Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Doug Chandler ow ned th e fourt h and final hea t as he logged fas t hea t I tim e aboard his H ank Scott/ SuperTrapp/ D&S R aci n g / Ar a i/R K/ INank ai -sponsored H onda. Will Da vis rod e a solid race to finis h seco nd after pressu ring Chandler unsu ccessfully. Craig Estelle had a good start and he he ld off Carr and Poovey for two laps before being o u thorsepowered and dropped back to an eventual fifth pl ace fin ish . Carr to ok th e fin a l tr an sfer behind Chandler a nd Davis, as Poo vey, Estell e, Gary Conkling, J on Parker, Don n ie Mart in and Mark Gruber faced a rid e in the second semi. Semis Estep earned h is ticke t to th e National th e hard way as he had to ;j" win " the first semi twi ce. T he red £lag waved with Estep o ut front when T odd Ra tliff a nd Brow went down . in turn two on th e third la p. With seven laps still to be run a single file z restart was in o rder an d Estep had h is XR750 a t the head of th e lin e a nd kept it in fro nt of the field, never loo king back as he scored the win. Stump did hi s best to ge t by Estep b ut co uldn 't pull it off and he was ' headed for the Last Chance Qualif ier a long with Bo n es teel , Aseltine , Darlin g and Knech t. Both Parker and Poo vey wer e in • the .un desira ble position of having to nde the second serru a nd then all but immed ia tely take part in the lu cra tive Camel Challenge. Aboa rd the Bill Werner-tuned factor y XR 750, Parker showed everyo ne ho w well he has learned to ride a groove ~ as he scored th e win despite race-lo ng 1pressu re from In gram. " I was hol din ' her tight," said a . rel ieved Parker after th e semi. . Poovey's crew held their breath as the T exa n coasted to a stop in th e semi. Fortunately, all that was wrong was that th e front carburetor had fallen off his Honda and after a q uick fix he was read y for th e Cha lle nge. Camel Challenge Ligh tn in g strea ked across o mi .n ous bl ack clo uds as the Camel Cha ll enge wa s s ta ge d a n d th e wea ther th at had surrou nded Louisville throughout the program closed in . The start of th e five-lap das h was delayed for a few minutes as a light shower passed. When th e green lig h t finall y £lashed, it was Morehead reading it righ t and he head ed the mad dash into th e first tu rn where th e inevitable bumping almost put Parker on th e ground. Moreh ead held the lead to the fini sh as beh ind him In gram a n d Carr ba ttled for seco nd. " I banzaied it for two laps," said Carr, " but settled for third after Danny got u nder me." Parker recovered from his first lap , first turn nea r mi sh ap to finish fourth ahead of Roed er and Poo vey. Moreh ead was not expecting wh a t happen ed wh en he took th e ros tru m to receive his replica $10,000 chec k. Instead of the reso und ing cheers he hea rd last year whe n he wo n th e L ou isvill e N a ti onal , t h is ti me around he was met with jeers and boos - something a H onda rider should expect when co mpeting in " H ar ley Country." Scott Pearso n heard the same soun ds when he became the first H onda-mounted racer to crack H arley's hold on the Louisville H alf Mile when he wo n ' the race in 1982. " Listen , folks," sai d Morehead over the p ublic address system, " I' ve got to ride wh a t pays th e bills and I am impressed wi th this H onda. Yo u have to surr o und yourself with good people and companies and go fo rw ard. " Covered with Louisville limestone. Chris Carr. Ronnie Jones. Doug Chandler and Will Davis ride the groove. Last Chance Qualif ier As th e 10-lap L CQ go t underway, ra in began to fall. Ingra m quickly went to the front, ah ead of Stu m p, Darli ng, Aseltine, Co nkling, Bo nesteel and Mill er. As the race wound down th e norm a l blac k groove tu rned in to a sea of gray mud. Lucki ly no o ne fell and Ingram took the win a nd the final tra nsfer to the final. National After the checkered flag waved for In g ra m , th e rai n turned into a torre nt ial dow npour and then sto pped. It was only 9 p.rn. a nd officials fel t they co uld get the tra ck back in shape enough to allow th e National fina l to be run . After n umerous futi le attempts at dragging th e surface, it was decided to grade off the goo, but o ne small prob lem su rfaced - th e trac k's grader opera tor had gone ho me I Enter the evening's hero - spectator Kent G oodwin fro m P rin ce to n , Kentucky, let th ose in cha rge kn ow he was a gra der operator. Wi