Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Chris Carr (left) and Scott Parker exchanged heated words after the National. Carr accused Parker of "shutting the door" on him. Steve Raymond (81 Z) came up the winner in a fiercely competitive Junior National final. Steve Rasmussen (45Y) finished second. the end of the sixth lap but th e field .was shown the red nag as th ey came down to co mp lete lap seven. Cornwell had entered turn one too hot a nd got it sidewa ys- to avoid runn in g into th e rider in front of him . He held it sideways until th e last mo me nt a nd th en highsided in to the hay bal es o uts ide th e turn. Bryan Ville lla cou ld n 't avoid Cornwell 's bike and he too h it th e bal es. The first person on the scene was Chris Carr, who had been sitting on h is mi ni bike watc hing th e action ou tside of tu rn one. Carr jumped over the guardrai l a nd the ha y bales a nd kne lt down beside a down ed Cornwe ll as Vi llella got to h is feet , un inju r ed . Cornwell even tually stood up and th e crowd was informed that both riders were o kay. T he single-file restart lasted less th an o ne o f th e four laps th at remai ned . As the field peeled off go ing into turn three, Charl ie Orr's front end was hed ou t and he hi ghsided, ex p lod ing th e hay bal es. Dave Ca m lin hit th e bal es a split second afte r Orr a nd th e red flag was quickl y di spl ayed to Estep and th e rid ers tra iling him across th e line. As th e field coas ted down th e bac kstraigh t, Orr's bik e burst into nam es as did th e hay bal es it was la yin g in. Both Orr a nd Camlin were okay but the flam es increased in inte ns ity as corne rworkers tried to ex tinguish th e blaze with fire extinguis h e rs. The s u pply of ex ti n guishers o n hand in turns th ree and four were soo n used up and yet th e bl aze co ntin ued . Cornerworkers, members of th e Bellevill e Enduro Team, separated the bu rn in g ba les from those flan kin~ th em to keep th e fir e fro m spread ing and a fter a leng thy period th e fire died o ut. For the second tim e the field, now down LO five riders , lin ed up in a single file for a restart . T he light flashed and Estep was firs t into turn one, but Pear son got by Roeder and then Estep LO lead the . o peni ng lap of the restart, lap seven of th e race. Pearson , Estep a n d Roed er swapped posit ion s all around the track a nd it was Roeder in front a t the lin e at th e end of la p ei~ht , Pearson in front at th e end of nme, and Estep o n to p when it co unte d, at the end of the final la p. Estep to the National, the rest sent packin g. 8 National Although th understorm s had been predicted for the ar ea, not a dark clo ud had appeared throug ho ut the lon g aft ernoo n . Iron icall y, jus t mo ments afte r the decis ion was made to pu t a light spray of water o n th e track and that had been accomp lished, a brief light drizzle started. It stopped as quickly as it began and altho ugh it had been announced that the Junior National final would be run next, th e decision was mad e to run th e Camel Pro Series final, seeing as how it was past six in th e even ing and th e crowd, alt hough patient, was getting restless. Hav in g th e choice of a starti ng spot by virt ue of wi nni ng the fastest heat race, second-genera tion racer Dan Ingram opted for a spot in th e middle of th e track, flanked o n hi s righ t by Parker, Ingram and Morehead a nd o n hi s left by Farris and Poo vey. Row two saw Graham , Herndon , J ones, Springsteen , Mertens a nd Kirk lin ed up with G ra ha m agains t th e grandsta nd wall. T ex ter, Will Davis, Estep, Athert on and Carr made up the th ird row for the 25lap final. Chandler led th e field into turn o ne