Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bubba Shobert made his first appearance at a National dirt track race since being injured at the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca last April. Winner 'Scott Parker (1) leads runner-up Terry Poovey and t hird place finisher Dan ,Ingram (3 1) across the Springfield finish line. Grand Na ti onal Ch ampi on Scott Parker grabbed t he $1 0 ,000 winner's share of the $ 17,500 Ca me l Challenge fo r the second week in a row. were joined o n the fron t row for the start of th e 25-la p Na tional by J ones, fn gram , Sp rings teen and Ath ert on. Carr, G raham , Kirk , Durell e, Rehrn ert a nd Farri s filled ro w two , with Estep , Merten s, Dav is, Mor ehead a nd Stu m p o n th e third row . In gram, J on es and Springsteen go t o ff th e lin e a nd into turn o ne th e fa st est a n d wh en th e R o ll in g Thunder Sh ow ca me across the lin e to com ple te th e first lap the order o f the front- runners read J ones, In gr am , Spri ngteen, Poovey, Ca rr and Farris. T he o rder remai ne d the same a t the end o f lap two for the first five slots, bu t Parker had cha rge d u p from a poor start to take over six th from Farris. La p three prod uc ed th e same run ni ng order, but much. to th e cro wd' s deli ght it was 32-year-old Springs teen first across th e line a t th e end of lap four. Jones was first o n laps five th rough seven, but In gram, wh o had slip ped off th e groove in turn three on th e previous lap, led th e field across on lap eig h t. The pace o f the front-runn ers had slowed Parker 's cha rge to th e front , but he had moved around Poovey o n lap six to tak e over fifth in the running order. Lap nin e saw Car r lead In gr am , J on es, Springteen, Parker, Poovey, Gra ha m and Farris across the lin e in o ne spec tac u la r b un ch ed-u p kn ot o f riders. The 10th lap saw those eig ht riders stay bunch ed up and cross the line in basi cally the same order, but a sp lit second later the move of th e race occurred as ' the pack fu nneled into turn one. Carr, Ingra m, Jones and ~ringsteen wedged into th e turn a nd it a p pea red as though Parker was blocked o u t a nd would have to foll ow th em through. But the cha m p sho wed everyo ne wh at he's made o f as he do ve to the in side, hugged th e rai l a nd led th em out o f turn two in a spec tacu la r m o ve th at left vetera n race watch ers wid e-eyed. " Whe n the five o f us got th ere (tu rn o ne) all together ," sa id Parker, who seemed surprised that everyo ne was so impressed with his move, " the on ly pl ace I had to go to stay with the m was down low in sid e a nd tha t's wha t I did." • No w Parker wasn 't chas ing th e lea ders, he was side- by-side wi th J ones, who led him and th e rest of the field across the lin e for two mor e laps. o n ly to g ive way to Parker o n lap 13. But just like th e first Springfield Mile o f th e year, th e race for the front spo ts co n tin ued to be a m ult i-rider o ne. Parker held th e lead a t th e line a t th e co ncl us io n o f laps 14 through 19, bu t J on es, Carr, Poovey, In gr a m, Sp rings teen a nd Merten s were a ll in the lea d dr aft o n lap 20 a nd it was Carr at the po int at the end of that la p. . Lap 21 saw Kirk slow a nd th en pu ll out of th e race; she had been running in th e 12th sp ot. " I think it was th e cra n k, " said th e Geor gia racer who moments lat er was su rrounded in con tro versy. J ones led the pack across th e line a t the end o f lap 21. bu t th e nex t lap saw the trio of Parker, .Poovey a nd Ingram a p pea r to hreak a way from th eir pursuers. But that did n't last long and as la p 23 ended Carr, J o nes and Spri ngsteen were right hack in the fro nt-ru n ners' draft. T he whi te flag waved a nd the cro wd rose to its feet as Parker led