Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 0") In t he opening turns ofthe five-lap Camel Challenge, Parker (111 leads Ingram (31 I, Shobert (1 I, Poovey (181, Mertens (531 and Rogers. Ingram broke free of the' draft on lap six and motored a way to a 6:10.592 win, topping Day by 3.47 seconds. Rogers trailed the duo home, followed in by Bryan Villella and Jonathan Cornwell. Terry Poovey used hi s far-outside starting position on the groove to pull away in the earl y going of heat four. He was hunted by Will Davis, Doug Davis a nd th e gaining Tim Mertens. . Carr got by Will Davis on the backstraight, Mertens 'star ted his charge on lap eight, disposing of Davis on the backstretch run. Meanwhile, Carr closed on Poovey and sent him back on e place. Carr's lead was brief, however, and he found himself side by side with Poovey, Mertens and Davis on the last lap. Poovey nipped Mertens at the end to cla im the win, with Carr third and Will Davis fourth. . Sem is Farris cruised in th e first 100Iap semi to a comfortable win. After getting b y h olesho t-m an Brian Ath ert on on lap one, Farris rod e away to a two -seco nd mar gin of victory in th e 6:13.164-long ra ce. Herndon later snatched second and a place in th e final, while Athe rton held onto third to join th e rest of the top seven finishers on a tri p to the Las t Chance Qualifier. Will Davis fought off J ones to win the slow second sem i. Davis led by the start of la p two over Ville lla and J ones. Jones went to second and closed o n ' Da vi s while Vi llell a dropped out wi th a flat rear tire, putting Doug Davis in th ird. Will Davi s wound up on top after wobbling by on the last lap. Doug Davis was fourth and T ed Taylor was fifth . Camel Challe nge The top six qualifiers - Shobert, Parker, Ingram, Poovey, Mertens and Rogers - lined up for the Camel Ch allege, seeki nga healthy cut of th e $ 17,500 purse. But hopes of a good stan - and a good shot at th e $10,000 first -pl ace check - sent them over the line early, forcing a restart. Parker diced with Ingram in turn one with Parker getting his wa y. But as th ey came around, Shober t led over the line, and seemingly pulled the horsepower rabbit out of the hat. He left the others to decide the winner of the $2500 second-place award. Parker decided he wanted it most and stayed in second ahead of Ingram, who finished third. Rogers was left with fourth while Mertens took fifth as Poovey came up last. Last Chance Qua lifier The LCQ ran only two laps before an eigh t-bike pileup stopped it. Ted T aylor's Honda lost a master link on its chai n, which separated and whipped through the crankcase and an oil line, thoroughly lubricating th e track. ' . Brian Ath erton suffered the most, wi th a possible broken arm as riders, machines and hay bal es seemed to explode in turn two. The rest of th e riders go t up, and all but two made it back to the grid, after much stra igh tening and bike reassembling. Only George Roeder II and Garth Bro w made it through the melee unsca thed. Brow holesho t the restart and led until passed by Cornwell , wi th wh om he traded the lead until lap nine, when Roeder came storming by on th e backstraight. Cornwell sta yed clo se but it was Roeder wh o won and picked up th e last spo t in the fin al. Nat ional From th e inside, the fron t row featured Moreh ead , Day, Poovey, Shobert, Parker and Ingram, again on the groove. Ingram and Parker used their traction to jump out to an early lead. Shobert, meanwhile, had a dismal start and was mid-pack. Veteran St eve Morehead came out on top of a closely-fought battle for second pl ace, beating Tim Mertens, Chris Carr and Alex Jorgensen . ' 'I' m used to getting a little better sta rt," Shobert said lat er. " I was going to have to h ustle to ge t 'em ." On lap three, in th ird was P oovey, followed by Merte ns , Rogers and Shober t. Poo vey dropped back while Sh obert continued drafting and passing. By lap six, he and the Honda were up to third, an d a mere 1.36 seconds behind Parker, who passed In gram on the next lap in turn th ree. Ingram drafted Parker down th e main straight and passed into turn o ne , but Parker rep assed o n the backstraight. Meanwhile, Sh ob ert had closed, nipping them bo th at the start / finish li ne on lap nine. Then , shocking the partisan H arley crowd, Parker' s XR750 dr opped dead on th e backstrai ght, a victim of a big , but unspecified bo ttom-end failure. Shobert and his red, wh ite and blue H onda ground salt in th e wo und by pulling awa y from even the similarly-mounted In!'!Iam. " ~y crew (Skip Eaken, Mike Velasco 7

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