Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Before his semi. Jay Springsteen had problems when his throttle stuck w ide-ope n. Springsteen . however. made the semi and finished second. Scott Parker's mechan ic. Bill Werner. congratulates him after topping the final in front of the crowd of 7500 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. " We took a ga mble," Morehea d said , wi thou t disclosing any informa tio n. " And it was eithe r go ing to work or it was n 't , It 's always ni ce to win 10 gra nd in the Cha llenge, but th e mai n 's mo re im po rtan t. Befo re th e Cha llenge I tho ught I was goi ng to be able to ride the cushio n , but th e tra ck kept cha nging. I needed to use the bottom because Carr is like a rabbit and he get s out on th e botto m a nd ru ns the last la p as hard as th e first." T he final lap saw Cha ndl er edge alongside of Carr a nd Poovey for the num ber two slo t in three-abreast rac ing. At the finis h Pa rker cap tured a runaway wi n in a time of three min ut es, 4.977 seco nds, finis hi ng a hea d of Chandler , Carr, Poo vey an d Ingram. ' . " It 's tak en me a long time, " sa id Pa rker. " Bu t I fin a lly go t it all toget her for the Cha llenge. Let's hope I ca n do it aga in in the main ." Scott Parker (center) celebrates his first 1989 Camel Challenge win with Chandler (right ) and Carr (left) . The win was worth $10,000 to Parker . , 12 H ebb was righ t on their heels in th ird. a head of Maitl and a nd Roeder. T he seco nd a nd fina l sem i saw Gra ha m co me off th e front ro w to lead jones, Steve Aseltine, Will Davis and Do n Estep. j on es pu sh ed his way in to the lead on the o pen ing lap as Aseltine hel ped shove G raha m back to third. The to p five pos itions stay ed th e sa me throug hou t most of th e race until Graha m turned up the throttle a nd beca me a factor for seco nd. Nea r th e half way poi n t Aselti ne mi ssed a sh ift a nd fell back to sixth as Da vis cha rged to thi rd. The last few la ps saw Da vis pressure Gra ham a nd j on es. a nd he sho t by Graham o n lap seven. From there, j ones a nd Davi s pulled awa y wi th Davis falli ng a little sho rt in hi s a ttempts a t jones. Gra ham , head ed for the Last Chance Qualifi er, finish ed third with Estep a nd Aselt in e fourth a nd fifth , resp ectively. Last C hance Q ua lifier Gra ha m lined up on the o utside in th is do-or-d ie, o n ly-o ne- ride rgoes-to-the-Na tio na l race. T he Muzzy's Ra cing / Arai/M atr 's Muffl er sbacked Honda rider shot to th e early lead wit h Estep han ging o n his rear fender. Aseltine' was th ird a head of Roeder and H ebb . ,Estep man aged to stay wi th in a heartbea t of Graham a nd if the for mer Grand Natio na l Cha mp ion were to mak e a mista ke, Estep wo uld be there to cap italize. Estep chased Graham th e enti re way as Aseltine slow ly cho pped down th eir lead. As the race wound down, Aselti ne's presence crea ted a 'threeway ba ttl e for the lead in wha t was one of th e most exciting races of th e ni gh t. T he last two la ps saw the trio batt le side-by-side with Estep enjoyin g th e lead for a sho rt time. H owever, whe n it count ed most, Gra ha m was there wit h th ewin a spl it second a h ead of Es tep a n d Ase lti n e to becom e th e last rider to make it LD the National. Roeder was fo urth in fro n t of Heb b. Camel Challenge The six fastest riders from time tria ls lined up o n one row for a fivela p dash th at wo uld split $ 17,500 a mo ng the g ro u p. Mor eh ead sa t o n th e o u ts ide w i t h P a rk e r , Carr, Chandler, Poovey. an d Ing ra m to hi s left. Moreh ead sho t o ut to th e im med iate lead with Par ker, Carr, Poovey, Cha nd ler a nd Ingra m close beh in d. Parker qui ckl y o pe ned u p a sma ll cush io n as Poovev fo und a line th at allo wed hi m [ 0 'd rive into seco nd a hea d of Moreh ead. inch es a head of Carr a nd Ch a nd ler. On the fourth lap Morehead pulled off the tra ck a nd head ed back to th e pits. National Parker 's cha nces of repeating h is Camel Cha lle nge victo ry in th e main look ed good as he lined up o n th e o utside of row o ne with Ch andl er, Carr, Mo