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/126314
Itakes the lead ahead of Brow (151. Springsteen. Eklund (111. Aksland 1271. Ted M ike Kidd won the first semi and was running fourth in the National before he crashed on t he last lap in the last turn. Denver Arm ou r. A la p after th at , Bood y was in seco nd [0 st a v. Arm our an d McD onald battled for th e remainder of th e heat over th ird a nd Armour took it by a bik e Ieng th. Novice Invitational • Mike Davison (Yarn ) was th e man in ch a rg e o f th e Kaw a sak i N ovice Invi tation al . leading from the first lap to the last. T ho mas T rou dt ran seco nd a ll th e way wit h Gu s Bordner in third . Semis Ha nk Sco tt [Oak t he lead in the first sem i. but qui ckl y d ropp..d out. 'Bo bby Sa nd ers grabbed it and held it unt il Mike Kidd , on his N ick Deliga nistun ..d . s po n so r -t u -b... . an n o u n c e d H arl ey-Davidson. passed him midway in th .. ra e.. an d we nt o n to ta ke the single transfer . The last r..m a in ing ticket to the .Na t ion al belo nged t'; Gary Scott . wh o led t he second semi a ll the way. Fr ank Wor d (S .O.S . Elec.l ll -D o f Douglas Co .l Da d H .D ) a nd T om Berry (lRC Eng . H -D) had a tussle over s..cond );" hich was decid ed in Word 's favor . [J u n i o r Invitational e. Mark Gibso n led th e Ch uc k Fowler .Merno ria l J un io r In vita tion a l from win ' to wire . Ga ry C hase ra n in seco nd a ll t he way, white Bru ce Sass ( beu er ' known for his 'roa d rac ing prowess) a nd Allen Rohr wor ked th eir way past ea rly th ird -p lace r Rudy Gi bson. Trophy Race Am ong th ose wat ching the Trophy race wer e th e top three from th e Nationa l. When it started raining during th e Junior ra ce . th e decision was m ade qui ckl y to run the Nat ional first. Bobby Sa nders. recogni zed as a hol esho t a rt ist in -r e g io n a l co m pe titio n . took one in th e Trophy r ace . Dav e Aldana an d Ph il M cDon al d foll ow e d , but were d ispl a ced by Jim Mertens . Mertens . d isa pp oint ed, at n ot m aking th e Nat ional. pull ed a clo se p ass on Ald ana , go ing down to t he po le in turn four to get around . T he pass Mert en s used on Sa nders in th e sa me spo t a lap lat er was even closer - th e so und of h andleb ars, elbows, legs . p ip es , e t c . m ak ing co n t a c t wa s unm istak able , but successful , a nd neit h er fell . McD"" ald a nd Joe Wilson passed Sand ers for seco nd and th ird (A ld a na fell ear lier ). O n th .. last la p , McD on ald went high in turn two and was relegat ed [0 t hird . National Steve Eklund , Ga rt h Bro w and Ted Bood y led the field aroun d rh.. first corner , hu t Ricky Gra ha m a nd Ra nd y Goss had ta ng led ha nd leba rs off th e line a nd go ne d own , bringing ou t the red flag . O n the rest a rt , Steve Mo reh ead went into th e lead a head of Eklu nd , Steve Eklund took the first heat over Skip Aksland . The pa ir finished in that order behind Springsteen in the National. Garth Brow took over fourth when Kidd crashed. The second-year Expert f rom M ichigan has placed in the top four three races in a row. Springsteen and Ak sland . Eklund passed Morehead on th e next la p as first Mike Kid d , then Garth Brow mov ed up behind Aksland. Springsteen passed Moreh ead for second. and a lap later Morehead crashed in turn four. but th e cra sh did not stop th e race . Eklund continued leading a t th e m id way point with Springer. Aksland . Brow . Kidd , Bood y and Graham in pursuit. Eklund and Springsteen had started -toope n up a sizea b le gap . A co up le of laps later Springsteen had no on e betw een him and his Gr and Nation al win of 1978 . " I mad e a slip a nd . . . oops .. . he went by," sai d Eklund afte r the race . During th e dis cu ssion over the first two places, Kid d go t in front of Brow . Eklund , a fter le tt ing Springst een slip away a bit , sta rt ed to reel him in as th e ra ce nea red th e fini sh . T he ga p narrowe d to feet co mi ng out of th e fourth co rner, but Sp ringer was first to flag . Aksland was a di stant th ird , but his co nt inu ing dirt tra ck con sistency will p ut him in go od stead , especia lly consideri ng that he ha s a n excel lent cha nce in the roa d race sirc u it now t hat " King Kenny" Roberts is busy b litzing European GPs. Kidd had fourth as they took the white fl a g . Pos sibl y tr ying to o h ard , however, he . cras hed in turn four. T hat left Brow in fourth ahead of Boody, Poove y and Scott. Randy Goss was eig hth , folowed by Ascot winner AlexJorgensen . Springsteen sa id in th e winner's circle that there were severa l banked tracks within reach of his Flint. MI home. And . as the furor over the Scott cla im di ed down , th e ra in sta rt ed to ce a se . th e co m peti t o rs left for Oklahoma 'City, wher e th e race had been rai ned ou t the previous week . and would be cancelled agai n. Results NATIONAl.: 1. Joy Spr;ngst een (H·D); 2. Steve Eklund IHDI; 3. Skip Aksland IH-DI; 4. Garth Brow IHD); 5. Ted Boody IH-D); 6. Terry Poovery (H-Dt; 7. Gary Scott IH-DI; B. Randy Go.. IH-DI; 9. A le. Jorgensen INOlI; 10. Chubby Armour IH-D); 11. Bubb a RUSh IH·D)· 12. Ricky Graham (Yaml; 13. Mi ke Kidd (H-D); 14: Steve Morehead (H-Dl. TROPHY RACE: 1. JIm M ertens IH-D); 2. J oe Wilson IH-D); 3. Phil M cDonald IH·DI; 4. Bobby Sanders, IH-DI; 5. Tom BeHy IH-DI; 6. Randy Scon IH-DI; 7. Stan Johnson ; 8. Brett Baddy IH·D). TOP 10 EX QUAL: 1. Sieve Eklund 20.17; 2. Jay Spr ingsteen 20.20; 3. Garth Brow 20.20; 4. Steve M Olehead 20.22; 5. Skip Aks land 20.24; 6. Paul Eggleton 20.32; 7. Alex J orgensen 20 .23: 8. Rand y Scott 20.43; 9. Hank Scott 20.46; 10. Bobby Sand ers 20.47 . . J R INVITATIONAL: t . M ark Gibson; 2. Gary Chase; 3. Bruce Sass; 4. All en Rohr ; 5. Rudy Foster; 5. larry Gerard : 7. Frank Roo vakkers. NOV INVITATIONAL: t . M ike Oavidson;'2. Thomas 'Troudt: 3. Gus Bordner; 4. Brian Anderson; 5. Kent J essen;' 6. Cha rles leuthauser; 7, Kevin Fuqua; 8 Ja mesSeay. CAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jay Spr ingsteen (71I; 2. Sk ip A kstand (67); 3. Steve Eklun d 1 ; 4. Garth Brow 1 ; 5. Gary Scott 139 ; 6. Ale. 571 441 1 : 301 Jorgensen t321 7. Ted Bood y 1 ; 8. Terry Poov ey (261;9. Hank Sco tt (2 1); 9. Ste lle M or ehead 1211. 7