Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Parker (1) takes the high line on his way to the win over third place finisher Chris Carr (20) and runner-up Doug Chandler (10). Springsteen got the holeshot, but Poovey soon dropped him to second by stuffing under Springsteen in turn three. On the next circuit, Mertens went from third to first by getting around both Springsteen and Poovey with a daring turn-three pass. When the smoke cleared on lap three, however, Poovey was back in front, Springsteen was hounding him from second and Mertens had slipped to third. Michigan's Springsteen and Poovey swapped the top spot for the rest of the race, and it was Texan Poovey who held a narrow edge on the final go-around. Texan Willie McCoy took fourth, and Ohio's Don Estep finished fifth. Semis California's Bobby McDowell led the first 10-lap, Expert semi for most of the race, but it was Ingram, who took the win. McDowell was third off the line, behind Davis and Charlie Orr, and by lap three he had· worked his way into the lead. Ingram rode the wheels off his Sponseller Honda after coming off the line in seventh place. By lap six, Ingram had moved to fourth, and on lap seven he worked his way around second-place Pete Hames and was knocking on McDowell's door. The duo swapped the lead for the rest of the race with Ingram leading at the flag. McDowell took second, and with it the final transfer to the feature race. Davis finished third after bumping Hames to fourth on the last lap. Orr rounded out the top five. After a race-long battle for the lead, Graham nipped Jones by inches to win the second Expert semi: The two shuffled back-and-fourth for the full 10 laps, trading the top spot on almost every circuit. Roeder briefly joined the battle near the end of the race, but had to settle for third and a trip to the LCQ. Last Chance Qualifier It was "Wild Will" Davis who nabbed the holeshot in the Last Chance Qualifier, followed by Roeder, Don Estep and Staab Racing's Bryan Villella. On lap three Villella took third from Roeder, then the youngster from Michigan powered out of turn two on lap four to pass both Estep and Davis. The last ticket to the National had Villella's name on it. Once in the lead, he was never headed. Estep settled for second, Davis took third, Hames held down fourth and Roeder finished fifth. Camel Challenge The Camel Challenge was a five- lap brawl between Carr, Morehead, Poovey and Springsteen. Morehead was the first rider to power out of the hole when the starting light turned green, followed by Carr, Jones, Springsteen, Poovey and Chandler. Carr was in the lead at the end of lap one, followed closely by Springsteen, Poovey, Morehead, Jones and fast-qualifier Chandler, who, ironicallYJ spent most of the race in last place. The six riders formed a tightly knit clump which left little margin for error. Springsteen led laps two and three, while Carr and Morehead traded second. On lap four, Springsteen suddenly found himself dropped to fourth. Carr just as suddenly was back in front, with Morehead in .second and Poovey running third. Morehead took the lead on· the final lap, but Carr set up the "Findlay Flyer" with a perfect draft coming ou t of turn four and powered his Harley-Davidson/Hap Jones/ Tsubaki/TakailAlpine Stars/ Sunoco/Works Performance/White Bros.-sponsored Harley-Davidson to victory. Morehead had to settle for second, . Poovey took third, Springsteen finished fourth, Chandler wound up fifth, and Jones brought up the rear in sixth. "I knew second was the spot to be in on the last lap and I got a perfect draft," Carr said. "It worked like clockwork. I knew Steve would be hard to pass. Morehead's sneaky." Carr won the Camel Challenge on his back-up bike. His number one ride had seized a cylinder earlier in the day during practice. When asked how many Camel Challenge races he has won in his career, Carr answered, "Seven. Not bad for a punk, huh?" Junior Final Audie Huff, Jr., of Peoria, Illinois, dominated the Junior main event aboard a Wood-Rotax sponsored by Grayboy Kawasaki/Gardner Racing/Spectro/BelIlSnap-On Tools/ John Beare Ford. Huff took the lead on lap two, had a brief tussle with fast qualifier/heat one winner Larry Pegram, then powered away on lap five and never looked back. In the early going, Ohio's Pegram and heat two winner Mike Hale of Texas argued over second, but Hawaii's Kris Kiser rendered the argument academic on lap five when he claimed second for good. Californian Steven Raymond settled into third during the last half of the race, leaving Pegram to finish fourth and After 17 top 10 finishes at the San Jose Mile. Grand National Champion Scott Parker finally won at the northern California track. Hale to take sixth. California's