Cycle News

~ e - ~ 00 O"l ...... < ...... ~ - ~ 0 0. The first heat was a preview of the final, with Shobert (67) and his 598cc Honda jumping out in front of Jorgensen's 560cc Rotax. Shobert and Jor- gensen dominated the night's racing, and came down to just them atthe end. (Below) Hames (32) came from behind Green to finish third. GARDENA, CA, MAR. 30 Team Honda's Bubba Shobert won his first Camel Pro Series TT when Alex Jorgensen crashed in the last turn on' the last lap at Ascot Park. Shobert, who led early in the 25-lap race, was at one point several seconds behind Jorgen - sen and his 560ccWood-Rotax, but caught up and was pressing for the lead when j orgen sen crashed, unhurt but out of co nten tion. jor- gensen was credi ted with seventh: Doug Chandler was seco nd with Pete Hames th ird. SCOIl Parker 's sixt h- p lace fini sh was enough fo r the Har- ley rider to retain hi s points lead. Shobert's TT wi n p ut h im a lo ng- side Dick " Bugsy" Mann and Kenny Roberts as the on ly th reemen to score wins in all five types of Camel P ro Series racing even ts (ha lf mile, mile, short track, TT, road race). Time trials Shobert had sta rted his n ight by AMAGrand NationalChampionshipj Camel Pro series: Round 4 Shobert'slast-lap Ascot triumph 6 By John Ulrich sell ing fast time, turning one lap of th e Ascot TT track in a record 44.001 seconds on hi s 598cc radia l-four-valve Honda. Shobert's bik e had been fi t- ted wi th a new SuperT ra p p ex haust sys tem during p ra cti ce, replacing the usual Kerker sys tem. T he change, accordi ng the Team Honda's Rob Muzzy, incr eased 'Shobert's bike's power around 6,000 rpm, with a loss . in top end. Muzzy credited th e power- band change with the length of th e pipe-longer - ra th er th an i ts brand of manufacture, and said th at the team simp ly didn't have a Kerker with those dimen sions available. "AII the time on this track is made in th e infield," said Muzzy, " and this p ipe lets him (Shobert) come off the turns hard er. " Second-fastest q ua li fier wasjimmy Fi lice a t 44.268 on th e Hap py T rails Rotax/Harley-Davidson: Rich Arnaiz was third fastest at 44.573 on hi s Rotax/Harley-Davidson: Mickey Fay and h is Honda were fourth fastest a t 44.573. Former Camel Pro Series Cham- pion Steve Eklund was fifth fastest at 44.643 on a new 660cc Wood -Rotax. T he new engine, ap proved short ly before Ascot, has th e same stroke as the 560cc Rot ax engines, but a h uge 101.6mm bore bumps the di sp lace- rnent to 660cc and horsepower to 67 bhp. Keith Day was sixth fastes t a t 44.658 on h is Honda; Hames sevent h a t 44.i24; and jorgensen eighth a t 44.763. Freddie Spencer/SuperTrapp Rac- in g's Chandler, who wo n th e 1984 Ascot TT, qual ified 11th a t 44.945, beh ind Terry Poovey's 44.8 13 on hi s Rotax/H-Dand Randy Green 's 44.897 on h is Honda. Chandler rode h is back-up Honda , filled with one flat - slide Mikuni carburetor, beca use he cras hed the dual -carb (1984-win ni ng) bike in pract ice and damaged th e shifting mech anism. Chand le r de- scri bed th e track as being the smooth- es t and fastest he'd ever seen it, and said his single-ca rb bike came on the power smoother bu t lacked the in stant acceleration and snap of the dual -carb machine. T he way he saw it, the dua l-carb bike made it possibl e to rush into an open ing and make a pass, but th e single-carb bike was eas- ier to ride. Chandler 's teammate, former Camel Pro Series Champio n Randy Goss, was having h is p roblem s, qual ifying well back at 45.796.And Harley-David - so n's SCali Pa rk er was a lso farther back than usu al , although ahead of Goss. at 45.462. . Heats Shobert and jorgense n met for th e fir st time in the firs t heat, and it p roved to be a p review of th e main even t. Shobert led off th e sta rt, but jorgen sen passed him, and pulled away slig h t l . Then Shobert was • Ii •• I • •• • ....... ~ ... !:!:! a: 0 a.. CD

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