Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... V .D o ...... u o Da n Ing ra m (3 1 I, seen here dicing w ith Jay Springsteen (91, fin ished fifth to grab third p lace in the f inal Camel Pro Series point standings. Earnin g semi ber ths were Don Estep, Pete Hames, Robert Damron, Dave DureIle, Aa ro n H ill , a n d Mar k Corsett i. Ca rr 's winning tim e was 6:21.378. : Semis T he first IO-Iap Expert semi was a hard-fought duel betw een Randy T exter of Pennsylvania, Michigan's Athert on, and California's Chandler, with Atherton 's facto ry H arley finishi ng on top. T ext er grabbed th e holesh ot, fol lowed by Stu mp, Curt Reh mert of Ohio, and Chandler. Ather to n was struggli ng with a midpack start. On lap two Chandler moved from fourth to second with a fro nt straigh t draft, powering pas t Reh mert and Stum p. By lap four Chandler was leading the race, the 18-yea r-o ld Atherton was knocking on h is door in second, and T exter had been dropped to third. Athert on passed Chandler on lap five to set the finishing order. Pearson won th e second semi after fending off lat e-race charges from Don Estep a nd Bobby McDowell. Pete H am es grabbed th e hol eshot, foll ow ed by Steve Eklund and Estep , but by the end of th e first lap Pearson was in front. Pearson, Estep and McDowell traded th e top spot for several la ps befor e th ey settled into th e finishing order o n th e final goaround. McDow ell led the race o n la p nin e, followed by Estep and Pear so n, but wh en th e fin al £lag fell o ne lap lat er th e order had been reversed, Pear son took th e win, with Est ep in seco n d a n d McDowell settling for third. Last Chance Qualifier Eklund charged from fifth at the start to first at th e £lag to win th e Last Chan ce Qual ifier, and tak e th e 17th and fina l spot o n th e National start ing gri d. David Durelle nailed the holesho t and led the first five la ps of the race, but dropped to fifth a t the £lag after a pparen t mechanical ill s slowed his Harl ey-Davidson. Scott S tu m p didn ' t ma ke th e National, but his ninth pl ace fin ish in the LCQ was good enough to earn the Ohio ride r 1989 Roo kie of th e Year honors, worth $5000 in Camel Pro money. Stump topped fellow roo kie Ch ance Darling, also of Ohio. Junior Invitational The jun ior show at Sacramento featu red th e ta len ts of newl y crowned National Champion Mike Hale, of T exas , with Larry Pegram of O h io serving as H ale's understudy. Hale not on ly won his six -lap heat race and th e 10-lap. Junior Invitational, but a lso topped a special , three-lap Dash -for-Cash which featured th e top three finishers from each of th e Junior heat races. Peagram set fast q ualifying tim e in the Junior cla ss (38.211194.214) a nd won his hea t race after starting seventh, and finished second behind H ale in bo th the feature race and th e three-lap sprin t race. H ale, a teenage high school student, came o££ the line in midpa ck at the start of the Dash-for-Cash , but he was leading th e event by the end of th e first go-around and never loo ked back. Foll owing H a le home were Peg ram , Steve R asm u ssen , And y Tresser, Steven Raymo nd and Kris Kiser. H ale pocketed $1000 for th e win. It was th e same story in the Juni or Invitatio nal. Pegram and Hale su ffered a terrible starts at the beginnin g of th e feature, but quickly began making up ground. By la p three Pegram was leading, a nd H ale, wh o had sta rted eigh th, was runn in g second. They traded th e point unti l lap eight, wh en H ale took over for good. Pegram settled for seco nd, Steve n Ra ym ond fin ish ed th ird , Rasmussen took fourth, a nd Tresser fin ished fifth. Camel Challenge In gram