Andy Tresser finished fifth. National Morehead led the 17-rider pack into turn one at the start of the 25lap National main event. Parker, who admitted he had been caught "sleeping at the lirte," came out of turn two about lOth and decided to let traffic sort itself out. "The first few laps, everybody was going nuts," Parker said. "I just set myself into a mode and waited till everything worked itself out, then I went for the lead." At the end of the initial go-round, Morehead held the edge, and was setting the pace for Carr, Chandler, Eklund, Springsteen and Parker. The fast, furious swapping at the . front of the pack saw Morehead drop to fifth by the second lap. Chandler had taken over the lead, followed by Carr, Parker and Springsteen. Ingram was running sixth, Eklund was seventh and Mertens held down eighth. Carr claimed the lead briefly on lap three, but Parker took over on lap four and never looked back. The National champ was on his way to his first-ever victory at San Jose. He began to pull away from the pack. Carr settled into defendin~ second place from Chandler, Spnngsteen and Morehead. The hard-charging trio was pushing Carr in every corner. Ingram followed in a lonely sixth, and farther back in the pack seventhplace Poovey was fielding challenges from Eklund, Mertens and Farris. Parker turned a 37.28 circuit on lap six, and by lap eight, he held a one-second edge on secondrunning Carr. On lap 10, Springsteen faded from the hotly contested second-place battle with ignition ills. Parker clocked a 37.24-second time on lap 12, and was still pulling away from the field. Morehead held the edge over Carr and Chandler in the war for second, and Farris had moved into sixth. By lap 15, Chandler and Morehead were savagely swapping over second place to 1.9 seconds. A three-rider battle for fifth had developed between Ingram, Poovey and Farris. Five laps later it was much the same story. Parker was out front, Carr had moved into secona place, but Chandler and Morehead were still right on his rear fender, and Eklund had joined the battle for fifth, which featured Poovey setting the pace for Farris and Ingram. By lap 22 both Chandler and Morehead had passed Carr, Parker had stretched his lead to 2.81 seconds, and Poovey still led Farris, Ingram and Eklund in the battle for fifth. Parker slowed slightly in the closing laps. His edge shrank to 2.21 seconds on the white flag lap, and when he took the checkers his margin of victory was 1.95 seconds. Parker's wirtning time for the 25-lap main event was 15 minutes, 39.95 seconds, well of( Bubba Shobert's record pace of 15:30.297, set in September, 1987. Chandler held on to win the battle for second, but Carr managed to nip Mor~head for third. The fight for fifth went to Farris, who edged Poovey, Eklund and Ingram. Atherton finished ninth, followed by Mertens, Day, Graham, Pearson, McDowell and Springsteen. Villella, who dropped out early when "something broke in the valve train" was credited with 16th. Jones, who also left the race early with undisclosed mechanical problems, finished 17th. "I ran it up top and the thing worked perfect," said Parker, who had used his trademark high line for most of the race. "The bike worked superb." "I couldn't accelerate off the corners once I got hooked up," said Chandler. "They could drafl me so much easier than I could draft them. We know the bike was leaking oil,. but we don't know where. It was throwing oil all day long. But it wasn't that big a deaL" "It was a good, hard race," said Morehead. "The motorcycle was perfect. I just came up short. It was a battle and I just flat got beat." • Results 25-LAP NATIONAL: 1. Scon Parker (H-D): 2. Doug Chandlar (Han): 3. Chris Corr (H-D); 4. Steve Morehead (Han): 5. Rodney Farris (H·D); 6. Terry Poovey (Han); 7. Steve Eklund (Han); B. Dan Ingram (Han): 9. Kevin Athenon (H-D); 10. TIm Menens (H·D); 11. Keith Day (Han); 12. Ricky Graham (Han): 13. Scan Pearson (H-D); 14. Bobby McDowell (HD); 15. Jay Springsteen (H-D); 16. Bryan Villella (H-D); 17. Ronnie Jones (Han). AMA GRAND NATIONAL C'SHIP/CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS; 1. Chris Co·rr (49): 2. Doug Chandler (46): 3. Terry Poovey (43); 4. Scon Parker (42): 5. Ricky Graham (35); 6. Dan Ingram (33); 7. Steve Aseltine (29); B. (TIE) Rodney Farris/ Steve Morehead (23): , O. (TIE) Will Davis/Ronnie Jones (16). JR FINAL: 1. Audie Huff Jr. (W-R); 2. Kris Kiser (W-R); 3. Steven Raymond (W-R); 4. Larry Pegram (W-R): 5. Andy Tresser (W-R): 6. Mike Hale (WR): 7. Steve Rasmussen (H-D); B. Michael Eadio (W·R); 9. Danny Stanley (W-R): 10. Tony Holdsclaw (W·R): 11. Mike McDonnell (H-D); '2. Steve Mayfield (W-R). 7

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