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/127136
(Left to right) Scott Parker. Ronn ie"Jones. Bubba Shobert. Terry Poovey (beh ind S hobert) and Rodney Farris s lide thro ugh (Left to right) Jay Springsteen. Alex Jorgensen. Ricky G raham (beh ind Jorgensen). Steve Morehead. Keit ,h Day and Don Estep in close quarters. " "600 AMA Gran d Nafi ICh amplonsh"Ip, lona Nat" I D"rt Traek S" Rounds 4(7 lona I . erles: _ Shobert by inehes over · gf Id Parker at SPrI n I e . , By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard SP R INGFIELD, IL, MAY 29 . I " I hate to win 'em when they're th at close b ecaus e someb 0 d y h as to I ose, " sal'd G ran d " N a ti rona I Ch am p Ion Bu bb a Sh 0 b er t a ft er h e edged ou t Sco tt P arker by inch es for the 8 Sp rin gfield Mile win. H a rley-Davidson 's Park er I echoed Shobert's sen ti me n ts: " You give it you r all for 25 laps a nd it comes d own to a coup Ie 0 f in ches. Sometimes it doesn 't seem fair, bu t I' ve won tha t way and . probabl y will again. I gave it ever ything I co ul d; I gave it my best sho t." . , H o nda 's Sh obert said, " Wha tever the decision , we had close , clea n racing an d we ga ve th e fans what they wa nt to see." , . Finis h ing third was Mary land 's Rod ney Farris, who eq ua lled his previo us best fin i sh i n G r and Nationa l Cha mpio nship Series raeing. " I used my head - fina lly. I just wanted to stay wit h th e lead dra ft arid watch what they were doi ng. It pa id off," said Farr is who never led . b u t did ru n WIt h t h e i d pac k I ea thro ughou t the race on h is Mike Sponseller/Fab-Ball /Shoei/ B.V.R.I Du trow 's Ho nd a-sp onsored, Mi ke Wh eeler-tuned H onda. " I had th e best seat in the house; I saw Ch ris (Ca rr) a nd Ronnie (Jones) bang togeth er o nce." T erry Poo vey a nd Ronnie J o nes fini sh ed fourth an d fifth , respecti vely, after runnin g with Sh ober t, Parker a nd Farris all the wa y. Shobert ea rned o ver $5000 for winning, $4755 as the winner 's share of the $40,000 tota l purse, plus lap money , a $350 AMA perfor ma nce ince nt ive award (which is paid to each of the 20 to p ra nked pre-entered riders based o n '8 7 series p oint sta ndi ngs), and a special award of $500 in th e form of a donati on in mem or y of th e lat e Bill BIey, an avid race fan. BIey lost his life earlie r this year in a fishing acci den t, Bley's wife, Belly, and dau ghter, Rox anne, in sti tu ted th e awa rd. Time Trials Ch ris Carr, aboard the H arle yDa vidson / Sh oei /H ap Jo nes / RS Taich iiTsu ba ki-sponsored, Kenny Tolbert-tu ned XR750, turned in the quickest tour of the Ill ino is Sta te Fa irgro un ds mi le o val, stopp ing tim er G il Dosm ega n 's clocks a t 35.305 seconds for a n average spee d · of I0 1.968 mp h , far shy of the 35.458/ 104.203 record set by Ricky Gra ha m in 1984. Carr earn ed $100 for bein g fast qualfier. ti ri one . l. . R' . G F Ra cing's o nme J ones was second fastes t wi th a time of 35.418, Shobert was thi rd a t 35.576, Steve . More hea d fourth at 35.735 a nd Don Estep fifth a t 35.764. Three other riders logged times under 36 seconds (100 mp h) an d th ey were Parker, Keith Day and Peter H ook . Forty-one rid ers turned in time trial laps bu t under the combined Grand National/600 Nati onal progra m for mat, on ly 36 qual ified for th e p rogram. Ch arlie Orr was the final q ualifier wit h a tim e of 37.230 seconds. , Heats Three 12-man hea ts were run with each hea t transferrin g the top th ree finish ers to th e fin al while thefourt h th rough l l th pl ace fin ish ers wo uld go to o ne of two semis that would advance the top four from each to the final. . Parker pulled the holesh ot a t the start of the first 10-lap hea t but it was po lesitter Carr who led Par ker, Da y and .Poovey across Th line' at the th e d f th fi t I f en 0 t e the h ap. ITS ose to urt ba ttl ed If . up 0 a . way porn a wh ich time Day dropped out of the front runnin g trio 's draft and slip ped back to fourt h wh ere h e wou ld fin ish: T he remaining five laps saw Carr, Parker a nd Poovey swap the lead all arou nd th e track, often runningthree abreast. T he checkere d flag waved a nd it was Carr taki ng th e win by inches o ver Poov ey and Parker. Carr's win was ackno wledged on the spot but officia ls had to go to the Cycl e N ews Fin ish Line Camera to decid e th e Parker /Poovey fini sh . T he nod for second and a front row start ing slot in the fin al went to Shoei/ Ma r io u ne a u x Racin g/H ap J ones/ Jim Sisemo re/ Ts u ba k i sponso red Poovey. The second heat lacked th e action up front tha t the fir st hea t had provided , th anks to a wire-to-wire lead ing run by Ronnie J on es. J ones pulled th e ho lesh o t from hi s po le position a nd led all the way. Behind the Oklahoman things were quite different as SCOll Stump, . Willi e Da vi s, two- time Grand