Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. ~ ~ -; .. r· Dan Ingram (31) leads winner Kevin Atherton (67X). Chris Carr (20). Steve Morehead (42) and the rest of the 600cc·National. AMA 600 National.Championship Dirt Track Series: Round 16 Atherton storms to Springfield win • By Bert Shepard SP RINGFIELD, IL, SEPT. 3 Woods-Rotax rider Kevin Atherton added an additional item in the 600cc Na tional record books with his win in the Springfield Mile. In Jul y, the White Pigeon, Michigan, . rider became the first Juniorranked rider to win a half mile National: and today he added a mile National to his credits. The even, h owever, wa s marred t ' b th d th f S I' Calif . , y e ea 0 a mas, I o r!1la s J o el Green . Green wa s ki l led instantly . wh e.n he c. as hed .on th e r front straight in th e ftrst seml" Controver sy su rro u n dt;d. th e seco n d, third and 14th pl ace finish ers . S pnng Ii Id .' H o n d a-mourned Dan . in ie . I n gram en ded up seco n d WItI1 S teve th KK M M h d thi d IT on e I otor, ore ea ~~i\~ ~~i~~y-sponsored, H an k Scott- 18 ·the finish , causing a few racers to be upset after th e event. " He~ l , ~e was eig h t laps dow~ : wh y didn t he get out of th e way? questioned a less-than-happy Moreh d "H I d Peori d ea . e appe m e at eo rra an I showed him th e wayl". . A littl e less vocal was In gram. " I agree with Steve 100 p ercent " he d ' sa~' No one in a n AMA sh irt told me I Id ' t d h I d id. " Car co u' n ow at I r d ' exp Ia men. " N o o neever t h rewa bl ue fl n . ag (a ag used to tell nders to move over for the lead ers )." qU~~~i~~edef=be;utDt~~e u?eli;Fas bl~~ ~he c~ntroversy stem med from a sp li t m am event form at. T he ra ce was billed as a 25-m ile even t, but it wa sn ' t until race da y that th e AMA or the riders real izeD th at th e gas ta!"'ks on the current 600cc mach in es wl.1I n ot h old.enough fuel for 25 m iles. T h e decision was th us made to run 13 laps, stop for an eigh tminute " fue l sto p" and th en ru n the remaining 12 laps. Th e starting order m th e seco n d leg would depend o n o ne 's fini shing position in th e first. An initia l point of co nject ure wa~ th e seco nd leg starting procedure It w(,>U ld be a double ro w sta rt; many nders th o ugh t a sing le-ro w form at wou ld be more ap p ro p ria te. Th e sce nari o for c o n t ro ver sy bega n d uri ng the first leg when Chris Carr su ffered a flat tire and lost eigh t la ps. The AMA , however, a llow ed Carr to start th e second half of th e race at th e tail end of th e field. After two la ps th e rece ntly-crown ed 1989 600cc Na tional Champion was with th e leaders a nd battl ed with the m to n ag in th is in stance, h e co m me nted , " It \ as n ot a bl Il .t t " " v ue- ag Sl ua IOn. Time trials T he Sp ri ngfield Mil e facility wa s groomed to p erfectio n a nd proved to be very fa st in p ractice as Da vid Du relle proved . Du rell e had h is Ro ta x circu la tin g th e oval at over 104 mph in practice, bu t the Min neso ta rider 'co u ld on ly muster a 35.996secon d lap for th e th ir d fas tes t qual ifying time when it co u nt ed. Kevin Ath erton blistered th e field by over half a seco nd at at a verage speed of 102.258 mph to take th e to p qu alifying spo t. Bria n Villella was th e seco nd fast est a nd happen ed to be very luck y; Vill ell a .bo rro wed Carr's spare b ike wh en hi s stuck a va lve prior to ti me tri al s. Carr was fourth foll ow ed bv Brian Athert on, Dave Hebb, Mike 'Green , Do nn ie Howard T ed Tavlor and Dan In gram. A' 37. 948-se~ond lap p roved to be th e cu to ff tim e turned in by Ed Braasch. . Heats . The thin Springfield crowd was abo ut to witness some o f the closest raci ng in AM~ hi story as equipment parity made drafting a necessity. T h e you n ges t Atherton broke the . d raf t ea rly and disappeared in h eat race n umber o ne on the Perry' s HD/Ron W oodl Arai /Tsubaki/Farver Saw mill / H og Wash /NHIIAmsoi ll Suno co Racing Fuel-sponsored Wood Rot ax, Turns one and three 'got a workout as Taylor, Eric Graybeal , Will Davis, Brian Duncan Don Howard, Greg Wagenknecht, Joel Green and Andy Tressor practiced their drafting techniques. Almost every lap saw th e seven riders