Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Parker (11) edged Chris Carr (20 ) for the w in. The victory put Parker at the top of the Grand National Championship point standings. The Ro lling Thunder Show hits Middletown's first turn with Scott Parker (1 1) . Steve Morehead (4 2) , Chris Carr (20) and Dan Ingram at the front. AMA Grand National Championship: Round 7 Parker edges Carr at Middletown By Tom Mueller Photos by~Bert Shepard MIDDLETOWN, NY, JULY 3 " It's always tough leading, but I can make it just as tough to get by," said Harley.Davidson's Scott Parker after wi nning th e New York Governor's Cup Half Mile a t Orange Co unty Fair Speedway . Parker played cat and mouse with his Harley team ' . mate, Chns Carr for 19 of 20 laps in th e fin al, with Pa rker keeping wh eel ah e~d as he worked ev~ry inch of th e WIde black groo ve. Third was Win chester Harley-Davidson 's I?a~ In gram , with hi s best GN C Iinishever, and a close fourth went to .Ro nn ie j on es, the first Honda across th e lin e. Today's win p u t . Parker ei g ht poi n ts ahead in th e Grand Nation al Cham pionsh ip titl e cha se, 103 to 95, o ver reign in g cham p Bubba Sho bert, wi th seven of 19 events completed. Sho bert cam e up sixth a t Middl etown, j ust under the draft of H arl ey rider Steve Moreh ead, wh o had to deal with the same ign itio n grem lins th at almos t stopped hi s charge at th e Lima H alf-Mil e last weekend . Noti ceabl y absent from the program was former Grand Nation al Cha m p ion j ay Springsteen , wh ose eq u ip men t was sitting do rmant in th e pits. "T here 's just no tell in g when it (getting sick) will happen to j ay," said Parker. " He rode up here with us, and was feeling good ; we even had th e sa me thing for dinner last ni ght. This mornin g when I called him for breakfast, he told u s he cou ld n 't mak e it, to pi ck him up on the way home." A spa rse cro wd of approximately 3000 sca ttered the grounds at O range County for th e Don a n d Lulu ~ 6 Brymer-promoted event . Conditions remained so mewhat cl oud~ throug!to ut most of the da y, keep in g rn or sture on th e gro und, a nd th e races rela tively du st-free. P ark er pock et ed $4 000 o f the $28,000 purse, $3600 for winn ing and $400 in pre-entry bonus :cash. Carr won $2655 a n d Ing r am ea rned $ 1555. Ingra~ was a post-entry, a nd wasn' t eligible for a $ 170 thi rd-p lace bonus. . . T im e Trials In 1987, it had been Ronnie j ones, Scott Pear son a nd Shobert turn ing in a 1-2-3 Honda sweep at Middletow n, but thi s year the condi tio ns seemed to fall in Ha rley's favor. A thic k black groove set up 10 m inutes i nto p racti ce, a n d ho oki n g up seemed to cate r to the low-end gr unt that an XR750 can deliver. " I ca me up w ith a lo t better combina tio n than I had here last year. I thi nk I'll be a ble to pass without knocking peop le do wn, " said Carr, wh o laid down the fastest lap a t 26.140 seconds. Second was Bellvtll e H onda -spon so red Ti m Merten s, on a Harl ey at 26.355, and third went to GF Racin g' s j on es, with a 26.518. H onda' s Shobert was fourth with 26.531, and In gram was fifth with a 26.604. . Park er (26.69 1), Don Est ep (26.727), George Roeder (26.748), Don Howard (26.799), and Moreh ead (26.808) rounded out thetop 10. The . top 18 rid ers ran wi thin th e 26- second range, with a light field of 30 rid ers qualifying for the program. Don Wilson rounded out the field with a 27.441. , "You'll be ab le to pass out there, but you 'll have to be going pretty fast to do it ," said jones. "The groove 's pretty wide, and if you're good you can learn to work it." Heats . Due to 'the low turnout, each of th e four IO-Iap heats contained eight rid ers instead of the usual 12, WIth th e top three from each heat transferring to the main. Martin Lavoie jumped into the lead with his Harley-Davidson in heat one, but it was Carr and Poovey in front halfway through the first la p. Lavoie was third, with George Roeder fourth on his Mike's HarleyDavidson-backed Harley. By