Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

, Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker won the 30th Annual Half M ile Nation~1 at Ascot Park and may have clinched the Grand National Championship. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Rounds 16/14 Parker wins, claims title (sort of) at Ascot 'Half Mile By Brian Catterson Photos bX Mitch Friedman GARDENA, CA, SEPT. 24 H arley-Davidson 's Scott Parker won the 30th runnin g of the Ascot Half Mi le National to move a step closer to claiming h is first-ever Grand Na tional Ch am p ionship. The 26-year-old, Swartz ., Creek Michigan rider took ' h orne ' th e I IOn,s 'h a~e 0 f t h e s $35,000 purse and picked up 6 another 20 points; he now leads Bubba Shobert , who finished seven th here , by 28 points, 228 to 200. Normally, this would be sufficien t to clin ch th e title, but if an appeal by Shobert over his Syracuse Mile disqualification is upheld, Parker would only lead by eigh t points, and would have to finish third (if Bubba wins) to officially claim the title at Sacramento, California, October 8. . Second place in th e Nation al and first m the $17,~0~ Cam el Ch allenge wen tto ahard-ndmgRlckyG raham, who earned $ 10,000 for his win in the five-lap dash. The former Grand National Champion swi tched to a Rob Muzzy-prepar ed H onda RS750 tonight after having ridden both Mert Lawwills and hi s own bik es this season, in th e process defeating Steve Morehead, third on the Mert Lawwill H arley-Davidson. Parker's teammat e Chris Carr and Rich King on his Garvis H onda Town RS750 rounded out th e top five. There almost wasn't a race, as the threat of a riders' strike loomed shortly before th e race. The Agajanians, owners of .Asco t Park and promoters of the Sacramento Mile seas o n finale , wanted to assure th emselves of full fi elds, and requested that the AMA all ow 600cc machines to compete in both of these Nati onals. The AMA agreed, and sent o ut letters saying so to com petitor s. With the formation of th e AMA 600 National Dirt Track Series this year, on ly 750cc twins have been permitted in mile and half mile Grand National Ch ampi onship even ts. This infuriat ed th e 750cc riders , not so much over th e fact that the AMA would allow the 600s to race, but over th e possibility of a 600cc rider en tering, and perhaps winning, the Camel Ch allenge. ''I'd mu ch rather win the Camel Chall enge th an the main event, any day," said rider rep Ronnie J ones, the mos t vocal of the op ponen ts. H e exp lai ned that he and th e o ther 750cc riders had spent thousands of dollars on the ir machinery, and o nly they sho uld be awarded th e big bucks. T he co n tro versy existed, mainly, over the pr esence of Bryan Vill ella, who chose to ride his Wood-Rotax 600 o ver his Harley-Davidson XR7 50, Last year at Ascot , Villella qual ified for th e Camel Ch allenge on hi s 600. " It 's easi er to ride and I can go faster, " he cla imed, adding, "The -AMA sai d we could run, so we should be abl e to, " "A 600 can go fast here, " said Wood-Rotax creator Ron Wood, " But it depends on track conditions. A 750 has the advantage if there's a heavy cushion, and it looks like there is tonigh t." KeVIn Atherton, racing as an Expert for the first time, was also riding a Wood-Rotax at Ascot, and proved himself a force to be reckoned with, finishing sixth in the National. He's also planning to ride his 600 at the Sacramento Mile, but it is unlikely that he 'll 'pose much of a threat on th e bigger track. J ones was joined in an impromptu meeting in th e Ascot infield by both Parker and Shobert, who presented th eir case to the AMA officials. A call was put in to Bill Amick, AMA head of professional ra cing, and a decision was made. They would guarantee six 750s in the Challenge, but any 600cc rider who qualified for the Challenge would also be allowed to compete. The possibility existed, then, for th e first-ever Camel Challenge to feature mor e than a half-dozen riders, som e of wh om would go home emptyhanded. The riders were not in complete agree ment over the decisi on, but they were happy that they'd stuck together in pr esenting a unified voice to th e AMA. They vowed to resolve this situa tion far in advance of th e Sacramento race, th ereby preventing th e situation from recurring. " We didn 't want to cancel the race any more than they did," said Parker, later. Jones was not at all happy with the decision, but was even more upset over the way it was handled. " It should never have taken so long," he said. In . short, the biggest losers here were the 9637 fans , who sat and

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