Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

moved within strikin g ra nge of Shobert and now has 144 poin ts. Shobert 's consola tio n was winning th e Camel Challe nge a nd its $10,000 check for first pl ace. Shobert also stretched his lead in the Camel Pro Series poin t sta ndings wi th 159 poin ts to road racer Doug Polen 's 81. Steve Moreh ead is third with 70 and Carr is right behind with 69. . Carr's win was his seco nd in Peoria this year, after winning the 600 National here in June. It was al so Carr's seco nd G rand National victory of the year. Peoria was al so the site of Carr's first National win in 1986. " I love th is track," he said. " It's one of my favorit es." . Grah am , a tw o- time Peoria winner, was one of th e many riders who agreed with Carr's assessment. " It sepa rates the men from th e boys," he said. "All th e g uys that I've respected have won here. It 's like a great, traditional 'IT track." Time Trials Carr started the day right by setting hi s record tim e durin g, tim e trials, topping Parker a nd J on es by more tha n half a second. H -D Moto r Co .lShoeilHap J ones/RS T aichi/ T subak:i/ Sunoco Ra cing Fuels/ Hog Wash- sponsored Carr became the on ly ma n in Peoria 's history to break int o the 25s with th e ' new mark. " He was just flying o utthere . . . ." said an impressed Parker. Carr was as surp rised as anyone about h is performance. T he Manteca, Ca liforn ia, racer guessed tha t the track had dryed o ut in the right amo unt before his run. The tem pera tu re was 97 degrees, which , combined with h igh h umidi ty and little breeze, turned th e tree-lined Peoria bowl into an ear th ly version of hell. The su rface was a thin layer of soft damp dirt, com ing off in flake s over dry , dusty hardpack. " It' ll probably dry up and wind up being a Peoria 'IT," said Parker, wh o was next-fastest with a tim e of 26.294. H'D Motor Co .lBell / Tsubaki/ Harley Owners Grou p -sponsored Parker hoped to be a board an XR 750, which would hav e been the only twin -cylinder, and the only H ar leypowered machine a t th e event.' "T he people would have liked it, " Parker said. "It's just as fast (as the singles)." . In stead, he was forced to ride his R otax-power ed .H a r ley. Parker's tu ner, Bill Werner, was too busy with dyno testi ng to pr epare a 'IT twin. The team o pted to con centrate on fin di ng two more horsepower for the miles, ra ther th an the novelty of a uni q ue machi ne at Peoria, Parker said. . A tick beh ind Pa rker was Ronnie Jones, whose best fin ish at Peoria was a thi rd pl ace las t year. J on es clocked a 26.357 time. Beh in d J ones came three-time Grand Na tional Champio n Shobert with a 26.373 ru n. " I'm kind of a slow starter here at Peoria," Shobert said. " It 's so com petitive." Providing so me of that co mpe tition wa s Jay Spri ngstee n , w ho qual ified fifth , with a 26.626 time. T he three-tim e Grand Nati onal Champion in th e race said he had been tra in ing recen tly o n hi s mo to- . cross machinery. Pete Hames posted a 26.685 time and earned th e fin al starting spot in the Camel Ch all enge by being one of th e top-six fastest qualifiers. Rich King, Keith Day, two-t im e Peoria wi nner Scou Pearson, and Aaron Hill ro unded out the top 10. A slim turnout of riders - 48 starting slots were available to Chris Carr (20 ) broke away by lap 10 of the National. leaving Bubba Shobert (1) and Scott Parker (1 1) .be hind . q ua lifiers - took tim e trial laps. Troy Norris was the last man to q ualify, cloc king a 30.143 which put him in 34th place. . H e was more fortunate than Californian Wink Freitas, who crashed coming off the ju mp, fractured his right wrist, and never had th e chance to qualify. Heats Carr co nt in ued h is winning ways in th e first lO-heat race , which he wo n by th e entire len gth of the front stra ight. Carr gra bbed the hol eshot a nd never had to look back. . Fin ishing second and third, thus tran sferring to the fi na l , were H onda-riders Pearson and Day des pi te a trip to the penalty lin e after they bot h jumped the first start. The first heat 's race time was 4:26.598. With a 4:26.225 tim e, Parker too k th e seco nd and fastest heat, with a co nvinci ng win over Morehead and Aaron Hill. King grabbed the hol eshot and was th en in a"co mforta ble second place for most of the race, but " on th e last lap his Honda's motor suffered a possible broken rod or cra nk. The third heat was all Graham's, who ou tdistanced Ronnie Jones and Pete H ames in the earl y going. H e seemed set for an easy win when th e red flag came out as Hames went down hard over the jump on lap eig ht of the 10-lap race. , "I j ust got too hot off th e jump," H am es said. " I just found my Iimit, " H am es emerged from the ambu- . lance wit h his entire left side in pain, but still ab le to race. H is .bike was less fortuna te wit h a smashed for k a n d trip le clam ps; an d a fra me bro ken in two spots. . . . Therace was restarted in a singleIile - ne wit h the riders in the order li th ey were i n durin g lap seven . . Rodn ey Fa rris le d br iefl y u nti l Graham and J ones pu t th ings th e way they were before and led to the checkers. Farris took th ird. The fin al, and slowest, heat race was a Shobert runaway. At first, it a ppeared th at Springsteen would be doing th e running as h e rocketed to a 40-yard lead. Unfort u na tely for Ricky Graham (3) won the t hird heat race over Ro nn ie J o nes (1 6) . Pet e Hames (3 2) was closing in but crashed hard after landing off the jump . h im, the flag had not d ropped and he was sent to th e pe nalty line. Spri ngs tee n said h e had been wat ch ing every start before hi s heat and each one had had a three-second interval between the sideways board and the drop of th e gree n flag. H is g uessing game failed when it co u nted, bu t h is back -row stan didn 't put him ou t of contention. Springs tee n rode b r illian t ly, reminding the cro wd that he was no stranger to the Peoria winner's circle. By the start of the second lap, he was in fo urth p lace. O n th e fou rth lap , he went from fou rth to second in one . a mazing tu rn-two sw oop p a st Ingram and Orr. . " I feel real well," sai d Springsteen , a la te entry for th e race. "The bike's wo rking." However, Springsteen cou ldn 't get near Sh obert , who won by a margin of 6.19 seconds. Orr too k thi rd and was headed to the National , while . Ingram and Canadian Steve Aseltine ro unded out th e to p five in th e 4:27.675 heat. Semis Doug Chandler won the first 10lap semi final race in a slow time of 4:35.241. H e was forced into the semis by his fou rt h-p lace heat race finish and was n't happy about his chances or hi s mac hine. " It's been running sick on us all day , " sa i d the Honda-mourned

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