five abreast in th e turns, but with three laps to go Atherton and Graybeal had so me br eathing room on the war for th e final direct transfer spot. H oward led wh en it cou n ted and sent Wagenknecht, Da vis, Green. Duncan, T ressor a nd Kris Kiser to the first sem i. Randy T exter's reflexes put him on th e penalty line for the second start of th e second heat. Honda pilots Poo vey a nd Ingram led the field aft er o ne to ur, but Bryan Villella was on th e move and used turns o ne a nd three to put himsel£ on th e point. In gra m tuc ked in behind Vill ella a nd gav e his Bubba Shobert-sponso red TT bi ke a test. T ext er 's cha rge from th e penalty line brough t h im into clean a ir behind Poovey. Mike Reid ' wa s fifth followed closel y by Eric Gruber a nd Hill. With three la ps to go. Gruber was mo mentaril y in fro nt of T ex ter . Reid, Hill a nd Poovey. Vill ell a a n d Ingram , m eanwhil e, were safe ou t fron t. T he bulk of the field stuffed and sh uffled at every opportuni ty, and a t th e checkers Poo vey beat T ex ter by th e slimmest of margins. T ex ter, Gruber , H ill, R e id , Willi e McCo y and J a son Fletcher would fill the first sem i. " I want to than k Chris (Ca rr) for th e ride," Villella said. " I was n't used to th e suspension, but o nce I go t o ut th ere it worked gr ea t. We will j ust have to see what happen s. Now that 1 am swingin g a hammer (in reference to hi s new carpenter 's job) my th rottl e ha nd is ready." . co tt Stu m p and Peter H ook had th e field covered a t th e start o f th e th ird heat. Po le sitter Du relle a nd Dave Hebb quickl y too k ov er , however, with a dr aft pass in turn three. As th e field sett led down , Durell e to wed H ebb a n d H oo k. Meanwhile, Stump' was sta lked by Sal H o ffm an and Mark Wyskiel. With five laps complete, Hebb kept Durelle honest while Hook fell prey to Hoffman, Wyski el and Stump. Wyskiel then pi cked off Hauptman, Hoffman, Hook and Stump to become the seco n d Junior in th e National. Durell e wa s less than optimistic as his Wood-Rotax was beginning to miss; "It felt like it wa s running out of gas, " he said later. " We looked it over and all we could find was a possib le kill button short." Carr gridded h is H-D Motor Co. Harley-Davidson on the ou tside pole for the start of the final heat and he led a train of Morehead, Randy Triplett, Brian Atherton, Roger Durkee and David Camlin on the opening lap. Atherton wa s on the move, edging past Moreh ead in turn o ne of lap two. With five laps 'to go, Morehead got back in the draft of Carr a nd Atherton while Durkee's us ed air contained Trip lett, and Recil H art. Carr held o n for the win, follow ed by Atherton and Morehead. Durkee, Camlin , Hart, Mike Patterson, Tom Ikey and Triplett were sent to do battl e with six others in the sem i. T he Pro-Am heats would send three riders to the main. Ohio's Mike Butler won th e first with Pat Behrle a n d Bob Knapp finishin g seco n d and third , resp ecti vely. 'T exas' newest star Mike Hale won the seco nd Pro-Am heat with Kyle Long arid Bra d Blanken ship ea rn ing tickets to the main with seco nd a n d third place fin ishes. H al e's win wo u ld p u t him on th e pol e. Mi chi gan's Ru ss Crawford seemed to ha ve th e third hea t co vered until hi s Rot ax exp ired a t the sta rt/fin ish o n th e n inth lap . Crawford's misfo rtune was J oe Houpt's gai n as H ou pt was lyin g fourth at th e time. Rick Knu th as su med th e lead a nd brought Gr eg Rich ard s a nd Ho u p t wit h him. Audi Hufl took charge of the final heat with Gordy Sch opieray and Ri ch And ers tak in g th e fin al two tickets to th e m ain. Semis 'T h e two sem is would o n ly transfer o ne m an to th e mai n. The first sem i was a 10-man race mad e up of , in an y order yo u like, Gruber , H ill , Wagenknech t, Tex ter , Reid, Green, Da vis, McCoy, Kai ser, Fletcher a nd Duncan. All 10 wer e eit her in the lead or near it d uring th e IO-lap even t. At th e end of th e ni nth lap , G reen struck th e wa ll o n the exit o f tu rn four , lost co ntrol a nd crashed. Du e to th e su bseq ue nt red flag, Will Da vis was declared th e wi n ner.

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