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charges by Skip "Akslan d with Guy l\kClure and Terry Poovey playing shadow behind. Heat two quickly went into restart status as Jim Rawls spilled in mid-pack on the opening lap. A good deal of track preparation later, the field was on the move with Steve Eklund feeling the hot breath of Corky Keener and his buzzing Harley. Keener's charge ended three laps from the checkers as his engine seized. Rawls moved into second for the finish with Kenny McDonald's charge from the penalty line carrying him to third. A Kenny Roberts magic trick performed while saving himself from a vicious tank-slapper and Rex Beauchamp's seizing demise highlighted heat three. Roberts took a runaway win after passing early leader Mike Johnson, who was almost nipped for second on the final lap by Steve Morehead. Buck Boren pulled a holeshot in heat four that should have been good enough for the win; trouble was the other nine' riders weren't playing ' that game. Almost immediately Dave Leonard began a challenge which turned into a dy -no-mite lead swapping duel that Leonard won on lap five. Boren then was bumped to third by a hard riding Pee Wee Gleason . Buck spent the final laps holding off Paul Bostrom. Randy Cleek, Gary Scott and Brad Hurst (on a super-sanitary CZ) set the pace in heat five . ·Clee k clicked and Scott scooted on their way to transfers to the National. Last year's National winner Hank Scott turned in an opening lap lead in heat six, but that was short lived as J ay Springsteen barged past on the second lap . Ted Boody then put six laps of pressure on Hank, getting by with a turn three charge. A frustrated Hank Scott pulled off a lap later; ano th er victim of engine seizure. • Springsteen used an explosive 'turn four drive that carried him past Cleek and Roberts into second. Hocking kept the battle tight, only a few lengths back. Not far behind, a second battle was quickly developing with Leonard, Elo, Boody, Scott, Rawls and Poovey riding in a 12 wheel cluster resembling one huge bike. Positions, while changing within the pack, were never secure. You couId be sixth one lap and lIth the next. Cleek regained third a quarter way into the 20 lap race and never relinquished it again although Roberts tried all the moves in the book. Hocking compounded his problem with constant pressure. The fmish was set for the top four. ' On lap 14, Hocking succumbed to a blown lower end just when it seemed he couId make a move on Cleek and Roberts. As the field stretched out a bit, a race within a race developed between Boody and Scott. Scott held the upper hand from lap nine through 13, with Boody taking charge until Scott passed him for good two laps from the flag. The battle was for seventh at that time, yet it was fought like victory was on the line. With Hocking out, Dave Leonard took over fifth ahead of Elo, Meanwhile, Poovey waited for a chance to pass as the Boo dy/Scott d uel raged in front of hi m . That chance came one lap from the checkers and he swooped both riders for seventh. In the winner's circle Eklund, normally quiet, was almost as bubbly as the stuff he was spraying the crowd with. "I got a good start, a real good one, and that plus the fact that the bike ran flawlessly was all I needed to win. I really wanted to win this one," said , Steve. Relaxing later, Steve's tuner, Frank Nye, commented. "I knew how badly he wanted this one . He very seldom gets nervous before a race, but tonight he was so on edge that the energy had to go somewhere. He p u t it to good usc ." • Results 2 0 LAP N ATI ON AL; 1. S teve Ekl und (Yam) . 2. Jay Sp rin gste e n (Ho O). 3. Ran dy Cl ee k (Yam). 4 . Ke nny Roberts ( Y am ). 5. Dave Leon ard (Yam). 6 . Steve Elo ~aml ' 7. Terry Poov ey ( Bul ). 8 . Gary Scott Vam. 9. Te d B ood y (Yam). 1 0. Jim Rawls ( w j. 11 . Pee Wee Gleason ( Bul ). 12. Mike Johnson (B ul) . 13. Buck Boren (Vam) . 14. Ri ck Hocking (Yam l. 12 LA P TROPHY RACE : 1. Jimmy Mayo . ( Bul) . 2. Steve M orehead (Yam). 3. Skip A k slan d ( V am ). 4. Guy McClure taun . 5. Mike Eades (Bul). 6. Steve Droste (Yam ). 7. D ick Leonard (Yam). 8. Paul Bo st ro m (M·V) . 9. Bruce Townsend (Yam) . 10. Chuck Pom er oy ( Y am ). Semis By Gary Van Voorhis HINSDALE, ILL., AUG. 13 Friday the thirteenth may have been un lucky for some, but for Californian Steve Eklund it proved to be lucky. The young rookie Expert, aboard the Zanotti Enterprises sponsored/Frank Nye tuned Yamaha boogied his way to a flag-to-flag victory at the AMA Grand National Champ ionship /Cam el Pro Series Santa Fe short t rack. The win" Steve's second of the season, boosted him into fifth in the standings and into the lead for Rookie of the Year honors over Ted Boody, who finished ninth. In second, debuting the Harley-Davidson 350cc short tracker, was Jay Springsteen while third fell to Randy Cleek and his K&N/Bel-Ray Yamaha. Kenny Roberts, who appeared to be the track favorite before the National, took fourth; privateer Dave Leonard (Yam), riding in his first National, was fifth. Time Trials and Heats Santa Fe regular Steve Elo proved he had done his . homework by tripping the clocks at 16.087 seconds followed by Eklund, Roberts, Pee Wee Gleason and Cleek. Harley team members Springsteen, Corky Keener and Rex Beauchamp gave the pit sages something to think about as they qualified 350cc, _versions of Harley's two stroke short tracker in the top ten. Rick Hocking, gimpy knee and all, parlayed a good start and some hard riding into a win in the first heat. Early leader Steve Elo spent the majority of the closing laps holding off repeated Steve Morehead was off and running in the first Semi in hopes of securing a National grid posi tion, Terry Poovey had other ideas and with a tum four pass, left Morehead to ponder his fate. Bikes flew everywhere as a five rider crash brought o ut the red flag in Semi two. All returned to action and Bostrom and Boren each picked up a piece of the lead on the opening lap of the restart while Jay Ridgeway fought his, way fro m fourth to the lead on the next go-around. Ridgeway looked sure to win when his engine seized as he exited turn four, high siding him into the wall. Jay took a hospital trip with a suspected , cracked rib; Boren tookthe win on the single file re start. Trophy Race Paul Bostrom got a worm's eye view of turn one while challenging for third on the opening lap of the Trophy Race to bring out the red flag. Ori the restart , Jimmy Mayo (Bul) p ut a lock on first place and never let up. A quarreling pack containing Morehead, Aksland, McClure and Mike Eades ran to the checkers. (Above) Eklund in a class by himself. (Below) Hank Scott/Springer hook up together. National There was drama on the National starting grid when the bikes came back to the grid after a warm-up lap . Tuner Frank Nye, working against . the clock, made a quick jet and plug change on Eklund's bike. Eklund then practiced his start with a burnout and the pair went to a hotter plug while the seconds ticked away. "We went to the line too rich, but it was as close as) could figure it without having any running time on the track. We did two complete jetting changes after the heat looking for the right co mbjnation in this humidity because the bike was pinging so bad in the heat, we thought it might not make it." The problem was echoed by others and reflected in the many seizures throughou t the nigh t, Ek lund occupied the pole (inside) for the National with Springsteen, Cleek , Roberts, Hocking and Leonard filling out row one. Rawls, Boody, Gary Scott, Johnson, Elo and Gleason took up row two while Poovey and Boren filled the fmal two spots. With a classic hole shot that left the rest of the field a length or two behind, Eklund sped through turns one-two leading Cleek, Roberts, Springsteen and Hocking down the back stretch . In quick order on the next two laps, 11