Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

time tri als wound down it looked like Bubba Shobert was o n the bubble wi th a 35.706. Poovey seemingly put Shobert o ut of the Challenge wi th a sixth fastest 35.66 1 effort , but Mertens .wo u ld la ter scratch fro m th e mega-buck dash more abo ut that move later. Col orado's Lee Pa rker was the 46th a nd final qualifi er with a 40.851 la p. . Heats Fast q uali fier Ingram selected the inside pole for the start of th e first of four IO-Ia p hea t races tha t would adva nce the top three finis hers to the Natio na l. Wh en the g ree n light flash ed it was Ohioan Doug Davis cuttin g th e light first a nd he led th e field into turn one. Davis was not alone as In gram, Doug Chand ler and Pete H ames paid clos e a tte n tio n. Ingram was in a hurr y a nd he took o ver the lead from Davis by th e fourth lap. Davis kep t hi s KK Su pply Harl ey in Ingr am 's draft long en ough to allow the pair to break a way from Chandler and H a mes. By the halfway point, Brian Atherton, on a Ch arlie Gardner Harley, closed o n his sta blemate for th e da y, Hames, and Ch andler. With th ree laps to go , Da vi s coasted to a s to p a n d that left Chand ler , Hames a n d Atherto n arguing over the rem ainin g two transfer spots behind Ingram who was obvio us ly headed to victory. H ames faded and the n fell prey to T ed Taylor as the whi te flag was d ispl ayed. T he checkered flag waved fir st fo r In gram , who was followed i nto the m ain by th e nex t two finish ers - Chandler and Atherton. Taylor, H am es, Devon Pritcha rd , Don Ma rtin, Del Beck a nd Bob Buffing to n were semi- bound. Day opted for th e outside pole from wh ich to sta rt the second heat a board h is Don 's Plum bing/HiP o i nt/ Shoeil H a rry L i ll ie/D iam ond-backed H onda . An tic ipation got the best of Rodney Farris and he started th e race from the pe nalty lin e. Da y ga ted poorly a nd was sixt h into the first turn a nd Shobert led Chris Carr, j ay Springsteen, Day a nd Farria a t the end of th e openi ng lap. . The tra ck was dryin g out and p icking up the expec ted speed which tighten ed th e co mpeti tio n. Sh ob ert broke away fro m hi s p ursuers wi th a n ultra-fast lap of nearl y 105 mph. Beh ind him th e cro wd go t what th ey had paid for - good, close raci ng. The draft pass would be the o rder for the rest of th e day and it bega n with Carr, Spri ngs teen, Day, Farris and Donnie H o ward working o n each o ther for the two remaini ng transfers to th e main if Sh obert contin ued to sail on up fron t. At the halfway point Sco tt Stump retired for the da y with a broken p iston. T he la ps wound down a nd Shobert took the checkered flag firs t, followed into th e main by ru nnerup Carr and th ird place finisher Day. Crowd favorite Sprin gs teen was h eaded for a sem i as were Farris, Howard , G eorge R oeder , Aaron Hi ll , Cha n ce Da rl in g and Dan Knecht. Parker pu t th e H -D Motor Co.! Bell /Tsubak ilHarley O w n er' s Group XR750 against the ou tside wa ll for th e start of th e third heat , but it was Steve Morehead who shaved th e light and led th e cha rge into turn o ne. Th ree turns la ter and Mor eh ead was in fo u rth beh ind Poovey, Alex j or gensen and Tam my Kir k. T he wind was p ick ing up a nd . would be a factor for th e res t of the day; the riders had a tai lwind down the front straigh t and a headwind on the back stra ight. Mos t reporte d that Runner-up Ingram, w inner Parker, M iss Camel Pro and third place finisher Shobert party in w inner's circle. draftin g was working th e best head in g int o the wi nd and tum three. The third heat eventua lly spl it into two races wi th in a race as the lead group ' co nsisted o f Poo vey, Parker , j orgensen and Kirk, while Morehead, Bryan Villella a nd Randy Tex ter made u p the following group. The cro wd held its breath as the competi tors in each group tested o ne a nother a nd the wi nd. With five laps com p leted, Parker dove under Poovey in tu rn one to tak e over th e lead for a lap until Poovey returned th e favo r in tum three. With th e whi te flag o u t, Parker go t under Poovey again in turn one with j orgensen follow ing in th e best sea t in th e ho use. The best sea t became the winni ng one as j orgen sen p ut th e Staa b R a ci n g / I n d ia n M.C . Supply/Red L ine/Work's Perfo rmance/Diamond-backed Honda on th e bottom line in turn three to take over the lead for good, with Parker a nd Poovey joining him in adv ancing to th e main . Kirk , Mor ehead , Villell a, Tex ter , Bob Farver a nd Brian Bo nesteel finished in that order and were headed for the second serm. Merten s put the Bell evill e H onda / Shoei/ M&M Racing, Ma xie-sponsored H onda o n the outs ide pol e for th e start of th e fourth and final hea t. The " dra ft pass" participants in th is event were Dave Du rell e, Ron n ie jone~, Chad Felicio, Merten s, Billy H erndo n , Will ie Da vis and Steve Burkho lder. The riders most often o n th e po int at th e start/finish line were jones and Durelle. At the end of 10 laps of furi ous com pe titio n, Durelle was th e winner on th e john Erichsen/Donahue HD/ Al Muth H- D/Gen eral Engineering/ ShoeilBell In d u str ies-sp o n sored Harley. j ones a nd Herndon took second a nd third, respectively, to advance to the main a lo ng with Durell e. H eaded for the second semi were Mertens , Da vis, Felici o, Burkholder, R ich King a nd Steve Aseltin e. Mertens' fourth place fini sh was notable as he was the only Camel Challenge q ua lifier who failed to tra nsfer directly to the Na tional fro m the heat races. Semis The semi -final races us ually pro vide some of the best dirt trac k raci ng Scott Parker was so excited after winning the Springfield Mile that he nearly jumped off his Harley-Davidson XR750 on his victory lap. o f th e yea r -lo ng series a n d the Springfield Mile's semi races were no . excep tion. In the first 10-lap semi, H ames, Springsteen, Howard, Roeder and Farris su p plied th e acti on in their fight for two of the five remaining tra nsfer spots ava ila ble as they tested and retested o ne another. T urn three co ntin ued to be the key as a good draft pass go ing in to tha t turn would hol d until a t least the start/finish line. Wit h but o ne lap to go, Farris threw a cha in a nd H ames saw hi s bike's lower end go bad. Springsteen followed leader H oward into turn three on ly to be passed by Roeder in th e middle of turn s three-fo ur. H oward and Roed er ran 1-2 down to the checkered flag and th ey were in the main, wh ile Sp ringsteen, Dar l in g , Pritchard, T ay lor a nd Ma rti n would race fo r the o ne advancement"spot offered in th e Last Chance Quali fier. Kirk was o n the pole for the second semi, bu t it was Morehead lead ing the field into turn one. Merten s then -took over th e lead and Morehead dropped ou t of the race wi th a broken cra nkshaft. Brian Bonesteel was nex t o ut with kill button problems. At the ha lfway point, Vill ella was o ut fro nt with Merten s, Davis, King, Felicio and Burkholder in tow. Wi th but two laps to go Villella, Burkholder, Davis Felicio a nd King were side- by-si de in the battle for the advan ceme nt spots. Mert en s was go ne; he was in th e pits. "I'm not sure what happened. It just slowed down. I don 't know if 7

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