Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 O"l ....... D~n Estep (6 4) and Ronn ie Jones (1 6) battled fo r sixth with ,the nod gorng ,to Jones. Estep was riding a Shobert Honda. t uned by Sk ip Eaken . third to first wi th a daring div e iillo tur~ three o n th e second lap, relega ting Ch andler a nd Day to seco nd ' a nd third, respe cti vel y, and sell ing the fin al o rder of fin ish fo r th e top three. Ath ert on fin ished fou rt h wh ile Canad ian J on Cornwell ended u p fifth . Carr dominat ed th e fourth IO-Iap heat race from th e flash o f the gr een li~ht ~ o th e fall of th e chec kered flag, wrnmng th e fastest heat o f th e night ( 6 : 39 . 9~9) by a wide margin. McDowell rai sed a few eyebro ws wh en he held. hi s B!u ce's Body Shop HarleyDavidson 10 seco nd pl ace from ligh t to flag . Third pl ace, and the last d irect transfer to the final . was claimed by Laguna Seca 250ci:: Grand Prix winner Jimmy Fili ce, riding a D&S ali. Raci ng Honda tuned by H a~k SC Filice, wh o was dead last off the line, had moved into fifth place by the end of lap two. H e took fourth a way from Alex Jorgensen on lap eig h t, then pass ed Oklahoma 's T ed Bood y going mto turn three on th e fin al lap. Semis The first of two l O-lap Expert semis, each of which transferred the top two finish ers directly to th e National, was led into turn one by Harley-mounted Californian SCali Pearson . It was Springsteen , however , who held the edge as th e riders exited turn one, and Springer went on 10 dominate the race with ease. Pears on held seco nd until th e final lap when Pennsylvania's Steve Burkholder drafted by him on the back straight, for cing Pearson to settle for third. ' Lawwill 's rider s, Graham a nd Morehead , fail ed to finish the fir st semi du e to engine problems . " Mert has dual ignitions o n th e bik e and the y both went," said a di sap pointed Graham. When as ked abo u t Morehead , Graham said, " He blew up, too. I d on 't kn o w exac tly wha t happened." Boody a nd Ath ert on drafted by each other several tim es while contesting th e lead during th e first half of th e second 10-l ap se m i, but Ath erton sell led in to th e to p spot on lap fiv e a nd never look ed ba ck . Bood y fini sh ed seco nd to tak e th e last transfer spot, while former Ga rd ner Racing Harley pilot Pete Hames, wh o is now riding a Hank Sco tt built, D&S Racing H onda , finish ed third. . . . last Chance Qualifier Jorgen sen sto rmed his way from fourth o ff the lin e to first by the end of the ini tia l la p to win th e LCQ and claim th e 17th a nd fin al starti ng spot on th e Na tional grid. Hames, Youngster Bryan Villella turned a few heads when he clocked in with the fastest time, then won his heat race. He took 12th in the fina l. running seco nd, tried to close a t th e end but ran o u t of race. Pearson fini shed a lonely third. Nation al .' Ca lifornian Carr was firs t off the line in the 25-lap mai n event a nd held the edge th rough la p one. He was followed across th e stripe o n the first go-aro u nd by Shobert, H -D MOLOr Co ./BelllT su ba kil Har ley O wn ers G ro u p -sponsored Parker a nd Ch andl er. . Sho bert roo k the lead away from Ca rr co ming ou t of tu rn two a t the sta rt of the second lap, then Parker shu ffled the front runners even mor e ~hen he bum ped Ca rr to th ird going IOta turn three. Ch andler gave chase in fourth, while a fierce baili e for fifth developed between J ones, Poovey, J orgen sen , Atherton and Estep. Fa st-qualifier Vill ella , vet eran Springsteen and Filice were well back in the pack. For th e next 10 laps Shobe rt cr u ise d in fr ont a n d Chandl er watch ed from fourth as teammates Park er and Carr had a severe dis agr eem ent o ver second place. The duo ran wh eel-to-wheel, swapping second pl ace several tim es before Park er claimed the spot for good on la p I I. ' On lap six Shobert turned a 39.23 up front, while Atherton had worked hi s wa y into fifth behind the front four, sell ing the pace for Poovey, J ?nes, Estep and Jorgen sen. By lap rune, Ath erton had slip ped back to eig h th a nd by lap II he was running 10th behind eig h th place J orgen sen a nd ninth pl ace Springsteen . Sh ob ert clock ed in with a 39.47 o n lap 12. H e held a sligh t edge o n Parker as th e tw o front-runn er s edged a way from Chandler a nd Carr, wh o were running side-by-side into every turn , battling