Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

------------------------------------'-"----.CIOCKllrg;-ana-pnvateerxolrrearson was lOth fastest with a 37.736 circuit. Heats Steve Morehead (42) leads the opening lap charge ahead of eventual winner Scott Parker (1) and the field. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 4 Parker finally wins San Jose Mile By Farren Williams Photos by Mitch Friedman SAN JOSE, CA, MAY 21 Team Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker finally broke his Santa Clara County Fairgrounds jinx with a convincing win at the 34th running of the legendary San Jose Mile. runner-up spot several times a lap Parker has finished second for the full 25 laps: . 'Chandler preVaIled, leavmg Carr h a~.seve~ a.t San Jose.no ~ess t LO settle for third and Morehead to tImes, has been m the wmner s be happy with fourth. 6 circle a record nine times, and has finished in the top 10 a toral of 17 times, but until the checkered flag fell in Sunday afternoon's fearure race he had never rasted victory on San Jose's famed one-mile oval. "I finally pulled this thing offl" the Team Harley rider shouled from lhe winner's circle. "I would have liked to have srayed close to those guys and made it a great race, bUl ... the hell with tharl "So much for the San Jose Mile jinx," Parker said with a smile. "It feels good. It feels real good." The victory marked Parker's 12th career mile win, his 22nd career Nalional victory, and his second National win of 1989. It was also the 58th career National win for Parker's. tuner, Bill Werner. Parker suffered a terrible start, but worked his way imo first place by lap four and never looked back. The Team Harley rider crossed the finish line two seconds ahead of a furious battle for second place that saw Ascot Half Mile winner Doug Chandler, Parker's Harley-Davidson teammate Chris Carr and Sponseller Racing's Sleve Morehead swap the "We held each other up in the corners, and Scotty jusl kepl inching away from us," Chandler said. "You had to tip-toe through turns three and four," Carr said, describing less-than-prime racing conditions. "They were extremely slippery. There was good traction coming out of tum two." "Il was hard to draft becaiJse the wind was so strong," added Carr, "Coming off of tum two was like hittin~ a wall. And going inlo rum three II would almost knock you off your motorcycle. There was a lot of turbulence out there." For the firsl 10 laps, three-tilJle Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen was in the thick of the battle for second, but then slowed on lap II and -was forced lO drop out on lap 15 when his Bartels' HarleyDavidson suffered ignilion problems. "Sometimes it would run on two cylinders and sometimes it would run on one," Springer said. "When I saw I was in last place, I figured it was lime to pull in." It was quite a payday for Parker, who claimed his first San Jose Mile win before i6,000 enthusiastic fans. Parker earned $5750 for winning the main event, collected 320 in lap money, and reportedly received two 5000 bonuses for winning the race, one from Harley Davidson and one from Bell Helmels. Chandler collected $3817 for placing second, while Carr pocketed 2485 for finishing third. Carr padded his bank account by another $lO,ooo when he won the five-lap Camel Challenge sprim race for the lOp six qualifiers. Morehead earned $2500 in the Challenge race by riding his Sponseller Honda lO second, and Texan Terry Poovey collected $2000 with a lhird-place finish. The win moved Parker from sixth lO fourth in the Camel Pro Series point standings. Carr still leads the standings with 49 poiOls, followed by Chandler (46), Terry Poovey (43), Parker (42) and Ricky Graham (35). Time Trials Only 39 Expert riders were 011 hand for the 48-rider program. The low turnout ensured every rider who completed time trials a starting-grid Spol in one of four 10-lap Expert heat races. Chandler powered his Hank Sconluned SuperTrapp/D&:S Racing/ Arai/RKINankai Honda into the top qualifying position with a 36.77second docking. He was the only rider lO break inlo the 36-second brackel, but his time was more than one-half second off the pace of lWOtime Grand Nalional Champion Ricky Graham's 36.196 record, sel in 1982. Rounding out the heat race polesiners were Carr, who stopped the clock at 37.329, Morehead, who had a 37.333 showing, and Poovey, who posted a 37.338 time. Springsteen was fifth fastest at 37.364, and Ronnie Jones filled our the Camel Challenge field with a 37.364 docking. Former Grand National Champion Steve Eklund was seventh fastest with a 37.398 lap, Parker wound up eighth fastest with a 37.473 lime after waving off a faster, 37.38, Sponseller Racing's Dan Ingram was ninth with a 37,629 . Ingram nailed the holeshot in the first 10-lap Expert heat race, but Chandler bumped him to second coming out of tum two and Parker dropped him to third entering tum three. Chandler led the race at the end of the first lap, but by the end of lap two Ingram was back in the lead with Chandler, Parker and the neweSl member of the HarleyDavidson team, Michigan's Kevin Atherton, in tow. The four riders argued over first for the rest of the race, swapping positions constantly. Ingram led laps two through five, and Chandler held the edge on laps six through nine. It was Harley-Davidson/BelllTsubaki/H.O.G.lITT/ AIW-sponsored Parker, however, who led when it coun led. Chandler powered off tum four of the last lap with Parker right on his lail. Harley's defending Grand National Champion used the slingshot LO draft by Chandler just as the checkers fell. Atherton LOok lhird, and with il the last direct transfer to the main evem, leaving Ingram in fourth, holding a one-way ticket LO the first semi. California's Sal Hoffman was first off the line in the second heat race. Hoffman was passed by Carr almost immedialely, and the race for the top spot was over. Once out from, Carr mOlored away, strelching his lead lap after lap. At the halfway point he led the comeSl by 1.58 seconds, and wben he finished the race he was more than three seconds in front of runner-up Eklund. Pearson finished third after holding down the show position from lap two until the end. North Carolina's Will Davis challenged Pearson several times, bur the California rider lenaciously held onto the last transfer spot. Davis had to be satisfied with fourth, and a trip to the first semi. Hoffman faded to eighth. Maryland's Rodney Farris on the Ed Adrias-runed Harley led heat three off the line, followed by Jones, Graham, Morehead and Californian Keith Day. Jones drafted by Farris on the backstraight on lap one, and George Roeder II of OhIO shilffled the pack a bit more on lap two when he moved around Graham with an outside move in tum two to take over fifth. For the next few laps Farris' Harley would hook up coming out of lurn two and he would power past leader Jones, bur the Garvis Honda rider would re-pass Farris with a backstraight draft going into turn three. At the midway point, Morehead, aboard a Skip Eaken-runed, Sponseller/KKlJohn Dragoo/Indy Fuels/ Bell-sponsored Honda, drafted by Farris on the backstraight, and set our after leader Jones. Morehead caught Jones on lap seven, and got around the Oklahoman with a high, outside pass in turns one and two. On lap eight, however, Farris passed them both, and Day moved up from fourth to join the fray. On lap nine, Jones was in front going down the backstraight, but the three riders behind him sailed by as the leadin~ quartet entered turn three. Farns, Morehead and Day exited tum four side-by-side, with Jones in tow. On the final go-round, il was Morehead who held the edge at the checkers, followed by Day, Farris and Jones, Graham finished fifth and Roeder took sixth. Heat four was a hell-bent ballIe between Poovey and Springsteen, with Illinois rider Tim Mertens watching from third for most of the race.

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