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/126008
~nirt [Once mor t By Gary Van Voorhis TOLEDO, OH., SEPT. 13 Corky "Hey; I've got to keep up with that blond haired kid, you know" Keener added the AMA Grand National Championship / Camel Pro Series hal f mile at Toledo to his Syracuse victory of less than a week ago to tighten up the battIe for the top spots in the Grand National point standings. Corky, via his back-to-back victories, moved into the top spot in the second leg of the Camel Pro Series. Harley -Davi dson teammate Gary Seott followed Corky into the winner's circle followed by Billy Eves. Scott's second added another 120 National pain ts to his leading total while Kenny Roberts' sixth place finish netted the defending champion 50 . Scott now leads Roberts in their fight for the Number One plate by 338 points; 1,277 to 939 . Keener , whose win was characterized jokingly as "Not bad for an old man," by H·D racing chief Dick O 'Brien, closed to within 44 points of third pl ace Jay Sprin gsteen: 811 to 855. Springsteen was forced to re tire from his heat race after a suspected break in the magneto shaft put a halt to his charge before it got started. Qualifying Jay Springsteen set a new Toledo reco rd by turning in a 29.170 second time trial lap, but that's only half the story. Up until the last few minutes of the qualifying session tuner J im my Clarke, Jay and others on the Vista Sheen crew were frantically replacing a suspected bent valve with parts from a spare engine. His two laps in qualifying turned up more problems. Dave Seh! and Mert Lawwill ticked the clocks for second and third fast times with Jim Osborne and Scott Drake rounding out the fast five . . Heats 6 Scott Rader, on a Smitty 's sponsored/tuned Harley , flat ran away with the first he at while Steve Freeman, aboard a ' Sure- Fire sponsored Harley, pulled a wheel length up on Yamaha 's Kenny Roberts at the fmish to grab second. Jay Springsteen never really got started as his engine wen t from bad to worse on the intial lap. The Freeman- Roberts' duel was waged all over the track with Roberts going high to hook up with the edge of the cushion and Freeman staying Io w a n the groove. Roberts go t a drive off turn four that carried him side by side wi th Freeman on the last lap, but Steve dialed up the fire and inched away as the pair sped down the front straight. Dave Sehl led the second heat all the wayan his J im Sehl Harley while behind him a tight battle for second and third was bei ng waged. Kruger Racing Team rider Mike Kidd (H.D) and Steve More head, on a Bill Kennedy Triumph, played rubberband as they opened and closed the distance between them. Kidd finally made his pass stick and the duo settled down fo r the last lap. T.C . Racing's Bubba Rush was having his own thought of making the National as he worked his way from eighth into a God bless Mommy, Daddy, and thank you for my second straight National win . closing fourth by the final lap and with a tremendous drive closed the gap on Morehead and nipped him at the flag. Both riders were surprised. The third heat was a heavyweight wi th Gary Scott, Keener, Lawwill, Beauchamp, Eves, Schaeffer, Ulicki, . Dorsch and Wirth all vying for the three direct transfers. Corky picked his up with a drive into th e lead on the backstretch during the opening lap. Scott followed two laps later with a similar move and Beau champ did the same two laps more into the race. Jimmy Zeigler (H .D) held off repeated early lap ch arges by Dan Gurney Yamaha-mounted Chuck Palmgren to take a flag to flag win in the fourth heat. Jim Osborne (H-D) dropped Chuck to third about midway a n d repeatedly shut the . door on Palmgren's pressing advance in the final laps. Doug Sehl sustained a suspected broken ankle in a crash after he was momentarily blinded by spray kicked up by another rider's rear tire. Sem is Steve Morehead advanced to the National by taking the win in the first Semi as he led from the green flag to the checkered one. Harley mounted Jay Ridgeway took second after a race lo ng hattle with Sco tt Drake, who was also Harley mounted. Billy Eves m ade it a Triumph double in the Semis. Eves, who seems to always need a Semi win in order to make a National, had an easy explanation, " It usually takes a long time before the track sets up to where I can really work it." Billy stu,ffed his Larry Mehan Frantic parts-swapping by the Vista-Sheen crew failed t o stave off mechanica l woes fo r record-setter Jay Sp ringsteen .