Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

It looked like Terry Poovey (1 8 ) had the Ca mel Challenge race in t he bag. but a t hrottle cable broke and t he win went to Doug Chandler (1 0). spot go ing to Mert ens after Burkholder had held it at the lin e as they completed lap eigh t. Burkholder took thi rd, a co mforta ble di stance ahead of three-ti me Grand National Ch am pi on J a y Spri ngsteen. Mert ens was n 't smi ling as he coas ted into the pits. " T he crank bro ke as I crossed the line," said th e Ill inois rider who had to scratch from the Na tional. The fourth and final heat turned into a real barn burner. Poovey led the field into turn one but it was Morehead in front at the end of the openi ng lap. For the next three laps the two hoo ked up in a side-by-side battle that had Poovey taking the lo w line through the turns with Morehea d opting to ride his Sponseller Racing Honda on th e high line. Pa rker joined the battle and the trio's performance had j he crowd o n its feet. The three-rider fight qu ickl y becam e a two-man duel as Poovey slowed on th e fifth lap and soon pulled into th e pits. " T he throttle cable broke, " said the veteran racer wi th a frown. Lap seven saw Parker tak e over the lead coming out of turn two . Morehead se tt led into second beh ind Parker and th e two cruised to th e ch eckered flag, with Parker stretching his lead a u t to a wid e o ne. Poov ey's misfortune benefited Don Estep, who moved his Harley into third for good whe n Poov ey retired. The last heat turned out to be th e fastest, taking Pa rker jus t 4 min ut es, 7.506 seco nds . T ha t wo u ld gi ve Parker the pole position for the main, which in Camel Pro Series d irt track racing mea ns he wo ul d ge t to choose his starting spot on the line. Semis Only th e winners of the two 10lap semi -fina ls wou ld advance to the Nati onal a nd Harl ey teamster Chris Carr 'm ade sure th a t was hi m in the first go. Carr trai led George Roed er for the first two la ps, took over the lead o n lap three, and stretched hi s winning margin over the course of 'the race. Roeder held on to seco nd, Last Ch ance Qualifier-bound, as was third pl ace fini sh er Ath ert on, who was limping and obviously in pain. T he second semi saw crowd favorite Springsteen lead fro m the flash of the gree n lig h t to the chec kered flag. Poovey sta rted o n the second row and by the second lap had moved into fourth. H e was third o n the th ird lap a nd moved aro und Scott Stump on th e next lap to tak e o ver second and begin pursuing "Sprin gsteen . Poovey close d o n Springs teen but seemi ngly sp urred on by the roar of the crowd, Spri ngs teen ma intained th e lead to the finish. Poovey, who spent the intermission preparing his H o nda for the upcoming Camel Challenge, knew he faced another 10 laps of racing in the Last Chance Qualifier which he would have to win to advance to the National. Camel C hall enge The five- lap, six-rider, $17,500 Camel Challenge, whi ch wou ld pay the winner $10,000, saw Burkholder pull the hol eshot, but it was Poovey taki ng th e lead in turns three a nd four. Poov ey, no stranger to Camel Challenge races, opened up a small gap on the o ther five riders and appeared to be o n his way to the win. At the end of th e secon d lap the o rder was Poo vey, Davi s, Ath ert o n, Parker, Burkh older and Cha ndler. But Lady Luck wasn 't rid ing wi th Poov ey and with just o ne lap to go he slowed jus t as he had done in h is heat race. " In th e heat my rea r throttle ca ble broke a nd in 'th e Ch all en ge my front throttle cable broke, " said an obviously d isappointed Poovey. . Chandler, wh o had moved into second o n th e third lap, found himself lead in g th e field on th e final lap a nd he held on to th e lead to score hi s first Camel Challen ge win. " ' H a n k Scott is do ing s uc h a beautiful job setting up th e bike," sa id SuperTrapp /D&S R a cin g / Ara i/RK/Nankai-back ed Chand ler. " You co uld n't ask for a better bike. I just sho w up a nd ride it." Chandler was coming off a crash in a support race th e previous weekend at the Na tional roa d race meet held at Wisconsin 's Road Ameri