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/126064
fI.I II DIll -= ~ t t..O ['-.. O'l ........ ~ ~ ........ "- l-< 'l,) .o 8 'l,) +-l 0.. 'l,) en Lone Stars -* . • shine In .Ala.ba.ma, By Gary V an Voorh is TALLAD EGA, ALA.. SEPT. 4 ·5 Almost 20 hours after the first wheel touched . the- track, Terry Poovey , aboard the Bul taco In 1'1. / Bel-Ray Bultaco tuned by Teddy P o ove yfBuit a co S al es of D all as, t oo k the ch e ckered fl a g at F re em an s Sh ort Tra ck in a rain . ' IA G · d N. · I d e Iaye d A j , ran j a t ro na Championship Camel Pro Series Fin al. "Poo Bear," as Poovey is known , acknowl edged his 17 year o ld status (although Ted Boody still remains the youngest rider to win a National) by offering "to bu y everyone a Coke at the . Dairy 5lu.een ." Finis hing second was pre-race fa vori te Gu y M.celure, on aJ?other Bultaco International m ount, WI~ HaJ?k Scott, aboard the S~ell Yamaha, m thu: d. The points battle tightened dr~atically with Gary ~cott still holding ~he lead, although It has now be,:n whittled down to a me.:e three pOl.nts (224·221) over Jay Sprmgste~n w~"e Kenny . .Rober:s (213) lurks m third, Luck, I':' vary mg degrees, fell on the shoulders o f all ~ree ove~ th e weekend as fat~ s~epp ed ~, enablm~ all t? m~ke the Nat ion al gr id from tight suuauons. T Mother ~ ature play,:d ga~es on Satur~ay, .f rrst th.reatemng ~am, then throwing m a httle sunshine, then , b k .h ki d f 11 Cf?,?lh~g ac. hWlt gre y , s ~es an m,,: d Y . mis mg wit a stead y ram t h at cause th e AMA to susp en d th e N at lOn ~1 aft er th e h eat .races and .resu me act ion o n S ~nday w:th the Sem is. Ti me T rials 6 Jay Sp ringsteen's tuner , Bill \\' erner , summed up practice b y saying,"We don't hav e th e track figur ed o ut yet, but then neither do many of the others." The T all adega track, a lu:nestone surface in a somewhat egg-shap ed -co nfigurat ion , ~ve mos t of th e riders fi~s as distinctly different st yles were required to go fast a t either end. Gu y McClure sped to a fast time of 17.469 foll owed at short intervals by' Steve Elo, Hank Scott, Steve Eklund and Ted Boody. Kenny Roberts was 16th, Gary Scott 20th and Jay Springsteen 33rd. Heats The slim field divided into six heats with two each taking direct transfers to the National and the rest getting a chance to either race again or call it a d "Y'Hey," said Mike Gerald, " All I can tell you about the track is that y ou gas it down the st ra ights, hook a left an d hope it turns." Mike did just that in the first heat, holding second place for one lap before his engine partially seized. Scratch one Cajun who was ragin' to do good at Talladega. Guy McClure took the win from light to flag with a solid lead as Terry Poovey and Mike Kidd battled for second place. Poovey won the dice. , _ G S tt" h t I b efore ary co s 0 warm-up ap the second heat ended up with him face down in th e dirt in tum four. Quickly up, Scott straightened his handlebars, brushed the dirt off and vowed to watch o ut for th at bump wh en th e racing got down to business. Steve Freeman led off the heat with a good holeshot o ver Steve Elo, Scott and Pee Wee Gle ason. Elo began to close on the third lap as the pair pulled away from the field ; and pulled a turn two pass. Freeman becam e the pursuer until a few laps later, his en gin e began to tigh ten up. White flag lap, Scott finally forced his way by with Gleas on also taking ad vantage . Elo was the easy winner. Bruc e T o wnsend held a brief two laps of glory in the third heat before both Han k Scott and Jay Ridgeway flashed by . Ridgeway, in the process of making the field , had dropped the crank in his Cycle Stop Kawasaki -while 'waiting for the sound test and then spent the rest of his tim e frantically changing to a spare engine. The spare went sour after three laps of p ractice, and Jay ended up on th e WKR Yamaha with which Lance Jones had won the Novice event the night before. Scott and Ridgeway .fled from the rest of the pack while Jay Springsteen banged his way from the middle to d isplace Greg Sassaman for t hird at the finish. Sass aman was unable to m ake h is Semi as his H·D's bottom end tied up . Ken ny Roberts seemed to be on his way to victory in heat four, but hometown favorite Kenny McDonald and Steve Eklund had other thoughts. McDonald barged past Roberts for the lead and set sail. Roberts then found himself in a battle with Rookie of the West Steve Eklund, who charged past on a low pass into turn one. If that wasn't enough, J im Rawls m ade life hard for Kenny to the checkered. Skip Aksland was in fine form in the fifth heat leading all the way with Bubba Rush following after displacing Larry Cooper' for second. T ed Boody and Rex Beauchamp made hard charges ear ly in the race , but Beauchamp's engine "just quit" and Boody ended up doing a lo ng sky-ground tank slapper before fin ally co ming to rest near the hay bales in turn four. The fina l heat fell to Brent Lowe after he moved quickly from mid-pack to tak e the lead from Darryl Hurst. Hurst then found himself under pressure from John Skinner and Danny Cartwright, but held on for the transfer. The rain Just as the first Semi rolled to the line it began to rain steadily. AMA Eastern Region al Referee Charlie Watson and Professional Competition Manager Mel Parkhurst huddled immediately as the rain kep t falling just hard enough to make racing dangerous. The event was called and the decision to restart the program on Sunday afternoon with the first semi was announced. Riders and mechanics argued abou t the interpretation of the rules, o n impounding the bikes and on a lo t of other topics. Later Parkhurst commented, "You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. I wanted to see the ,race run tonight as much as the -r ider s," Semis Semi action is always heavy, but with Gary Scott alr eady in the final and both J ay Springsteen and Kenny Roberts in t he Semis fro m which the re are o nly two transfers, the action was eve n heavier than usual. Springsteen was in the first sem i, run n ing a distant third. behind Mike Johnson and Mike Kidd. Suddenly Johnson slid down in turn three an d Springer was second, hounding a very experienced and hard to pass Mike Kidd, Kidd seized in turn o ne on the las t lap. Frustration for K idd, elation for Springe r. In the pits Kel Carruthers sho o k hi s h ead ; "How do you beat a guy with luck like that." By the ti me the second sem i got off the line Kenny Roberts and Larry ' Cooper were alone on the fron t row and nine of the rem aining II riders were on the penalty line. Roberts still had trouble, as Dave Pickett and Mark Smith both got rolling starts to crowd Ro berts to third as the field hit ' the back straight. Rob erts ba nge d back for the win and the field for th e National was set . Trophy Race St eve Fre eman had been denied a shot at the National in both his heat and the semi; he was not about to let a win in the Trophy Race slip from his hands. Freeman, aboard the Sure Fire spo ns ored Yamaha, bli tze d the fiel d