Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... v ..0 o .... u o Doug Chandler (10) and Scott Parker (1) waged a war for second place, with Parker getting the nod. fastest wi th a tim e of 22.188, but he was forced to rid e at the end of time trials aft er missing his scheduled earl y time du e to mechanical troubl e. Jones' Garvis Honda RS750 suffered a punctured oil su mp in practice, and J ones and crew lost time fitting a borrowed replacement unit. " I drew a n early number, but I had to go at th e end," J ones said. "T he track is gett ing slow er, so it probabl y hurt me." The track was the topic of much di scu ssion as it proved dri er than in past events, with a wid e, slick groove bord ered by a heavy cushion. Most disliked the cond itions, but Carr thought it was perfect. "T he track is excellent," Carr said . " It's th e smoothes t a nd fastest it's been in a long time." Ch andler th ought o the rwise: " I lik e it rougher th an this," he said. " A smoo th tra ck favors th e Harl eys. The H ondas have a peakier powerband that 's hard to get ho oked up, plus th e rul es make us ca rry -If extra pounds. " "It seem s th e last few years they ha ven ' t watered it (the track) as much ," offered Jones. Rounding out th e top- 10 qualifiers were Will Davi s, George Roeder and Steve Mor eh ead . Heats as he was able to make hi s Harley wo rk in the low line of th e groove while the o thers slipped a nd slid behi nd h im. Finishing seco nd was Carr's teamma te Sco tt Parker, him self a three-time Ascot winner, wh o claimed the runner-up slot for keep s on the fin al lap after a race-long battle wi th Honda-mounted Doug Chandler. North Caroli nian Will Davis o n a Harl ey and Steve Morehead on a Honda rounded o ut th e top-five finis he rs. Time Trials Chris Carr ran away from the f ield to w in the 31 st Annual Ascot HalfMile National. and collected $4855 of the $35,000 purse. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 14 . Carr fends off the inevitable at Ascot By Brian Catterson Photos by Mitch Friedman GARDENA, CA, SEPT. 30 H arl ey-Davidson .factory rider Chris Carr turned 20 picture-perfect laps' to run away with the 31st Annual Asco t H alf-Mile, and to keep h is title hopes alive, at least until 12 the foll owing afternoo n'? San Jose Mil e. \ The Manteca , California, rid er left the field in his wake The scene a t th e back pit ga te told the story. Carr step ped off hi s bike after q ualifyin g, exa m ined the lap tim e displayed o n h is tuner Kenny Tolbert 's wat ch , a nd hi s ear- to-ear smile sho wed clear th rough hi s Arai helmet. Parker pulled up a few seconds later, looked at his tuner Bill Wern er, and shook hi s hand as if to say "s o-so " . Werner offered en couragement with a loo k that said " good enough." Carr's smile was evidence of his co n fidence, and Roxy Ro ckwood co n fi r med Carr 's fee lings by an no uncing that he'd set a new onelap qualifying record of 21.175 seconds, besting the mark of 21.42 set by Ricky Graham in September ~ 1 %3 . . However, everyo ne, including Carr, thought o therwise. "T hat's not right," Carr said. " We had me at a 21.71; I think the timer messed up. " " 1£ anyo ne co uld break th e record, I'd have to beli eve Chris co uld," said Graham . evertheless, Carr's tim e would sta nd as a n officia l record. Despite hi s a ppa rent di ssatisfaction, Parker qualified seco nd fastest of the 40 rid ers with a time of 21.895. Parker had a lready survived at least one near -fall in practice. "I was talking to the bike, saying, 'C' mon back to me baby, just c'mon back,''' Parker said of the turns one/two incident . Third quickest, and th e fir st of 25 riders in the 22-second bra cket was Sponseller Racing Honda-mounted Dan Ingram with a time of 22.099. Fo urt h was Tim Mert en s with a 22. 119, fifth was Chandler with a 22. 148, a nd J a y Springsteen took the fin al start ing positi on in the Camel Ch all enge wi th hi s six th -fas tes t clocking of 22. 149. Ronnie J ones qualified seventh The fir st of four 10-lap heat races th at would advance the top-three finish er s in each directly to th e National fin al was a Carr benefit, as he led from turn two to th e chec kered flag. Da vis ra n second the wh ole way, w hi le beh ind him Po o vey a n d Roeder scra p ped for th ird, with Poov ey lakin g the fin al tr an sfer pos it io n. Roeder , fifth -p lace fini sh er Sco tt Pearson a nd the rest of th e nine riders were sent to the sem i. Pete H am es, from not -too-distant Palmdal e, California, jumped th e start of heat two and would hav e to begin from th e third row . Wh en the light d id go green, Jones led Scott Stu mp o n th e Stu m p & Patrick Racing Harley, with Parker hot on th eir heels. Parker wasted no tim e in establishing himself in hi s customary fran t-ru n ni ng position , doing so with an outside pass , as Morehead made a similar pass on Stump. But Morehead's race ended prematurely as his bike started sputtering, and on lap three he retired to th e pits. Hames cu t a swath through the pack in front of him, and with Morehead gone, advanced to th e third position where he battled with Randy T exter. H ames got co m pletely out of shape co ming off the last corne r, but was abl e to save it a nd his third-place fini sh . Harleymounted Ro nald Yamamoto took fifth . H eat three was th e most popular race of th e night as crowd favorite Ja y Springsteen on th e Bartel 's H arl ey cross ed th e finish line firs t. Springer led the pack into turn o ne, but bobbled , a llowing Ingram to sn eak underneath. But Springsteen retaliated on lap four, retaking th e lead with a pa ss betw een turns one and two. Ingram exa m ined Springsteen 's rear tire for the remainder, but couldn't get by the three-time Grand National Champion. As Springsteen cross ed th e fini sh line, the 8400stro ng cro wd let up a yell in unison. Ingram took second, wit h Eklund third follow ed by Harley factory rid er Kevin Ath ert on and Hondariding Keith Day. Heat fou r was a Doug Chandler benefit a s h e led wire-to-wire. Mertens pursued Chandl er, but could only wat ch th e Salinas, California , rid er pull further away. Farris led a tight pa ck including Graham, Steve Aseltine a nd Don Estep, and

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