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/126051
e aware 'finish line first, that is Alright, boys, you gotta' , wa it your turn - COrky and Springer line up in o rder of f in ish, left; Dave Sehl (16) making Mike Kidd work for his heat w in, center; and for the champion, it's good to be on top of the heap again, above right. shattered the less-than-hour-old 10 lap record in a green Iigh t to checkered flag dash. ' . Semi two saw pole sitter Jay Ridgeway moved back to the penalty line and Steve Droste pull the ho lesh o t. What followed was a wing-ding of a race as Mert Lawwill chased Droste for two laps and then found himself chasing both Ridgeway and Droste. J ay had co m e off the .pen alty line strong, swooping by Droste and Lawwill in rums 1-2 at the beginning of the third go-aro u nd . Mert got by Droste on the fourth lap and then passed Ridgeway on the sixth lap. Prior to the day's program, Ridgeway had informed one and all that 'his Bill Kennedy Triumph had "more horsepower than we did at Louisville" where he finished tenth in the National. Traveling partner and wrench, Bubba Pattman, quickly added, "Sure hope she doesn't have a short fuse, though." She did. Ridgeway dropped out on the ninth lap and Mert was home free and in the National. Trophy Race The 12 lap consolation race belonged start to finish to Steve Droste. .Polesitter Steve Freeman, who had turned in an outstanding ride in the first se mi, accidentally hit the kill button on his XR at the start and the button stuc k in the off position . "It took me a couple laps to figure out what was wrong," said an obviously disappointed Freeman, who finished dead last. Although Droste was never headed, he was certainly pressured by both eve ntual run nerup Gene Romero and Mike Eades. By the nin th lap Droste pulled away from Romero and further dices d ro pped Eades to sixth at the finish with Brent Lowe, Chuck Palmgren and Greg Sassaman taking positions 3-4-5. National Polesit ter Scott Drake chose the outside fo r the one row start, the first rider to do so all evening. Drake, who hails from Xenia, Ohio, is acknowledged as one of the best starters in the business and he backed up that reputation by once again pulling the holeshot on the 14 man field. (The first start attempt was aborted when Doug Sehl and Billy Schaeffer over-anticipated and were placed on the penalty line.) Drake rode the high line around the Harrington half mile, a move that had worked throughout the evening: but failed to payoff in the National as Kee ner stayed d own on the groove and went under fo r the lead on the fourth lap. Behind Keener and Drake at that time the order was Lawwill, Springsteen, Dave Sehl, Gary Scott, Eves, Kidd, and Boody . Both Gary Scott and Kenny Roberts had gotten bad star ts with Roberts' due to the fac t that "I start in third gear which requires me to shift up two gears from neutral when the yellow light comes on. Sometimes I'm just getting it into third when the light flashes." Scott said, "I got a bad start and then had to wait for traffic to settle down before 1 could start to really move ." Scott moved the most as he took over fifth on the fifth lap fro m Mert Lawwill, who was dropping b ack d u e to an engine that "went on one cylinder an d a , tire that just wasn't sticking." Lawwill retired from the race on the 11 th lap with the order reading Kee ner, Springsteen, Drake, Gary Scott, Sehl, Hank Scott, Eves, Roberts, Kidd, Boody, Schaeffer. Dough Sehl and Cummings. Springsteen closed on Keener and Corky was seen. on several consecutive laps giving a move-back wave with his left hand to Jay as the pair raced down the backstraight in close formation . Ligh t comedy at fast speeds. The final laps saw Corky open u p a slim margin over Jay, which Springer later blamed on th e fact th at he "slipped off the groove. Damn, I s~e~ to be having ,t ha t p ro ble m lately. " , • Wit h Keener and Springsteen firmly holding on to the top two positions, attention turned to Gary Scott's attempts to get by Drake. He fi ally n succeeded on theIast lap as did Dave Seh!. Keener, Springsteen, Scott, Sehl and Drake made it a 1-2-3-4-5 sweep by Harley with Hank Scott and his Yamaha in sixth ahead of Kenny Roberts. The winner's circle activities were -defmi tely of a happy nature, even more so than usual. due to the presen ce of Corky Keener. Corky always lights up any gathering he joins and it was the fifth National winner's circle that he has occupie d at the highest poin t on the victor's stand . Havin g dispelled the my th that he can only ride cushio n tracks , Cor ky st at edthat he had "ridd en the race whe re I wanted to ri de it and how 1 wanted to ride it an d that was that. T his track was bread and butter for my buddy Jay and m e. We're mo vin g up and with two half miles and a mile coming up, we're gonna keep on moving up ." Since Corky only rides dirt events, thus Mr. Dirt, it was assumed he'd ski p the following week's Loudon National road race, so he was asked what he planned t o do. "I'm going fishing. Gonna take a holiday." • Results 2 0 LAPS NAT IO NAL: 1. Co rk y K een er (H-D) . 2. Jay Sp r in gstee n W .Dl' 3. Gary Sca li ( H,Dj' 4. D ave Seh l H·D. 5. Scali Drak e ( H -O • 6 . Hank Scott ( am). 7. Kenny R o be r t s (Yam ). 8. B ill Eves IH -O). 9. Ted Boody (1-1·0) . 1 0. B lII y Schaef er ( Va m). 11 . Mike K ldd (H-D). 1 2. To m C u mml n~s 11-1-0). 13. Doug Sehl (H·C). 14.. Mert La w w ill H : D). T i me : 8 :5 3 .883. EX PERT T R OPHY RACE: 1. St eve Oroste - O l ' 2. G ene R o m er o (H-D~ 3. B r en t Lowe H oOD . 4. Chuck Palmgren H· D). 5 . G re gg ssaman (H- D). 6. Mike des (H -O ). 7. Steve Morehead (H-O). 8 . Edd ie Wirth (H -O ). 9 . Rick Hocking (HoO D). 10 . Ste ve Freeman (H-D). • Time: 5 :2 8. 844. ~ 9