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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126273
back straight on the final lap although Crabbe took the fight right to the flag. Garth Brow ran away with heat two leaving the scrapping to go on behind him . Rex Beauchamp put his T .C . Rac ing Harley into second immediately at the stan with Hank Scott, now riding a Harley for his brother's former tu ner Carl Patrick, coming on strong on lap three and taking second on lap five. Beauchamp then found that Gene Romero wanted his Ocean 'Pacific Sunwear Special XR in third. Gene took third away from Rex. but Beauchamp came right back and nipped Romero at the finish by half a wheel. The third heat saw Gary Scott run out front stan to finish . Second and third place were another matter. Mike Kidd (Men Lawwill Racing Products) and Ke ith Ulicki (Uke's H·D) finally took the positions , but not without a fier ce battle. Scott Drake wanted th ird badly and so did Skip Aksland (PJ-I Lubricants) and Chuck Palmgren (Dan Gurney Racing) . Drake took the figh t to the flag . but was beat ou t. Corky Keener had the crowd on its feet in the final heat as he blasted past Kenny Roberts for the lead as the pack entered turn one on the second lap . Keener then began to open a lead on his Team Harley mount as first Billy Schaeffer and then Billy Eves (East Coast H ·D Dealers Ass .) pushed Roberts back to fourth. Alex Jorgenson then brought his Ron Wood Norton up to hound Kenny while Roberts searched for a way to third. There was none. Springer .cools blistering Duquoin '11ile l ' By Gary Van Voorhis DUQUOIN , IL.jULY 31 Jay Springsteen took a giant step toward repeating as Grand ational Champion as he won the American Motorcyclist Assn. (AMA) Camel Pro Series mile at DuQuoin's Hayes Fair 6 Acres . The win , and the fa ilu re by Ted Boody and . Ken',ly R~berts to sco~e any chamfllOllsh.lp p.?mss, . p ut Spnnger on top of the .standmgs with a . . ... . 1~ .pomt bulge over Boody <,159· 1.46) with Roberts ( 136) another SIX poin ts h . h d h idi s i-h . e 0I?pr~lve eat an urn. tty were Springer .s only . real challengers . h ' once a mysterious mISS In t .e engme O? lap three of the 2.5.mlle .event elsappeared almost as quickly as It had ern: ' B'I ( W d pnngsteen s ~ erner-tune fact';'ry Harley.Dav~dson was followed t~ victory by Roo.kle Garth Bro~ .for hIS best placing this year. Brow. riding the Team Bel-Ray/Bechelli Accessories Harley XR, took second a safe distance ahead of Gary Scott on the Evel Knievel Special XR . "I didn't realize just how hot I was until I got off the bike and started to walk to the winner's circle," said jay later. "It actually took a couple of minutes before a sort of faint feeling went away." The race was marred by an accident which left Jay "Underdog" Ridgeway with severe brain damage . At presstime, Ridgeway was listed in extremely critical condition by the Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt . Vernon, IL. • " Time Trials; Carroll Resweber's track record ~f 42.50 seconds , set at the last National h e Id a t D U Q UOIO In 1958 . was . . sh a tte red by 27 ri d e rs with jay S prmgsteen . Iea dimg t h e wa y With a · . 39.181 clocking. Garth Brow timed a couple of ticks behind Springer with . S co tt D ra k e, W arren (O h 'IO) H .D . putting his XR in at third fastest. The Tex Peel /Bel .Ray /Schaeffer's (Orwigsburg, PAl H .D XR with Billy Scl&effer on board ticked off fourth quick time while Steve Morehead rounded out the top five on his KK Insurance I KK Suppl Harley . y He a t s Springer continued his hot streak with a wire-to-wire win in the first heat in front of an estimated crowd of over 10 ,000 enthusiastic fans. Willie Crabbe held second for the first half of the 10·lap event. Each heat would transfer three riders to the main with - an additional two each from the semifinals to make the 16-rider National. Crabbe, under continual challenge from Harley teamster Ted Boody and S te ve Morehed grudgingly let Morehead past for second. The race for third carried to the final two laps with Boody and Crabbe swapping positions until Boody took third for good on the .\ ' " ,~ , ";. ~ .. r ~ • 1.' ': f • ~. ~ lead, pulling Gene along and dropping a surprised johnson to third and a spot in the trophy race. Scott Drake took his ticket to the National leading start to finish in the final semi. Alex jorgenson held second for five laps before both Chuck Palmgren and Kenny Roberts thundered past when Alex slip ped off . the groove . Palmgren did the same two laps from the end and Kenny Roberts collected the final spot in the National on Palmgren 's bobble. Tro phy Ra c e "The darn thing liked to never end ," said Trophy Race winner Darryl Hurst. " I kept counting laps and waiting for the flag to come out so 1 could stop and cool off. Hey , it 's hot out there. The 25·lap National is going to be a killer." Chuck Pa lmgren had split into the lead at the start with Hurst moving through traffic for second on lap two , Darryl put hi s Hurst Supply/Ossa West Yamaha into the lead on the following lap and then took off while Palmgren and Vern Johnson fought it out for second. Palmgren took second for good .on lap seven wh ile HNurst continued to pull away on his way to victory. N ation a l Mike Kidd learned about the frailties of Harley-Davidson magnetos as his quit on the starting line leaving the young Texan to beat his gas tank in frustration. Corky Keener led the field (now 14 Harleys and the lone Yamaha of Roberts) off the line and on a quick tour of the DuQuoin track. Everyone p layed shuffie on the back straight with Spri nge r , Gary Scott, Schaeffer. Brow. Boody and Ulicki lining tip behind. Springer sprang into the lead as the pack sped away from turn two with Keener right on his rear wheel. Gary SCOtt bobbled in turn three and that was all Brow needed to make his way right up to third, ~ Semis Gene Romero. jay Ridgeway and Steve Eklund were all in a knot entering the first turn on lap six as the trio fought for the lead. Ridgeway ticked Eklund's tire. highsiding the Georgia rider and sending him to the hospital with severe head injuries. On the single file restart Vern johnson (George Coston H·D) took the lead with Romero and Eklund right behind. Three laps later, Romero swooped into the lead. Then on the final lap Eklurid shot past into the It •• • _ .. .. ~ " .. .:' 1: ... :I ) .~. : • .... ~ \ ~ } 'tt 1 )