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/127153
wai ted in complete ignorance for nearly an hour and a half before practi ce finally began at 7:15 p .m. . Time Trials The debate over whether 600s would be allowed to en ter th e Camel Challenge was a ll in vain, as Villella q ual ified just n inth on h is 600, the Pontiac, Michigan, rider turning a best effort by a 600 rider of 22.403 .secon ds. Parker gave a hint of what wa s to come later, ea rnin g the p ol e position for th e first heat a nd th e Camel Challenge with a fast ti me of 22.049. Graham was seco nd fastest at 22.071 a n d Moreh ead was third at 22.094. .Ca rnel P ro champ Shobert qualified fourth on th e H on da with a tim e of 22 .23 7. Carr a nd Dou g Chandler were just one-thousand th of a ' seco n d a part at 22.273 and 22.274, respectively; th e SuperTrapp H onda ride r ea rning the sixth and final spot in th e Camel Challen ge. Rounding out th e top 10 qualifiers wer e G arth Bro w (22.345) , J ones (22.354), Villella, and Brya n Hardin .. ~ l-< <1) '.0 8 u o (2~.4 17) . Heats T h e first l O- lap h eat race ยท didn 't sta rt until a fter 9 p. m , bu t once it did it was a P arker benefit. J on Co rn well led off th e line, but Parker overt ook th e cana d ia n on theou tside of turn two a nd never looked back. Do n H oward h eld th ird on th e Azt ec R a c i n g Harl ey -D av ids on , chased by, J o nes on th e GF Racin g Honda. Villella was chargi ng on the 600 single, sta rti ng out in fifth p lace, then p assin g J ones for fourth on lap s ix a nd Howard for third on lap nine. Parker m ot ored away for the win , and Villella go t u n der Cornwell in the fin al turn, wh eelying across the finis h lin e to ta ke second. Co rnwell cla imed third pl ace an d th e last d irect transfer to the final. Howard took fourth, Jones fifth, Wi ll iam Herndon sixth, ChanceDarling seventh, Keith Jacobsen eighth a n d Michael Reid ninth; all six rid er s transfered to the first semi. , Hea t two tookawhi le to get going, First, Hardin and Ge orge Roeder were sen t to th e back o f th e grid for creeping over the line. Then, th e fir st attemp t at a start was red-fla gged , a , blessin g for Graham who'd gotten a n abysmal start. O n the restart, Graham went arou nd Da n In gr am and the Bubba Shobert- sp onsored H onda for th e lead, bu t the newest addi tio n to the National winner's cl ub retook th e lead on la p fo u r. Graham go t bac k in fron t on lap n ine and led Ingram to th e flag. Rodney Farris, rid ing a H a rley-Da vidson ( tho u g h h e 'd p r e- e nter ed on a H onda), took third. Brow, Roeder, S teve Aselti ne , Dan McD o nnell , ' H ardin an d J on Nunez went to th e semi. Hea t th ree saw ' Doug Chandl er lead wire to wi re, with Keith Day and Kin g, bot h on H ondas, ba ttling for second. Kin g got around Day on lap seven to ta ke secon d . Morehead, Tim Mert en s who fought a dragging rear brake as wo u ld severa l ri ders d uri ng th e even in g, Aaro n Hill, Kenneth Netto , Will ie McCoy a nd Crai g . J oh nson advanced to th e semi. T h e last of th e hea ts was the most exciting with Shobert, Carr, Terry Poovey and Atherton racin g for th e lead. Sh ober t led off th e line, with Carr ge tt ing by once o n lap six, a nd , th en again o n lap seven after Bub ba in ched ou t fro nt briefl y. Athert on snuck past Shobert, whose rear disc was glowing red , on lap seven (a finis hing order which wou ld be repeated in the fina l), and started pressuri ng Carr just before the race was red -flagged a nd called complete when Kevin T odd fell be tween turns three a n d four. Todd was u nhurt. Chris Ca rr (20) and Ricky Graham (3) battled for second in the National. .Graham t o ok second and Carr fourth. carr too k the wi n , with Atherton seco n d a nd Poovey ' th ird. Sh obert took fourth p lace, m issing o ui on a direct transfer to the fin al an d ha ving to go to th e seco n d semi. He was joine d by Pete H ames, Ch ad Feli cio , Bobby McDowell , Sal H offman and Mike In derb itzin . " It took m e four or five laps to get used to running up high," sai d Carr, afterwards, " Bu t once I got' used to it.jhe b ike worked gr eat. " I was go ing through th e corners faster th a n Chris (Carr)," sa id Ath erton , " Bu t we were usin g th e same line and he got a better drive." Semis T he firs t sem i was red-flagged as a result of a three-rider pileu p on the second lap. The rid ers lined up for a sing le file restart wi th Ronnie J o nes, in front, and then leading wi re to wire. Jones ea rn ed th e transfer to th e fina l, wh ile th e others looked to th e Last Chance Qualifi er. T he second semi saw Moreh ead take a high line to win, sending Sh obert to the Last Cha n ce Qualifier. The champ would be in the unfamiliar p osi tion of having to win th e LCQ to earn th e last posi tio n in th e IS-m an fin a l. " I ca me here p umped up and rea dy to race," said Shobert , " Bu t I can' t get the bi ke to where I'm co m fortab le rid ing it." Shobert 's crew, M i ke Velasco a nd Skip Ea ken, switc he d th e triple clamps to ones wi th less offset, in th e h opes th at this wo u ld hel p ' Shobert go fas ter. It seemed to work. Camel Challenge Parker , Graham, Morehead, Shobert, Carr a nd Chandler lin ed up for th e five riche st laps in ra cin g , a ll seeking a cu t of th e .$17,500 Camel Cha llen ge purse. , Parker too k the lead in tu rn one, going between Carr an d Sh ob ert , bu t by th e co mpletio n of lap one it was Sh ob ert lead in g G ra ham, with Ca rr th ird. Parker d rop p ed to Iounh. . Graham got by Shobert in turn two to begin lap three, and led the res t of th e wa y to th e checkers. Shobert bobbled a t the exi t of turn two o n th e las t lap and was swa llowed up by Parker, Carr a nd Moreh ead, in that order. Shobert took fifth with Chand ler last. Graham was awarded a cl ock tro phy for h is win , a lo ng with an overs ize check for $10 ,000. H e th anked tuner Rob Muzzy for b uildin g a fast, reliable bike.' Aside from Steve Morehead finished t hird on a Mert Lawwill-tuned Harley-Davidson, passing Harley -Davidson f act ory rider Chris Carr on t he last lap. .Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert (1 ) raced w ith first-t ime Expert Kevin Atherton (67 X). Atherton finished sixth and Shobert seventh.