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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127281
Last Chance Qualifier
For the nine riders in th e L<::;Q it
was now or never. Ten riders were
sch ed u led to go to th e grid, but
Chandler had had eno ugh and o p ted
to sit this o ne out. .
" L'rn o ffic ia lly a spectator, "
Chandler sa id. '" didn 't hav e any
brakes in qualifying, 'and when I came
in from my heat they were dragging
so bad I could n ' t even push it. Then,
in th e semi, th ey went aw ay again. I
don 't want to race with thos e guys like
that. "
In Chandler's absence, it was h is
Salinas, California neighbor, Keith
Day, who was left to uphold the honor
of their hometown. And up hold it he
did - for two laps, before he dropped
his Ho nda in turn three while lead ing.
'" went to get on the thro ttle an d
it j ust came around. It was an easy \
fall," Day said foll owing hi s 80 m p h
getof£.
Day 's demise ga ve the lead to Hale,
wh o held on to take the final transfer
pos ition. Hill, McDowell, Evans and
Beattie rounded out th e top five,
earni ng $405, $350, $295 and $240,
respectively, all four being sent home
on the $68-or-less Grey hound bus.
Camel Challenge
Mor ehead learned something wa tch ing Jones win their heat race - if he
wanted to win tonight, he 'd hav e to
be able to work th e cus hio n . So he went
a bo u t a dj u sti ng h is bike, fitt in g
smaller car buretors for more usabl e
horsepower, and longer sh ocks and a
steeper steering head angle to get more
weight on the Pirelli front tir e so it
would track better.
The changes worked. Following a
bri ef intermiss ion during whi ch
announcer Dave Despain asked for a
moment of silence to honor the late
Roxy Rockwood, Moreh ead left the
rest of th e fastest qualifiers behi nd to
poc ket th e $10,000 th at goes to the
winner of th e $17,500 five-lap da sh for
cash called the Camel Challenge.
. Par ker chased Morehead in second,
bu t couldn' t make an impressio n and
was left to fen d off Davis in th ird. Carr
a~d Rogers bo th passe d Sp rings teen ,
who was st ill figh tin g a sticking
th rot tle, to ro und out the fin ishing
ord er. Carr and Springsteen were the
only ones in the six- rider field still
running o n th e groove.
National
While it was Moreh ead who made
the most changes betw een the heats
and the Camel Ch allenge, it was Carr
wh o did th e most work between th e
Challenge and th e Nat ional. Carr
realized that he'd have to make his bike
work up high, so he and tu ner Kenny
T olbert switched from a four-in ch
wide rim to a six-inch wid e o ne and,
like Mor ehead , ad justed the chassis for
more frontward weig ht bias.
Bu t wh ile Carr had made progress,
he still wasn 't as well set up as J ones.
Parker grabbed th e lead at th e sta rt
of the 20-lap main event, but Jones
wast ed no time and by the end of lap
two the vetera n from Oklah oma City,
Oklah oma, had tak en the lead. H e th en
headed off into the distance, never to
be cha llenged again.
'" was way overdue," J ones said aft er
taking his first win since th e 1987
Middletown, New York , Half Mile.
Behind J ones, Parker and Carr ra n
in clo se for ma tion, Parker leading Carr
until lap five wh en Carr snuc k past.
Mor ehead followed in fourth pa ce,
whil e a little further ba ck Farris,
Sp ringsteen , Rogers and Merten s did
battle for fifth. Mertens was fifth a t the
start, but he bobbled badl y in turn two
o
.........
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The fi rst and the last: 1959 Ascot
winner Sammy Tanner (l eft) and
1990 winner Ronnie Jones.
o n lap two, narrowly avoided bei ng
hit by Farris, an d dro p ped back.
Springs teen was one ofa ha nd ful of
ride rs working the low line, and he
also ra n as high as fifth before hi s rear
Goodyear tire spun on the rim, cu tting
th e valve stem ; he retired with a n at
o n la p 12.
Another rider wi th problem s was
Terry Poovey, who dropped out early
with failing brakes and was credited
with last place.
Finally, on lap 19, Parker made hi s
move, goi ng inside Carr in turns three
and fo ur to take second pl ace. But
ins tead of receiving th e white flag at
the start/finish line , the duo was
gr eeted by a red £lag.
Davis had crashed hard coming off
of tum four, bouncing off the guardr ails forcibly enough that th e ambulance a u enden ts suggested he go to th e
hospital for a check-up, but he refused.