th Go odwin at th e contro ls of th e grader, th e track's grounds crew went to wo rk a nd four hours later the surface was ready for inspecti on by the riders. After a short practice sessio n, most bu t not all of th e riders declared th e track was read y fo r ra ci n g. T en minutes wer e th en allo we d for the riders to m ak e cha nges; half of th e field mad e eit he r gearing or tir e changes while the rest just piled tear-offs on the ir helmets. With th e surface altered by the ra in a nd th e grading, start ing line selectio n wasn 't as cri tica l as usual. Chandler had the first pick and th e H onda pil ot chose th e th ird spot fro m the in side pole. Round in g out th e fro nt row were Atherton , Farris, Morehead, Da vis and J ones. th e seco nd row was Pa rker , Mertens, Ca rr, Roeder, Kin g, and Corn well, wi th Estep a nd Ingram on the th ird row. T he crowd looked for Springsteen , but 45 minutes earl ier hi s o ld stomach problem resurfaced and he scra tched from the race. Parker pulled the hol esho t at the £lash of th e green light, but he a nd th e field were greeted by a red £lag as th ey came arou nd to comp lete what wo uld have been the firs t la p . Parker 's star t was deem ed " too good to be accepted " by officials but th ey felt he sh ou ldn 't be penalized and he was allowed to resume his original starting position, much to the di smay of ma ny of the riders. On the second flash of the starting Louisville winner Steve Morehead and runner-up Scott Parker settle their differences as Dave Despain interviews third place finisher Chris Carr. lig ht, Moreh ead gated fir st a nd had J ones a nd Parker as close co mpa ny aft er one lap. Everyone excep t Morehead was ins tan tly covered wi th an ever- thicken ing coat of lim estone th at saw tear-offs being th ro wn into th e wi nd all around the trac k. Morehead mai ntained th e lead as . Parker wo rked on him, fo llowedby J o nes, Chan d ler , Carr, In g ra m , Da vis, Atherton, Mertens, Poo vey a nd the rest of th e field. Carr a nd Atherton were bo th riding the high li ne in a ttempts at improving their po sitions.' Carr moved by J ones to take over third, bu t Atherton fell back and soon dropped out of the race wh en his transmission pa cked up . At th e start of lap II , Parker drove around the ou tside of Moreh ead in turn one. Parker had completed or not completed th e mov e, dep ending o n wh o you talked to, as th e duo exi ted turn two. T he move th a t angered Pa rker then took place as Morehead retook the lead for good. Fro m tha t point on it was a matter of everyo ne trying to see rather th an ra ce and nearly everyone he ld th eir po sition down to the checkered flag that saw Morehead ta ke th e win, Parker finish second, Carr third and holding Ch a nd ler at bay, a nd J ones "taking fifth holding off Da vis. For Moreh ead it was his second straight Lo ui svill e Nationa l win , but for just a bo ut everyo ne else it was ti me to tell vision, or lack of it, stories. " I cou ld n 't see af ter the first lap," sai d Maryl ander Farris. " I tore all my tea r-o ffs off a t one ti me !" " I rod e th e last eight laps wi th my faceshield up," said Merten s. " I started with 12 tear -offs a nd by lap 15 they were all go ne," said Carr . " We 're lucky nob ody got hurt." "Most of th e racing was do ne by the first corner," sa id Ch andler. " I think the lives of th e ri ders were jeopardized." . As th e crews packed up, there seemed to be on ly one ha ppy rid er and, of course, tha t was Morehead, wh o won a total of $16,640 - $10,000 in th e Camel Challenge, the winner's $5990 cu t of th e purse, $400 in lap leader money, and a $250 AMA Performance In centive Awa rd. • Results 20 -LAP NATIONAL: 1. Steve M orehead (Han); 2. Scott Parker (H· D): 3. Chri s Carr (H· D): 4 . Doug Chand ler (Han ); 5. Ronn ie Jones (Han); 6 . W ill Davis (H-D); 7. Dan Ingram (Han): 8. Tim Mertens (Han); 9. Jo n Cornwell (H-D); 10 . George Roeder (H· D): 11. Don Estep (H-Dt 12. Kevin Ath erton (HD); 13. Rodney Farr is (H· D); 14. Rich King (H· D); 15. J ay Spr in gst een (H-D). AMA GRAND NATIONAL C'SH IP/ CAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STAND INGS: 1. Chris Carr (62); 2. Scott Parker (58); 3. Doug Chand ler (57); 4 . Steve M orehead (52); 5. Terry Poovey (43); 6. Dan Ingram (41): 7. Ricky Grah am (35 t 8. Ronnie Jones (26); 9. (TIE) W ill Davis/ Rodney Farr is (25). 7

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