Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

lli!orehead dices ~ith Shobert. Morehead had third locked up but his bike gave up the fight on the last lap of the final. Shobert finished second . a big wobble' before " H o t Rod " got back in line. The top three had a half lap o n fourth place Chris Evans, who took Brian Bo n esteel in to w to pass Ch ance Darling o n lap ei ght,. Wh en th e heat tim es were sorted for th e final , it was Morehead wi th th e pole, Carr seco nd, Sh ob ert third and Poo vey fo urth . . Semis Two IO-lap semis were run, with th e winner fro m eac h race tra nsfe rring to the main even t. The pass-o fth e-night award - judged by crowd approval - wen t to T im Mert en s, who worked arou nd Aaron Hill on lap one, a nd th en took th e lead away from Bo u rret on lap th ree. Mert en s flipped it off th e groove and went h igh in turns th ree-four , a nd fin ally ga th ered it back up in front o f Bourret. " I saw a little gap a nd stuc k it in harder th an .I shou ld ha ve, but I straight ened it ou t to p ass a nd make the final ," sai d semi wi n ner Mertens. " It 's just too ha rd to pass to do it any ot he r way ." Bonesteel got side ways looking for th e groove off th e start o f sem i two, and by the time h e fou nd it Will Davis was headed for th e chec kered fla g . First Ra ndy Texter, th en Steve Burkhol der, go t into secon d, but n ei t h er got close eno ugh to challenge. " I had an ignition p roblem in m y heat, but Eddie (Ad ki ns) took care of it," said Davis. " Yo u ca n ' t do anything wi ld o ut th ere. If you tak e someone C?,u t, yo u'll probab ly go down, too . Last Chance Qualifier The wi n ner of the LCQ ro u n ded o u t th e 15-rider final. Hill had th e ini tial lead, bu t Burkho ld er got around by th e start o f lap two for good. " I d idn 't h ave time to change th e tire I ran in th e sem i, bu t now I have to hurry and get some fresh rubber for the m a in," sai d Bu rkholder. Final It wa s a game of clu tch-ve rsus throttle as th e ligh t went green for the 20-lap m ain event. Carr was in command of the groove, a nd hole shot th e pack. Morehead looked lik e h e ha d seco n d, bu t Shobert push ed h ar d u ndernea th in turns three-four on lap one, to grab seco n d. . Through lap s two-five Carr, Shobert and Morehead were ci rcu la ti ng with equal distance between them , while Parker and Ingram closed in slig h tly while run ning - four-fiv e. Ingram tri ed a quick m ove u n der Park er goi ng into turn one on lap si x , but it didn 't work. Beh ind In g ram wa s Jon es an d Poo vey, runn in g freight-trai n in six-seven. O n lap ei g ht In g ra m ' p robed Parker 's defen ses once agai n, but Parker blocked th e move h eading out of turn one. Positions remained stable through lap 14, wh en Poo vey fell off th e pace an d Farris took co ntrol of seven th. O n lap e igh t In g r am p robed Parker 's defen ses o nce again, but Parker blocked th e m ove heading o ut of tu rn o ne. Po si tio ns rem ained stable th rough la p 14, wh en Poovey fell o ff the pace a nd Fa rr is too k control o f seventh . On la p 18 Parker go t hi gh off th e g~oo~e in tum ~ou~, and In gram didn t need an in vi tation to ta ke fourt h . T he top positions look ed assured to th e finish, and it was Carr , Shobert a n d Ingra m one- two-three down th e fin al straig h t, whi le Morehead ga me ly push ed his bik e across the line scooter-style, coasting with a fa iled powerplant. Parker was a lo ng in fo urth , fol lowed by J ones, Farris, Springsteen, Poovey, Mo reh ead in n inth, a nd Roeder. " I'm dam ned p leased , a nd I want to tha nk Kenny T o lbert for putting that ma ch in e together ," said Carr. " I've been running th at H arley in th e top four co nsis ten tly, a nd no w I know I ca n tak e a run at th e champ io ns hip. I wa nt to than k J .M. Produ ctions for p romoting th is race. Genesee Beer for sponsori ng it , and the AM A for running it, Also , th ere's Ha rley-Davidson , Sh oei , Hap J o nes, T ai chi, and Tsubaki. I have a great grou p o f sponsors." "~f I was 100% I m ight have given Chn s m ore of a run, bu t he wo n it clea n," said Shobe r t. "The la st co u p le o f years I was holding a bi g poin t -lead by now, but th is year I'm going to ha ve to wo rk for it. Man , it's go in g to feel good to get h is boot off m y foot ." " Bu bba let m e use a hell of a bike it rea ll y ru ns good," said In gr am : " Sco ttie slipped off th e groove, and I got arou nd o n the bottom, and then I was p u uin' arou nd in fourth. Wh en Steve broke, h e handed m e th ird. H ey, I go tta tha nk Bubba for th is o ne." 600 Expert/Junior Twenty riders q ualified their 600cc m a ch ines fo r th e Expert/ Jun io r ~c~tt Parker (11) and Dan Ingram (31) dueled in the main event. Ingram, rldmg one of Shobert's bikes, finished third, while Parker was fourth. su p pc ra~e program, wi th Bryan :lrt