with Farris on his rear wh eel. Moreh ead LOok th e o u tside line aro und Farris LO take o ver second as the pa ck hit the backstraight, In th e drafting passes and then th e shuffle in turns three and four, a new leader in th e form of Parker emerged and . th e champ led Morehead , Ingram and the 14other riders across th e lin e at the comp letion of th e opening lap. Once th ere, up front, Parker stayed there, unchallenged, for the next 17 laps while behind him every imaginabl e method of passin g or defending a po sition was di spl ayed to the crow d. Lap three' s o rder. read Parker, Morehead , Farris, Graham , In gram, Poovey, J ones and Chan dl er. T he next two laps saw th e order remain essent ia lly the same, but on la p six Farris a nd Graham got by Morehead. On the foll o win g lap , Morehead was dropped to six th wh en Poovey and J o n es bo th go t by hi m a nd he appeared to be bac king up. Carr, who had started from the back row, had charged up throug h the field a nd made his pr esence felt o n lap seven as he dropped In gram to eigh th. The next lap saw Carr move by Morehead as did In ~ram . U p fro nt , it was Par ker wit h a comforta ble lead, Fa rris ru nni ng second, Gra ha m th ird and Poovey a nd J on es fighting over fourth. Lap 10 sa w P arker runn in g un chall enged as Farris and Graha m ran side-b y-side and a short dis tan ce behind the m Carr and J on es fou gh t over fourth. Poovey was ru nning sixth, a nd In gra m was seve nt h, foll owed by H ern do n , Moreh ead , Sp ri ngsteen, Mert ens , Cha nd ler and Kirk . The next three laps sa w Parker sailing out front and Carr taking over second at spo ts as he drafted down the straights and battled in the turns with Farris, Graham, Ingram and Jones. On lap 15 both Will Davis and Tammy Kirk dropped out of th e race, both with what th ey suspected to be broken rods . Parker contin ued LO run unchallenged up front but it became apparent that th e drafting pa ck of riders behind him were gaining a few feet on every lap. As the 19th lap began, Parker had th e lead but when it ended it was Carr o ut front, Parker seco nd and Farri s third. Graham had begun to drop back and dropped o u t of th e race with a broken engi ne. " We spit valves all over th e p lace a t Spring field last week ," sa id Graham. " Ro b (Muzzy) sent th is engi ne to us from Ca lifornia and now it's h istory too . We'll co me up with a fresh engine for Albuquerque (a mil e round of th e Camel Pro Seri es tha t runs on August 6)." The three front runners co nt in ued to con test the lead spot for th e next . three laps with J on es running right with them . Carr crossed the line first from lap 19 through 22, but everyone knew that it would all co me down to who did wh at on th e final lap and that the race co u ld go LO anyone of the front running four - Par ker, Carr, Farris or Jones. On lap 23 T exter becam e th e last rider to drop out of the race. " It tied up," sai d a crew member. Farri s all bu t elimin ated h imse lf from the race o n lap 24 when he lost traction com ing out of turn two and dri fted up to th e g uardrai l, whi ch he cli pped wi th his foot peg. " For a second I though t I was goi ng LO lose it," he said afte r th e race. T he bobble allowed Herndon to move past Far ris and join th e last lap dash fo r th e cash. T he o rder at the end of lap 24 read Parker, J ones, Carr, H erndon , Farris a nd In gra m. The last m ile-l ong cha rge produced the contact that ma de Carr a ngry. T he end result of that final cha rge was Parker crossi ng the lin e first, J ones second and Carr thi rd, wi th Farris just inches beh ind in fourth and Hud Racin g's H erndon and hi s H onda tak in g fifth. After th e