Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

;... V ..0 .o .., u o Harley-Davidson f act o ry teammates Carr (cent er) and' Park er (right) celebrate t heir first and second -place f in ishes in the win ne r's circle . aside from Estep passing Aseltine the y finish ed in that order. " T he track 's ge tting slower, " sa id Ch andler after hi s heat race win, and he was ri ght - each heat was slo wer th an th e p reced i ng o ne. Bu t Ch andler did wh at he set o ut to do. " I' m o n the front row; tha t's all I wa nted," he said. Carr's first heat race-winni ng time of three m inutes, 42.977 seco nds wo uld sit him o n the pole for the . Natio na l, with the th ree ot her hea t race winners - Parker (3:45.271), Springsteen (3:45.378) and Chandler (3:46.305) - plus Davis and J ones roundin g o u t the fro n t row . Semis The first of two IO-Iap semi-fina ls that wou ld send the winner to th e Na ti onal sa w a fero cious battl e betw een Sco tt Pea rson, Moreh ead a nd Roed er, until Moreh ead went by Pearson o n th e front stra ig ht to take th e lead. H aving done th at , Mor ehead split, leaving Pearson a n d Roeder to fight .Ior second. Roed er bea t Pearson for th a t p osi ti on, followed by Tex ter, Harl ey-riding Californian Bobby McDow ell and Mik e Inderbi tzen , each of wh ich was sent to th e La st Chance Qual ifier. Sem i two was red-fl agged with Day lead in g Graham, as a result of Aseltin e fall ing in turn th ree. Aseltin e suffered torn cart ilage in his rib s duri ng the incid ent. Day took adva ntage of his lead posi tio n in th e single-fi le restart, a nd led the pack int o tu rn one. Grah a m o n the Muzzy's H onda chased Da y, passi ng h im on la p two before being repassed br iefly in turns three/fo ur on lap th ree. At th e end of five laps, Grah am too k th e w in a n d the transfer, despite twi sting hi s kn ee badl y en route. Day , Estep , Aaron Hill, SCa li Adams a nd Curt Rehmert went to the LCQ. Camel Challenge Desp ite the fact th at hi s titl e was on th e line, Parker didn 't intend to sandbag in th e Camel Challenge. " T ha t $100,000 Camel bonus (for winning the Championship) is the most important thing right now, but I'd like to win that $10,000 (the Camel Challenge purse) as well ," Parker said. The six fastest qualifiers - Carr, Parker, Ingram, Mert ens, Ch and ler a nd Springsteen - lined up for th e five-lap " dash for cash", and as the green light flashed, Springsteen got . a flier of a start. But like he did in hi s heat race, Springer ra n wid e a nd parked it , allo wing Parker to grab a lead th at he would never relinqu ish . Springe r bobbled again on lap two, getti ng completely sidewa ys a t the turn two exit a nd nearl y co llec ting the rid ers behind him as he sho t dow n a cross the track . Spri ngstee n's mis cu e le t Carr, Merten s and Chandler past. O nce in to second p lace, Carr would finish th ere, despite losing his steel shoe and having it dangle by th e strap. Merten s rode a more o r less comfortabl e ra ce to fi nis h thi rd, w hil e Cha nd ler a nd Springsteen waged war fo r fourth a nd fifth , almos t coming together o nce in turn two . At the wave of th e checkers it was th e H arley-Davidson factory freight train ru nn in g o ne-two , wi th Mertens third , Cha nd ler fourth , Sp ringsteen fifth and In gram last. For hi s efforts , Pa rker pocketed the $10,000 lion's share of the $ 17,500 Camel Cha lle nge pu rse. Last Chance Qua lifier Keith Day was th e one a nd o n ly ridertoadva nce from the 10-la p LCQ to th e Nati onal , but hi s promotion was a hard -fought o ne as he first had to di spose of Roeder a nd Pearson. Roeder look ed good all ni g h t, but ton ight he'd have to be content wi th seco nd pl ace in th e L CQ a nd the accompany ing 405 payout. Pear son look ed ragged all ni ght and fini shed third. National Before th e race, Carr explained his " m ust-win" situation to keep his ti tle ho pes alive: " I' ve just got 10 wi n a nd hope Scotty doesn' t score hi gh, which is un li kely the way he's been rid ing." Ca rr d id exac tly wh at he had to do as he grabbed th e hol esh ot into turn one a nd wa s never head ed. Davis a nd J o nes ra n up front as well , but by th e end of lap one Pa rker was up to third. Davis got a better dri ve off of turn four to retak e third o n la p two, a nd it was a no ther lap before Parker cou ld again prove himself