Hardin laying down a 25.774 circui t for fast time on his H arley-Davidson. Steve Moreh ead , a lso H arl eymou nted, posted seco nd fastest wi th a 25.922, foll ow d bv Will Davis another H arley rider a lso in the 25~ seco nd bra cket. The nex t 12 riders ~roduced 26-second laps. Don Maru n brought up th e en d o f th e field wi th a 27.374. Two six- la p h ea ts transferred th e top six fro m eac h race to th e 12 m an , 12 la p final. Canadian J ean Bourret, Ha rdin , a nd Roger Durkee drop ped onto the groove to run o ne -two-th ree o ff th e sta rt in heat one. The red fla g ca me o ut on lap two, after Hardin got a w hee l u p i n to Bo u rre t co m i ng through turn o ne, Bourret took a rid e into the hay bal es, an d came away okay, but m issed hi s a llotted fourmi n ute grace period to mak e the restart. The rest art lasted o n ly a half lap ; Sco tt Bu ch an went low down in tu rn two, and th e h ea t was 'aga in redflagged. . On the next resta rt it was Hardin away first, followed by Durkee a n d Todd Sharpless. Hardin a nd Durkee bro~e away from th e pa ck o n lap two , whi le Mark Vanhousen a nd Randy Texter ma tched th eir H arleys fo r thi rd af ter Sha rp less sli p ped o ff th e groove. T exter was dipping low into tu rn one to challe n ge, an d came u p wi th th ird on lap three. T he top four rid ers sp read out on th e groove, a nd the chec kers waved for H ard in, th en Du rk ee, Texter and Van house n. Fifth a nd si xth went to Sha rp less an d Martin. Davis, Moreh ead, J oel Green a nd Les Washbon claimed th e top fo u r slots off th e lin e in heat two. Morehead probed low in turn one o n lap three, an d th en made th e p ass stic k o n th e fourth go-around . It wa s Moreh ead, clear and awa y fro m tha t point, winning over Davis, Green, Washbon, and' a good race between J o hn Parker a nd Roger Bibeau. " Hey, it 's a H ank Scott tuned , KK Motorcycle Su p p ly m achine," said Morehead. " This is th e second pole (for winning the fastest h ea t) I' ve grabbed ton igh t. We lea rn ed a lo t abo u t setti n g up m o torcycles at this track." Green wen t down in turn two at th e start of the final , wh ich b ro ught o u t the red fla g. On th e restart it was Moreh ead, Hardin, Washbon, Davis a nd T ex ter. Va nho usen looked to have a lin e off the grid, b u t got high off the groove in turns one-two a nd fell out of co ntention. On lap three Davis sli pped-off th e groove in th ree-four , a nd Tex ter di splaced Washbo n for thi rd . Morehead was buildin g a ga p o n H ardin a n d T exter , whi le Was hbon a n d Davis were clustered in four-five. Closing in sixth was G reen , who ca p ita lized o n hi s charge whe n Davis coasted out o f the race with a broken mo tor o n lap six. Durkee took over fifth from G reen on lap ei ght. Up front it was Morehead. doing h is stuff, ru n n ing a co ns iste n t pace on th e n arrow black groove. Mo reh ead had so m uch room at th e finish , that he p u lled a wh eelie down the entire front ' straight. A surprised Texter wa s second, a n d Washbon kep t a w heel a head of Du rkee for th ird : :'Hard in s l~,d out on th e last lap," sa id Texter. I go t a facefu l of dirt o u t of i t, and th a t calci um (ch loride) really burns. I co ul dn ' t see anything th e last tim e aroun d." T h ird place Washbon was ecs ta tic a bo ut h is p lacin g. " Ma n, I've been wa tch ing races here a ll o f m y life, an d m y dream was to co me h ere a nd ride one of 'em ," said Washbon. " Cal and Steve Marth built me the fastest 600 I' ve ever ridde n, a nd lu ckily I got it to th e wi n ner's circle." ''I'm tickl ed to dea th, don 't get me wrong, but a ll th e real action is o n the bi g 750s," said Mo rehead. "I got a good start, a nd that 's half the ba tt le. It's fu n to ride a 600 o nce in a whi le especially wh en yo u win o n itl" .; Results 2D-LAP NATIONA L: 1. Chris Carr ( H · D~ 2. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 3 . Dan Ingram (Hon); 4. Scott Parleer (H· D); 5. Ronnie Jo nes (Hon); 6. Rodney Farr is (Hon); 7. J ay Spring steen (H· D); B. Ter ry Poovey (H-D); 9. Steve Morehead (H-D); 10. George Roeder II (H-D); 1 1. Tim M ert en s (H· D); 12 . Steve Burkholder (H·D); 13 . W ill Davis (H·D); 14. Brian At herton (H-D); 15. Rusty Rogers (H· D). TIM E: B min.• 19.645 seconds. 600 EX! JR: 1. Steve Morehead (W ·R); 2. Randy Texter (H·D); 3. Les Washbon (W·Rt. 4. Roger Durkee (Rtx ); 5 . Don Martin (H ·D ); 6. Todd Sharpl ess (Rtx); 7 . Roger Bibea u (Rtx); B. Marie Van housen (H-D); 9. Joh n Parker (H· D); 10 . Bryan Hardin (W- R): 11. Joel Green (W-R); 12. Will Davis (H· D). , TIM E: 5 min ., 06 .806 seconds. POINT STANDING S: 1. Parker (168); 2. Carr ( 1 64~ 3. Shobert (163); 4. Morehead (134t. 5. J ones (104 t. 6. Poovey (95); 7. Farris (76); B. Springsteen (54t, 9. Ingram (46); 10. Don Estep (44). 7

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