Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127200
bi ke, with on ly t h ree mi n utes remaining in the session. T he sole woman in the fie ld, Tammy Kirk, who was fifth fastest in the May 28 time tria ls before the initial attempt at running the first of two Springfield races this year was rained out, broke a rod , and was sent back LO Georgia for repairs. With a total of 45 riders trying to qualify for the 48-rider grid, Kirk would have made the main if mechanical woes hadn't set in. , Geor~e Haas had the dubious distinction of being the final qualifier at 38.723 seconds. Cil 00 Cil ...... Terry Poovey (18) leads the Ro lling Thunder Show on an early lap . He led the f irst f ive laps. AMA 'Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 8 Parker victorious at Sp,ringfield Mile thriller By Ken Faught Photos by Bert Shepard SPRINGFIELD, IL, JULY 16 "There wasn't a p lan until th e las t lap when I headed down the back straight," said Scott P arker after narrowly winnin g the 40th ru n ning of the Illinois Motorcycle Dealer Association-promoted Springfield Mi le. "It was the type of rac e wh ere you had to hold it wid e open all of the time just 6 k' e d to stay WIith th iea pacx, 0 ne minute you' re ou t front, and th e next you 'r e in fifth. Everyon e rode 100%, and with that many people up front (six in the lead pack), a lot depended o n how well you cou ld wor k the draft. " What Parker was referring to was th e 25-lap Expert main event that saw nearly a half a dozen leaders in one of th e closest-ever races at the Illinoi s Stat e Fairgrounds facility. . However, Il was Parker wh o sto.le th e lead away fr~m Harley-David son teammate Ch ris Carr and Hondamounted Steve Morehead o n th e last la p , befo re parlaying th a t fro nt positi on into a sp lit-seco nd win . The victory in front of 15,900 spectators, which earned him $5370 of the $40,000 purse, more than doubled Parker's Camel Pro Series . point lead. He was three points ahead of Carr going into the event and now leads Carr, 114 LO 107. Morehead also scored well in the points chase, and climbed one notch up th e ladder, stepping into third with a total of 76. Time Trials Springfield 's one lap qual ifying record of 104.203 mph (34.54 seconds) set by Ricky Graham in 1984 stood at the end of time trials. Carr was the fastest, but nearly a second off the record pace, as he took his Harley-Davidson Inc. 1Arai /Hap Jones/Tsub aki/RS Tachi/ Alpine Star/White Bros .lSunoco Racing Fuel/Works Performance-backed XR750 LO the top of the heap, with a fast lap of 35.410 seconds at 101.666 mph. Carr collected a $100 bonus for his efforts. Honda-mounted Doug Chandler was the second fastest after SLOpping the clocks with a 35.663 lap , to top Terry Poovey by 0.20 seconds. Rodney Faris , Dan Ingram, Parker, Tim Mertens, Kevin Ath erton and J ay Springsteen earned th e fourth through ninth spots, but it was l Oth fastest qualifier Ronnie J on es wh o cap tured most of the attention. During tim e trials J on es ran into mechanical problem s that brought h im o u t o n severa l occasio ns. Jones fin all y qualified, on his , back-up Heats The first of four IO-Iap heat races, each of which would adva nce the LOp three finishers LO the Nationa l, featured three of the four factory Harley-Davidson riders. Carr, Atherton and Springsteen were set LO go head-to-head, however, as they sat on the front row Devon Pritchard and Charles Orr had other plans. While Carr got the ear ly jump on the pack, Pritchard and Orr bat tled into the second p lace spot with Springsteen and Atherton fighting it out for fourth. Positions stayed the same until the halfway poi nt when both Springsteen and Atherto n managed LO work their way past the two riders who stood between them and their teammate. Once in third, Atherton immediately challenged for the ru nner-up slot which he was able to acquire in a short time. At the checkers Carr collected the win ahead of Atherton, Springsteen, Steve Aseltine and George Roeder. The top three earned themselves a direct spot in the main, with the fourth through ninth place competitors being forced LO ride one of two semis for a chance at qualifying. Jones showed the quickest reflexes at the start of the second heat while Tim Mertens, Chandler, and Bill Herndon followed close behind. Up front, Mertens and Chandler started pressuring Jones right off the bat, and continually shuffled positions. As th e riders approached the halfway marker, problems again set in for Jones, as he dropped out of a qualifying spot. Wi th Jones ou t of the way, Mertens LOok the lead before event ually collecting the win inches ahead of Herndon and Chandler. J o nes was fourth with Keith Day finishing fifth . , The third heat race saw Poovey produce th e fastest 10 laps en route LO the win. The.heat race took 5:55 seconds LO run, four seco nds off Graham's 1984 record of 5:51.573. The fast heat allowed Poovey LO have first pi ck of sta rting positions in the main. However , Poovey's heat race win wasn 't all that easy. Parker pressured Poovey from start-to -finish, but Poovey held him off LO score th e victory. Parker LOok second with Doug Davis third. Garth Brow took fourth ahead of Don Estep. The final heat saw Dan Ingram lead from the start until the race was red-flagged when Jon Cornwell crashed in turn three. Canadian Cornwell suffered only bumps and bruises, along with a cut on his arm and was treated at th e track . The single row restart saw Morehead come from fourth to work his way into the front-run ner pos ition near the end of the 10-lap race. A four-way battle for the lead materialized as Graham, Rod ney Farris and Ingram closed in . However, after a few position cha nges, Morehead took the win ahead of Graham, wh o was making his first Camel Pro Serie s start since the May 21 San Jose Mile. Farris took th e last advancement spo t by finishing third, ahead of Ingram who was fourth.