segal in i (W-R). JR . 1. M ike Stauff er (H-D); 2. Craig Estelle (H· D); 3. Don Manin (C·A); 4. Jason Fletcher (Rtx); 5. Kevin Athen on (Rtx); 6. Marc Gifford (Rtx); 7. M ike McDonnell(Honl; 8. Kris Kiser (Han); 9. David Rayburn (H-D); '0. Todd Sharpless (Rtx); 11. TIm Lorge CW·R); 12 . Jim Hauptman (Han); EX A: t . Ronnie Jon es (Hon); 2. Dan Ingra m (H· D); 3. Chris Carr (H-D); 4 . Terry Poovey (Hon); 5. Ted 800dy (Hon); 6. Rodney Farris (Hon); 7. Dave Durelle (Rtx); 8. TIm Menens (H-D); 9. Br ian Bonesteel (H·D); 10. Don Estep (H-Q~ " . Secn Adams (H· D); , 2. St eve Morehead (H-D).

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