Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Brian Atherton (98) was dropped to fourth when Steve Morehead (42) took an outside line around him on lap 18. Bubba Shobert (1 ) pulled off an inside pass on Brian Atherton to take over second place on the 16th lap of the 20-lap final. Dav e Despain int ervi ew s Chris Carr wh ile Bubba Shobert plays. Ch ris Carr took checkered flag laps after both the Camel Challenge and the National final. The California rider led every lap of the National. race was red-flagged wh en the starte r ruled it was an uneven start. Whatever, Morehead and the field lined up again and again it was the vetera n pulling into the lead off the line. Running the middle of the tra c k, Morehead built up a h uge lead a nd too k the last starting slo t in th e National. Bryan Villella fin ished second a nd like th e other fin ishers saw his ni ght come to an end. . National Carr lined up on the inside pole for the 20-lap fin al , joined on the front row by Parker, Springsteen, Ath erton, Poovey and Shobert . T he second row co nsi st ed o f Day, Chandler, Davis, Farris, Graham and Pearso n. Pearso n had moved up from the thi rd row after Ingram scra tched, and Jones and Morehead were th e o nly rid ers o n the third row. By th e end of th e o peni ng lap Carr had let the scori ng crew headed by Carol Meiferdt know tha t their j ob wou ld be an easy one as far as firs t p lace was concerned, bu t beh ind Carr pos itio ns changed constant ly throughout th e ra ce. After th e openi ng lap shuffle for po siti on it becam e a pparent that the 14 riders were goi ng to thr ill the specta tors by ru nning every im aginable li ne th rough t h e ban ked co rners. The end of la p two saw Carr lead Ath erton, Spri n~s teen , Shobert and the rest of th e h eld across the line. Springsteen was runni ng a low lin e and appeared to be the fastest rider o n the tra ck, but h is race all but came to an end on the third lap when he fell in turn four . " I hit a hole and the nex t thing I knew I was loo king at my front tire and then o n the grou nd," said Springsteen , who q uickly remoun ted and go t back into the race well behind the field . By the fifth la p Carr had a li ttl e bit of breathing roo m over Perry 's H -D / RK / K8:N / SuperT rapp / Scott Pa rk er / Ara ii N HII Hog Was hsponsored Atherton who had an eq ua l ga p over a Shobert/Morehea d dice for third. Chandler was running fifth , Poo vey si x th and Davi s seven th . Lap seven saw th e top six positions rem aip the same but Parker had moved in to seventh, dropp ing Davis to eigh th in front of J on es a nd Farris. The order up front hadn 't changed by the end of th e 10th lap but Parker had moved}nto seventh by passing J ones and Farris was putting moves on Davis and on the next lap one of the m worked and Farris mo ved into ninth. Lap II saw Springsteen mov e down low in turns three and four to allow Carr clea r passage as the yo u ngest H a rl ey tea m m ember la pped th e veteran. T he la ps that followed saw Shobert clo se on Atherton in a fight for seco nd and Parker pu t pressu re on Poo vey in th eir figh t for sixth . Shobert passed Atherton to ' take over second o n lap 16, th e same lap th at Parker moved past Poovey to tak e over sixth. On .the foll ow ing lap Morehead was kn ocking o n Ath erton' s do or a nd lap 18 he go t th e openi ng he was looking for and took over th ird . Carr sailed hom e the wi nner, took his chec kered flag la p , and joined runner-up Sh obert and th ird pl ace fini sher Morehead in winner's circle as the o ther riders head ed into the pit ar ea. Pearson, th e o nly DNF, had pr eceeded them. A member of Pearson 's crew said, "T he fire-went O U L " Carr, who had run a high line throughout the fina l, said, " I didn' t figure to run that way, bu t th e semi times were slow and I figured that th e low line wasn 't the way to go." Runner-u p Shobert said, " It took me a whi le to get by Atherton. H e was rea lly riding har d. It 's been a couple of weeks since I rod e dirt and I wa nte d to com e here and show them how it's do ne, bu t they sho wed me!" Morehead , who 's enjoyi ng hi s best ever seaso n, said, " We' re no t wo rried abou t th e championship. We're o ut here to ma ke money to surv ive. " Asked how he came from th e third row up to third, Morehead said , "The adrenaline ~ets going when you don't make It out of a heat and th en a sem i and have to win the Last Cha nce Quali fier. But tha t ma kes you work harder and I prob' ably did better because I was worked up." Mo rehead closed th e nigh t on an emotional not e. "Smitty; damn it, I tri edL " • Results 2Q-LAP FINAL: 1. Chris Carr (H· D); 2. Bubba Shobert (Hon): 3. Steve Mor ehead (H-D): 4. Br ian Athert on (H·D): 5. Doug Chandl er (Hon); 6. Scon Parker (H· D); 7. Terry Poovey ( H on~ 8. Ronnie Jo nes (Hon); 9. Rodney Farris (Hon): 10. Ricky Graham (H·D); 11. Keith Day (Hon); 12. Will Devis (H· D); 13. Jay Spring steen (H·D ); 14. Scon Peerson (H-D): 15. Dan Ingrem (H· D). TIME: 8 mi n.. 30 .744. 5-LAP CAM EL CHALLENGE: 1. Chris Carr (H· D); 2. Steve Moreh ead (H· D); 3. Scon Parker (H· D); 4. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 5. Keit h Day (Hon); 6. Dan Ingra m (H-D). TIM E: 2 min .. 07 .142 sec. GRAND NA TIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS : 1. Scon Parker (128); 2. (TIE) Chris Carr /Steve Morehead/Bubba Shob ert (I I I ); 5. Terry Poovey (79 ); 6. Ronn ie J ones (75); 7. Rodney Farr is (62); 8. J ay Spring steen (46); 9. Don Estep (44); 10. Keith Day (34 ). . CAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS : I . Bubba Shobert (103 ): 2. Doug Polen (72); 3. Steve M oreh ead (53); 4. Rendy Renfrow (40); 5. Doug Chand ler (37); 6. Chr is Carr (36); 7. Scott Parker (3 1~ 8. mE) Rodney Farr islTerry Poovey (28); 10. Reuben McM urter (27). .

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