Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Chris Carr pocketed $10,000 by w inning the Camel Challenge. flagged. On th e restar t, Pearson was again th e first one into turn one and the veteran racer never looked back, leadi n g all the way to the checkered flag for the win. Will Davis , on th e T ex Peel-prepped Harley, quickly settl ed int o second but he co uldn' t close th e ga p o n Pear son. T he best racing of th e heat was the battle for third between tw o-time Grand National Ch ampion Ricky Graham , on th e Kawa saki -backed short tracker, and Belleville H onda 's Tim Mertens. The two tried to occu py the sam e space heading into turn th ree halfwa y th rou gh th e h ea t with Graham making the stronger bid. The form er cham p took third with Mertens forced to settle fo r fourt h. A spectac u lar crash by Willie McCo y brought out th e red flag aft er three laps of heat four . Bonesteel led th e single-file restart as far as turn three wh en Rusty Rogers, o n the Johnn y Goad-prepared Harley, barged by for th e lead and even tually the win. Bon esteel finished seco nd. Rod ney Farris and Terry Poovey provided th e fireworks in heat five. Both were stuck in early traffic as Danny Angel led. Farris u sed a drive off of turn two and a sweeping outside pass through turns threefour to swoop into the lead and drop Ange l to second. P oovey then im itated Farris' line on the next lap to tak e the hi gh lin e aro u nd Angel and move into second and the last direct transfer into the National. Th e final h eat wa s an allCanadian sh ow with J on Cornwell, on th e Deeley Honda, leading from start to finish . But it was the show behind the leader that had the fans 'cheeri ng. Scott Parker a nd Aseltine took th eir handlebar-b anging battle for a transfer through tra ffic into turn one at the halfwa y point and wh en the two banged toge ther Parker slid down. Wh en the engine died, the champ 's hopes for a good start to the season en de d . Aseltine fi n ished second. Semis Graham, Morehead and Mertens hooked up in a side-by-side battle for the single transfer spot up for grabs in th e first of th e two IO-lap semifinal races. Graham held off Morehead's charge - with Mertens a heartbeat away - for nearly five laps. Morehead th en pulled an inside/ outside, high/low mov e off of turn two and the same going into turn three to ou t-ma neuver Graham for the lead. Once pa st, Morehead never looked back a nd wen t on to win. Semi two saw Angel and George 'Roeder battle througho ut th e firs t half before Roeder pipped Angel for , the lead and th en lost it just as qu ickl y to Sco tt Stum p . Roeder worked the low line past Stump on Ronnie Jones (16) and Terry Poovey (18) dice while Jay Springsteen (9) chases. Poovey finished fifth. la p seven with Stump then' working past as Roeder got sideways off turn two. Stump didn't have th e glory for long as he slid down in turn three a nd Roeder went on to win. Camel Challenge Fi ve la ps .. . a $17 ,500 purse ... $ 10,000 to win . .. if that's not incentive, nothing is. One minute, 42,480 seconds after the green starting ligh t flashed Chris Carr pocketed th e winner 's share. That's SIOO per second, give o r take a doll ar or two. Actuall y, Scott Pearson had the lead after some jockying in the first two turns o n th e ope nin g lap. But three laps later Carr pulled a beautiful h igh/low move in turns three-four for th e lead and it was "pad th e bank account" tim e. Pearson's consolation for seco nd place was $2500. Aseltine put on a charge but came up short, finishing third which rewarded him with $2000. Last Chance Qualifier Only th e winner of the IO- lap LCQ would advance to the National and the rider who definitely ha d hi s mind set o n being the winner of the event was Ri cky Graha m. Graham sliced thro ugh to the lead off th e start with Craig Estelle in tow. The two banged eac h o ther around for three laps until Estelle slid down in turn three. At that point, Graham was alone with a good lead but he sti ll spent th e fin al lap taking glances over his shoulder , makin~ sure th at eventual second place finisher Dan McDonnel didn't get close enough to challen ge. National Carr grabbed the hol eshot at the start of the 25-lap' National wi th Farris emergi ng fro m the pack