dominant. One lap la ter, Parker ran second, as J o nes struggled to make his Honda wor k in the groove. Chandler began hi s ra ce in fifth , and it wasn 't unti l lap six th at he was able to ge t under Davi s in turn _ two. Ch andler th en set hi s sig h ts on J ones, and o n lap seven went aro und th e o u tside of J ones in turns o ne/ two. By now , Carr had pulled ou t a hu ge lead, a nd Parker ran a n uncon- Steve Morehead (4 2 ), Jay Springsteen (9), Will Davis (2 1) and Dan In gram (31 ) battled during the 20-lap National f inal. stested second . Bu t whi le Carr's position would go unch all en ged , Pa rker wou ld first have to fight off Chandler 's adva nces . On lap 10, Parker's bike began ru n n ing o n o ne cylinder, allowing Ch andl er to close the gap a nd go by. "T he bi ke went on one cylinder," Parker said. " I ba nged on o ne side (of the engine) with one ha nd, hoped th e bike wo uld keep worki ng a nd it did." Pa rker sus pected th at a pi ece of dirt was momentarily ca ug ht in the mai njet. Chandler was a lso fig hti ng his eq u i p me n t: "The exhaus t h eat sh ield was falling off," Cha ndler said. " We put a hole in it at Indy when a bolt pulled ou t. We fixed it, bu t it came loose a nd bent back around m y leg. I had to beat it back." Ch andler held second until lap 15, wh en Park er bri efly went by a t th e ent ra nce to turn one. But Chandler got a beuer drive a nd retook second pl ace down the back ch ute. Parker passed Ch andler ag ain o n lap 17, bu t two laps later, Ch andler wen t undernea th into turn o ne. Ch an dler led across the stripe to begin the whi te flag lap, but Parker hoo ked up off turn two a nd drove by the Honda rid er on the backstraigh t. With Carr 's win a foregon e concI usi on, Pa rker crossed the finish line seco nd, a nd was no w less th a n a day awa y from cla iming his second co nsecu tive Grand Nati onal Ch am pi onsh ip . Davis took a well -earned fourth p lace, while Morehead posted a n impressiv e co me -fro m- be h in d fifth-pl ace finish. " No t bad cons ideri ng I was last a t th e sta rt," sai d Moreh ead , who also had tro ubl e ma king hi s Ho nd a handle o n th e slic k track. " 1 go t it to whe re it was running good u p in the cush ion. I cou ldn't run in th e groove ." J ones wor ked hi s way backw ards throug h th e field , sta rti ng in th ird but e n d ing up se ve n t h behind Eklund after racing with most everyone in the top 10. . " It was chattering bad when I was o n th e br ak es going in (to th e co rners)," said Jones, "and wh en I let th em (the brak es) off, I drifted hi gh. I cou ldn' t stay do wn where Chris was running. Wh en I ca me in, my a rms were pumped up." Beh ind J ones came Springsteen in eig hth pl ace, a di sappo intment after Scott Parker picked up $10,000 f or hi s Camel Cha lle nge w in . h is heat race wi n. Bu t he had a good reaso n: " O n the first lap, my (lefr) foot peg fol ded up . I had to ride th e whole race ho lding my leg u p ," he said , sho wing off the bru ises on his forearms from being pelted by roost. In gram a nd Farris rounded OU I th e top 10, followed by Poovey, Mert ens , Graham, Da y a nd Hames. Carr dedi ca ted the win to a fan. "Whe n I was wa lking the track, the re was a guy sta nd ing o uts ide of turn o ne that said, 'T here ain' t no wa y you 're go nna beat Sco tty tonigh t.' I think I proved th at guy wrong." Resu lts 20'LAP NAT' L; 1. Chri s Carr (H-D): 2. Scott Parker (H· 0); 3. Doug Chandl er (Han); 4. Will Davis (H· 0 ): 5. Steve Morehead (Han); 6. Steve Eklund (Hon); 7. Ronnie Jone s (Hon); B. Jay Springsteen (H·D) : 9. Dan Ingram (Han); 10. Rodney Farris (H0); 11. Terry Poovey (Han); 12. Tim Mertans (HD); 13. Ricky Graham (Han); 14. Keith Day (Han); 15. Pate Hames (H-DI. TIM E: 7 min .. 28 ,84 7 sec. GRANO NAT'L C'SHI P/CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Scott Parker (22 6); 2. Chr is Carr (198~ 3. Dan Ingr am (125);4. Steve Morehead (120 ); 5. Doug Chandler (109 ); 6. Terry Poovey (107); 7. Ronni e Jones (94); 8. Rodney Farris (80); 9. Wi ll Davis (781; 10. Jay Springsteen (73); 11. Ricky Graham (491 12. Kevin Atherton (47); 13 . ; Tim Mertens (36); 14 . (TIE) Stava Eklund /Steva Asaltina (34); 16. Georga Roadar (29); 17. Bill Harndon (27); 18. Scott Pearson (19); 19. Don Estep (17); 20 . (TIE)Jon Cornwell/Pata Hamas (12). 13

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