Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Will Davis (21) leads eventual winner Chris Carr (1), M ickey Fay (1 3 ) and runner-up Steve Aseltine (3 6 ). Th ird place f inisher Fay (second f ro m left), Carr and Aseltine celebrat e in t he w inner's circle; t he 600cc w in was Carr 's third of t he seaso n. AMA 600 National Championship Dirt Track Series: Round 5 Carr all the-way at Sturgis By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Tra k Fotos STURGIS. SD, AUG . II The H arl ey- Davidson -s ponsored 600cc Sh ort T rack National was the crown jewel of the 49th Annual Black Hills · Motor Classic. Fittingly, Harley factory rider and defending series champ Chris Carr wo n th e even t, reg istering a persona l firs t. " " T hat s m y rust short track Na tiona l win in eithe r 600 or Gra nd Nat io nal co m peti tion, " sa id the Californian. I've had several slip away - Santa Fe and here last year, then Da yto na th is year. It feels good to Ret the monkey off my back." Carr has won th ree of the five rounds held thus far in the series and now holds an II- po int lead over Steve Aselti ne , who fin ished second at Sturgis. Meanwhile, Clint ':ahsl~ohz of Colorado was t~e surp~t se wmner of tl~e A!'1A jun io r N~l1onal. Ch~mpions h ip race held 111 co njunction wit h the 600 Na tional. T he victory was Va hs ho ltz 's fi rs t in J unio r Nationa l competitio n, and it came at the expense of several riders in 'con ten tion to win th e series champions hip. Kris Kiser, Andy Tresser II I and Mike H ale finis hed second, thi rd and fourt h behind Vahs ho ltz. H ale holds a sli m two-poi nt lead over Kiser, 110 10 108, af ter nine of the II rounds . T he tight eighth -mile oval pres- en ted co mpe ti tors a slick groo ve. " T he track worked to my ad va ntage, " said H -D In c.!Arai lHap j o nes/ Yo ko/Tsu ba kiv' Alpine Stars / Su noco/ Wo rks Perform ance/White Bros-sponsored Ca rr. " I grew u p ridi ng trac ks wit h a slippery blue groove." The event drew 67 entrants for th e 600 National and 22 for th e Junior Nati onal. A P ro-Am su pport race dre w 33 rid ers. Don ahue H -D/ Delano Sport Cente r/B ell -spon sored P et er H ook logged the fastest lap in tim e trial s, at 13.49 seconds. Donahu e H -D teamma te Dave Durell e was a heartbeat back a t 13.50. Will Davis, Carr, Mickey Fay and Junior Mike Ead ie rou nded o u t th e Po le-sitter list for the six heat s. Hal e, who was no t en tered in th e 600 Nati onal, was th e fastest Junior a t 13.55 seconds. Steve Aselt ine passed T roy Norris on the last lap of th e first heat to lead those two into th e 600 Nat iona l final , Ran dy Roose led all th e way over runner- up Kris Kiser in hea t two , Will Davis and Tresser were 12 in the th ird go, Carr led Don Wilson acros s the line a nd into th e fin al in heat number four, veteran Mickey Fay won th e fifth hea t over Audie H uff, a nd Aaron H ill and Ch a rli e Orr finished 1-2 in the sixth heat. Durelle too k th e win a nd th e ad vance ment o ut of a restarted first semi with Mike Eadie doing th e sam e in th e second sem i whi ch recquired two restarts. The La st Chance Qualifier also requ ired a restart and sa w Da n McDonnell tak e the win to become th e fin al rid er to advance to the 600 Nat ional final. Carr roc keted off th e line a t the start of th e 25-lap final and was never headed. The acti on behind Carr saw Ca na dia n Aselti ne mov e into third o n lap four and th en move aro und Fay for second o n lap seven. " I got tied up behind Mick ey, got aggravated and just said, 'See ya! ' " said Aselti ne, From that point o n the top th ree spo ts were set; Carr first , Aseltine second and Fay th ird. But beh ind the fro nt three there was a battle for fourt h wi th Roose and Kiser goi ng a t it. Kiser dropped o ut of th e picture when he slipped off th e groove on lap 10, letting Davis a nd Hi ll by. Kiser's race th en ended o n lap I4 whe n he fell betw een turn s th ree and four. " Just too man y mistak es," sai d Kiser. " I go t do wn too low in th e loose stuff." Davis was cha rgi ng a nd passed Roo se to take over fo urt h o n lap 20 a nd afte r do ing so put pressure o n Fay. " I d idn 't kn ow who was beh ind me," sa id Roose, "but Will can ride su ch a tight lin e I co uId n 't hol d h im off. I'm