Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~~~~~~~~A_M_A_G_rnn_d_N_at_~_m_l_Ch_a_mp~~W~CamclPro~ri~:Roo~14 By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard PRINGFIELD,IL, EPT. 6 cott Parker knew what he had to do in Sunday's Budweiser Springfield Mile. And he did it. And perennial challenger Chris Carr knew what he had to do. And he did it. . "I'll give it 100-percent," said defending Grand National Champion Parker prior to the race. "If I win every one (of the remaining four races) and Chris finishes second in all of them ... well, that's it." Carr summed up his thoughts on the title fight: "A win would make my job a lot easier." Going into Springfield, Carr enjoyed a I7-point lead over four-time champ Parker. Four wins by Parker and four second place finishes by Carr would close the title-deciding point standings margin to just one point in Carr's favor. And at the end of a masterful race that some described as a cat and mouse game and· others as a master chess match, Parker came up the winner and, yes, Carr finished second. Now, with just three races remaining on the Camel Pro Series schedule - the Fresno Mile, Sacramento Mile and Pomona Half Mile, Carr has a 13point lead over Parker, 205-192. Fresno will be hosting its first-ever Grqnd National Championship race on Sunday, September q, and while Carr has competed there before - in a 600 National - Parker hasn't. As for the other two venues, Carr won the April running of the Sacramento Mile and. Parker came out on top at Pomona in May. The drama continues. Joining Parker and Carr on the Springfield victory podium was Ricky Graham, who finished third. Graham was the early leader, but after the race he said he knew Parker and Carr were conserving their tires in the early stages and that the Harley-Davidson factory riders would begin to fight once the race started to wind down. "I just don't have the horsepower to run with them," said Graham, who this year is successfully campaigning the FIG Racing Honda fielded by tuner Johnny Goad and Sarah Irby of Virginia. Parker's win, turned in before a full house at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, earned him $6000 from .the $38,000 Expert purse posted by the event's promoter, the Illinois Motorcycle Dealers Association. Carr received $3750 for finishing second and added $5000 more to his bank account by winning the Camel Challenge. Graham's share of the purse was $2750. S Time trials Forty-four Experts went up against timer Gil Dosmegan's clock in the morning's qualifying sessions and when the air horn blew to signal the end of time trials it was Graham who headed the list of qualifiers. The former track record holder logged a 35.719-second/100.786 mph lap, far off the record of 34.264/10'5.067 set by. Parker in May. Parker was second fastest with a 35.734 lap and his teammates Kevin Atherton and Carr were next at 35.783 and 35.913, respectively. Graham, Parker, Atherton and Carr were the only riders to break the 36-second mark. Joining the quartet of sub-36-second qualifiers in qualifying for the Camel Challenge were the fifth and sixth fastest qualifiers, Terry Poovey (36.093) and Dan Ingram (36.198).. The surprise of time trials was the arker, ar A capacity crowd at the nlinois State Fairgrounds looked on as the National got underway with Scott Parker (11) at the point. performance turned in by rookie Expert Bret Beyer of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Suburban Motors H-D/Horsepower By Stan/Bell-backed Beyer, who has been competing as a Junior this summer, logged the seventh fastest qualifying lap, a 36.216. He would go on to finish sixth in his heat race and fifth in a semi. Not taking a qualifying lap was Mike Hale, the former Camel Pro Series Rookie of the Year. The Bartels' Harley-Davidson-sponsored Texan crashed in practice and suffered a broken hand and a concussion. He was . kept overnight in the hospital for observation. Heats Pole-sitter Graham was slow off the line when starter Steve Faraci triggered the green light to start the first of four lO-lap heat races that would advance the top two finishers to the National. But going into turn one to start the third lap, the two-time Grand National Champion took over the lead for good. The Californian pulled away from the field and by the end of the eighth lap he had open~d up a threesecond (half of a straightaway) lead on the field. . Behind Graham, who went on to win with nearly {our seconds in hand, Dave Camlin hooked up in a race-long duel with Texan Billy Herndon and Canadian Steve Beattie. fIerndon won the position swapping duel to advance to the main along with Graham, while Beattie and Camlin, who had led the first two laps, finished third and fourth, respectively, and faced a semifinal race. Parker was first into turn one and first out of turn two at the beginning of the second heat, but it was. Davey Durelle who led at the line the first time around. Parker took over the point position on lap two and inched away from Durelle- on each lap until by the conclusion of lap six he looked to have the race in his hip pocket. But Parker slipped off the groove going through "turns one and two on the seventh lap and Dur~lle erased the margin the defending champ had built up. Parker led across the line at the end of the seventh go-around, but on lap eight Durelle shot by him on the backstraight and was out front crossing the start/finish line. The battle for the lead spot was now a five-rider affair as the front-runners' dice had allowed Greg Sims, George Roeder and Don Estep to catch up with them. Parker wanted nothing but the win and draft passed Durelle down the backstraight to take a lead he would hold through turns three and four and to the finish line. Durelle was then dropped to third as Roeder drafted by him inches before the line to take second at the flag. Heat race number three would turn out to be the fastest of the day, thanks to a race-long draft-pass battle between Atherton and Larry Pegram. Racer/promoter Ronnie Jones led the opening lap, but once the race settled down, it was a two-man show as Pegram and Atherton swapped the point position on every lap. Jones had dropped back into a battle with Chance Darling, but their fight was for third and Darling would win the tussle, with both headed for a semi. Atherton and Pegram's fight lasted the entire race and on the final lap it was Pegram who took the lead going into turn three, a move that Atherton no doubt appreciated as he trailed Pegram out of four and then used the dr.aft to slingshot by him to score the WIn. The final heat race was a barnburner that started out as a multi-rider fight for the point and turned into a tworider show on the last few laps. 13

• Cover