Poove y a nd In gram into turn o ne, again with a sma ll margin o ver the rest of th e contenders. T he front three riders staye d bunched together as th ey worked their wa y th rough turns three a nd four, but behind th em the field was scattered wh en Mert en s ap peared to enter turn three too hot. The veteran racer from Illinois went down , uninjured, but those who were a lo ngside of him or behind him had to ba ck o u t of th e throttle to avoid go ing down as well. Park er , un aw are o f w ha t was go ing o n behind him , led Poovey . and In gr am o u t of turn fou r a nd th e three riders hunch ed up in the a irbreak in g draft toge ther a nd stor med across th e line. Park er was o bvio us ly the first to cro ss the line, but o fficia ls had to resort to th e Cycle News Finish Li ne Camera to determine who was second. " I think I got it, " said Poovey. "I do n 't know," said Ingram. "We were a ll drafting and I just don't know." Poovey wa s right and he was awarded second. " I was running a new tire . When th ey got a way from me (a t th e beginning of the race), I said, ' Wha t the hell 's go ing on.' But around la p 10 I caug h t ba ck up with th em. I drafted o ff four th e best I cou ld but Scotty had me." " We're looking good," sa id Parker in winner 's circle, referring to hi s now seemi ngly co mmandi ng po int standi ngs lead. "T he re are fou r mor e to go (Syracuse, Ascot, Sacra me nto and San Jose) and we're going to gi ve it 100 percent. Bill (tu ner Werner) is definitely a plus, a nd, of course, . we'v e got Harley-Davison behind us, a s well as Bell , T subaki, ITT, H .O .G . - th e Harl ey Own er 's Group, a nd th e union - AIW of Ameri ca. " He th en let out o ne of hi s pat ented victor y screa ms, mu ch to th e cro wd 's deli ght. Werner increased hi s total o f Nat iona l victori es as a crew ch ief to 64, and the tuning wizard's sm ile, wh ile a lways bright after a win , was part icula rly big Su nday. Finish ing fourth was Ca rr , the o n ly front- ru n ner ' whose posit ion wasn ' t cha nged by Merten s' get-off on the last la p . T he biggest loser. o ther than Mert ens, of co u rse, in that in cident was Ro n n ie J ones who dropped from a strong fifth to ninth. " I was right up th ere a nd had a sho t a t fourth if not bett er," said J ones. who brought stra w back to his pit area aft er he had banged o ff th e hay hal es in turn three. G ra ha m and Durel le gained th e most from th e turn three scattering of the front -run ners. Graham had crossed th e lin e at the end of la p 24 in nin th place but fin ish ed fifth; Durell e was ru nning 10th a t the wh ite flag bu t ca me across th e fin ish lin e in six th. • Results 25-LA P NATIONAL: 1. Scott Parker (HoD); 2. Terry Poovey (Hon); 3 . Dan Ingram (Hon); 4 . Chr is Carr (H-D); 5. Ricky Graham (Han); 6. Dave Durell e (H-D); 7. J ay Spr ingsteen (H-D); 8. Rodney Farris (H-O); 9 . Ronnie Jones (Hon); 10 . Kevin Atherton (HoD); 11. Scott Stump (Han); 12. W ill Davis (H· D); 13. Steve Morehead (Han); 14 . Cun Rehmen (H-D); 15. Don Estep (Han); 16. Tim Menens (Han); 17. (Disquali fied) Tammy Kirk (H-D). TIME; 14 min .. 58.71 7 sec. AVERAGE SPEED, 100.142 mph. GRAND NATIONA L CHAMP IONSHIP/CAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS, 1. Scott Parker (2 10); 2. Chris Carr (17 8); 3. Dan Ingram (11 9); 4. Steve Morehead (110); 5. Terry Poovey (10 3); 6. Doug Chandler (96); 7. Ronnie J ones (86); 8. Rodney Farr is (75); 9. Will Davis (67); 10 . Ja y Sprin9steen (66); 11 . (TIE) Kevin Athenon / Ricky Graham (47); 13. Steve Aseltine (34); 14. Tim Menens (23); 15. George Roeder II (29); 16. 8ill Hernd on (27); 17. Steve Eklund (25); 18 . Scon Pearson (19); 19. Don Estep (17); 20 . (TIE) Jon Cornwell /Pete Hame s (12) .

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