Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Steve Aseltine (36) protested Tammy Kirk (5CI after she edged him out of third place in the ir heat race. Kirk was later disqualified: head wh en I star ted to fire it up, " said Scott. " We didn't have the time or the right tools to put her back together right." Heats The highlight of the opening ceremonies, which were conducted before the first of four 1O-lapcheat races , came when announcer Dave Despain brought Bubba Shobert forward in front of th e grandstands. Shobert, winner of four Springfield races, acknowledged the sta nding ovation he received from th e cro wd: " It's great to come back her e. " Shobert , wh o is still recuperating from serio us head injuries su ffered at th e U.S. Grand Prix a t Laguna Seca last April, sai d, " I' ll be back racing next year. I've 'r idde n a minibike a nd J et Ski and my throttl e hand only knows off and on. But everyth ing is coming a ro und a bit at a tim e." Wh en th e green light flashed to start the first heat, Rodney Farris, .aboard the Ed Adkins-tuned XR7 50, pulled the holeshot and led th e field into turn one, out of turn two, a nd down the long backstraight. Poovey took the lead away going into turn three and held it o ut of four only to see Farris draft by a t th e start! finish line. That lap was repeat ed with other racers filling th e lead rol e over the first few laps. It was Graham at th e poin t at th e end of lap two, Mor eh ead in front a t the conclusio n of lap three, Graham o n lap four and Mertens o ut front o n lap five. After th e halfway flags, the battle continued with Graham, Moreh ead, Mertens , Farris a nd Poovey swapping positi ons all around th e trac k. But wh en the white flag ca me out to signa l the beginning of th e fin al lap, it appeared as th ough Poovey had held back throughout the race as he led across the li ne a nd over the next mile established him self as th e front-runner, fin ishing th e race a couple of bike len gths ahead of , Graham and Farris, who were trail ed by se mi- ho u n d Morehead a n d Merten s. Three-time Grand Nai onal Champion J ay Sp ringsteen pulled th e ho leshot on his Bartels' H -D XR750 at th e start of th e second heat, but it was defending cham p Parker wh o led the field out of turn four a nd to th e line to com p lete lap o ne. Parker never looked hack a nd pulled away fro m hi s pursuers o n lap three, event ually winnin g the race with nearl y th ree seconds in hand over runn er-up Springsteen , wh o like Park er rode mo st of th e r ace unchallenged. Parker 's sixth lap was tu rn ed in 35.080 seconds, perhaps the fastest lap of the da y, and the heat would turn o u t to be th e fastest of the four which would gi ve Parker th e pole for th e National. Behind Parker a nd Springsteen came Kirk aft er a race-long dice with Aseltine. Following th e heat race, Aselt ine filed his protest with referee Olliges. ''I' m prot esting her o n bore an d stro ke (and fuel)," said Aseltine. "I'll give you something to write abo u t," said a smiling Kirk , ''I' m go ing to protest the gu y wh o fini sh es in front of me in th e National. " As reported above, that didn 't happen . H eat number three produced a two-man fi ght between R onni e J ones a nd Ca rr. Honda-m ounted J ones and factory H arley rider Carr swapped th e lead position ba ck and forth but it was J ones in front at th e line most oft en and at the end of th e lap that co u n ts, th e fina l one. Finishin g third behind G arvis H onda/Missle Engineering/M otorcycle StuffiSh oei /Castrol / AXOba ck ed Jon es a n d Carr's Kenn y T olbert-tuned XR7 50 wa s 23-yea rold Curt Rehrnert of Union City, Ohio. Rehrnert was all sm iles over h a vin g qu alified for hi s fi rs t National fin al. . " I' ve never had much lu ck o n mil es," sa id Rehmert, " I held my line behind Ronnie a nd Chris, but in th e corners I g uess I j ust ch ickened o u t." Reh ern rt , who was aboard th e Union Cit y Cycles/F&S H -D/KK/ Gower & Sons/ C reative L a won Care/Fri ends -sp on sored H arl ey, ad ded, "Th is is a dream come tru e. Wh en I started racing thi s (ma ki ng a Na tio nal fin al ) was my goal a nd now I' ve done it. Now I'll have to set a new goal. " A ragged start got the fin al heat race off a nd it was Will Davis taking adva n tage of th e situa tion as he led th e field aro und o n th e opening lap. But Ath erton came chargi ng ,o u t of turn four o n th e second lap, ca ugh t Davi s's draft a nd then had to swerve to a void tail endin