Davis' H arley spilled gas th e length
o f th e front straigh taway , and as
officia ls lit th e gas and wa tched it burn,
the question was whether there would
be a restart. If the race were restarted,
it would have to go five laps, but
officia ls decided to call i t complete,
with the resu lts backing up to the
previous lap .
" I'm glad they decided not to restart
it, " J ones said. '" guess if th ey did,
I would hav ejust tried to wi n it aga in ."
The decisi on meant Carr would be
credited wi th second place, allowing
him to close , a lbeit slightly, on Parker
in the series point standings.
" I guess we got a lucky break ," said
Carr. "Morehead won the Camel
Ch all enge and we were able to leave
him behind i n th e main , so o ur
changes worked."
How ever, Parker was n 't too upset
abou t the turn of events .
. " It' s pretty much over with. There's
nothin g' can do abo ut it now ," he
said.
Morehead finished a lonely fourth ,
somewhat of a disappoi ntment after
h is earlier win. Rogers held off Farris
to take fifth and sixth, respectively,
wh ile Hal e, Athe rton and Durell e
rounded out the top 10.
Ath erton 's joy at havin g finis hed
n inth in hi s retu rn from injuries was
sho rt-lived, however, as foll owing th e
race Davis claimed hi s engine - th e
secon d suc h claim by Davi s th is year;
he had claimed Scott Parker' s motor
at th e Albuquerque Mil e in J une. The
45-da y gr ace period since Atherton's
engi ne wa s last claimed - by Parker,
in a friendl y move to prevent a real
suc h occ urence - was ov er , an d
Atherton had asked four of his friends
to en ter cla ims on hi s bike. However,
a fifth rider - Davis - had also
entered a clai m, and it was he wh o won
th e drawing and ended up taking the'
motor home.
J ay Sp ri ngsteen (9) battled a sticking thro ttle an d an aggressive Rusty Rogers
(57), but was sidelined by a flat rear ti re; Rogers fin ish ed fifth in the main.
Atherton had for eseen such a pos s; bility, howe ver, and had entered hi s
backup bike at Ascot in order to save
hi s primary ma chine for th e Sacrament o Mile, wh ere the extra horsepo wer and an ad di tional week 's recovery
time wo u ld hold hi m in good stead.
In ci d en ta ll y, Ath erto n cl a i m ed
Parker's moto r here, als o a friendly
move.
J u n ior In vi tationa l
Wood- Rotax mounted James H art
won the Juni or Invitational fin a l with
a heroi c last-lap mov e.
Hart grabbed th e ho leshot and led
most of the way, but on lap eig h t of .
the IO-Iap final he was passed by a
hard-charging Michael Dillon, wh o
wa s using an extreme i ns ide line.
Dillon led the next go -around, but on
the final lap Hart and Eadie came
across Dillon's fro nt wheel in tu rn o ne,
nearl y sending Dill on into th e infi eld.
Hart held off Eadi e for the win, with
D ill on fa d i n g to fourth behind
Tillson.
TN
Resu lts
TIME TRIAL'>: 1. Chris Carr (22.249 sec.): 2. Scot t
Parker (22.281); 3. Rusty Rogers (22.320): 1. J a y
Springsteen (22..594); 5. Steve Mor ehead (22.409); 6.
Will Davis (22.488); 7. Aaro n Hill (22.560); 8. T im
Merten s (22.576); 9. Mike Ha le (22.598); 10. Rod ney
Farris (22.625); t 1. Kevin Ath m on (22.666); 12. Bryan
Villella (22.676); 13. Ron nie lones (22.706); 14. Dan
Ingram (22.720); 15. Don Wi son (22.749); 16. Terry
Poo vey (22.772); 17. Doo g Chand ler (22.805); 18.
Larry Pegra m (22.844); 19. Bria n Atherton (22.853);
20. Geo rge Roeder (22.854); 21. Kei th Da y (22.874);
22. Chance Dar li ng (22.887); 23. J ona th a n Co rn well
(22.887); 24. Davey Du rell e (22.893); 25. Scou Stu mp
(22.966); 26. Mike Inderb i tzen (23.007); 27. Bobby
McDowell (23.029); 28. Pete H am es (23.043); 29. Steve
Ra smu ssen (23.080); 30. Step hen Beatt ie (23.087); 31.
Chris Evans (23.089); 32. Rex Fisher (23. 122); 33.
Co rt Reh mert (23.163); 34. Ted T aylor (23.244); 35.
Michael McDonnd l (23.300); 36. Mich a el Sco u
(23.3 12); 37. Rick Hocking (23.313); 38. Ro na ld
Aya mabo,o (23.362); 39. Ken Netto (23.531); 40. Kris
K,S