la p three Carr broke free of Poov ey and began to circulate alone, . soon building his lead to almost half a stra ightaway. Roeder, and then Aztec Racing 's Howard, got by Lavoie, and began a shuffle for third. The pair brought the battle up to Poov ey during the closing laps, but Ro eder held ground. Carr finished witha five second lead over Poovey, with Roeder claiming th e last direct transfer. It was K&K Motorcycle Supply's Morehead over · Mertens down deep into turn o ne in heat two , but Morehead emerged o nlap two with Steel-Masters -spo ns ored Estep , on a H arl ey, and Mik e Sponseller-backed Rodney Farris, on a Honda, in 2-3. Merten s was hanging o nto fourth. Merten s a n d Brian Athert on bumped a nd tumbled, bringing out the red flag on lap three. " I go t sideways comi ng ou t of four an d he (A therto n) ra n in to m e, " said Merten s. Both rid ers were sha ken , but mad e th e single-file restart. Morehead and Estep controlled pa rt two of heat two, with Moreh ead gai ni ng a cus hi on on lap six . Ath erto n worked hi s way to fourth, and the n began prodding third-place Farris on th e inside. He made a pass stick on th e back stra igh t. Ath ert on li ghten ed up on Estep and had a bead on second, but tim e ran ou t and it was Morehead , Estep a n d Ath erton with the .th ree transfers. T he most exci ting heat race action came in the third group,.when jones and Parker matched WItsfor the win. jones grabbed the lead, with Parker and Harley rider Will Davis in 2-3. Jones hadhis way until lap six , wh en Parker ca me in close enough to plant a wheel next to Ronnie, using a fast, high line. Parker tried to make a pa ss stick in tum three on lap eight, but Jones got ag~ressiveand shut the doo r. T he next lime around Parker held it on even harder, and came up with the lead in tur n three with the same hi gh" line. Randy Texter and Brian Bonesteel moved their Harleys in on Davis , but then Bonesteel cruised out of d contention with a flat rear tire. o Parker took a close win over j ones, ; and Davis maintained third. d Shobert gridded u p front a nd.j inside, and used the position to , holes ho t heat four. - Ingram was, second, and broke away with Shobert, whi le Gary Conkling and Scott , Stump paired off for a dice for thi rd. Conkling came off the groove on the back-straight on lap two. Stump got by, and on lap three both Briarr Hardin and Chad Feli cio took their Harleys past Conkling. While Shobert and Ingram were 1-2, Stump, Hardin, Felicia and Conkling were ' running 3-4-5-6, all under a blanket. ' . Hardin fell hard on la p . six, bringing out th e red flag . While~ Hardin shook off the crash , the field I lined up for a single-file restart, and Shobert held control when the race ) went back under green. By the'} checkers Shobert had rebuilt his cu sh io n , an d 'wo n with Ingramsec o n d. Stump , Conkling and Harley-m ounted Keith j acobsen~ clus tered in to th e 3-4-5 spots on lap seven, but Stump broke away for a clea n third. .z The winner of each of th e two sem is transferred to th e 15-r ider main, and in semi o ne Farris wanted no clo se calls : he hooked up at the sta rt an d pulled away. 'Merten s mo n ito re d Fa r ri s from seco n d through th e first five laps. Then . H oward go t o n the gas and mov ed. around H ar ley rider Ru sty Rogers;\ using the high li ne in turn one for third. On lap six Howard passed Mert en s, just in time to close o n ' Farris for a shot at the front. i Rodney too k the cha llenge on lap seven but gain ed gro und to even tu . ally win. Merten s hung it o u t and repassed Howard down th e final • stra ig ht, but time had run o ut. " We reall y had to work on th e gearing to get it right," said Farris! " My Honda's runmng eight or nine:?! thousand rpm, and the Harleys ar i cru isin' at six." Randy T exter and Cla yton Oliver staged the initial match-up on their Harleys in semi two , but by lap two it was Canadian Cornwell and Felicio taking their Harleys o ut

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