BDIRT TRACK AMARegional Cham~ionshi~_ile
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Ricky Graham (3) diced with George Roeder II' (66) and Larry Pegram (72) earl y in th e main event, but was ahead when it counted - at the finish.
Cory Perrault (7Y) passed Jess Roeder (69F) for the Junior win . Roeder was second.
Mike Hacker earned the win in the Pro-Am main event.
The win was Graham's first aboard the Johnny Goad /Sarah Irby-owned Honda RS75O.
Graham grabs Springfield gold
By Dave Hoenig
Photos by Flat Trak Fotos
"I
6
PRll\'GFIELD, IL,MAY23
t was n' t th e Cam e l P ro
Nat ional, but a ny win at Sp ri ng field is a good one," said Ricky
Graham, after topping an eig ht-rider
bau le for the win at the Budweisersponsored, Illinois Mo torcycle Dea lers
Association -promo te d Sp r i ng fie ld
Mile Regional.
A fast-moving ' cold weather front
turned what was a prettymorning into
a cloudy, cold - and sometimes wet afternoon, and Cory Perraul t and Mike
Hacker blas ted to the wins in th e
eq ua lly-excit ing J unior and Pro-Am
ma in events, respectively.
Graha m blasted aro und the famou s
track aboa rd the Goad-I rb y Ho nda
RS750, and posted the day's fastest
q ualifyi ng lap of 35.043 at 102.730
mph . T hough it was the fastest of th e
day, Graha m 's tim e was a half second
off his trac k record of 34.548/ 104.203.
Davey Dur elle and Will Davis foll owed
wi th la p s o f 35 .435 a n d 35.454,
respective ly.
Graham and George Roeder II ran
awa y in the first heat race. Roed er stole
th e lead severa l times, but G raham
wou ld answe r each tim e, and crossed
th e fin ish lin e in the lead posit ion .
Ch ance Darling fin ished a distant, but
secure th ird to earn the las t tra nsfer
into the ma in event .
The second heat saw a battle for the
lead between Steve Bea ttie and Du relle.
The two riders repea tedl y swapped
positio ns, bu t it was Dur elle who was
ahea d at the checkered flag. Rusty
Rogers snuc k up and n ip ped Scott
Stump for the th ird tra ns fer positio n.
Dave Caml in and Mike Hale battled
for the lead in the th ird hea t. The race
featured severa l lead cha nges, and
Cam lin no tched th e win , o nly inches
ahead of H ale. Davis held off Eric
Graybeal for th ird.
.
Larry Pegram ran away with the
fourth a nd fina l heat. Tim Mertens
fini shed a solid second, well ah ead of
a five-way dice over th ird. Kris Kiser
edged Jason Fletcher, Gordon Schopieray, Wink Freitas and Don Estep
for the position.
At th e start of th e 1O-1ap ma in event ,
Pegram grabb ed th e ho leshot and led
Roeder into turn one. Lap two foun d