previously mentioned excha nge of words over the heated racin g, Parker said, wh en asked if he had slowed down or th e o thers had go tten faster, " It's easier to go faster wh en you're running with peo pl e. T hey just nat ca ug h t up wit h me." Garvis H onda/M issi le Engi neerin g /M oLO rcycl e Stu ffl Shoe ilCastro llAXO-backed J on es said, " We' ve had our problem s thi s year. These are th e first po in ts we've go tten o n a mil e this year, so I' m happy." Junior National Two-thousand ths o f a seco nd separated the top two Junior qualifiers wh o earned the pole positions for the two six-lap Junior heats, Top honors went LO Audie Huff by virtue of a 37.145-lap. Mik e Hale was second fastest at 37.147. The first heat was won by Huff after he got by Steve Raymond wh o led th e first three laps. Raymond hung on to fin ish second in front of J amie Grylicki , Kris Kiser and Brian Tillson. The second heat saw La rry Pegram pull th e hol eshot at the sta rt and lead every lap. Steve Rasmussen took second away from Andy Tresser o n th e final lap. T resser finished third, followed into the final by Hale, David Llo yd and Jamie Hart. Cali fornian Ra ym ond led t he opening lap of the IO-Iap fin al but was dropped to seco nd a t th e line by Huff on th e next two laps. Ra ymond, who w as riding t he Sh oei/Bruce & Krisey/ La rry & Uncle Mark/F&R Body Sh op, Diess & Son Marathon-sponsored 600cc, sing lecylinder H arley , didn 't have it easy as he was pushed by cha llenges from fellow Californian s Rasmussen and Tresser and T exan Hale, but Raymond pers evered and led them across th e fini sh lin e as th e checkered nag waved. Rasmu ssen to ok seco nd, Hale th ird and HRD H orsepower/Wood Racing, Carl T resser/ Sports Fuel/ Arai /Tsubaki Chain/Kendall/ABC Body Shop/Diess & Son Marathonbacked Tresser fourth, Asked wha t he thought when Ra smussen and Tresser go t by him momentarily on the white n ag lap, Ra ymond said , " I didn 't know what to do. I just told myself LO 'gas it.' I'm here so it mu st have work ed." • Results 25 -LAP NATIONA L; 1. Scan Parker (H-DI; 2. Ronn ie Jones (Han); 3 . Chris Carr (H- D); 4 . Rodney Farris (H·D); 5. Billy Herndon (Hanl; 6. Dan Ingram (Han); 7. Terry Poovey (Hon ~ 8. Doug Chandle r (H· 01; 9. Jay Springsteen (Honl; 10. Tim Menens (Honl; 11 . Steve Morehead (Han); 12 . Kev in Athenon (H-D); 13. Don Estep (Han); 14 . Randy Texter (H-D); 15 . Ricky Graham (Han); 16. W ill Dayis (H-D); 17. Tammy Kirk (H-D). TIME: 15 min.. 03 .47B mph . AVERAGE SPEED: 99 .6 15 mph. AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Scan Parker (1341; 2. Chris Corr (120); 3. (TIE) Doug Chandler / Steye Morehead (80); 5. Dan Ingram (77); 6. Terry Pooyey (681; 7. Ronnie Jones (60); 8. Will Dayis (581; 9. Rodney Farris (55); 10. Ricky Graham (35 1 11. Steye Aseltine (30); 12. (TIEl ; George Roeder/Jay Springsteen (29); 14 . Kevin Atherton (24); 15 . Bi ll Herndon (19); 16 . Tim Mertens (18); 17 . Scan Pearson (16); 18 . Don Estep (14) ; 19 . Jon Cornwell (12) ; 20 . (TIE) Brian Bonesteel /Steye Eklund (8). JUNIOR NATIONA L: 1. steve Raymond (H·D); 2. steve Rasmuss en (H·D); 3. Mik e Hale (W -R); 4 . Andy Tresser (W·R); 5. Lorry poegram (W-R); 6 . Audi a Huff Jr . (W-R); 7. Kr is Kiser (H-DI; B. Jam ie Grylick i(W·R); 9. M ike Eadie (W-RI; 10 . Dayid U oyd (W-R); 1' . AI Eadie (H-D); 12. James Hart (W ·R). JUN IOR NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Mi ke Hale (99); 2. Aud ie Huff (96); 3. Lorry Pegram (94 ); 4. Kris Kiser (92); 5. Andy Tressor (Bl); 6. Steve Raymon d (58 ); 7. M ike Eadie (50 ); 8 . s t eve Rasmusse n (37); 9. Jason Fletche r (33); 10 . Danny Stanley (22).

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