nailed th e holesho t in the five-lap, $17,500 Cam el Ch all en ge, lead in g Morehead and J orgen sen into th e first turn. Factory H arl ey riders Carr, Parker and Springsteen brought up the rear. Morehead had taken o ver the lead by th e end o f th e first lap and looked as if he might pull away from th e field. Parker spent the first two laps running hi s trademark hi gh lin e, but wh en that didn 't work decided to mo ve do wn low , next to th e rail. " When I was runn ing o n th e o utsi de, I didn't know if they kn ew I was the re," said Parker. " I dr opped to the ins ide line because I knew it wou ld £luster them when I stuck my front wheel under them, even if I co uld n' t pass th em. " T he tactic wor ked. Parker pr essured his way past Carr, then drafted by J orgensen goi ng into turn three. He followed up o n su bseq uent lap s by drafting first In gram, th en Moreh~ad, on th e backstra ight to take the win. " I ma de o ne mis tak e," said Morehead. " I missed my brake marker in th e middle of turn three, and wh en _ yo u've got so me o ne lik e Scotty Parker behind yo u that's all it ta kes. When you race agains t a cha m p ion like Scott Parker you have to ride on the bub ble." Morehead finished second, Iol'Io wed by Carr, Ingram , Jorgensen a nd Springsteen . National By virt ue of winning th e fasi hea t, Ingram was o n th e pole for the 25lap National. T he front row was fill ed o ut by Parker, Carr, J on es, Farris and Day. Sitting on row two were Morehead , Springsteen, J or . gense n, Davis, Poo vey, and Mer ten s. (Left to rightl Runner-up Jay Springsteen, winner Scott Parker. Miss Camel Pro, and third place fin isher Rodney Farris in winner's circle. Ath erton : Pear son , Ch andl er, Estep and Eklund fill ed ou t the field o n row three. After bad starts in hi s heat and in th e Camel Challen ge, Parker was careful where he lined up for th e feature race. "A fter two bad starts o n th e same surface, I figured some th ing was ' wron g," he said. " So I dr opped to wh ere th e dirt was thic ker. It made a hell of a di fference." . In gram was firs t o££ th e lin e in th e main event, but Parker was the first rider to power into turn one. As th e two- time Na tional cha mp ex ited turn two he had In gram, Morehead , Carr, and Farris in to w. Springsteen was runni ng midf ield . With nobod y to hold him up, Pa rker and his Bill Werner-tuned H arl ey wer e go ne. H is recordbreak in g 10th Nati on a l win of 1989 was as good as in th e books. In the o peni ng laps Ingra m was all over the track. Event ually he found the best lin e for his Sponseller H onda , but n ot bef o r e h e h ad dropped from first to fifth. T he first ride r to ben efit from In gram 's probl em s was teammate Steve Mor ehead, wh o had moved in to second by th e end of the first go-around. But Morehead slipped o££ th e groove, allo wing Car r to ta ke over second, a nd o ne 'la p lat er Farris had moved into third. By the thi rd lap Sp rin gsteen had cha rged fro m deep in the pack to sixth p lace. Springer was ru n ning fifth by la p four, the same lap Parker clocked III wi th a 37 .80-second circui t. On lap five Parker was sitting the pace for Carr, Farri s, Ingram, Springs teen, Morehead , J or gen sen , Davis, Day and Merte ns. For th e next five la ps, Parker pulled away, stretching his lead fro m o ne second to one and a half seconds. Spri ngs teen con tinued to gain o n th e battle for seco nd featuring Carr , Farris and In gram. O n lap nin e Spri nger bumped In gram to fifth , and th e Sprin gst een/ Farris/ Ca rr fight for second began in earnes t o n lap 10 when Sp ringe r drafted Farr is a nd Ca rr to take over second go ing