Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. Mike Ha le (12N ) led the opening la p of the Junior National. but ended up third behind winner Andy Tresser (1 OY) and runner-up Kris Kiser (4R). Chris Carr moved into the series points lea d with his win in the Peoria TT. Carr dazzled the spectators with his launches off the Peoria jump. AMA 600 National Championship Dirt Track Series: Round 4 Carr sails to Peoria TT win By Dave Hoenig Photos by Bert Shepard .. Defendin g 600 National Ch ampion Chris Carr repeated last year's WIn a t the 3rd Annual Busch H eritage National TT at the Peoria M.C.· d ubgrounds and moved into the nin e-ra ce seri es poi nt standings lead as well. . Since winning hi s fir st ' G ~an d . N auona I Chamni . a ~ plOn ship Senes race at Peoria In 1986. Carr has said thai th e h istoric TT track is hi s favorite. " I dream abo ut Peoria a t least o nce a week," said th e H arley-Davidson facto ry rid er after he totall y dominat ed th e race. Junior class rid er And y Tresser inherited seco n d wh en G ardn er Racing teammates Steve Aseltine, wh o led th e point standings com ing into today 's round, and Steve Eklund both falt er ed . It ca p ped a very successful Sunday for Tresser; he had won th e Junior National earlier in the da y. " I love it! I like it! " a n ela ted Tresser said a bo ut hi s perfo rmance a nd th e Peoria tra ck in winner 's circle. Aaro n Hill came out on top of a race-long battle for third with Mary- land 's Rodney Farris to make it a 12-3 Ca lifornia sweep . "Everything went re~l smooth ," .said H ill. " My mechanics told me If I stayed consisteru, I would gel u p here a nd by go lly I did." ' T ime Trials With o nly 38 riders signing u p for the 600 National, th a t assured everyone would mak e the program th a t .is design ed for 48 competitors. After th e first practi ce session , it was ap pa rent that on ly an unforeseen problem would bea t Carr and he started backing that th ought up with the da y's quickest la p ..a 26.355seco nd one. " Ken ny T olbert and Sammy Sweet have been doing a good job all yea r long on both m y 750 a nd 600," said Carr after posting fast time on hi s Arai /Hap J ones/ T s u b a ki /Ta kai / A I pin e s t ar s i Sunoco Racing Fuels/Works Performance/White Bros-sponsored Har- ley. Although Carr was almost a second off hi s own track record (25.574, wet last year), he was more than half a second faster tha n Hill, who posted the second fastest lap in tim e trials at 26.903. Charlie Orr, with a 26.918, and Aseltine, with a 26.926, earned th e remaining two heat race pole positions. Eklund a nd Tresser were th e on ly other rid ers in the 26-second bra ck et at 26.95 5 and 26.969, respectivel y. Heats Carr' s onl y se tbac k of th e day occurred when he a nd Ri ch King were sent to th e pe nalty line after the fir st a tte mp t to start hea t race number o ne . Wh en th e race did get th e officia l gree n light, it was Carr in front a nd pulling away by th e second lap of th e 10-lap race . Each heat wo uld advance the top three fini shers di rectly to th e National fin al. With Carr sai ling off Peoria's legendary jump in spectacular fashi on and lengthening hi s lead th ere a nd elsewhere on th e tra ck, Will Davi s, Erik Graybeal and King were battling over seco nd. King · dropped out with mechanical problems a nd Graybeal took over second for good as Davis faded into a battle with Troy Norris for third. Davis held off Norris to take th e la st transfer. Carr's winning time would turn ou t to be more th an two seconds faster th an the next fastest heal. H ea t race number two belonged to Hill a n d hi s Ar ai /Castro l/Kal G ard/Tsubak i-b ack ed H arl ey. A class ic battle fo r second developed · between Scott Adam s and Junior Kris Kiser. Lap after lap Kiser would d ive low into turn one, only to have Adams drop down and exit turn two with th e adv antag e. Kiser fin all y too k over the th e runner-up spo t for good o n the last lap and the fin ishing order was Hill , Kiser a nd Adams. T he third heat race was a real barnburn er with Farris, Tresser a nd Orr providing th e fire as th ey fought for the wi n. Each took a turn running out front , but it was J&M Racin g/ Arli ngton H onda/Low Bucks Raein g/Shoei-sp onsor ed Orr and hi s Harl ey in front at the checkered flag w i t h Tresser ed g i n g Farris for second. T he fin al heat featured a di ce ·between Gardner Racing teammates Aseltine an d E klu n d . Canadi an Aseltine held off form er Grand Nati onal Champion Eklund, winner of th e 1976 .Grand National TT a t Peoria, until th e final lap when Aseltine's H arley started smoking badl y. Ara ilO'Nea l/1nterlink- backed Ekl und went on to win what turned out to be the second fastest heat of the four. Aseltine limped across the line in second as J unio r Mike Hale too k third, holding off Rex Fish er. Semis Two IO-Iap semis were up next and each would advance only the winner to th e final. Tim Mertens, King, N orris and Marc Gifford battled for th e lead in th e first semi final. After the halfway point the four-rider dice was narrowed down to Mertens and King with King holding on for the win on his Sexton Racing/Shoei/Weber 's Cycle-spon'sored Honda. Fish er qu ickl y took comma nd of th e seco nd sem i a nd went on to.win o n hi s Dave Bird/Shoei /Maxima/ H ogwash /J im Davi s-backed WoodRotax. Mark Gruber worked past Sh ane J olly to tak e over second and alt hough he closed on Fish er he had to settle for second and faced the Last Chance Qualifier. . Last Chance Qualifier With only the winner of the 10la p LCQ advancing to th e National, getting in front and stay ing there was the name of the game. Larry Pegram, who had finished th ird in th e second semi got in front but he didn 't stay th ere as first Norris and then Mertens dropped him back. Mertens then set hi s sigh ts on Norris and just past the halfwa y point he flew hi s Gary Davis/B ell evill e H onda /Shoei / Stump 1nsurance/M&M Racing/ Oury/Diamond /Kal-G ard /Bell evill e Enduro T eam-sponsored Harley int o the lead over th e jump. Mertens sta yed in front to th e checkered fla g with Norris fini shing a lonely and di sappointing second. Junior National Two 12-man heats ad van ced the top six from eac h to th e Junior National fin al. Leading th e wa y in the first heat was Andy Tresser who ran away with the race as Mike Hal e finish ed second and Bill Newk irk edged Sha ne J olly for third. The second hea t went to Kris Kiser with Audie Huff taking second a nd Larry Pegr am fini shing third. Ha le led lap one of th e Junior National but Kiser took over the point position on th e second lap. Tresser dropped Hal e back another sp ot as he mov ed into second and pressured Kiser. Tresser took o ver the lead on lap six and turned up the gas on hi s ABC Bod y Shop/Wood Racing/ Arai /Sportz Fu el/Kendall/ Yoko Ra cewear-ba cked Wood-Rotax ~ to pull away and eventually win.

• Cover