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/127149
The Camel Challenge lineu p was Carr (20), Shobert (1) , Parker (1 1), Villella (2 4), Ingram (31 ) and Poovey (18) . Parker won the race and $10,000. straight and led across the line to start lap two. . .' Shobert never looked back after th at and con tin ued to stre tch hi s lead with J on es, Jorgensen a nd Davey Dure lle in tow. Shobert won by 2.5 secon ds over J ones, in a ra ce th at las te d six mi n utes a nd 13.081 seconds. J orgen sen joined th e top th ree, wh o transfered directly to the main , while Durelle a nd the other fourth-through-seventh pl ace finishers headed for th e semis. Carr pulled th e holeshot in heat two , but was quickly dropped back by Rodney Farris. Following wer e G eorge Roeder II , and Ricky Graham. On lap three, Graham zipped by Roeder and Carr in tum three. Carr didn 't su r re n d er, h owever, and traded the second spot with Graham for the next two laps. On lap eight, Carr pi cked off Farris, as Tim Mertens dropped Roeder to fourth. Farris didn't last much longer as he p ulled off the track on th e front stra igh t, a victim of mechanical troubles. - Graham dosed in on Carr, but was beaten to the finish line by one wheel. Roeder was third, followed by Mertens, in the race that lasted 6:14.759. Heat three saw Parker, the crowd favorite, start on the outside. Bu t Poovey beat him into the firs t corner. After some drafting, Parker went by into tum three, with Poo vey. Chad Felicio and Will Davis trai led, not far back. Parker was out front for good by lap five and began to open a lead . Ch andler came out of nowh ere to bl ow by into third and challenge Poo vey on the last lap. Chandler ni pped Poo vey at th e finis h line, wh ich Parker had crossed in 6:12.633. Felicio and Davis went to th e sem is. T he fourth and fastest heat was won by Dan Ingram, the local hero fro m Clerm ont, India na, who once again rode Shob ert ' s p ersona l H onda. Ingram was q u ickly in th e . At the National's end, Scott Parker (1 1) held off a close Bubba Shobert (1) to win and keep the points lead. . lead and opened a huge gap over Keith Day, Bryan Villela and Scott Pearson. The three racing for second traded positions ' for five laps until Day sett led into second, Pearson third and Villella fourth and on hi s wa y to th e semis. Ingram was nearly three seconds ahead on the final lap and won in 6:12.129. Semis The start of the first 10-lap sem i saw second-row starter Scott St ump get tangled in traffic and fall hard on th e ma in straight. T he red flag came o ut as Stu mp a ppeared wracked wi th pain. But he was soon wal king and avoided the ambulance. Keith J acobsen led the restart, but was q uickly passed by Du relle and R usty Rogers. Mertens moved up and fought with Durelle, as Rogers faded to an eventual fifth. J acobsen held onto a distant third as the lead duo swapped positions. Starting the last lap, Durelle led across the finish line, but Mert en s got him going into turn three and won by a wheel. They advanced to the final , while Jacobsen and the fourth-through-seventh place finishers went to the Last Chance Qualifier. Chad Felicio led th e second semi ' pack into the firs t turn, but was q uickly dispa tched by Will Davis. Villella mo ved up to challenge, but it was Doug DaVIS who had the lead by lap five and he held it to the end. Villella made a late-ra ce charge, ho wever, and on ly allowed Davis to win by a few feet. Will Davis followed in third with Felicio a distant fourth. . - Camel Challenge Shobert lined up next to Carr, Par ker, Villella, Ingram and Poovey, and at the start of the five-lap $P,500 Camel Challenge, he looked set for hi s third straight $10,000 from R.]. Reyn ol ds. Bu t Parker had other thoughts and drafted by on th e front straight to lead lap two . Carr fol - . lowed right behind in third, and grabbed the lead on the next lap. Ingram's day came to an end in tu rn three . H e said the draft sucked him into turn three too fast and he had to lay it down to avoi d taking out Shobert. " He h it my rear end and knocked me off the groove," Shobert said. The Honda 's mo tor was th rashed, .perhaps because it ra n hard wh ile lying on its side, tuner Mike Velasco specula ted. Shobert trailed in fourth as Poo vey 11