ca. T hat cras h left him feelin g "bea t up" and ca used him to skip the Na tio nal at Road Ameri ca. Parker took second ($2500), wit h teammat e Ath ert on third ($2000), Burkholder fourth ($1500), Davis fi ft h ($ 1000) a n d P oo vey was awarded six th ($500). Last Chance Qualifier T he IO-la p LCQ produced a threerider dogfight duri ng the opening laps as Poovey, Roed er and Stump raced side- by-si de , rid in g crisscrossi ng lines in the corners, ' each seeking th e win a nd the last starting spot in the Na tional. The race settled down to a two- man fig ht between Poov ey a n d Roeder as Stump co uld n' t keep up wi th the two a nd was soo n dropped back to fourth by Athe rton. Poovey rode a flawless race and led Roed er across the finish li ne to take the final advancement spot. That might have produced a sigh of reliefb ui Poovey wasn't smiling. He had completed 36 laps of racing and faced 20 more, in the ational, Junior N ational Mike Hal e was the fast Junior qualifier, turning a 24.449-second la p aboard his Karl Klement/Ron Wood/ShoeilTsubaki/GPS Racingsponsored Wood- Rotax. Ha le's time would have been the sixth fastest if he had turned it as an Expert, and showed that a 600cc bike, at least on a half mile oval, can ho ld its own wi th 750cc machinery. Jason Fletcher was secon d fastest q uali fier a nd h is 24.463-seco nd la p wo u ld also have been good eno ug h for a slo t in the Camel Ch all en ge. Aud ie Huff, Rob Maj eski an d Mark VanHousen rounded out th e to p five Junior qual ifiers. H ale went on to win th e first of two Junior heat races, with Kris Kiser taking second and Larry Pegram th ird. Finish in g fourth th rou gh sixth and adv ancing to th e National were Maj eski , Andrew Sega lin i and Sco tt Mohan . The second heat was red -flagged wh en H u ff went down in turn three. Althoug h the a mbulance was called for. Huff got back o n h is feet after a delay and was allowed to lin e up for the restart. Fletch er wo n th e heat. the fas ter of the two, with H uff taki ng second and Mike Ead ie thi rd. T he last three advancement spots wen t to Brian Ti llson. A.J. Snoop and David Reeves. Hal e was first off the li ne a t tile start of th e 10-la p $ 1500 J un ior Na tional and he stayed o ut fro nt unti l a red flag came out o n the start of the ninth lap. Huff a nd Segalini had go ne do wn in turn two and alt hough Segalini was quickl y back up and return ed to the start/ finish lin e, H uff -stayed down for q ui te a while. T he a mbu lance crew put Huff in the vehicle and drove bac k to his pit area, where he was drop ped off, and he notified officia ls he was through for the eveni ng. A sing le-file resta rt was ca lled for to run the remai ni ng two laps and Hal t; pi cked up wh ere he ha d left off, leadi ng the field away a nd stayi ng Camel Challenge w inn er Doug Ch andler and his $10.000 check. in front until th e chec kered flag to p ick up th e win a nd $420. Fletc he r had been a stro ng second p rio r to th e red flag, a nd he held th at spot to tak e th e ru nn er-u p spot behi nd winner Hale. Wh en th e red flag wa ved, thi rd had belonged to Mohan , bu t he was d ropped to fourth by thi rd p lace fin ish er Majesk i, a post-entry. After six of I I ro unds of th e AMA Junior National Ch am pi onship Din Track Series, Kris Kiser has a th reepoi nt lead over La rry Pegram, 76 to 73. National Pole-sitter Parker , as ha d all before him, chose the inside pot from which to stan th e 20-lap Nationa l. J o in in g him on the front row were Ch andler, Davis, In gram , Moreh ead and Farris. J ones, Estep, Aselti ne, Burkhol der and Saunders lined up o n th e seco nd row, with Carr , Sp ri ngs teen and Poovey on the third ro w. Mertens, who had scra tched , wa tched fro m the pi t wa ll. In gram was first off the lin e and led the field across the stan/ fin ish line a t the end of the first la p. Ingram led lap two. over Davis, Farris , Morehead, Burkholder and Jones.. As the field dove into turn one to start the third la p , More head, Estep and Aselt ine went down, bri ngi ng a ut the red flag , (Con tinued to page 55) 7

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