Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE I t's so rare to have a 26-race championship series decided by a single point, but that's exactly what happened during the 1980 AMA Grand National Champion- ship (at that time known as the Winston Pro Series). That sea- son came down to an epic battle between a trio of future legends— Randy Goss, Hank Scott and Ricky Graham. In the end the title would not be decided until the final lap of the final race of the season. And the setting for that nail-biting season finale was at Southern California's legendary Ascot Park. The 1979 season had been a "David-versus-Goliath" affair with Steve Eklund and his Mario Zanotti Enterprises Harley-Davidsons and Yamahas beating the mighty facto- ry Harley-Davidson squad. Eklund became the first privateer to win the title in 16 years and he stopped Jay Springsteen's streak of AMA Grand National number-one plates at three. The 1980 Winston Pro Series was a wide-open affair. Some experts predicted as many as 10 riders might have a shot at winning the title. In addition to defending champ Eklund and three-time champ Springsteen, the field was absolutely stacked. Scott Parker was a revelation P104 DECIDED BY A SINGLE POINT Miss Winston Lynn Griffis sits with the three title contenders— Hank Scott, Randy Goss and Ricky Graham— as they are introduced at the fall San Jose Mile in 1980. Gary Scott and his younger brother Hank, as well as talents like Alex Jorgensen, Rick Hocking, Corky Keener, Ted Boody, Terry Poovey, Ricky Graham, Scott Pearson, Billy Labrie and Garth Brow. Not to mention some promising rookies like Gene Church, Bubba Shobert, David Jones and Jeff Haney. The field truly was as deep as it had ever been in the series. And the stakes were high. To- bacco money could be lucrative for the top riders and the pot was getting even richer. Winston upped its point fund by $25,000 in 1980, pushing the fund up to $125,000. That translated to a cool $30,000 to the winner of the championship, a decent sum of cash in 1980s dollars. Interestingly with Kenny Roberts off to race the grands prix, nearly none of the riders who raced pri- marily in road race nationals were expected to be contenders for the overall Grand National Champion- in '79. The kid from Flint became the youngest rider ever to carry an AMA Expert competition license and he became 1979 Rookie of the Year in a class packed with talent. That season he became the youngest rider ever to win an AMA Grand National. His eye-opening performance in '79 put Parker near the top of the list of many people's pre-season favorites. Then there were riders like Randy Goss who broke through to score his first national wins in '79 and was the only rider that season to score points in each of the 23 dirt track nationals. He finished a strong third in the championship, earning the factory Harley ride alongside Springsteen for 1980. Other leading contenders included the ever-versatile Mike Kidd and the streaky Steve Morehead, who, funny enough, was being spon- sored by an ambulance manufac- turer. Then there was the veteran