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/127143
00 00 0') (Left to right) Third place finisher Steve Morehead, w inner Chris Carr , and runner-up Bubba Shobert celebrate in winner's circle. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Rpunds 9/7 Carr all but perfect at Parkersburg By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard PARKERSBURG, W V , J ULY 16 Harley-Davidson factory rider Chris Carr turned in an all but perfect night aboard his Kenny' Tolbert-tuned X R750 at the Parkersburg Half Mile, Carr won the Camel Challen ge a nd th en led each and every lap of th e 20-1ap final ". If' we h a d qua lifiied fas test, " I 8 sa id Carr, who qualified secon d fastest, " I wo ul d have had a perfect ni ght. " Finishing ~eco n d in the Na~ional wa s de~endlllg Grand Nation al Champion Bubba Shobert. The Honda factory rider had to work for th e runner-up spo t and didn't move into that posi~ion until the 16th lap of th e 20-lap fmal. Third place went to Steve Morehead, who had to win the La st Chance Qualifier to get int o the final. , Morehead was a boa rd t ~ e H a nk Scott-tuned , KK/Wheeltn Works / John Dra go o / F&S H -Dsponsored XR 750. The racing the large crowd saw on th e West Virgi nia Mo to r Speedway's banked five-eighths m ile ova l was, in the words of o ne onlooker, " the best half mile racing I've seen in a . long time." A perfectl y prep ared sur face provided racing lines from th e very top of th e track right down to the bottom. Although Scott Parker, wh o finished sixth in th e National, remains on top of th e Grand National Championship Series point standings with a total of 128 points, Carr and Shobert moved into a ti e with Morehead for second in th e sta nd ings a t III points each . Shobert now leads th e Camel Pro Series point sta ndings over road racer Doug Pol en , 103 to 72. Moreh ead is thi rd wi th 53 points. The near-perfect performance by Carr was rewarded to th e tune of $ 16,040. T he Cal if orn ia rider's Camel Challenge win was worth $10,000 and for his first p lace fin ish in the National fina l he earned $5390 o ut of the $33,000 purse. As a to p 20 ra n ked ri der based on 1987 Ca mel Pro poi nt sta ndi ngs, he also was paid 250 for co mpeting in the event. Ti m e Tria ls Bo th practice a nd ti me trial s were delayed due to blistering hea t - the temperature at the scheduled start of practice, 4:30 p.m., was 102-degrees - and the delay allowed trac k crews to wor k plenty of wat er into the track surface. Quiet fell over the track when Ohioan Do n Estep cras hed in turn three on his ti me trial la p. Estep suffered a frac tured . sku ll, but his mother reported th at he was conscious and com munica ting on arrival at the hospital. Fifty-two riders seeking one of the 48 start ing spo ts in the program went up aga ins t tim er G il Dosrnegan's clock a nd th e $ 100 po sted for th e fastes t time trial a nd th e pol e position for the first heat went to Harl ey's Scott Parker. The Michigan rider broke th e track record, 25.137 seconds set by Chad Felicio in 1986, by turning in a blistering 24.130 lap on his Bill Werner-tuned XR750. Time tri als at Camel Pro even ts' have become as closel y watched as ' the National final qual ifying heat, semi and Last Ch an ce Qualifier races, for th e top six qualifiers get' a start ing berth in the $17,500 Camel Ch all en ge race. J J o in in g Pa rk er in th e Camel Ch all en ge wo u ld be Carr (24.314), Dan In g ram (24 .544), S ho bert (24.562), Morehead (24.680 ), a nd Keith Da y (24.725), who was riding th e Don ' s Plu mbin g /Hi-Po int/ Shoe i/ Ha rry Lilli e/Di am ondsponsored sing le-shoc k H onda. H eats Pr ior to th e ru nni ng of th e four heat races which wo u ld adva nce th e top three fini sh ers from each of the 10-lap races to the ma in event, a memorial service was co nducted for Laurence "Smi tty" Sm i th, wh o passed away the T uesday before the event. The West Virgi nian's wido w, Mart ha, was o n han d to receive a Harley-Davi dso n flag tha t had flown over th e Mil wa u kee factory a n d which had been a utographed by the ride rs as well as a chec kered flag th a t was tak en o n a lap of hon or by a race r Smitty had long suppo rted, Tam my Kirk . While Kirk slowly circu la ted th e track with th e flag, th e Star Spa ngled Banner was played and th e American flag slowly ra ised. Announcer Dave Despain bri efly but emo tio na lly eulogized Smitty, mentioning that Smitty would be happy h earing "the Rolling Thunder sound across the hills of his native West Virginia." Will Davis and Terry Poovey led