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/127206
Less then four seconds separa ted the top 41 riders while Scott Pearso n was allowed in th e p rogram after bein g unab le to pos t a tim e. During Pea rso n 's first a ttempt, the H arleyDavidso n rider ran into mech anica l problems that qu ickly sent him back to the pi ts. H e was able to ma ke the necessa ry repa irs a nd go out with in the fina l five min utes of qualifyin g, o n ly to ru n o ut of gas on the back straight. Even though he was n 't able to get h is bi ke wor king correctly to p ut in a fu ll run, AMA officials allo wed the Ca li forn ian to compe te in th e program th a t ca lls for 48 riders. , Heats Second place finisher Doug Chandler (10) chases Indy winner and Grand National Champion Scott Park er . AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 12 Parker performs at Indy Mile By Ken Faught Photos by Bert Shepard INDI ANAP OLIS, IN, AUG. 26 " It sure feels g rea t," H arley-Davidson factory ri der Sco tt Parker said after making it a p erfect six-far-six season so far in Cam el Pro Series mile com peti tion wi th a win a t the Indiana State Fairgrounds. "Every time I win I can see tha t . 1 d . nt .e . a n the .$ 100,000 Ju st waning for me, and the two 10 sure look go od ." Par ker also won th e $ 17,500 Camel Challen ge at Ind y. Park er top ped the 25-lap, 17-rider Na tio nal leading runner-up Doug Chand ler ac ross the fi nish line. Pa rker's 16th ca reer mile victory ties him wi th R icky Gra ham for seco nd on th e all-ti me mil e win list beh ind Bubba Shobert's 25. Parker's wi n, hi s seventh Nationa l victory of th e seaso n, also moved h im into a tie for ' f!fth wit~ J oe I..:eOl~ard .on the allti me National W in list with 27. H onda -mounted Chand ler rode hard a ll nigh t, bu t had to seu le fo r second beh ind the Grand Nationa l Champion in both th e Camel Cha llen ge a nd th e Natio nal. Sponseller Racin g 's Dan Ing ra m edged o u t 'H a rley-Davidso n 's Chris Carr by inc hes for third in the Natio na l as Ingra m 's tea mma te Steve More head , ' the fastest qua lifi er, cru ised in for fifth. Parker's second co nsecu ti ve Indy win came in a time of 15 minutes, 3.534 seconds, far off hi s race record of 14 mi nutes, 41.947 seconds set in 1985. But nevertheless, he earn ed $5180 for h is efforts a nd increased his ser ies po ints lead over Carr to 23, 190167. Cha nd ler too k hom e $3440 of the $35,000 p urse with Ingra m and Carr pu lli ng do wn $2240 and $ 1535, resp ectiv ely. The Na tiona l, however, was o n ly th e end of a very lu crative evening of raci ng for Parker. The, Bell / T su bak i/ AIW of America /H -D O w n e rs Group / ITTbac ked H a rl ey-D a vi d son rider 's do mi nation in the five-lap Camel Challenge earn ed him a n additiona l $10,000, givi ng hi m over $ 15,000 on th e n igh t. Chandler earn ed 2500 of the $ 17,500 Camel prize money for seco nd, with Carr netting $2000 for third. TIme Trials Sponseller Racing/KKlJ o hn Dra goo / Be ll / I ndy Fue ls /F&S -spon sor ed Honda rid er Steve Mor eh ead started ti me tria ls off on the right foot, as he turned in a 36.480-second/ 98.684 mph lap to head the list of 41 q ual ifiers. Moreh ead 's time was mo re tha n a seco nd slower tha n Bubba Sho be r r's 35 .2 11-seco n d (102.241 mph ) lap reco rd set in 1985, but it was still good eno ug h to a llow him to take ho me the $ 100 bon us for fas t qualifier. Parker was seco nd q uickes t with a 26.8 10-second run , while Cha nd ler was th ird fas test wi th a 36.8 18-second a ttemp t. Terry Poovey (38.8 19 ), Carr (36.892) a nd Ingram (36.967) co m p leted the six fastest tim e trial riders and each earn ed a spot in the hig h-payin g Camel Cha llenge. With II ride rs lin ed u p for th e first IO-Iap heat race, Mo reh ead chose the outs ide po le posit ion wi th Kevin Atherton, Rod Farris, Dave H ebb and Randy Texter sitting to hi s left. The rest of the field occ upied the second row a nd would have to work hard to make th e top three whi ch would transfer them directly to th e Nati onal. Wh en th e green lig h t flash ed , Tex ter was th e one wi th the qu ickest reflexes and he led Morehead , Farris, Bill Herndo n a nd Athe rto n into turn one. Moreh ead a nd Farri s, however, im media tely jammed past the Pen n sylva n ia ride r d o wn th e ba ck stre tch, a nd promptly left h im in th ird. Fro m there, T ex ter dropped off the pace and soo n fell victim to both H erndon a nd Atherton. , Wh ile T exter conti n ued to fall bac k, two dis tinc t battles began to mat erial ize. Farris started challengin g Mo reh ead for th e lead with Athe rton pushi ng Herndon hard for the fina l tra nsfer spot. The lead pai r shuffled posi tio ns several times a nd opened up a small cushion on the rest of the pa ck. Ho wever, Ath erton cha nged all of that whe n he found th e way aro u nd H ern d o n and quickly reeled in the leaders. The last lap sa w Atherton cut down the 20 yards separating h im from th e leaders, and he mou nted a challenge co mi ng off tu rn fou r. Ath er to n found traction on the h ig h' line a nd managed to motor past Farris a nd edg e up a longside of Moreh ead. At the chec kered flag, Moreh ead co llect ed th e win in ch es ah ead of Atherton a nd Farris. H erndon took a close fourth with Texter a di stant fifth. Pa rker bega n th e second hea t by grabbi ng th e early lead ove r former three-tim e Gra nd Nat ional Ch amp ion J a y Sp r i ngs tee n, Cha nce Darl in g, Gart h Bro w and Pea rson. Sp ri nger m a n a ~ed to han g with Pa rker on the fir st lap, but by th e time Parker completed the seco nd go-arou nd he had nea rl y a o nesecond lead. Sp ri ngsteen o n the othe r hand wasn' t sol ucky a nd sudden ly had to co nt end with Darling, Bro w a nd Pearson. The four ri ders battled intensel y as Keith Da y also worked his way toward th e fro nt. On th e fo urth lap , Da y fou nd h is way into fourth beh ind Park er, Springsteen a nd Brow, and wo uld move into th e runner-u p slo t a la p la ter. Positions remain ed the sa me for the next few laps wh ile Pa rker extended h is lead to o ver two seco nds. As the riders ent ered the final la ps, Sp rings teen sto le second from Day wi th Doug Davis wor king into a real close fo urth. Davis was onthe ga s afte r su ffering a p oor start a n d crea ted a three-way ba ttl e for second. On the fin al lap th e battle hea ted up as the tr io headed into turn three side- by-si de. T he n a ll hell broke loose. Spri ngsteen, Dav is a nd Day con nec ted. sendi ng all th ree ri ders to the ground, a nd puttin g them o ut of th e race.