g him as he went around him as they crossed the line. T wo laps la ter , with Ath ert on holding the lead, In gram and hi s Spo nselle r Racing H on da dro pped Davis back to th ird and on lap six he moved by Atherton to take over th e lead for good. La p seven saw Dur ell e tak e over third from Davis Camel Challenge action at Springfield was as heated as ever. Here w inner Scott Parker (1 I leads Davey Durelle. Terry Poovey (181 and the others. a nd as the laps wo und down th e to p th ree riders - In gra m, Athe rto n a nd Durelle - held th eir spo ts a nd fini sh ed with a sma ll gap separa ting each of th em . Durell e was quick to give thanks to the bike's owner: " J o hn Eri ckson built it a nd gav e it to me to ride. I've been riding a 600 all year," sai d the Donahue H-D / Al Muth H-D/ Gen eral En g in eer in g v'Tsubaki .' Max irna/Shoe i-sp onsored rid er from Minneapolis. Semis U n l i ke th e h eat races th at adva nced th e top three finishers to t~ e fin al, each of the two 1O-lap sem ifin a l races wo u ld advance on lv th e top two a nd th e first go saw ' four rid ers try to grab one of th e two spots. Honda-mounted Merten s pulled th e holesh ot and led th e field a ro und for the fir st four la ps, pressured all th e way by th e lik es of Scott Pearson, wh o wa s riding Bill y H erndon 's spare Hud Ra cing H onda - H erndon was sidelined when hi s number o ne bike blew up in practice, Bro w, Aseltine and Moreh ead . L a p five saw Morehead a nd Mert en s cross the line side-by-side with Aselt ine and Bro w right with them. T hree laps later it was Merten s a nd Aseltin e in the advancement spots with Mo reh ead a nd Bro w breath in g down their bac ks. T hat was th e ru nn in g o rder at the end of th e ninth lap, but th e fina l lap sa w Merten s co me across th e lin e first , holding off a draft pass a tte mp t by runner-u p Moreh ead. Aselti ne a nd Brow now faced the Last Chance Qualifier, as did Pear son who had fad ed to sixth behind fifth p lace Scott Stu mp. T he second sem i's first five la ps saw Davis, George Roeder, Donn ie Estep, Da y a nd Penn Sta te gra dua te Sco tt Sa unders hook up in a heat ed battle. Davis led laps o ne and two, Estep was in fro nt on la ps three and fo ur, Day held the po int a t the end of lap five, and Estep took back over on lap six. The order a t the end of lap eigh t read Estep, Davis, Roeder, Day and Saunders, but the next la p saw Roeder suddenly slow with mecha n- ica l problem s and hi s slowing sc attered Day a nd Sa unders, who the n lost touch with Estep a nd Davi s, wh o fin ish ed th e race wi th the transfer spo ts. Camel Challenge Prior to the start of th e five-lap Camel Challen ge, Parker sa id, " I've been ca ug h t sleeping on th e start of a bunch of th ese, bu t I'm not go ing to be sleep ing tod a y." And he wasn 't. At th e flash of th e green light Parker was off the line qui ckl y, but not as quick ly as Durelle wh o led th e field thro ugh turns one a nd two and down the backstraight. But after th e shuffling th rou gh .turns three and four a nd th e draft down to th e line, it was Parker in front a nd o the r .t ha n a stron g second lap by Poovey that saw him brieflv take th e lead, th e rest of th e race was all Parker's. The chec kered flag wav ed for Parker a nd fini shing second, severa l bike lengths back, was Poovey. Carr nipped teammate Ath ert on a t th e line to tak e th ird. A di stan ce behind th em ca me Du relle in fifth a nd Day, a bo a rd th e J ohnn y Goa d-t u ned XR7 50, in sixth. Runn er-u p Poo vey sa id, " He (Pa rker) d ives in to the corners, gasses it wide open a nd sti ll holds it o n th e" lin e. I don 't kn o w ho w he does it, but that's why he's the champ. " Parker, whe n aske d if he' d di vu lge hi s cornering secret , said, "Nope, I'm not telling them. Ser ious ly. I jus t di ve in there a nd hol d her wide open - that's all there is to it." Last Chance Qualifier Onl y the w i n ne r o f th e L a st Cha nce Quali fier would adva nce to the fina l and there were a t least seven rid ers who had a sho t at that spot during th e 10-lap race . Scott Stum p led the first five laps, Da y had the point o n la p five, but Stump took back over o n lap six a nd sta yed th ere despi te pressure from Aseltine , wh o fin ish ed seco nd, Da y, Pear son, Brow , Saunders a nd Dave Hebb, National Pol e-sitter Parker chose the second slot in from the grandstand wa ll from which to start, Poovey opted for the slot against the wall, and they 7

• Cover