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/126280
(Above) Garth Brow gains on Springsteen going into the last laps of the National. (Left) Champagne celebration. starring Brow. Springer. and Corky Keener with Lynn Griffis. honored guest. (Below) Willie Crabbe (7a) and John Johnson taking the high and low roads through the second Semifinal. Springsteen closer' to championship ,with' Louisville win By Gary Van Voorhis LOUISVILLE, KY. , SEPT. 17 Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen took another step toward keeping his ~itle by winning the AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series half-mile at Louisville 12 while his rivals Gary Scott, Ted Boody, and Kenny Roberts, were watching from the sidelines or mired in the back of the pack. The race had been rescheduled from the original Toledo, Ohio site after the Toledo grandstands burned down earlier this year. ' This, the sixth National win of the season for Springsteen aboard his Bill Werner-tuned Harley-Davidson factory mount, went right to the final few feet . Rookie of the Year candidate Garth Brow rode his Jim Curnowtuned Team Bel-Ray XR to within half, a bike-length of Springer at the finish . Corky Keener's AI' Stangler. tuned , factory. backed XR came out on top of a race long duel for third place with Steve Eklund on the Zanotti Enterprises, Tom Hastier-tuned XR. Fifth was Rex Beauchamp ,a b. a rd the o TC Racing Harley . ' . Gary Scott found himself with a chance to chip away at Springsteen's points lead, but could only manage an 11th on his Sal Acosta-tuned Evel Knievel Special XR when his choice of tires for the final proved wrong. Kenny Roberts , for the third time in a row, found himself.a spectator for the National when the heats and semis finished . Roberts literally rode the wheels off his Yamaha , but that wasn't good enough. Har ley -Da vidson teamster Ted Boody was another spectator. He crashed his way out of a transfer position in his heat and then fail ed to make it out of a sem i. The results gave_Springer a 24point margin over Boody (222·198) with Scott (185) and Roberts (179) trailing. Once again track conditioning caused concern among the riders . It has been stipulated that a mechanical sweeper would be on hand to clear the groove of grit so that it would at least be more than one bike wide. None was available. Three days of rain prior to the event and a liberal dos e of calcium chloride cured the dust . although consta nt watering and dragging was necessary. The watering made the cushion riders mad since riding behind someone meant being sprayed with limestone grit , which smeared when wiped off. The brave rode the cushion, th e smart .rode th e groove , and the race went on . Heats Hank Scott left the fighting to the rest of the field as he split from the pack exiting tum two on the opening tap of heat one. Billy Burbank put his Sure Fire Distributing XR into second using . a line high up in the loose cushion: Gary Scott moved to third and began to challenge Burbank on lap six for second. Two laps later ' Bu rb a n k crashed , exploding the haybales in tum one and bringing out the red flag. Burbank walked away ,with only bruises. ' The restart made it a new race as Scott Drake came off the single file line with a drive that took him to second from his initial seventh place before the red flag. In the final three laps the Warren , Ohio H -D rider closed to Hank Scott's rear wheel , leaving Gary Scott alone in third . •• Heat two , 'foun.d: .R,andy Goss speeding to the lead for the first 't h ree laps while Steve Eklund was catching up after a trip up into the loose stuff. By lap four Eklund was in command with G oss second and Ricke y Campbe ll third . T wo la ps later Campbell swept by for second . Then Goss' engin e di ed, moving Bill y Schaeffer into the fi nal direct transfer spot. All eyes in hea t th ree were on the wheel -to-wheel battle betw een Mike Kidd -a nd Jay Springsteen as the pair traded the lead like a hot potato. Springer always held the lead where it counted , but Kidd's Mert Lawwill XR appeared to have more power. While the battle raged up front , Garth Brow was slicing his way to third and held off a last lap charge by John Johnson .' It was the fastest heat of the evening, earning Springer the pole position for the National. Mert Lawwill took the win in heat four. Balance problems caused by an inner ear infection have plagued Mert for the better part of two seasons, but the win showed Lawwill's back in form. Harley Teamster Ted Boody spilled after hitting a slick spot, changing his second place into a 10th place finish . Corky Keener put his factory Harley into second after a see-saw'battle with Billy Eves. Semi spoilers A little luck and perhaps a little "dea ling" put Ted Boody into the first alternate ' position for the semis. Boody, scrapping for every point in the champion chase, was odt to get into the semi one way or another. Tony Staughton pulled out of semi one and Boody was in . . The first semi was no contest as Rex Beauchamp opened a good lead with a holeshot and kept increasing it as Boody fought with spoiler Mike Caves. Beauchamp took the only transfer to • the National while Boody had to settle . for a distant second and a seat in the pits at National time . Willie Crabbe played a spoiler role also . Crabbe held off- repeated charges by Kenny Roberts in the early laps as Roberts sought vainly to capture the final slot on the starting grid of the National. Slowly Roberts slipped back to fourth as first Steve Freeman, and then John Johnson zapped past. Trophy Race .. "It was a helluva race ," exulted Trophy Race winner Steve Morehead . "I got Boody as we went into turn three on the last lap . He shut off and I kept the gas on and stayed low. It was enough for me to take the lead. The racing is never over until they wave the checkered flag. " National The question in everyone's mind was how to set up for the track. The high line was bumpy and appeared slower. The low line was one bike wide. In between there was very little traction. The one line starting grid stretched across the track with Springer picking the outside (grandstand) pole position. Lawwill. Eklund, Hank Scott, Kidd, Keener, Campbell , Drake, Brow, Eves, Schaeffer , Gary Scott, Beauchamp, and Crabbe stretched to' the inside. Springer came off the line perfectly and headed straight for the cushion spewing a rooster tail behind as he .sw,:,ng wide and then squared off the comer and dove for the groove exiting tum two with Keener, Crabbe, Brow, Campbell, Beauchamp, and Eklund in hot 'pu rsuit . By lap two Springer was making the high line work for the time being and pulling awa y. The grid had formed into packs with Keener leading a four rider freight for second while