into turn three. Farris returned th e favor o n the next go-aro und, a nd for th e fin al 15 laps th e tri o ba nged bar s, bumped each o ther in th e corners, and dra fted ea ch o ther repea ted ly o n th e straights. On lap 16, Parker turned a 37.28, and was leadin g Sprin gsteen, Farris, Ca rr, Ing ram , J orgen sen , Davis, J ones, Ekl und, Morehead (who was rapidly working hi s way backwar d th ro ugh the field), Poo vey, Mertens and Atherton. Parker' s lead had grown to 4.54 seconds by la p 20. Springs teen, Ca rr and Farris were still battling it o ut, side-by-side, in the turns, with an occasiona l cha lle nge from Ingram, wh o was running fifth . Parker cloc ked in with a 37.30second circuit o n the whi te £lag lap, and fin ished th e race with a 6.1second mar gin of victory. Farris led th e battl e for second coming off of turn four o n th e fin a l go-around, wit h Spri nger and Carr righ t on h is rear fender. Bo th went for th e draf t, Springsteen on the insi de a nd Carr on the outside. Springer ma de it past Farris. Carr did n't. " I figured if they were going to beat me, th ey were goi ng to have to pass me o ut of tha t last tu rn, " said Farris. Coming o u t o f the last turn , Springer kn ew he had secon d in the bag. " Rod ney's bike was fast o n the backstrai gh t, but it was lazy comi ng o ut of turn fou r," Sp ringer said. " I' d start running over him even before I'd ge t in h is draf t." Ingra m finis hed fifth , an d Davis too k a n un contested si xt h a fte r battl in g for the spot with J or gensen for most of th e race. J org y coas ted into the pits o n the white flag la p when his motorcycl e "went on one cylinder." J ones too k sevent h, Moreh ead ended up eig h th, Day cam e home ninth and Chandler filled ou t th e top 10. Ro unding out the field were Eklu nd, Atherton, Poo vey, Merte ns, Estep and Pearso n. J orgensen was credited with 17. • Results 25· LAP NATIONAL: 1. s eon Parker (H· D); 2. Jay Springsteen ( H · D~ 3. Rodney Farr is ( H · D~ 4 . Chr is carr (H·D); 5. Dan Ingram (Han); 6. Will Davis (H· D ~ 7. Ronnie Jones ( Hon ~ 8. Steve Morehead (Han); 9. Keith Day (Han); 10. Doug Chand ler (Han); 11. Steve Eklund (Han); 12. Kevin At herton ( H· D~ 13. Terry Poovey (Han); 14. Tim Mert ens (H· D); 15. Don Estep (H · D~ 16. Scan Pearson (H· D); 17. Ale. Jorgensen (Han). TIME : 15 min .• 49 .850 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 94 .752 mph . CAM EL CHALLENGE: 1. Scon Parker (H· D); 2. Steve Morehead (Han); 3. Chr is carr (H·D); 4 . Dan Ingram (Han); 5. Ale. Jorgensen (Han); 6. Jay Spr in gsteen (H-DI. l D-LAP JR INVITA TIONAL: 1. Michael Hale (H· D); 2. Larry Pegram (W ·R ~ 3. Steven Raymond (W· R); 4 . Steve Rasmussen (H·O); 5 . Anhur Tresser III (W·R); 6. Kr is Kise r (W·RI; 7. Speedy Kell (W. R); 8. Cory Perrau lt (H·D); 9. Tony Holdsclaw (W· R); 10. Steve Mayfield (W · R); 11. Kevin 8r icker (W· R); 12. Mike McDonnell (H· D). TIM E: 6 min .• 29.934 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 92 .311 mph . FINA L AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAM PION· SHIP/ CAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Scon Parker (26 6); 2. Chris Carr (2 16); 3. Dan Ingram. (136); 4. Steve Moreh ead (133); 5. Doug Chandl er (127 ); 6. Terry Poovey (119); 7. Ronnie Jones (110 ); 8. Jay Sprin gsteen (105); 9. Rodney Farri s (104 ); 10. Will Davis (87); 11. Kevin Atherton ( 54~ 12. Ricky Graha m (49); 13. TIm Mert ens (42); 14. Steve Eklund (4 1); 15. Steve A selt in e (34); 16 . Georg e Roeder II (2 9~ 17. 8 ily Herndon (27); 18 . Keith Day (24); 19 . s con Pearson (19); 20 . Don Estep (17 ). 9

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