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/126283
; IIIlI • ~ E r-r-01 1"""'4 O"l 1"""'4 l-t ~ .1:2 0 ..... ... a: '" :: U -0 J: " ~ .., > CD ~ ~ · row blastS to B record breaking Ascotwin (Above leftl Garth Brow on the way to victory• (Abovel Dave Aldana donned skeleton leathers to finish ttW'd on the Ron Wood Norton. (Belowl Spr\IlglI18en ahead of Randy Goss (30x) and Bill Schaeffer (961. '~ By Gary Van Voorhis GARDENA, CA, OCT. 8 Rookie of the Year Garth Brow, in a sizzling display of throttIe-to-the-stops riding, demolished alf mile track records at Ascot on the way to .his first AMA Grand National victory. t . Brow , riding the Jim Curnow ': tuned Team Bel-Ray Harleyt Davidson smashed both the 10 lap .heat race and 20 lap National ,c records by nearly three anrl four . seconds, respectively. "' Brow's explanation for his record setting pace was simple: " I thought if I slacked up at an y time I might lose," said Brow. " I learned this year that second place always tries harder." Brow was doubly happy when informed that the victory had moved him into tenth place in the standings . ~Join i ng Brow in the winner's circle were re-crowned National Champion Jay Springsteen and David Aldana. Springsteen's second-place ride came aboard his Harley-Davidson factory mount tuned by Bill Werner while Aldana took the show position riding one of Ron Wood's super sanitary Nortons. While Springsteen clinched the title at the previous night's TT, the battle for second place in the standings continued. In the end it belonged to Ted Boody. but his runner-up spot in the championship tally was not decided until the final laps of the National although contenders Gary Scott and Kenny Roberts failed to make the National line up . Time Trials r Kenny Roberts, for the second night in a row, led all qualifiers. Roberts , on the DeMay/Deligian is prepared Yamaha Motor Corp, USA mount dropped the track record to 22.05 sec o nds. Gary qualified his Evel Knievel sponsored, Sal Acosta tuned XR second fastest , bu t' was almost a half second off Roberts' pace. Randy Scott, Jay Springsteen and Garth Brow rounded out the top five. In all 32 of the 48 qualifiers dipped into the 22 second bracket. Heats Heat one was a preview of what Ga rth Brow would do in th e National. He set a record pace followed by the Al Stangler tuned factory HarleyDavidson of Corky Keener and the Carl Patrick Ra cing XR of Hank Scott. The real story, however, was that neither Kenny Roberts or Ted Boody could match the pace and had to settle for places in the sem i after finishing fourth and fifth. It took second heat winner Steve Eklund seven laps to move from a bunched start and catch init ial leader Alex Jorgensen. Jorgy dialed his Ron Wood Norton into a holding pattern behind the Tom Hastler tuned Zanotti Enterprises XR of EkIund and, left the battle for third. It went right down to the last comer with Steve Morehead sending Gary Scott to the semi with a two bike -length third place margin at the checkers. In just two heat races the entire complexion of the evening had changed - now all three contenders with a shot at second place in the point standings had not qualified for th e National. T o make matters even more interesting, all were bound for the samesemil David Aldana 's yea rs of Ascot racing experience pa id off with a win in the th ird heat. Aldana . held off countless charges by Sh ell Racing Specialties Yamaha mounted Rick ' Hock ing . Rook ie Expert Ted Da vidson held command of a tight race for third aboard his Team Happy/Harry Lille/NPD Yamaha. Jay Springsteen put himself out front of a snarling pack in heat four . It was , however , no run -away for Springer as Don Goss, riding Ted Boody's spare factory Harley continually challenged Springsteen. Mike Kidd then joined the fray on his Mert Lawwill Racing Products XR until a loose coil wire took the fire out of his fight on lap seven . While most eyes were on the battle up front, Billy Eves was slicing through the field from an early lap 'seventh placing to a rapidly closing third place in the last laps on his Team Bel-Ray XR. Semis The air was electric as the first semi rolled to the line. Only one transfer spot to the National was available and with Roberts, Scott and Boody all in the first event everyone knew action was coming. They were not disappointed. The first five laps saw Bood y grab the lead with Scott and Roberts a breath away . Wheel to wheel , Scott and Roberts ba ttled with Scott finally getting by on lap five for second in tum one. On the last lap Roberts drifted high in tum one and slipped to fourth. Scott hounded Boody to the flag, but came up two bike lengths short. Dan McWhorter, aboard the Dick Keirn Yamaha ultimately took the final transfer spot after a battle in the second semi with Triumph mounted privateer Larry Legarra and Billy Schaeffer on the Tex Peel/Team BelRay XR. Schaeffer appeared to have the edge in the battle, but a broken brake line in the late laps proved very costly and he slipped to second. Trophy Race Tom Berry barged his way into the lead in the Trophy Race on lap five of the twelve lapper with a handlebar banging pass of Billy Schaeffer that put Schaeffer up near the bales in turn two . Berry kept his Kickback Construction sponsored Harley out front for the next three laps until Paul Bostrom , on the Circle Bell Enterprises XR out ran him down the back chute for the lead. Lurking close behind was Gary Scott, who had gotten caught in traffi c at the start 9