Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

,....., ,....., l-< V ..0 o ..... u o Parker 's win at San Jose was his nin th of the year and that moves him into a tie w ith Bubba Shobert for most National wins in a season . Time Trials Scott Parker took tuner Bill We rner and his second Number One plate for a ride around the Sa n Jose M ile ova l on a victory lap . AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 15 Race, title to Parker at San Jose By Jack Mangus Photos by Mitch Friedman SAN JOSE, CA, ocr. I " I said 1 was gonna let th in gs roll and that's what 1 did," said Scott Parker after he scored a ru n away victory at th e San Jose Mile to win his second straigh t Camel Pro Series title. T eam H arley-Davidson 's Parker led every lap of th e 25la p National, winni ng by a margi n of 6.6 seco n ds. " It 10 . mad e for a borin g race for th e fa ns, but for m e it was great." Park er came to Sa n J ose, th e n.ext to la~t '?lce o f th e seaso n, know ~ng that If h is on ly ch~ lIenger to the title - teamma te Ch rIS Ca rr - won , he ld ' 11 r h h . I . h hi d co u S~I. C me t e tit.e ":It a t IT p l.ace. [inish, Bu t he d idn t wa nt to ~m It th~t way an~ he wasted no urne setti ng fast ti me a nd the n . . 1 wmn mg hiIS h eat, rne fastest 0 f t h e day, setti ng the stage for h is romp home in th e fina l wh ich netted h im the win ner's share o f the $33,000 purse, $4420, and th e $ 100,000 cha mpion's sha re o f th e $200,000 Ca mel Pro Series point fund. T h ree- ti me G rand . Na tio na l Champion J a y Sp rings tee n , w ho h olds th e reco rd o f th e b ig gest wi n n ing margin a t Sa n J ose - 8.2 seco n ds - took over seco nd pl ace on th e II th lap a nd ro de unch all en ged in th at spot to earn a spot on th e victory rostrum next to his teamm at e. Doug Chandler, on th e H ank Sco tt-t u ne d H onda fini sh ed third to pr event a Ha rley-Davidson sweep of the top th ree p laces. T he w in was Pa rk er 's e ig h th stra igh t m il e victory a n d n in th Nationa l wi n of th e season. He's no w tied wi th Bubba Shobert, who was on hand to watch th e race, for the most Grand -Na tio na l Championsh ip wins in a season. want th ~,t ,recor~ C?f 10 wins," sa id Parker. I m gom It next week . a t Sacra me nto. Sa turday n igh t's Sac ra me nto Mile is the final race of th e season for the Camel Pro competitors. Pa rker flew fro m the Los Angeles area to San J o se following the . . ht' A t H If Mil . p revious rug s seo a I e m a chartered p la ne as did his fellow H arl ey-D a vid son fa ctory riders, Spri ngstee n Carr and Kev in Ath t ' er o n. .. . . " . That made things easier, sa id Springsteen. the elder statesman of th e team. " We got to the motel here a bo ut 2.a. m. and alter laymg back and talk ing a nd laug h m ,":,cor a bout an ho ur we went to sleep. . For most o f th e other competi tors, th eir trek north to Sa n )ose ,~oo k up the b~tter part o f the night, I drove the Iirs t h ~,ur .so I cou ld get some good sleep, Said Randy Tex ter, who along . w i ~h h is crew a nd usually a nothe r rid er a nd crew travels th e co u nt ry in a large bus, "bu t J ohnny ( Go~d) took th e w~eel . a nd kept wak in g me up for directi o ns. I d id manage a few hours of sleep. " Sco tt Pear son was th e last rider to arrive a t th e track, doi ng so after practice had started, after havi ng m issed a fligh t a nd ha ving to wai t for the nex t one out of southern Ca lifo rnia's O range County. :1 ,.cor j Park er was th e fast est of th e 41 riders who took time trial laps, logg in g a 37.286-seco nd/ 96.55 mph lap , mo re than a seco n d o ff Ri ck y Graha m's record 36. 