Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

O'l 00 O'l ........ Tammy Kirk (5 CI and Steve Morehead put on a dazzling show in t heir heat race. Kirk led starting the last lap but Morehead came up th e w inner. J ones, w ho h a d q ualif ied 15t h fastest , was first off the start ing line in hea t race num ber two a nd first acro ss the finis h lin e 10 la ps la ter. T he open ing lap saw Todd Ratli ff go down in turn two, but he was quick ly up on his feet, ou t for th e day . " I broke th e front a xle," said Ra tliff. While J ones ra n up front , Carr qui ck ly es ta b l is hed him self in seco nd ah ead of first Springsteen and then Poo vey, who dropped Spri ngsteen to fou rt h on th e fourth lap. Carr closed on J ones and passed him co m ing o ut of turn two on th e sixth lap and they crossed th e sta rt/fin ish line side-by-side on laps six a nd seven. The ou tcome of the race quickl y changed, as far as Carr was concerned , a t the sta rt of lap eig h t wh en his swin g-arm brok e in to two pi eces on the left-ha nd side . " It broke going into turn o ne. The rear wh eel started hopping, pl us the brake lines got ripped and I didn 't ha ve an y brakes," said Carr. H ow d id he save it? "I was lucky to sta y on the bike. Beli eve me, I had to work.But I have experience; I brok e a swi ngarm at Sacramento last year." r • Carr circu la ted around the track slowly as J ones fini sh ed a comfortabl e di stance ahead of ru nne r-up Poovey. a n d thi rd p la ce finis her Springsteen. Parker gave everyo ne a preview of wh at was to come in th e fin al as he ro mped home th e winner in th e third hea t, finishing eig ht seconds in fro nt of H onda-mounted Eklu nd. Wh ile Parker appeared to be on a Sunda y cruise - he was five seconds in fro nt at the halfway flags, th e first half of th e race prod uced a heated dice for second involving R odney Fa rris, Geor ge Roeder and Eklund. Ekl und broke clear of the fight o n th e fifth lap and Farr is ended up th ird, a slim distance in front of Roeder. Parker earned th e pol e for th e fin al as th e time for hi s heat was th e quickest of the da y a t 6 minutes, 53.027 seconds. The fourth hea t was red flagged after o ne lap and th e restart saw Tim Mertens and Bill y H erndon sitting on th e pen a lty line, aft er it was deemed they had jumped th e starting light. Charlie Orr, wh o was being called Do n Ca stro by a n nouncer Bruce Fla nd ers to aid film makers who were on hand to 'cap ture footage for a movi e th ey'r e making on former racer Castro, pulled th e holeshot o n the restart but h e was qu ickl y gobbled up by Morehead, Kirk and . Mertens, the latter having pulled off a tremendous start fro m th e thi rd row . It a ppea red as though Moreh ead wo uld ro mp hom e the wi n ner but Kirk, the lad y racer from Georgia, nipped away at Morehead's lead a nd go t into hi s draft on lap six. T he followi ng lap saw Kirk draft by Morehead at th e start/fin ish line a nd take the lead going into turn o ne. With the cro wd o n its feet, chee ring her o n, Kirk ope ned up a ga p o n Morehead on lap nine. On the fin al lap, Kirk led Morehead into turn one, but it was th e Ohio Hond a rid er leading the Geor gi a H arley rider out of turn two and the rest of the way to th e chec kered flag. ' . " H e got me in turn two ," sa id. Ki r k , w h o ea rl ie r this yea r annou nced she would hang up her steel sh oe at the end of this season. "There's a hol e in two a nd I th ought he'd go in too hard a nd hit it , but then I did . Lstarted getting a little tired and just bobb led," said Kirk . Fo llowing Morehead and Kir k across th e line in thi rd was Hondamounted Merten s wh o had a lonel y race, ru nni ng a comfortable distance a head of H erndon. Se mis Carr's Kenny Tolber t-hea ded crew had spe n t every minu te since th eir ri der's heat race m isfortune, working on th e bike. At fir st they th ough t they co uld use the swi ngarm off Carr's spa re bike, but that cou ldn' t be do ne. "The fra me I'm using is a new Kn ig ht frame a nd the spare is an o ld Lawwill frame and we can 't swi tch the swi ngarrns,' said Carr. Former racer J. R. Rawl s went to work welding the swi ngarm back together a nd was able to co mplete th e job only beca use of a len gth y delay in th e program caused by a ca ll for water to be app lied to the tra ck. The delay and putting Ca rr o n th e two-m inute clock whe n th e fir st semi was gridded, angered several tea ms. "They gridded th e heat a nd ga ve th em a fast lap a nd th en they put him o n th e clock. He sho u ld have gone on th e clock when they fir st gridded ,' said one crew chi ef wh o begged for anonymity. "T hey do things like that for th e facto ry r iders, but you know what would happen to one of us (p riva teers) if we were in hi s shoes." Whatever th e feeling of so me of hi s fell ow compe titors, th e crowd wanted to see Carr run. As th e clock wound down and th e Cal iforn ia rider