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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127390
The National gets underway with Morehead (42), Farris (92), Parker (I), Ingram (31), Atherton (23) and Ca rr (20) on the front row. Pegram is on the outside of row two. o f Sicklervi lle, New J ersey, said in the winner's ci rcle . " Somebody hit me going into turn three." Emergency personnel took a look at the foot and determ in ed it was n ' t bro ken , just bruised and sore. The win was Price' s seco nd in Junior National Championsh ip com petition this year . Time trials After a long delay for track maintenance that pushed the start of the program back two hours, Pegram got th e night off to a flying start, taking h is first pol e posi tio n with a time of 24.332 seconds o n a hot and stic ky n ight in western Maryl and. Rodney Farris, who lives most of the year in nearb y Monkton, Mar ylan d, had an identical time, but since Pegr am di d it first, the pole in the first heat was h is. Scot t Park er, still looking for his record- setting 41st National win , was th ird at 24.42 1 with Bartel's H-D 's Mike Hal e fourth and Donahu e H-D/ Suburban H-D / Gen eral Engineering's Dave Durelle fifth . Heats For the start of th e first 1O-lap heat, Pegram sat o n th e o utside of the black groove. Bu t Ingr am and Moreh ead read the lights better and Pegr am q ui ckl y fo und h imself fighting for third with, first Curt Reh mert , and th en Will Davis. Moreh ea d is th e acknowledged master of this track and he stuck to the low edge of the groove while In gr am battl ed him high. The pair were side-by-side for a few la ps, befor e Morehead pulled away to a comfor tab le win. After losing touch wi th Mo rehead, Ingram was houn ded by Davi s, though he gained some ground a t the end to take second. The figh t for third went down to the line with Davis taking th e o spot by a bik e leng th o ver Pegr am, who was now headed for th e semis. It took Farris all of one lap to tak e over the lead in th e second heat and from th en on it was hi s alone. Kevin Ath ert on chased him the who le way o n th e factory Har ley, bu t Far ris wasn 't to be den ied. His time of 4 minutes, 07.138 seconds wo uld hold up as th e fastest of the nigh t. Dave Durell e, wh o led going into turn o ne , fini shed third wit h T err y Poovey fourth ah ead of Deeley H- D's Steve Beattie. T he thi rd hea t was pa cked with the top three ri ders in the Camel Pro standi ngs o n th e front row . Parker, Jones, and Carr sped into tu rn o ne, bu t it was Virginia n Rusty Rogers nearl y stea ling th eir th under. Out of turn one Parker led, Rogers was second with Carr jus t ahea d of Jones. The order cha nged at th e end of bo th the first and second laps and by the th ird Parker was pu lli ng away with h is pursu ers fighting for second. Carr took over second sta rti ng the fourth lap with J o nes, using the lo w edge of the groove sli pping under Rogers to take over third coming o ut of turn two. T he order of the top three wou ldn' t cha nge. tho ugh Parker lost m uch of h is adva ntage when he got in to tu rn o ne too hot o n the six th la p. Still, th e win was his, Carr was second, and J on es th ird . Mike Hale mo ved up to four th on the eighth lap with Rogers dropping to sixth beh ind H ud Racing 's Bill y H erndo n. " I was going to take the top and (tu ne r ) Bill (Werner ) sa id try th e bottom and I saw a coup le of guys hooked up down there," Pa rker sa id. " I moved aro und a litt le bit. I sho uld' ve moved around more, bu t it was good eno ug h and hopefull y it' s good enough to giv e us number 41." T he latter remark referring to Parker ' shoo ti ng for a record-setting 41st Nationa l victo ry. He's cu rre n tly tied with Jay Springsteen at 40. Se m is Pegr am chose the low pol e for th e first semi of the two 10-lap semis, but it did n 't seem to help mu ch as he found himself in fourth at the tail end of a pack a t the end oTth e first lap. By th e th ird lap he was up to third and he chased down Steve Burkh older to take the lead start ing the fo urth lap as the positions cons tant ly cha nged. O nce in front , Pegram p ulled away, bea ting Mike Hale by half a stra igh taway. Burkholder too k thi rd , the fin al ad va nc ement spot, with Rehm ert fi n ish i n g fo u rth a n d o u t o f t he program . Asked his preference for a sta rt spot in the main , Pegram replied: "I'm sta rting o n the ba ck so it does n ' t make a difference." The second sem i was decided a t th e flash of th e gree n , T err y Poovey taki ng off to win by th e same marg in as Pegram. Aaron Hill too k o ver second th ree laps fro m the end dropp ing Keith Day to third. National With a threat of rai n in the area, the program was run non-stop and the National was brought to th e lin e as ' quickl y as possible after the Jun ior main. Mor ehead chose the lo w pole with Farris, Parker, In gr am , Atherton and Carr next to him. • " I sta rted here last yea r and' i t worked," Morehead said. At th e fli ck o f th e green light, Ingr am jumped into the lead wi th Farris, Davis, Carr and Morehead in pu rsui t. T he pack was still bunch ed as th ey crosse d the line a secon d time, ' with positions swapping and a pack of five getting established o u t fro nt . J o nes too k the lead, passing both Ingram and Davis, to star t the fift h lap as In gram 's shock began to fad e. Farris was in fro nt of Carr, wi th Pegram up to sixth ahead o f Mor ehead and Parker. But o ut front J on es was sai li ng, easily pulling away from Davi s with Pegram up to th ird on the eigh th lap. It was o n th at same lap t hat Par ker 's bike began dropping o il heavil y and Farris went down in turn th ree. " I was chasing m y own oi l arou nd, " Parker said, but it didn 't slow th e mach ine down . Halfway in to the race it was J ones fro m Pegram and Davis with In gr am lead in g Poovey and Moreh ead' wi th ' Hill in fro n t of Hal e, Parker and Carr. " I was passin g people, not pay ing attention, and the n , boom, I was in third place. That's whe n I thought I co u ld win i t," Pegram said. J on es' o nce un assailable lead began to shri n k wi th Pegram up o n him o n the 13th la p before dr afting past go ing into turn th ree a lap later. From th ere o n , it was smooth sailing. " I go t off th e corner (tum two ) and pa ssed h im goi ng into three," Pegram sa id. " I got reall y nervou s. I felt like I was go ing rea l slow and I still p ulled away. " I got into second the same time the oi l was pu t down. I co uld see it. You ha d to go in eit her u nder or over it, bu t you didn 't want to cross it. We took it easy for two o r th ree laps then th e di rt covered it up," said Pegram, who lists his sp on sor s as ESP Racing, Arai , KK Motor cycle Supply, Yoko Racewear, Moti on P ro , Suno co a n d T su baki. Jones, th ough pressed late by Davis, held on to second. " I was doing fin e 'til th e oil got down," Garvis H onda/Missile Engineer ing /M C Stuff/ Ara ilH ondalinebacked J on es said. II