196/ 99.46 lap o f 1982. Chandler was seco nd fastest with a 37.558 tour of th e Santa Clara County Fa irg ro u nds tra ck that was prepared by H arold Murrell. Ath erton was th ird a t 37.664, Keith Da y fourth at 37.762, Dan In gram fifth at 37.792, a nd In gram 's Sponse lle r Racin g tea m mate Steve Moreh ead was sixth a t 37.862. Alex J orgen sen , maki ng h is fir st Na tio nal a ppearance of the year, showed he hadn 't lost h is touch as he clocked in seventh fastest with a 37.932 lap. Ca rr and Springsteen were th e only o ther ri de rs u nder 38 secon ds, p ost ing 37.942 a nd 37.945 laps, respectivel y. Ted Taylo r rounded o u t th e top 10 q ual ifiers with a 38.054-second lap. Heats T he fir st o f four IO-Iap hea ts th at wou ld advance th e top th ree finishers di rectl y to th e Nati onal final certainl y offered a sta cked deck as far as th e H ar ley team was concerned. It would pit teammates Parker , Ca rr a nd S p ringsteen aga ins t one anothe r an d th e rest of th e field. T he three showed wh y th ey h ave factory rides as Parker took th e lead goi ng into tum three o n th e open ing . lap a nd a fter a lap o r two o f d icing with Spri ngsteen a n d Ca rr sa id byebye, going o n to win handily. Springsteen a nd Carr swa p ped second and th ird back and for th, taking tu rns draftin g by eac h o the r on the straig h ta ways . But Sp ri ngstee n bro ke a way from Carr in turns three and four o n th e last lap and took second by a coup le of b ike len g ths over hi s yo u nger teammate who cou ld see th e handwritin g o n th e wa ll as far as h is cha nces o f preven ting Park er fro m clinch ing th e tit le wen t. Pearson fin ished a lonely fourt h and he faced a sem i-fina l as did Sa l H o ffm a n , Scott S tu mp, Chan ce Darling . Scott Sa u nde rs a nd Dan McD o n n ell , w ho followed him across the finish line. Parker 's win n ing time wa s six m inu tes, 15.903 seco n ds , a n d ·i t wo u ld prove to be the fastest o f th e fou r heats as th e track slo wed with each pass ing lap. Tex ter pulled th e hol eshot at th e start of th e second heat but he was gobbled u p o n th e back straigh t by Jorge nse n, Te rry P o o ve y a nd Chandler a nd they crossed the start! finish line th ree abrea st at th e end o f th e in itia l lap, By th e en d of th e second lap SuperTrapp/D&S Ra cing/ Arai / RK /N anka i- spon sored Chandler had ta ken co m mand of th e race and on th e third lap J orgensen went high off th e gr oove in turns three and four to lose ground on Poove y and the fini shing o rder wa s se t for the advancement spots. Chandler took th e chec kered flag wi th a 20-bike len gth winning ma rgin an d a time of 6: 19.873, a lmost four secon ds slower than th e fir st hea t, and Poovey fi n is hed a lonely seco nd with J orge nsen co ming ho m e third, a lso ri d ing a ll a lo ne. Taylor edged ou t T exter for fourth a nd th ey were follow ed ac ross th e line and to a semi by Charlie Orr, Curt Rehmert , Mike Inderbitzin and Dave Bostrom. - Atherton put th e fourth factory H arley XR750 into th e final, bu t un lik e his teammates he had to put his best foot forward in a race-long fight with Rodn ey Farris, w ho was aboard a Gardner Racing Harley, KK Motorcycle Supply-sponsored Moreh ead and former Grand National Champion Steve Ek lund. All but Morehead led at th e line at some p oint in th e race, but o n the last la p it was Atherton fir st out of tum four a nd he somehow held o ff th e draft p ass sta bs of Farris and Morehead to ta ke th e win. Farris took runner-up h onors with Moreh ead th ird. The tra ck co n tinued to slow as ev ide nced b y the h eat ' s tim e , 6:26.885, which was more than seven seco nds slower th an th e previous hea t race. Ek lu nd lost out o n th e last lap sh u ffle a nd was sem i-bo u n d with a fourth pl ace fin ish as were Dave Ca rn lin , George Roeder II , Bryan Villella, Bob Da m eron a nd Don Wilson. T he fourth a nd fi na l heat saw In gram first o ff the lin e but G arvi s H onda-b a cked J ones we n t up th rough th e gea rs the quickest and he hel d th e point as th e pa ck hit turn o ne, a nd h e led th e field down th e back stra ig h t. In gra m drafted by J ones on th e front straig h t to lead the initial lap, bu t J ones ca me back to lead lap two . The two frontrunner s were joined by Tim Mert ens and Day on th e third lap a nd th e fou r ran wh eel-to-wheel for th e rest of th e race. J ones led laps three a n d four, In gr am was first across th e line at th e en d o f lap five, Merten s had his shot o u t front by inch es a t th e co m p letion o f la p six, a nd In gram was a t th e front of a four-abreast

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