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/127124
00 00 O"l ....... Ok lahoma 's Ronn ie Jones (16) beat Harley-mounted Will Davis (2 1 ) and California's Chris Carr (20) in the opening Junior/Expert short track. Junior/Expert Short Track JOneS tops opening Memorial Stadium Sf By Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL , MAR. 3 O kl ah oman Ronn ie J ones won the opening J u n ior/Exper t short track at Memorial Stadi um, roun d four of the Dayton a Dirt Track Series. J ones, on th e GF Racing/ Shoei Honda, was th e first rider into turn one and that's all it took to win the Eastern 40 Regi onal event over Will Davi s and Chris Carr. "It's hard to not mak e mis tak es here," J ones sa id. " I made a few in th e fin al , but fortunately no one go t by. " Carr continued to lead the point standi ngs in the $10,000 series with 56, but Jones mov ed into second with 51 and Da ve Du rel le, seventh tonight, is third wi th 40. T he track, wet and slippery th e previous night, grooved up considerably and no one dared to try th e cushion . As usual , this made for nopass, pole-hugging racing before th e near-capacity crowd. . From the pole position, Marioneaux Racing's Terry Poovey sped the first six-lap, IO-rider hea t win. The ot he r five heat s were wo n by Dan In gram, Carr, J ones, Jun ior Kris Kiser a nd Ch arlie Orr. The top eig ht from th e heat s mo ved in to the semis. Of th e 17 juniorsin th e program, 10 transferred from the heats into th e four, eigh t-la p sem is. Ca rr led th e first three laps of th e first semi, but a red flag stopped th e race when Mike Stauffer a nd Steve Labordus crashed in turn one on lap four , forcing a single-file re-start. Carr was at the head of the line, but Dan Ingram dove from second place into turn one- ahead of Carr and Dave Durelle. That's how th ey finished with the three go ing into the main. Poov ey won the seco nd a nd fast est semi with Will Davis seco nd all th e way. T ed Boody was running in fifth when fourth-placed Rodney Farris stalled going into turn three on th e 10 fourth la p ta kin g both himself and thi rd- pl ace Sco tt Ada ms o ut 'of th e race. Bood y fini sh ed thi rd. . Tim Mert en s, Dave H ebb , and Ga rt h Brow crossed the line in th e first a nd fina l lap of the third sem i . in th e same order and nose-to-tail , well ahead of fourth- placed Mark Gruber. T he fourth a nd fin al sem i was a Ronnie J ones runaway with second place Mickey Fay fini shing 50 yards back a nd a n exu bera nt Rob Damron taki ng th e fin al transfer into th e 14la p main. Dam ron , number 7Y, was the only no n-Nationa l number in th e fin al. When starter Poochie Cox lighted the green light to start the final , J ones sped into first foll owed by Da vis, Carr fro m th e second row , a nd In gra m . Poovey, a lways a threa t here, was aw ay an unch aract eri stic sevent h after wh at he th ought ' was a n unfair start. "T wenty (Carr) jumped. Six teen (Jones) jumped, " Poovey said after voicing his complaint to th e starter. Mickey Fay was fifth, but slipped off th e groove o n th e second lap making th e. order Jones, Davis and Carr in a front-runni ng trio, followed a t a distance by Ingram , Mertens, a nd Poo vey. Hebb was sevent h. T he order cha nged one lap past th e halfway point when Poovey pas sed Mertens for fifth as Jones bega n to pu ll away and Ted Boody dropped out of the race. On the next la p Jones had a 20yard lead. . " I just tried to smoo th it o ut a little bit," Jones said. " We changed th e pre-load o n the shock aft er the semi and it seemed to help some." Po ovey moved past In gram and into fourth on th e 10th lap and that would set th e order of finish a t Jones, Davis, Ca rr, Poovey, and Ingram. " I passed th em an ywh ere I cou ld, any wa y I cou ld," Poovey sa id wh en as ked how he moved forw ar d on th e narrow- groove track. "T h is is my tra ck. If it was 25 laps I could have won th e race." Carr sai d h is stra tegy was to, "Get a good start and pass as many guys as I co uld on the o uts ide, then get down and block . J ones and Poove y are grea t short-trackers and I'm only five points a hea d of J ones. This tighten s things up a little bit." " In th e first part of the race I th ought that we'd ha ve a cha nce to get by if he messed up," sa id Davis , who is backed by Shoei/ L ive Wire Ele c.lCox H -D. " But I didn 't want to mess up and let an yone ge t by me." " We stru ggled all night," said Jones. " We were th e fourth -fastest scratch heat, the fourth-fastest elimination heat, and the seco nd-fastest sem i. If you'd have tak en th e times from practice I was probably 50th fastest. " I' ve won eig h t races here in five years o n different types of motorcycles," Jones said. " If anyone can win all three races here I can." • Results 1. Ronnie Jo nes (Han); 2. Wi ll Davis (H-D); 3. Chr is Carr (H-Dl; 4. Terry Poovey (Han); 5. Dan Ingra m (H-D); 6. Tim Mertens (Han); 7. Dave Hebb (W·R); 8. Dave Dur ell e (W·R); 9. M ickey Fay (HD); 10. Garth 8row (Han); 11. Rob Damron (WR); 12. Ted Boody (HanI. POINT STANDINGS: 1. Corr (56); 2. Jones (51); 3. Durelle (40); 4. Poovey (381 5. Ingram (37); 6. ; Farri s (32); 7. Mertens (29); 8. 800dy (26t 9. Morehead (231 10. Hebb (20). ;