Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125994
• 5IIlI iii!: ~ t l!'l rC'l r~ C :l ~ III :r a: 0 0 > z « > 0 z « > UJ a: 0 ~ III UJ oJ a: « :r u i z UJ oJ m 0 m > m III 0 I- 0 :r 0. Jimmy Maness and Hank Scott lead the first tum, first heat action. Corky Keener came out of the dust to win. winner Dave Sehl took a wai t and see attitude . Vis ta Sh ee n sponsor Rich Gaw th ro p ta lke d abo ut J ay Sp rin gsteen as tuner J immy Clark and his crew re ad ied th e bike. " This is o ur first Nation al as far as I'm concerned . This is where our action really is." Prophetic. J ay Springst een opted fo r the outside pole in the sin gle row st art with the co rr ec t assumption th at it would give him the best straight line shot at tum one . Alongside were: Keener, Beauchamp, Rush, Zeigler, Sehl, Sassaman, Roberts, Eves , Hank Scott, Pressgrove , Dro ste, Gary Scott and Palmgren. The angry rumble of almost 1,000 horsepower waiting to be turned loose awaited th e green flag. A perfect start put Springsteen into turn one ahead of Sehl, Beauchamp and the mass that followed. As the pa ck exited turn two Springsteen grabbed a handful of throttle and quickly had a 50 y ard .advan ta ge ; the stage was set fo r the rookie Expert 's romp. Gary Scott, among others, was fighting for position at the end of lap one after having been boxed in a pack of riders close to the rail on the start. "If I hadn't had a poor grid position for the start I might have gotten a lin e where I co uld have gotten ou tsid e. As it was I co uld n 't get outside at the start with out hitting other riders so I stayed low and lost a lot o f ground in the first two turns." Bubba Rush was already out with me chanical problems as the second lap started and Beau champ, after moving to th ird, would contin ue the ra ce on one cy lin der. Sp rin gste en , high on the cush io n , cut a time of 25 .283 for the second lap and backed it up in quick succe ssio n with three more laps in the 25 second bracket to estab lish his front running position more firmly . By lap three Corky Keener had slipped in to second dropping Sehl to third with Gary Sco tt a slo wly closing fourth . A second p ack o f riders fo rm ed with Droste lead ing Zeigler, Eves, H an k Scott, an d Sassam an while behind th em in a third race were Roberts, Palm gren, Beau champ and a d us t b lin de d Pau l Pressgrove , Sassaman, af te r another last man off Roberts and Palmgren get chummy. Jublilation and a champagne shampoo greeted Springsteen at the end . the line start, had picked his way to ninth place in a five rider pack all scratching for better position. Seven laps into the National Gary Scott put in a su ccessful charge past Sehl and the front four positions, with the excep tion of some rubber band ac t ion between the quarter, was set to the checkers. The ac ti o n behind was far from ove r . Roberts was skimming the high line looking for a way to make up lost ground, but it was to no avail as m ost of the riders, led by Springsteen, had dropped down to the groove as th e cushion go t rough. Roberts nonetheles s stuc k to the high line and went out six laps later wi th wheel bearing failure in h is re ar wheel th at fin ally caused his ch ain to co me o ff. With th e halfway flags out it seemed clear th at , barring any twist of fat e, J ay Sprin gsteen was on his way to victory . The curly haired Vista Sheen rid er had an unofficial three second ad van tage and ap p eared to have plenty in reserve wh en it looked like Keener was making a bid to close the gap. Keener m eanwhile was st alking his prey wai t ing to pounce o n an y m ist ake . In th e closing lap s Gary Scott m ade a bid a t Keener th at fell sho rt , Hank Sco t t slip ped past Dro ste into fifth with Sassaman cha llengi ng all the way to t he flag . Droste hel d off Eves fo r seventh with Beau champ, Palmgren, Zeigler and Pressgrove rounding ou t the finishers. If there was one com m on mal ady am on g th e riders it was their chorus of "I just co uldn 't get off th e line at all. " One rid er said " It must have been n ice for the cro wd to watch the roost er tail s off th e st arting line, but it was hell to get a good track bite with as mu ch power as the engines put out." In tum, a fte r 20 la ps, rear tires were chewed to bits. On ce J ay found his bre ath and recovered from th e cha m pagn e sh owe r he was all grin s as were the rest of hi s cre w. " I knew I co uld win on ce I go t wh a t I th ought was a goo d le ad. " Corky ch im ed in with h is observat ion that "i t's no d isgrac e to run second to J ay o n an y track." J ay th en turned hi s a tt en t ion to his Sp onsor Rich Gawth rop of Vista Sheen , his tuner Jim Clar k (" I knew we 'd do it, I just didn 't know how soo n . " ), the special he ad work done on short notice by Dan Powers of Compressible Gas Dynamics , his parents an d brother, NASCO's John Kaltenbach, Harley 's Dick O'Brien and a host of others while so me one pressed a co ld Coors into h is hand and the re ali zation of his first National victory be gan to take hold. • Results TEN-MILE NATiONAL FINISH, 1. Jay Springstee n (H- D) . 2 . Corky Keener (HoD). 3. Gary SCott (H-O). 4 . D ave Sehl (H· O) . 5. Hank Sco tt (H- O) . 6. Gr eg Sassaman (Yam) . 7 . Steve Droste (H-O) . 8 . Bill Eves (H-O). 9. Rex Beauchamp (T rl). 10. Chuck Palmgren ( Yam) . 11. Jim Ze igler (H-O) . 12 . Pau! Pressqrove (H-D). 1 3. Kenny Roberts (Yam). 14. Bubba RUSh.IH-Dl. EXPE RT T R O PH V RACE : 1. Randy Cleek (H-D ) . 2 . Teddy Newton (H-O). 3. Keith U lic k l ( H- O ). 4_ M ike Caves (H -D). 5. M ike Joh nso n (H-D). 6. Ma rk W Il Hams (Nor) . 7 . Ke n Springs teen (H -O) . 8 . Sco tt D ra ke (BSA ). 9. Ric key Campbe ll (H- O) . 10. Steve Freeman ( H -D). 9·