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/126049
, (Above) The track was loose and fast in the heats, but started to groove as the day wore on. Unset! Steve Freeman (68) feet up, askew, and cookin'. last on lap one to seco nd II laps la ter at the checker s th at ele ctrified the crow d. Bubba Ru sh set ou t t o put some sp ace between himself an d the res t of th e field during th e first few laps with the rest o f the field sortin g themselves out. Steve Eklund began his ch arge about three laps into the race while Freeman was pic kin g up t wo positions per lap. Eklun d closed in on him and then p assed Rush on lap eight with Fre eman moving up past Steve Droste and Mike Kidd to challenge Rush. Freeman took Rush on lap ten as Eklund opened breathing room to take th e checke rs two laps later. National Louisville's famed limestone surface showed a wide bl ack groo ve by th e t ime th e Na t io nal wa s to be gridded with an area of loose grit easing i tsel f in to a deep cu shio n. The surface w as deceptive be cause under the loose gri t and the cushion th e track w as a ru tted surface. " I do n ' t see ho w anyone will be able to ride up h igh for 20 lap s, " said on e Harl ey ride r, " with ou t tir in g b adly ." T ires. a m ajor co nsi de ra ti on in an yrace, wer e of prime im por ta nt since the t rack is.so ab rasi ve. Gary Scott chose the inside pole of the 14 rider one ro w start with T ed Boody , Rex Beauchamp, Gre g Sassaman , Doug Schl , Chuck Palmgren, Dave Sehl, J ay Ridgew ay (the only Triumph in the field), J ay Springsteen, Hank Scott , J im Ziegle r, Billy Eves, Kenny Robert s and Corky Keener ' alon gsid e aw aiting th e gre en starting light. Ted Boody immediately b acked off the line with a fou led plug which was quickly changed. Kenny Roberts go t the holeshot off the line with Gary the first rider in t o turn on e and Chuck Palmgren taking the lead out of turn two o n th e first lap. G ary grabbed the lead on the nex t go aro u nd (" I thought the h igh line would be the pl ac e for the openin g -laps, bu t when Chuck went by low I dropped back down right away .") and held ' on \ for the re mainder of the 20 lap Nat ional. ' Dave Sehl moved quickly in to second with Palmgren dropping back as his engine went off song. Corky Keener was alre ad y ou t with cl u tc h failure. By lap th ree Sp ringsteen was in to th ird with Palmgren behind , but slowly dropping back. Jim Zeigler held fif th wi th in six t h followed by Sassaman Rid geway , Beau ch amp, Hank Sco tt , Ro bert s, ' Bo od y , Doug Sehl and Eves (slo wing afte r th e gas p et co ck was left tu rned o ff) . Hank Scott , tr ied high and low lin es p icking up p osition an d then losing it agai n. By lap eigh t Springsteen had . disp laced Dave Sehl in second as Beau champ mo ved into fourth an d Hank Sc ott fifth. Roberts was lying seven th behind Zeigler with Sassaman close behind. Beau champ nipped into third on th e next lap with Hank Sco tt moving to four th o n e lap later setting up a great battle in th e co m in g laps for second through ,fourth place while Sassaman and Dave Sehl dueled for fi fth . Roberts, with a new Go odyear Drr II , sp ent a good deal of time on the gro ove , then moved up high when his tire appeared to ' be slipping, but lost p osition up there and returned to tbe gro ove . Ted Boody, who had made a high lin e work for him in the he at w as tr yi ng it to n o avail. With three la p s to go Gary Scott had a safe lead while Springsteen and Hank Sco tt continued their wheel to wheel bat tle for second . Beauchamp, feeling the effects o f the rough track on his st ill healing co llarbo ne s eased off holdin g • fourth. Dave Sehl, Sassman, Roberts, and Doug Sehl followed. ' Sassaman made his su ccessful move fo r fifth wi th one lap to go with Roberts foll o win g suit shortl y af t er fo r sixth dropping Dave Sehl to seventh ahead of brother Doug. The crowds ' ey es flash ed from th e image o f Gary Sc ott taking th e checkers to the almost singular visage of Sprin gsteen ' an d Hank Scott glued toge t her t aking the flag. Rolling into vict o ry lane th ey looked at each other shaki ng th eir heads. "I th ough t I had ya Springer . Yo u slipped a little coming o ut of tum four," said Hank. "Yea," co u nt er ed Jay, "but I was leaning up o ver the handlebars to get th at extra foot ." Laughs all around. J ay got second. Gary was all smiles, but it was brother Hank who did all th e vocalizing. "Shell Thuett is the proudest man in the p its now. We Yamahauled this Harley trac k if y ou know that I mean. Yea, spell Yamaha in Capitols. " • Results TROPHY RACE: 1. Steve Ekl und (H-Ol ' 2 . Steve Freeman (H-D). 3. David Rush (H-O . 4. Steve Droset (H-D) . 5. M ike K ldd (H-D). 6. Edd ie Wirth (H-O). 7. R ICkey camPbell (1+0). 8. Charli e Chapple (H·D). 9 . Bill Schae ffer (Vam). 10. Da ve A ldana (HooD). I O-MIL E NATIONAL FINAL: 1. Gary Scott (H·D). 2. Jay Sp ringsteen (H-D). 3 . Hank Scott (Yam). 4. Rex Be auchamp (HoO) • 5. Greg Sassaman (H-D). 6. Kenny Roberts v am ). 7. Dave Sohl (H·D). 8. Doug Sehl H·D) . 9 . C huek Palmgren (H·D). 10. Jay i dgew ay rr- n, 11. Ted Boody (H-D) 12. J im Zeig ler IH-tl~. 13. B ill Eves (H-O). 14. Corky Keener t+D . T i m e: 8:43. 36,68.763 mph. ti 7