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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126312
IAbovel Jorgensen 1441 takes the lead in the National's first turn. Behind are : Kidd 1~1! Brow (151. Aksland 1271. Hank Scott 1141. A ldana 1101. Springsteen 111 and Goss 1131.IBelow leftl Aksland held off Brow for second.IBelow right! Jorgy in the winner's circle with Lynn Griffis. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series - Round five Jorgy takes first National win at Ascot, Akslani By Dale Brown Photos by Charles Morey GARDENA.CA.MAY13 Alex "Jorgy" Jorgensen put his Ron W ood Norton into the lead at turn one and held it there to lead every lap of the American Motor.cyclist Association Grand National Cham pionshi p / Camel Pro Ser ies ha lf m ile m ile a t J .C . Agajania n's Ascot Park . Jorgensen qualified fourth fast est. won his heat wit h the fas test tim e of the night . and simply left th e co mpetiti on behind in the Nation a l. The co m pe tition he left behind include d a good . battle for seco nd through fifth slo ts that went right down to th e wire. Second place went to new Camel Pro points leader Skip Aksland , thi rd to Garth Brow , fourth to defending Na tiona l Champ Jay Springsteen, who is just t hr ee points behind Aksland , and fifth to Ra ndy Goss. 6 For Steve Eklund . who led the po int rac e go ing into Ascot , it was a night of disappoin tment caused by mech an ical failure . Despi te rear brake problem s ca used when he touched th e haybales with his br ake pedal, Eklund qualified the Zanotti Enterprises Harley- Davidson fas test. He was leading his heat race whe n the oil pum p broke , for cing him out on t he seventh lap . Still, Eklu nd m ain tained third in t he point standings . TIme tria ls Only six rid er s broke the 23 -second br acket . led by Eklund with a 22. 70seco nd clocking. Hank SCOtt (C a rl Patrick H -D) was close behind with a 22 .72. Skip Aksland (PJ I Lubricants! Lectron Carburetors/D.A .R .T. Dev, H -D) and Jorgensen had identical tim es of 22 .84. San Jo se m ile winner Garth Brow (Me rt Lawwill /Klot zl Wiseco H ·D ) and J ohn H a reley (H areley Ent erprises H ·D ) wer e th e other under 23 -second rid ers . Eklund's tim e of 22 .70 was off th e tr ack record of 22 .05 , set last fall by Kenny Rob erts. Heats As had happened in the San Jose National final . Garth Brow roll ed over th e line and was sent back for a third ro w start . As Eklund and John Genna i (H- D) went into the first turn battling for th e lead . Brow was up to fourth beh ind Springsteen on the Bill Wer ner -tuned fa ctory Harley. Br ow moved to seco nd throu gh tu rn two on the following la p . Sp ri ngs teen got around Genn ai two la ps lat er a nd the race seemed to be set. But when Eklund slowed going into turn th ree on the seventh la p a nd th en ro lled int o th e pi ts, it was Bro w, Spri ngs tee n a nd Gen nai go ing directly to the Na tion a l. Rookie of t he Year co ntender Lance J on es (H · D) dropped ou t of th e hea t ea rly with mecha n ica l troubles. J ohn Hareley jumped int o th e lead of t he second heat pursued by Steve Morehead (KK Supply/K&K Insurance H -D), Ascot regular Bob by Sanders (H ·D) and Hank Scott . Scott took three laps to dispatch Sanders but it wasn 't until there were two la ps to go that he got by Morehead . Then , com ing out of turn four and heading for th e white flag , Scott nudged pa st Hateley and held him off for the win . Morehead was third . showing no ill effec ts from a tumble . along with Dave Ald ana . during a non -National half mil e at Ascot the previous evening . Pee Wee Gl eason (C hris Armstrong H -D) took the lea d in the third heatVl only to see th e red flag come out. Steve Fortune had crashed without injury~ going int o turn two. I On th e rest art . T ed Boody pushed I his factory Harley-Davidson into th e rl lead . Behind him were Skip Aksland and Glea son . Aksland took th e lead in' i turn two of th e second lap and was q never hea ded . Ra ndy Goss (Bart"] Markel /Wiseco /Klot z H -D) overtook I Glea son on the sa me lap a nd moved ina to p ressu re Boo d y, ge tting past a t t~2 m idw a y point and ho ld ing off Boody's strong challenges to t he flag . 0 Terry Poovey (Ted Poovey/Bd -Ray7j{ Fox Dist. H ·D ) and Ale x Jorgens en I sh ared heat four holeshot honors, bur 2 a fte r that it was a ll j orgy's sho w. ScottS! Pearson , winner of th e previou s night ' 0 half mil e. had his Harley.D a vidsorl1 ) West ma chine in second at the end 0 lap one follow ed by Dave Aldana on th e other Ron Wood Norton and ~ fa ctory Harl ey rid er Corky Keener. J That order stayed stati c until JUSta past th e halfwa y point when Mike 2 Kid d , riding his Ni ck Deliganis -tuned l! Harley with sponsorship still to be announced . made his way into t he top,! three whil e Pearson start ed to slow-, with what a p pea red to be electrical ., troubles . With Jorgy way ou t front ..N Aldana . Kidd a nd Keener had a o1 helluva battle down to the flag. with I Jorgensen , Aldana and Kidd makingj the final direct transfers to the National.