rehead , Pea rso n a n d In g ra m ne x t to him. H o wev er , In gram go t th e early jump with Mor ehead, Mert ens, Ca rr, Pearson a nd the rest of the crew hot o n hi s tai l. Parker suffered a poor sta rt, but was qui ckl y mak in g u p for lost tim e. As Mor eh ead o vertook In gra m , Pa rker moved in to sevent h behind teamma te Ather ton. Merten s soo n fell o ut of th e top five as d id Pea rson , allowi ng the trio of Ch andl er , Ath erton and Parker to ga in o n the top three. Morehead had hi s han ds fu ll a nd o n lap five had dropped to fo urth as Carr too k the lead over In gra m a nd Parker. ' Unfo rt una tely for Ca rr, Parker also ma naged to pass Ingra m down the back stre tch a nd began cha lle nging for the lead. Carr managed LO hold off th e defendi ng Grand Nat ional Champion for two laps until Parker found a ho le a nd shot past. La p nin e sa w the ac tion really pick u p as Far ris. in sixth, ta ngl ed wi th Poovey, send ing Fa rri s' bi ke cartwheel ing o n the track befor e bouncing over th e wa ll. " Me a nd Poovey bumped, " said a sore Farris , "And going tha t fast, we' re su pposed to be friends. I don 't think he d id it on purpose, bu t there's always tha t poss ibi lity." Back up front, Parker began to stretch hi s lead over Carr, Ch andler , Ingram and Moreh ead . Poovey was si x th, w i th Sp ri ngs tee n ; Da vis, Pearson a nd Ath ert on ro unding ou t th e top 10. Near the halfw ay po int, Ch andler began mak ing hi s bi d on Ca rr 's seco nd pl ace posi tio n. T he H onda rider seemed de termi ned to bett er his postio n , a nd wor ked his way arou nd Ca rr o n lap 13. , Back in th ird, In gram also began p icking up the pace a nd slo wly reeled in Carr. As the race started to wind do wn , Moreh ead joined in o n the ba ttle for third , with Ca rr enjoying the upper-hand the majority of the time. Ho wever, the last few laps saw Ingra m set a bli stering pace a nd push Carr harder a nd ' harder each lap . As Parker collec ted hi s second vic to r y o f th e night a hea d o f Chandler , In gram po wered pas t Carr down th e back straigh t and sto le th ird in the fin a l turn. " I th ought I had a handle o n In gram," said Carr. "A nd he d idn't draft me like I expec ted him to . I was able to make up a lilli e tim e o n him going into th e corn er, but it wasn 't eno ug h." Moreh ead fini sh ed fifth ahea d of Poovey, Sp ringsteen , Merten s, Davis a nd j on es. " I set a pace, and just kept go ing," sai d Parker. " I pi cked up th e pa ce the last few laps just for safety, and it worked o ut perfectl y." ''I'm happy wi th second,'.' said Chand ler. "T he bi ke ra n good a nd it 's o ne of th e better running H ondas. The H arley-Davidso ns keep on gell ing better each race, but we keep im p rovin g also." Cha nd ler will mi ss the nex t rou nd of the series, the Spri ngfi eld Mile, du e to his fac tory Ka wasa ki road race co m mi tments at H eartland Pa rk T opeka in Kansas. • Results 25·LAP NATIONAL: 1. Scott Parker (H-D); 2. Dou g Chandl er (Han); 3. Dan Ingr am (Han); 4. Chris Carr (H· D); 5. Steve Mo rehead (Han); 6, Terry Poovey (Han); 7. Jay Spri ngsteen (H· D); 8 . Tim Mert ens (Han); 9. Wi ll Davis (H· D); 10. Ronnie Jo nes (Han); 11. 8 ill Herndon (Han); 12. Scan Pearson (H· D); 13. Ricky Graham (Han); 14 . Kevin Atherton (H·D); 15. Tammy Kirk (H· D); 16. Rod Farr is (H-D); 17. Garth Brow (H· D). TIM E: 15 min .. 03.534 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 99.609 mph. A MA GRAND NAT IONAL CHA MPI ONSH IP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STAND INGS: 1. Scott Parke r (190); 2. Chris Carr (16 7); 3 . St eve Mor ehead (108); 4. Dan Ingram (106 ); 5. Doug Chandl er (96); 6. Terry Poovey (87); 7. Ronn ie Jones (80); 8 . Rodney Farris 1681; 9. Will Davis (64 ); 10 . Jay Springsteen (58); t t . Kevin Ath erton (42); 12. Ricky Graham (37); 13 . Steve A selt ine (34); , 4 . Tim Mertens (33); 15. George Roeder (29); 16. 8ill y Hernd on (27); 17. Steve Eklund (25); 18. Scott Pearson (19 ); 19. Don Estep (17); 20 . (TIE) J on Cornw ell/ Pete Hames (12); .

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