to tak e over second off turn two on th e open ing lap. Farris' ride lasted until turn three. ' " T h e engine broke, " sa id a dejected Farris. " We think it was a broken valv e. That probably cost us $4000. We led th e Daytona Dirt Track Seri es co m ing into th e ra ce and could have won it with a top placing." With Farris o u t, the battle shaped up behind Carr as a three-way tus sle betw een Ingram, Scott and Aseltine. Rogers and Davis battled for fifth while Jones, Poovey and Springsteen clashed for seventh a short distance behind. Pear son broke clear for second on lap four with Aselt ine ma king a slick mo ve o n In gram comi ng off tu rn two on la p five wh ich netted hi m th ird. The three p layers in the final ac t were set , but the story' was still being written . Chasing Chris Carr, Steve Aselti ne (36) takes the high line while Scott Pearson (95) and Dan Ingram stay low. Ingram finished fourth . Aseltine began to set his sights on Pearso n and second place, closing the gap on Pearson slowly but surely. Pear son, known for hi s ability to main tain his position despite constant pr essure, found Aseltine to be a Mike Tyson on wh eels. The knockout punch in th e Pearson-Aseltine fight ca me j u st befo re th e halfway mark as Aseltine made a gu tsy insid e, low line mov e coming off turn four. Aseltine forced Pearson wide, tak ing aw ay his li ne and came away wi th second. Pearson q u ickly recovered , but the figh t for second was over . The halfway flags saw Ca rr , Aseltine , Pearson and In gram ru n ni ng in th at order with about five bike .le ngths separa ting each of them. Davis followed,in fifth with Bonesteel and Poo vey close behind him. G rah am , on the Rob Muzzypr epar ed Kawasaki, had his hands full holding off J ones, Springsteen and Morehead in a four-man battle for eig h th. The action pl ayed o ut through th e closing laps with pl enty of cha llenges for posi tion throughou t th e pack. With just two laps to go , all eyes focused on race leader Carr as Aseltine go bbled up gro und to close o n Carr 's rear wheel and turn th e heat up to blast furn ace temperature. On th e final la p, Carr pu lled o ut three bike lengths go ing through turn one o nly to lose it exi ting turn tw o. Aseltine tried inside , then o u tside as th e two jockeyed for positio n diving into turn three. Carr held the low lin e, protecting hi s advantage and that left Aseltine with no route to victory excep t a difficult high line, sq uare the corner and dive down charge to th e flag. Somehow, Aseltine found th e traction and th e power to nip Carr by abo ut a foo t at th e line. " I kn ew Steve would make a charge in the fin al laps," said Ca rr. " I th ought I could hold him off, but th en th e tire started to lose gri p comi ng off turn four a nd I knew I'd ha ve to make the final lap a perfect one in order to win . Steve rode o ne heck of a race. H e really ha d this track dialed in." HI di dn 't want to finish second," said Aseltine. " I said last ni ght wh en I won th e 600 Nati onal that I co uld win' this o ne too .. . and I did." • Results 25 -LA P GRAND NAT"L CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL: I , Steve Aseltine(W-R); 2. Chris Carr (H-Dk 3. Scott Pearson (Han); 4 . Dan Ingram {Han); 5. Terry Poovey (H-D) ; 6 . W ill Davis (H· D); 7. Br ian Bonesteel (W-R); B. Ricky Graham (Kaw ); 9. Ronn ie Jonas (Han); 1D. Jay Springstaen (H-DI; 11. Steve Morehead (Honk 12. Rusty Rogers (H· D); 13. Jon Cornwell (HoD) 14 . George Roeder II (H·D); 15. ; Rodney Farr is (H· DI. GRAND NAT"L CHAMPIONSHIP/CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STA NDINGS: 1. Steve Aseltine (20); 2. Chris Carr (16); 3. SCOIl Pearson (13); 4. Dan Ingram (11); 5. Terry Poovey (101 6. Will Davis ; (91 7. Brian Bonesteel (B): Bo Ricky Graham (7); ; 9. Ronnie Jonas (6); 10. Jay Springsteen (5); 11. Steve Morehead (4); 12. Rusty Rogers (3); 13. Jon Carwell (2); 14. George Roeder II (1). DAYTONA BUDWEISERIWISECO DIRT TRACK SERIESPOINT STANDINGS : 1. SIeve Asaltine (70); 2. Chris Carr (69k 3. Rodney Farr is (55); 4. Ronnie Jones (51); 5. Dan Ingram (43); 6. Steve Mo rehead (40); 7. Tim Menens (27); B. Terry Poovey (23); 9. George Roeder II (22); 10. Brian Bonest eel (19). 15

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