stood waiting a t the starting line for his bike to go through a quick check by tech inspector BUll Three-time Grand Nati onal Champ ion Jay Sp ringsteen. w ho won the Alb uquerque M ile in 1976. fin ished fourth on his factory Harley. ' Meiferdt , a fan yelled, " We want to see him race!" The fan go t hi s wis h as Carr took h is sp ot on the gr id and the green ligh t flashed to send the field on its way in the IO-Iap ra ce that would adva nce th e top two fini shers to th e fin al. Carr put the swingarm to th e ultimate test as he blasted into turn o ne ahead of th e field , wh ere he . would sta y up to th e chec kered flag. Veteran Pea rson put a lock on second ' o n the openi n g la p and tr a il ed winner Carr across the finish lin e by nine full seconds. After the race Carr di vulged that h is h ig h wid e and handsome dirt squirti ng in th e turns was partially due' to the fact th a t he ran the semi without a workable rear bra ke. " We ra n ou t of time, we'll hav e it fixed in time for th e Camel Challenge," said Carr. T he second se m i belo nged to Texa n Billy H ern do n wh o got by first la p leader Keith Day on th e second go around. Hud Racing's H erndon opened up a com forta ble gap over Day, who held off Roeder to tak e second a nd advanc e to the Nationa l. Came l Cha llenge " It 's like go ing into th e rin g with Mike T yson," said Moreh ead when as ked wha t it was like to ru n a fivela p race that paid $ 10,000 to win. " T yso n lo st !" sa i d Morehead when the checkere d flag waved first for him a t the end of the race. " I chased the ra ce tra ck, usin g the mo isture," said Morehea d in describing his commanding rid e u p in th e loose di rt a t th e top of th e track in th e turns. " The cus h io n is rea l deep . I knew I had to pull th e pin on the gre nade and let her go ." Parker , who finish ed an off-thepace second to Moreh ead, sai d, " H e rea lly hauled the mail. H e went ri gh t up to th e ba les a t th e sta rt and wh en I saw th at I did too, bu t he was go ne." Parker earn ed $2500 for finis hi ng seco nd. T h ird p lace fin ish er Ather ton, who like all six riders rode alo ne after the opening la p sorti ng ou t in th e 3 min ut e, 28.154 second .race, said, " I tri ed to follow Steve a nd SCOll u p th ere, bu t came up sho rt." Third was worth $2000 to Atherton . Carr fini sh ed fo u rt h , ea rni ng $1500, Kir k got fifth a nd $ 1000, and Ekl und was sixth which ea rn ed him $500. Last Chance Qua lifier Onl y th e winner of th e IO-lap La st Ch an ce Qualifier stays in the program a nd in " T he Enchanted Mile" that was two-tim e Grand Nati onal Ch ampion Ri cky Graham. The race up front was a three-ri der affair involving Graham, Roeder a nd Ted Taylor. Roeder led the first lap, Taylor th e second, Roeder the thi rd and fourth, Graham the fifth , Taylor the sixth and Graham the fin al four. The ' tri o ra ced h andl ebar-tohandlebar in th e turns and down th e straigh ts bu t became a du o when Roeder dropped o ut on lap eig h t. " I threw a cha in," said Roeder. Graha m led Taylor off of turn four headed for the chec kered flag and a dra ft pass attempt by T aylor carne up inches short. Nat ional Pa rker lined up on th e o u tside pole pos iti on for the 25-lap National with Atherton, J ones, Moreh ead, In gram and Eklund co mpleting the front row. Poo vey, Kirk , Fa rr is, Darlin g, Sp ringsteen a nd Merten s occu pied row IW O , and Ca rr, Herndon, Day and Pearso n sa I o n row three. . Ingram was first off th e line a t the start bu t Parker drafted by him a nd too k over th e lead for good going into turn three on the openi ng lap. Within a couple of la ps it became a p parent that only a mechanica l probl em or rid er error wo uld prevent th e cha m p from running a way with . th e race as lap after lap he ex tended his lead. At the end of th e thi rd lap, he had a three-second lead over Moreh ead, who appeared to have a lock on second, a nd Pa rker wo u ld more tha n double tha t margin by the fin ish of the race. On his way to his 26th Nationa l victory, Pa rker rod e the cus hion , sq ui rting rooster tai ls of d irt much to th e delight of the crowd. " Steve sp lit from us in the Camel Cha llenge by riding up' high a nd after I sa w him do that I said to myself, 'Hey, th a t's what I'm go ing to do,' " said Parker. As Parker ra n alone o ut fro nt, Moreh ead ran by h imself in second throughout the ear ly part of the race. Carr, charging u p fro m h is back row starting spot, took over third from Ingram o n lap three. In gra m immedi at ely felt pressure from Merte ns, but other than th eir di ce the race ap peared to ha ve settled down in to a foll ow th e lead er affair. Lap seven saw Scott Pearson drop o ut of th e race. " My front wheel started hopping. It go t worse so I pulled in. The rim was packed with dirt and for whatever reason th e front (Continued to page 51) 13

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