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IAbove) Kidd leads Aksland through turn one. IBelow) Eddie Lawson 111 R)
and Jim Mertens swapped the lead on almost every lap of the Junior Invite't ional. Lawson was in front at the flag.
(Top) Aksland arid Scott approach the flag. IAbove) Nick Deligianis removes
Roberts' busted engine. IBelow) Kidd leads Roberts (2). Eklund (11). Gary
Scott IS)and Aksland midway through the National.
four and five . Three people were on
the move in the middle of the tigh tly
knit pack. Kidd , Aksland, and
Roberts were moving up after starts
between fifth and 10th positions. Kidd
went past Gary Scott 'a nd Eklund to
take the lead. He usually had the lead
going into turn one , with others
sharing precarious bits of it as they
slowed for comers.
When Kidd took the lead, Aksland
and Roberts were in fifth and sixth.
Kenny moved ahead of Aksland and
Eklund a lap later. Challenging
Keener, Kenny roared by . All this
time , the first seven or eight were only
a few feet apart , and their order on
any given lap depended on where you
were watching the race.
On lap 10 Roberts slipped past Scott
as they exited tum two. On the next
lap , he repeated the trick on Kidd, but
Mike had it back before they crossed in
front ofthe grandstands.
A few laps "later Aksland and his
former mentor, Roberts , were battling
going into turn three. Aksland's
handlebar tangled with Roberts' bike.
broke Skip's clutch lever and threw
Aksland out of the groove . His trip up
high dropped him back to sixth and he
had to start over again.
Eklund forced his way into second
on lap 12, but it didn't last under
Robert 's' pressure. But Roberts only
had a few more rounds of glory before
he slipped up high in turns three- four
and started slowly advancing to the
(Contin ued on page 29)
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