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/126275
Eklund outduels Poovey at Santa F e·rt:, By Gary VanVoorhis HINSDALE, IL , AUG. 12 -. "Damn, I'm happy," yelled a jubilant .Steve Eklund just minutes after he had won d ie .Am erica n Motorcyclist Association (AM1\.) Grand National Championship/Camel Pro !Top) Mike Caves 1281 leads the first heat. with Kenny Roberts (2) and overall winner Steve Eklund (11) behind. IAbove) The last lap proved to be Terry Poovey's downfall. (Below) Garth Brow /:lolds off Eklund early in.the race. , , Series short track a t Santa Fe Speedway. Eklund , aboard the Tom Haslertuned , Zanotti Enterprises-sponsored Yamaha, had reason to be happy for the ra ce had gone down to th e last corner of th e last lap before a winner was decided. A visibly .disappointed Terry Poovey finished second. Poovey , riding the Team Bel -Ra y Bultaco built' by Glen Waters of Bultaco Sales of Dallas (T exas), had led 14 of the 20 laps , but when the checkered flag was waved , he was second. . Third went to hard charging Garth Brow and his self-tuned Team Bel Ra y/Bechelli Rac ing Ac cessories Yamaha. Brow was in th e hunt all the way in what tu rn ed out to be the hardest fou gh t short tra ck National of the year. The po int standings cl osed up . somewh at as po ints lea der Ja y Sp ri ngsteen su rprisin gl y fai led to qua lify fo r the Na tional. Kenny Roberts took fou rt h a nd T ed Poo vey sixt h to close in on Sp ringer's 159 with 151 and 147 points . respectively. TIme Trials . .. . . 1 knew Steve was ~omg t~ w~n after he set a track ,~ord in quahfying. H,e was pu~ped. Tom H~ler, Eklund,S mechanic , was . ref,:rnn~ to .Steve s 14. 942 second bliste ring nme tnal.lap. Garth Bro.w followed Eklund WIth a 15. 0.52 clockl.ng. . RI~k f:iockmg aboard a Shell Racmg Spc;,clalue;;, Yamaha, Steve Elo aboard . a works Ossa and Terrr Poo vey rounded out the ~op five quah!i~rs . A total of 60 nders were eligible for the !"ational progr~!J1, but in all only 55 nders made the Iieats. Heats 12 . Under the six-heat-race short track program . only . two riders would qualify for the National from each heat . The remaining two slots in the - l4·rider National would be filled by the winner of each of two semis. The first heat got 'underWay with the majority of the field starting from the penalty line after mass antieipationof the starting lights.•The problem would continue all night. Kenny Roberts, on the Yamaha Motor U.S .A . mount, scored an easy first heat win . Steve Eklund took second after a handlebar banging incident on lap two left him sixth. In four laps Eklund had regained second and quickly broke aJ"ay froma Mike Caves /Darryl Hurst battle that went to the flag. Heat two belonged to Garth Brow on the re -start. Santa Fe regular Rob Beary took Second , but he was aboard t he Bel -Ray/Ron Sisson Yamaha instead of his regular ' Belleville Suzuk i sponsored Suzuki. It was determined during tech inspec tion that the RM250 Suzuki Beary has ca m paign ed all year was not AMA approved . That ruling also affected Wes Powell 's ride. R ick Hocking and Mike Kidd, aboard a Penton U. S.A . sponsored Penton, sped to a pair of tickets to the National . in the third heat . Skip Aksland and his PJ-l Lubricants/K-R Racing Yamaha and Harle yDa vidson's Jay Springsteen took third place right down to the finish with Aksland d iving under Springer coming out of turn four on the final lap. Heat four was another one-two runaway with Steve Elo leading Wes Powell, on injured Guy McClure's Bultaco, to the flag . ' In order to win the fifth heat . Terry Poovey had to bang his way past Rory Simmons' Bel-Ray Yamaha and Tim Cartwright 's Cartw right Heating Yamaha. Cartwright took a close second . Harl~y-Davidson factory rider Ted Boody swept the final heat of the night with Gary SCOtt and his Evel Knievel-sponsored Ossa second. Semis The final two spots in the Nationa went to Skip Aksland and Gary Reust. Aksiand took the lead and the wi