happy. That was my goal, fift h p lace. T ha t's my best yet. I' ve never been 25 la ps before. You've got to rid e the Nati o na ls to be a National rider. " Carr closed out the race a comfortab le wi n ner a nd Aselti ne was also a solid second, whi le behind hi m Fay and tho se who followed h im across the finish line did so nose-to-ta il. " I was ab le to p ick throug h the gu ys (lapped riders ) cleanly," sai d Carr. " I kn ew the sta rt wo uld be critica l. If any body on th e front row had gotten off the lin e first besides me, th ey wo uld have been tough to beat. " " Ch ris was al ways in sight," said runner-up Aselt in e, "so I kn ew th ere was always a chance. I was ca tch ing him a little bit, but th ere wasn 't enough time." . " In a train like that you can' t go nowhere," said Davis, wh ose cha rge from seventh fell just inches short of thi rd. " Like indoor racing, firs t one I've ever been in where I wished th ere wa s 25 more la ps." H al e and Kiser were th e heat race wi n ne rs in the Juni o r National p ro g ra m, bu t i t was Data -Tel l Warden &: A ssoc. /Nob Hill Bod y Shop/George Va hsho ltz/S hoei sponsored Vahsholtz and h is WoodRo tax who came back from a sp ill in the 600 National to lead every lap of th e 10-lap Junior National final. " T ha t wa s the first Juni or National I ever led ," said Vahsholtz. " I was a little nervous, but th e o n ly wa y th ey were going to ge t me off th e groove was to just come in a nd kn ock me off." Second went to Kiser and Tresser, who had won three Junior Nationals this sum mer, finish ed third. Po int standi ngs leader H ale salvaged a fourt h place fin ish. "Short tra cki n 's not my cup of tea," said Hal e. " I'm p leased wit h the way it turned o u t. I' ll be there next week. We're goi ng to the big trac ks a nd that's what I like." T he . P ro-Am su pport race program 's four heat s were wo n by Evan Plymale, J.P. Simonse n, Vic McAn ally a nd Steve Hy son . H yson 's was the fastest. Simonsen jumped to the early lead in the fina l, bu t Erv in Pa ul/Hyson Fami ly Racing-backed H yson too k o ver the lead for go od on la p three. Si mo ns en fin ish ed second with McAnnally taki ng th ird. • Results 25·LAP 600 NATIONAL: 1. Chris Carr (H-D): 2. Steve As elt ine (H- O); 3. M ickey Fay (Hon); 4 . Will Davis (H-D); 5. Randy Roose (H-D); 6. Aa ron Hill (H-D); 7. Charlie Orr (Han); 8. Troy Norris (W- R); 9. Dan McDonn ell (H-D); 10 . Audie Huff Jr. (WR); 11. M ike Eadie (H-D); 12. Don W il son (W- Rt 13. An dy Tresser (W-R); 14 . Dave Durell e (W · R); , 5. Kri s Kiser (Hon). 10- LAP JU NIOR NATIONAL: 1. Cli nt Vahsh ollZ (W-R): 2. Kris Kiser (Han): 3. Andy Tresser III (WR); 4. Mike Hale (W-R); 5. Mike Eadie (W-R); 6. Randy 8ereman (H-D); 7. Steve Rasmu ssen (H· D); 8. Aud ie Huff Jr. (W-R); 9. Steve Raymond (H-D); 10. James Han (W-R); 11. Tim Spir es (Han); 12. Frank Kaiser (H-D). PRO-AM ; 1. Steve Hyson (Han); 2. J .P. Sim ons en (Hon); 3 : V ic McAnnall y (Hon); 4 . Sam lomant o (Han); 5. J oel Huskey (Han); 6. Tom Shivers (HD): 7. Tom Selby (Han); 8. Evan Plymale (Yam); 9. Ricky Anderson (H· D); 10. Terry Rymer (H-D); 11. M ike 81ythe (W-R); 12. Tony Rull i (H-D). 600 NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Chris Carr (76); 2. Steve Aselt in e (65); 3. Kris Kiser (39): 4. W ill Davis (381 5. Rodney Farr is (32): 6. Aaron ; Hill (29); 7. Erik Graybeal (26); 8. Tim M en ens (21 ); . 9. Terry Poovey (19 ); 10. A ndy Tresser III (18); 11. Dave Hebb (16); 12. M ickey Fay(1 31; 13 . m E)Ricky Graham /Dan McDonn ell (11); 15. m E) Ronni e Jon es/Dan Ingram/ Randy Roose (10); 18. (TIE) M arc Giff ord/Charl ie Orr (9 ); 20 . (TIE) M ar k Gr uber/Jay Springsteen (8). JU NIOR NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Mike Hale (110); 2. Kr is Kise r (108); 3. Aud ie Huff Jr. (103): 4. (TIE) Larry Pegram/Andy Tresser III (94); 6. Steven Raymo nd (64); 7. M ike Eadie (60); 8. Steve Rasmussen (45); 9. Jason Fletcher (33): 10. Clint VahshollZ (27); 11 . Danny St anl ey (22); 12. J ames Han (2 1): 13. Scott Mohan (20); 14 . m E) Jam ie Grylicki/ Rob Ma jeski (13); 16. A ndrew Segalin i (10); 17. mE) Randy 8ereman/ Kevin Br icker/David Lloyd (9); 20 . Five r iders tied w ith 8 points each.

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