Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Chris Carr .(20) clips hay bales. Bubba Shobert '(1) rides the middle line. and Da n Ingram (3 1 ) stays low on West Virg inia Motor Speedway's oval. the first heat off th e lin e and around the oval on the openi ng lap. Poovey took com mand of the lead spot on the seco nd lap , but pol e sitter Parker, who had gotten off the line slow ly, . .was flying high up against th e hay bales and on lap four he passed Davi s and th en Poovey, and that was that as far as who would fin ish first. Wh ile Park er continued to ride up high and open up a big lead, Poovey an d Dav i s mov ed u p on to th e cus h io n and main tained their advanceme nt spots. Scott Pear son fini shed a lonely fourth , bound for a sem i as were th e next fou r finis hers. Carr ga ve everyo ne a preview of the final as he pulled the holeshot at th e start of th e second heat a nd immediately opened up a ~p over his pursuers. Floridia n David Mill er looked as th ou gh he had seco nd locked u p but th ree-time Grand National Cham pi on J ay Springsteen had eyes on the spot a nd too k it over o n la p seven after fi rst h a vin g dropped Do ug Chandler to fourth. Springsteen, lik e Carr, was wo rking wha t remain ed of th e cushion at the top of the banked turns and he foll owed win ner Carr across the line. Mill er a nd Chand ler too k the fi~ht for thi rd right down to the finis h li ne where the nod went to Chandler and hi s J err y Griffit h -tuned Honda. Carr's winning tim e, 4 minutes, 9.95 7 seco nds, was nearl y three secon ds faster than Parker 's tim e in the opening hea t H eat n umber three sa w Day tak e the lead on th e open ing lap , foll o wed closely by In gram a nd two -tim e Grand National Champion Ricky Graha m. At the halfway point it appeared as th ough th ey would finis h in that order with a George Roeder/ Ronn ie Jones dice for 'fourth dra wing more attention th an the rides by th e top three. But on lap . ei ht it becam e a ar ent that In am was closing o n Day and sure enough In ~m too k th e lead over Day as th e pair exited turn two. Ingram held off a las t la p cha lle nge by Day to take th e win. Graham fin ished a lonely third, while semi- bound Jones and Roeder finished fou rt h a nd fifth , respectivel y. The tim e for the hea t was 4:13.033, . over three seconds slo wer th an th e previous heat. The fourth and final heat started wi th Doug Davis, Devon Pritchard and R usty Rogers on th e pena lty line after they were ca ught creep ing as th e field awa ited th e green light. Once th e green l i~ht didcome on , it was Shobert leading the field out of tu rn two and th rough turns three and four and across the start/fin ish line on the opening lap, bu t lap two saw Brian Ather ton take the lead af ter some wild man eu veri ng in th e tu rn s. Shobert was ru nning second ahea d of a Morehea d/Farris dice th a t saw Morehead nearl y tak e Farris ou t when he dove into turn one low and drif ted up h igh , cutting Farris off. " I said whoops and got back o n the gas ," said Farris after th e race. Atherton took command of the rac e an d str etched h is lead over Shobert to handi ly score th e win. Whi le Atherton was cruising ho me, Farris was doggin ~ Shobert, who was riding a very high line. " Bubba wasn 't just clipping the haybales," sai d Farris, "he was dancin' on those th ings ." After Ath erton took th e checkered fla g, Shobert finished second wi th Farris on his rear wh eel. The heat -was over three seconds slower than Carr's heat. Semis Only th e winner of eac h of th e two 10-l ap semi-final ra ces w ou ld advance to th e main and in the first o the hon o r went to Pear son after a tremendous di ce wit h Mill er that saw th e pair running side-by-side around the o vaL Beh ind Pearson and . Miller , Dan Kn echt an d R oeder fou ght over th ird righ t do wn to the finish line where the spot went to ' Knech t. . Morehea d pulled off th e holesh ot at the start of the seco nd semi bu t Roeder and Brian Bon esteel pulled 0 [[ a side-by-side mo ve in tu rns three a nd four that moved them ahead of the ve tera n. Wh il e Bonesteel dropped back, Roeder too k the lead wi th Jo nes m ov in g into secon d ahea d of Moreh ead on lap three. Roder and j on es rode low lines, while Morehead was trying to use wha t little cus hion was left up top. J ones worked hi s way around Roeder to take the lead for good on lap five. La p six .saw Morehead abando n his hi gh lin e and drop down low in th e turns. But J on es was running a similar line and Morehead co u ldn' t close th e ga p. J ones took the win, with Morehead second and faci ng th e Last Chance Qua lifier. Camel Challenge As Parker, Carr, Ingram, Shobert, Mo rehead and Day lin ed up for th e st art o f th e fiv e-lap da sh, a ll exp ressed co ncern over how the track had cha nged during the hea ts and semis. " I don't kn ow wh ere we're go ing . to run ," said Park er, "T he cus hio n is all bu t gone." . Wh en asked abou t the pressure of th e Ca mel Ch a llenge, Ingram sa id, " I try not to think abo u t it. I tell m yself it's just another race." Carr, wh o seemed th e least co nce rned over t he ch an gi n g tr a ck conditions, said, "T his is th e nicest dirt track we run all year lo ng. " The pr essure-cook er race got the green l igh t and Ingram led Shobert, Carr, Morehead, Day and Park er across th e line at th e end of th e open ing la p. In gram's race came to an end wh en h is Eddie Adki ns tuned , Winchester H arl ey-Da vidsonbacked XR7 50 ga ve u p the ghost on la p two. H e would later scratch from th e Nat ional after Ad kins cha nged wh at Ingram th ou ght was a brok en transmission. " Dan thought the gearbox was brok en, bu t it turned o ut to be , a camshaft gear ," said Adkins. Carr was o ut front a t th e end of lap two a nd he rode a high, wide and handsome lin e to stay th ere for the fin al three laps to score th e win over Moreh ead, who rode a lo w line. Parker fin ished third , Sho ber t fourth and Day fifth . " I cou ld n 't be happier," said Carr, than king tu ner Kenny Tolbert a nd sponsors H arley-Davidson, Shoei , H ap J on es, R.S. Taichi, Tsubaki and H og Wash . "Ther e's only about a lO-inch wide cus hion left. We'll be cutting the str ings on th e hay bales if we ru n u p there in the NationaL" R unner-u p Mor ehead was excused 'fro m the win ner's circle ceremo ny seei n~ as how he had th e Last Chance Quali fier comin g u p on h is dance card, but the Findlay Flyer posted and said , "We've changed carbs and pipes, but the race track is really changing. I'v e go t a real fast ' guy , H ank Sco tt, turning the wren ches so we'll com e up with so meth in g." Parker adm itted he'd bl own the start of th e mega-buck race. " Yeah, I bl ew it. I have n 't had a good start all nigh t lon g. We switched pipes aft er th e heat and we'll have to ma ke so me l ittl e cha n ges before th e Na tion al ." o l ast Chance Qualifier The 10-lap LCQ got und erway mi nus David Mill er, 'w hose H arley refused to start. T he initial start saw Morehead pull the holeshot but th e 9

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