Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eDIRT TRACK AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro S eries:Round 8 m (Left to right) Will Davis, Miss Hagerstown, Larry P egram, Miss Camel Paige Thomas and Ronnie Jones celebrate. The Hagerstown Half Mile victory was IS-year -old O hioan Larry Pegram's first AMA National win. Adkins/D enni s T own /Mother Fletch ers H -D wit h Texas H-D /Hap J on es/ Sisem or e/ DRS/Hot j a m m in's T erry Poovey fou rt h a nd Bloomington H o nda/Shoei/Ts uba ki -backed Da n Ingram fift h. T he oi l o n the track Pegram mentio ned wo uld playa large pa rt in the race. An oil line on the sump of Ca mel Pro Cha mpion Sco tt Parker's H arleyDa vidson XR750 was bro ken near midra ce, possibly by a flying rock, a nd th e m achine began coa ting the track wi th oil. Gard ner Racing 's Rodney Fa rris . lost his front end a nd crashed, al mos t im m ed iately, a nd sev eral rid er s po inted to th e track as th ey passed th e AM A officia ls at th e sta rt/ finish line. The race contin ued, th ough it cha nged d r ama ti call y with se vera l r id ers slo wi ng. " I abo u t crashed a cou ple o f tim es," Steve Moreh ead, winner here three of th e last fo u r years, said. On e of th e saves he mad e goi ng into turn o ne late in th e race was especially spec tac u lar. " Yo u really co uldn't race, it was so slick. T he o fficia ting was reall y slac k. T hey di d a p iss-poor job . T hey do n 't hav e radi o co m m u nica tions to th e corners, bu t tha t's not my problem. It 's not my fa ult th a t it's a Mickey Mouse organiza tio n. How man y guys have to crash before th ey stop the th in g?" In response to th e riders' compla ints; AMA referee Duke Olliges said, "It don 't look like there 's no o il o n th e race track to me." Olliges was alo ne in this assessme n t. Non e of th e rid ers questioned wh eth er the o il exis ted th ough some didn't believe it shou ld have been sto p ped. " The race had been sett led before th e o il got down ," seco nd-p lace fini sh er Jones said. " La ps 12 to 17 were a prob lem . You cou ld see the lin e o f oi l." In gram, wh o led the race ea rly before dropping to fifth, agreed. " It was a problem a nd th e tires wanted to ta ke o ff, b u t it wasn 't too da ngerou s," he said. Sho ul d it have been Slopped? " I don't beli eve so. It wasn ' t that big a factor. " Pegram slick at Hagerstown By Henny Ray Abrams HAGERSTOWN. MD. JULY13 t may have been hi s first-ever Ca me l Pro National victory, b ut Eaken Sponseller Racin g' s Larry Pegr am al rea dy had the Sco tt Park er-trad em ark victory wh oop down pat. I 10 T he l8-year- old O h ioan screamed ti me a nd again after passing Garvis Honda 's Ronnie J ones with five la ps to go in the 20-lap race before pu lli ng awa y to a decisive victo ry in the Hub Ci ty Class ic o n the hea vily grooved hard clay H agerstown Speedway half mile oval. ~ " T he easier I rode the faster I went," sa i d P egra m , w h o rode a H onda RS750. " I sa w th ere were five laps left and I sta rted thin king abo u t stuff, Then I thoug h t I better sto p th inking ab out other th ings or I was go ing to crash . .. "T here was oil on th e track th a t slo wed us down. T hey d id n 't stop us, so we sped back u p," he added. . T hird went to Will Davi s o n (he Ed For Pegra m, th e win was especia lly sweet for a couple o f reaso ns . O ne was that he had to race wi thou t th e p hysical p resen ce o f tu ner Skip Eak en , th ough Ea ken did pla y a large part in th e win. T he veteran tu ner su ffered chest pains j ust a few days prior to th e race a nd had checked himself into a hosp ital in O h io with a recurrence of hi s recent heart p ro blems. T ha t did n 't stop h im from hel pi n g , th o ugh. Usi ng t he cell u lar phone in Pegram 's va n, Dan Merr ick a nd La rry's fath er Jim Pegr am consu lted with Eaken in hi s hospi tal ro om during the nigh t on ma chine setup. Pegra m then went out a nd tied Farris for fast time in qua lifying. Wha t al so delight ed th e team was th a t it ca me in tea m owne r Mike Spo nseller's ba ckyard. Sponseller, who owns a real esta te development co mpany, lives in near by Frederick. P eg ram ea rn ed $398 5 from t he $28,000 Expert purse for winning the race, plus a $100 fast qual ifier award. J ones pocketed $2640 a nd Davi s $ 1980. The Cam el Pro po int sta nd ings were little affected by th e race. Scott Pa rker, wh o finished eig h th , picked u p two points on series lead er Chris Carr, 10th tonight, but sti ll trail s 116 to 112 at th e half wa y ma rk in th e 16-race seri es. J on es holds thi rd with 78. T he Jun ior National was a thriller, going rig h t down to th e. line with Dorsey Buildera/DjeS "C ycl es/Bell sponsored G eo rgi e Price narrowly bea ting Ha rt 's M/ C Repairs/Hart's Racing/Bell-backed J am es Hart in the 15-lap even t. Bu t it ca me at so me th ing o f cost. " I think m y foot's broken ,". Pri ce, a

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