fiercely for third. . Shobert led Pa rk er, Ch andler , Carr, Poo vey, J ones, Estep, J o rge nse n, Ather to n, Bo od y, Da y, McDow ell , a nd Vill ell a on la p 14, the sa me lap Filice dropped o u t o f th e ra ce with s us pec te d eng i ne tro ubles. "I was seventh off th e line, but 1 kept goi ng . backwards," Fil ice said. "The bike was running stro ng, but 1 heard th is noi se o n top and decid ed . to p ull in. And the track was dangerous, bu t it was the weather tha t d id that to us. It was no fun runn in g here tonight." By lap 15, rid er fatigue, the "dangerous" race.track a nd a stro ng wi nd were becoming factors in th e o utcome of the race. Carr said avo idi ng the numero us ruts enteri ng tu rn one, and ex iti ng turns two a nd four , was li ke " dod ging bullets." H e added that h is 300· po u nd V-twin was ge ll ing "air- Parker and Shobert celebrate in the winner's circle, In the ' 8 7 season finale. their positions on Ca l Expo's rostrum were reversed . borne" on every lap from two dips th at had developed in the spongy backstraigh t, A third dip ha d formed at th e ent rance to turn three wh ere riders entered th e turn a t approxi mately 130 mph. To mak e mailers worse, wind ' gusts were g iving rid ers a tailwind o n th e back ch u te and forcing them to fight a stro ng head wind o n th e front straigh t. On lap 17 Sh obert turned a very fast (fo r conditio ns) 38.96; despite the hot lap Parker was closing. F our laps lat er, Parker tuc ked in under Sh ob ert in turn fou r, took over the lead and tri ed to po wer away . But Sh ob ert glued h im self to Parker 's rear fender, making su re he stayed close eno ugh to ma ke the pass' if he got th e chance . By lap 21 Ch andler had brok en away from Carr, but Shobert a nd Pa rker were o u t of reach. Spread o u t behind Ca rr, running sing le file, . wer e Poo vey , Jon es, Estep, J o rgense n and Ath ert on. Springsteen pulled o u t o f the race whe n his Harl ey went dead o n o ne cyli nder. Pa rker tu rne d a 39. 15 on the whi te flag lap, th e cloc k sto p pi ng j ust as Parker a nd Shobert cros sed th e start / finis h li ne side-by-side. It was Parker who en tered turn o ne first and the H arl ey pilot led the fin al lap except for the last few in ch es - Sho bert dra fted by a t the finish lin e to tak e the win .. Cha nd ler was for ced to settle for third, and Ca rr too k a lo nely fou rt h. Poovev fina llv won the battle for fifth , 'Iea d ing J ones, Estep, J o r- gensen a nd Da y across the line. Atherton finished 10th to set th e pace for McDowell, Villella a nd Burkho lder. Bood y, Springsteen , Howard and Filice rounded o u t the field. " I was happy wh ere 1 was after the start," said Chandler. "Scotty a nd Chris were go ing pretty good and 1 figured 1 co uld hang in there. When SCally started to tu rn it on, Chris started m akin g mi st ak es. Ch r i s dropped me back wi th him and by the time 1 got by him they were a stra igh taway a head. " A lot of it was the wind," sai d Chandler. " If you lost the draft, it was hard. The wa y the wind was blowing o u t the re, o nce you got behind yo u could n't mak e it u p." " I was just !?Iad to ri de the main," sai d fas t-qualifier and hea t wi n ne r Ville lla. " I was trying to find a smooth spot a nd th ere wasn ' t one o u t th ere. 1 was real su rprised with m y q ualifying tim e. Th is is the first tim e 1 ever rod e a twin and I'm j us t glad to finish th e main. It was a good run for th e first time o n a 750." • Results 1. Bubba Shobe rt (Hon); 2. Scott Parker (H-D); 3. Doug Chand ler (Hon); 4. Chr is Carr (H-D); 5. Terry Poovey (Han); 6. Ronn ie Jo nes (Han); 7. Don Estep IHon); 8. Alex Jorg ensen (Hon); 9. Keith Day (Hon); 10. Br ian At h erton IH ·D ); 1 1. Br yan McDoweIlIH -D); 12. Bryan Villella (H-D); 13. Steve Burkholder (Hon); 14. Ted Boody (Hon); 15. Ja y Sprongsteen (H-D); 16. Don How ard (H-D); 17. J im Filice IH-D). · • AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONS HIP DIRT TRACK SERIES POINT STANDINGS ; 1. Bubba Shobert (20 ); 2. Scott Parker (16); 3. Doug Chandler (13); 4. Chris Carr (11); 5. Ter ry Poovey (10); 6. Ronn ie J one s (9); 7 . Don Est ep (8); 8 . A l ex J orgen sen (7); 9 . Keith Day (6); 10. Bri an At herton (5); 11. Bryan McDowell ( 4 ~ 12. Bryan Villella (3); 13. Steve Burkholder ( 2~ 14 . Ted Boody (1). 7

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