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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127270
LOCAL EVENTS
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Poovey stomps Sedalia
Half Mile
By Davi d Hoenig
Photo by Flat T ra k Fotos
WALIA MO,]UNE23
,
ro fessio n a l motorcycle racing
returned to the Misso u ri State
Fairgrounds after a 15 year absence,
as Ed Beckley's Motorspo ns of America
hosted an AMA Western Regional Dirt
T rack Series event on the ba n ked
fairgro unds half mi le. Terry Poo vey
bro ught hi s Mar ioneaux/ Sh oe i/Hap
j ones/Sisemore/Tsub aki/Hot Jamminspo nsored XR750 H arley-Davidson up
from Texas an d escaped with the Expert
win. Poovey had to hold off the quick
Wood -Rotaxes of Erik Graybeal and
Davey Durelle..
Nebraska's Dale J enneman led the
Junior main wire-to-w ire, while Virginia's J erem y Lucy topped an exciting
Pro-Am mai n.
, The Juniors were the first out for time
tri als a nd H arold Do rsey gave th e
Experts a time to shoo t at turning a 21.57.
Expert Davey Durelle came the closest,
but fell short at 27.83. There were on ly
two riders in the 21's. Willie McCoy and
Jeff Dietz followed with 28.14 and 28.24.
Pro-Am heats were first out of the box
with wins going to Lucy , Tony Rulli,
David Morgan and Scott Huff.
All the Pro-Ams moved to two semis
where Georgie Price led all the way in
semi one. In the second semi Morgan
held off Huff and Chad Barth for the
e
P
WIn.
The Junior program had three heats
with the top two moving to the main.
Dorsey topped Ro y Hart in heat on e,
Jenneman ran away with heat two and
in th e last heat AI Eadie narrowl y bea t
James Hart,
Tony Donahue led the first Junior
semi all the way while the second semi
fell to Mike Guinn.
• The two Expert heats moved six riders
to the main . Durelle easi ly won heat o ne
as Graybeal fin ished well back in second
Jim Sumner passed Brian Anderson on
the last lap for third, as Marc Gifford
'!!id the same to Bob Buffington for fifth.
, The second heat was all Poov ey's, but
it was a total war behind him. At the
halfway point Tom Troudt was holding
off Willie McCoy, Audie Huff, Real
Hart, Charlie Orr, Mike Reid and Jeff
Dietz. McCoy worked hi s wa y into
second and closed on Poovey but ran out
of time. Troudt held on to third with
Orr moving up to fourth on the last lap .
Huff was fiflh with Reid taking the last
spo t from Hart on the' last lap.
J!:.. four-lap Dash For Cash was held
with the top five Expert qual ifiers.
Durelle took the $lllO win but Erik
,G raybeal was al lover him the entire
distance. Anderson, Dietz and McCoy
rounded out the field
e In the Pro-Am main Kent Longcor got
the holeshot but the race was red-flagged
-when Scott Huff fell. Longcor again go t
the holesho t on the restart as Lucy held
"second ahead of Pri ce. The first three
riders pulled away from Huff, Bertolino,
Morgan, Simpson and Bentley.
. Lap four saw th e red flag ou t again
as Bertolino fell hard The sing le-file
restart saw leader Longcor struggle off
the line and Pri ce take con trol with Lucy
in hot pursuit. Longcor had his hands
full with Scott Huff, but even tually
I pulled clear.
I
As the white flag flew Lucy forced hi s
way past Pri ce on the ou tside at the start!
l finish line, then chop down on Pri ce
going in to turn one. Lucy remained ou t
J from for the win.
.
The Junior main belonged to Dale
jenneman, but he was chased all the way
by Eadie. Most of the action took place
The Expert main gets underway at the Sedalia Half Mile. T erry Poovey (18) took the win over Er ik Graybeal.
behind them as Harold Dorsey, James
Hart and Tony Donahue all exchanged
positions several times. Dorsey got back
up to third at the finish over Hart,
Donahue and Roy Hart.
The Expert main turned into two
distinct races as the from five pulled a
big lead on the rest of the field, which
was a lso tightly bunched. Poovey,
Durelle, Graybeal, Orr and Gifford ma de
up the lead pack. They ran nose to tail
until the fifth lap.
"Poovey hit a hole and Davey followed
him in ," said Graybeal. " I went under
Dave and almost made it under Terry
too, but he recovered quick enough that
I couldn't get by. He just rode a perfect
race and didn't mak e an y mistakes."
" It was hard to get around this race
track, the groove was only about a foot
wide," said Poovey. "The track got a lot
better as the rubber got laid down."
Durelle's best shot at the win failed
on lap five when, as he exp lained, " I
just followed him (Poovey) into tum
three, he hit that hole and I thought,
'man, there it is, my chance,' and all of
a sudden I hit it right behind him. As
soon as I got wide I kn ew Erick (Graybeal) was rig h t there and I thought he
was going to get us both and leave us,
bu t he just got by me. It was the closest
race I've ever run."
ClV
Results
PltO-A1II I. J=y l.ucy (H -D); 2. G