Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ca lifornia's Chris Carr (20) nipped Maryland's Rodney Farris (92) to win the 14th Annual Busch Half M ile. Tuner Hank Scott (tr ophy in hand) and rider Steve Morehead comb ined forces to w in th e Joe Robison Harley-Davidson Half Mile in Barberville. Carr clips Farris in Busch Half Mile By Henny Ray Abra ms BARBER VILLE, FL, FEB. 28 Proving th at th ere is a su bstitute for cu bic in ch es, H arl eyDavidson 's Chris Carr used th e mane uverability of his H-D 16 600R a nd a littl e bad luck for Rodney Farris to win the 14th Busch H alfMi le, the third ro und of the 10,000 Daytona Dirt Track Series, held at Vol usia Co unty Speedway. Carr dogged Farris for 10 la ps, passin g him o n the back stra igh t whe n Farris' Mil e Sponseller/Shoei Ho n da RS750 tw in m isfi re d mo mentari ly. T he problem cleared instant ly a nd Farris foll owed Ca rr to the linejust two bike len gths back. T erry Poo vey on the Ma rioneaux Racing/ Sh oei/H a p Jones Hon da single was third. T he 20 po ints that ca me wi th wi nn ing the $8200 Eastern Regi onal boosted Carr to the top of the series point sta ndings with 43. Delan o H D/R o n Wood / AI M u rhs Dav e Durell e, who finis hed sixth toda y, moved into second wi th 33 wh il e Farri s LOo k o ver third wi th 32. Ronnie J ones, wh o led com ing into toda y's race, did not finish a nd hol ds fourth wi th 3 1. Hud Racin g/ Ar a il Megacycl e's Ted Bood y won the Expe rt B main by three-quarters of a len gth over a cha rgin g Bryan Villella. T hi rd went to Will Da vis. Most of th e Expert C race was led by Les Washbon. In fact, he led unti l the fin a l corner, wh ere he crashed, handi ng the win to Will ie McCo y. Erick Gruber was second and Da rrin Eri chsen thi rd. Junior Mike Stauffer and Pro-Am rider Mike H al e produced identical resul ts for th e three days of raci ng a t Ba rbervill e. Both wo n their resp ective classes on Frida y night, both finish ed seco nd 0!l Sa turda y nigh t, a nd both won aga lll today. SCOll 'S Quick Sto p/ M&S Racing's Sta uffer j umped right into th e lead a nd won by 60 yards over Marc Gi fford who too k seco nd fro m J oel Ph elps o n the next to th e last lap. H ale reco vered from a midpack sta rt to take o ver th e lead just past the half wa y po int, easily beating Clinto n Vah sh oltz and Brian Tillson. Typica lly warm Florida wea ther brought o u t a cro wd estima ted a t 6000 for a program that dragged o n for nearl y four hou rs. There were inn u mera ble delays for track wat erin g a nd it a ppeared to pa y off. Times were co nsiste nt with th e normall y faster night races. Of the 72 Experts that a ttem pted to qualify, Chris Carr was th e fastest a t 21.338 seconds. Behind Ca rr were Bryan Vill ell a (21.415), Dave Durell e (21.429) and Dan In gram (21.492). T he first Expert heat was a preview of the final. Rodney Farris led, th en Carr attacked and took th e lead in the last two turns fro m the end. Well back in third was J on Co rn wel l. Leadi ng every la p of th e second heat , T erry Poovey eas ily beat Steel Ma st ers/ Smiuv' s H-D /Cu st om Cycle Supply's Don Estep and Perry's H-D /Pi c . Racin g H-D Mot or Company's Brian Atherto n. After a half -hour delay for the wat er tru ck, Bell evill e Honda 's Tim "Mertens won the third heat from flag- to -flag. Canton Autom otive/ Mach I/Nolan' s Dave Hebb was a close seco nd wi th Da vid Durell e making u p for a bad start by finish ing th ird . Po in ts lead er Ronn ie J on es dropped out of the race wh en he heard stra nge noi ses fro m his engine o n the warm-up l ap. The fourth heat was a wire-to-wire win , this tim e by Ingram on the Mod ern Tire/J a ck Kolbe/Shoei H arl ey-D a vidson . The selfspo nsore d Harl eys of Gary Conkling a nd Rusty Rogers fill ed o ut the top three. Expert " B" win ner Ted Boody a lso adva nced to th e " A" main. T he 13-rider pack head in g into turn o ne of th e l-l-lap fin al was headed by Estep, bu t wh en th ey crossed the fin ish lin e Farri s had d ropped him back to second tra iled by Ingram, Carr, Ath ert on , Durelle, Rogers, a nd Poovey. Ca rr LOok over second o n th e second lap with Estep now leading Athert on a n d a fad ing Ingram , wh ose machine was noticeably slowing. Laps three a nd four saw Farris and Carr splitting from Estep and Ath ert on. Halfway through th e race Poov ey was makin g a cha rge and was up to sixth. Two laps lat er he was fifth , fourth a la p from th e end a nd into the winner's circle on the final lap. The 10th lap wa s the deciding one for Farris a nd Carr. " Me a nd Chris . were having a rea l fun race," said Farris. "T hen coming out of turn two it went on one cylinder for a second o n th e back stra igh t. It cleared out right a way." It was eno ug h of a n ope n ing for th e op po rt unistic Carr. " I tested him a coup le of ti mes to see how he'd reac t," Carr sa id. "T hen I heard it po p co m ing o u t of two a nd th at was. • enough to get by," Results PRO-AM: 1. M ike Hale (H-DI; 2. Clinton Vah sholtz (H-D); 3. Brian Tillson (W-R); 4 . Aud ie HuH Jr . (H-D); 5. Carl Und (Han); 6. Raben Majeski (H· D); 7.M ike Butler (W-RI; B. David Men ser (Hon); 9. Mi ke Ludden (W-R); 10. Kyle Long (H-D); 11. Frank Kaiser (W-R) 12. Chuck Seitsing er (W- R). JR: 1. M ike Stauller (H-D) 2. Marc G;ttord (W . R); 3. J oel Phelps (H-D); 4 . Tom Ma jeski (H-D); 5. Ja son Fletch er (W-R); 6. Craig Estell e (H-Dt. 7. Scon Buchan (H-D); 8. Ja me s Hauptman (Han); 9. Andy Tresser (W ·R ); 10. Kris Kiser (Hon); 11. Speedy Kell (H-D); 12. Todd Sharpl ess (W-R). EX A: 1. Chris Carr (H-Dt. 2. Rodney Farr is (Han); 3. Terry Poovey (Hon); 4. Don Estep (H·D); 5. Jon Cornwell (H-D); 6. Dave Dur elle (W ·R); 7. Dave Hebb (W-R); 8. Brian Athen on (H-D); 9. Ted Boody (Hon); 10. Gary Conkl ing (H·D); 11. Tim Menens (H-D); 12. Dan Ingra m (H-D); 13. Rusty Rogers(H- DI • . EX B; 1. Ted Boody (Hon); 2. Bryan Villella (WR); 3. Will Davis (H-D); 4. George Roeder II (H· D); 5. Martin Lavoie (H-D); 6.· Enc Rausch (H-D); 7. Willi e McCoy (H-D); 8. Mark Gruber (H-D); 9. Rick Gruber (H-D); I D. Brian Bonesteel (H-D); 11. David Miller (H-D); 12. Randy Trip lett (H-D). EX C: 1. Wi lli e McCoy (H·D); 2. Erick Gr uber (WR); 3. Darrin Erichsen (H-D); 4. Charli e Orr (H-D); 5. Dan McConnell (Han); 6. Doug Davis (H-D) 7. Bill Hollmeister (H·D); 8. M ike Scott(H-D); 9. Scott Saund ers (H-D); 10. Keith Jacob sen ' (Han); 11. Steve Labordu s (W-R). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Carr (43); 2. Durell e (33); 3. Farris (32): 4. Jones (31); 5. Boody (29); 6. (TIE) Ingr am /Poovey (27 ); 8. Morehead (23) 9. Menens (20) 10 . Estep (16) Morehead cooks 'at Barberville HM By Henny Ray Abrams BARBERVILLE, FL, FEB. 27 After a dis appointing opening round , defending " Daytona Din Track Seri es Champion Steve Moreh ead moved into cont en tio n to reta in h is cro wn with a wi n in th e red -fl agged seco nd rou nd of the Daytona Dir t Track Series a t Vol usia Co unty Speedway Satur day night. . . For the second ni ~ht in a row the ma n into turn o ne first led until th e race was sto p ped - this tim e o n the fourth lap - a nd agai n LO th e checkered flag ' fro m th e single file re-start. F&S/KK Motorcycle Supp ly / Sto rz-s po nso re d Morehead didn 't have as easy a · time as the previous n ight 's winner, R onnie J on es, fourth tonig h t. H e was shadowed by M.j.Sponseller / Shoei's Rodney Farris until turn three of th e fi na l la p when Farris's rear tire went fla t. Second went to Dave Durell e, th e on ly ri der who seemed capable of passin g here, and third went to

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