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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126316
The Harrington winner's circle. Corky Keener (left) and Springer get their champagne ready wh ile Boody lets his fly. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series Round eight, 'Three in a row for Springer in H-D's Harrington sweep By Gary Van Voorhis HARRINGTON , DE,JUNE 10 Jay Springsteen , Ted Boody and Corky Keener aced out the competition in the Fourth Annual Full House Classic half mile at the Delaware State Fairgrounds Saturday night and made the winner's circle celebration and excl usive Team H a rleyDavid ff . a VI son a air . . For defending Grand National 8 . . . ChamplO~ J ay Spn~gste~n the .wm marked hl.s th ird stral~h~ m Amencan A~socla.tlon Gra nd Mot.orcychst Na~lOnal . Champlonsh~ p/ Camel, Pro Senes a ctl? n and sa~ him move mto a com m a nd mg SO -pomt lead over Steve Eklund (1 11.81). F B d h i ' o~ 00 y, w 0 • won ast year s Harn ngt?n event, hIS second second lace re turn Pf h finishb marked a k d .d to . form h o t. e num er two -ran e n er in t e nation , " I sh ave d my" b car d 0 ff t hi lS,wee k . " id Keener . " I nee d a c h ange In . sal luck. " Keen er got his wish with his third -place finish , a lth ou gh what he really wanted was to win to break an almost two -year drought of being close , but no t close eno ug h . Mike Kidd a nd H ank Scott rounded ou t th e top five on a track wher e pa ssin g , unless someone in ad e a mi stak e , was a lmos t non -existen t. A very off-form Gary Scott was a spec ta tor for the National. Scott , with a fifth in his heat and a third in th e semi , was extremely disappointed in ~is performance. . "It was one of t.hos~ tim es where noth ing see me d to chck. Ti T' I nne ria s Although Steve Eklund professes not to like eastern tracks, he did like Harrington. Ekl und t'wisted ' his throttle on th e Zanotti Ent erprises Harley for a 25 .923 second clocking to post fast time and become th e on ly id b k h 2 db' n er to rea t e 5 sec~m arner. Garth Brow, Keener , Spn ngsteen a nd Boody rounded out the top five , Qua lifying at Harrington was not a . . , . I . do-or-die situation sin ce on y 46 n d ers tu rned up to vie for th e 48 qualifying . f spots. MIke .Boyes 0 Tacoma, W A . had th e dub.ious hon or of bemg th e . . final quahfier. Heats In all but heat one , sta rt ing on th e po le was a su re tick et to victory . Fast qualifi er Eklund was awa y qui ckl y at th e sta rt of th e first heat , but Boody was qui cker. The pair ran one -two through th e 10 laps with Eklund making a lat e cha rge that fell sho rt , Skip Aksland topped a d uel with T erry. Poovey a nd Ga ry Sc~ tt for t hird . Brow, after holdmg off ea rly la ps cha llenges by Kidd in heat two, scor ed an easy victory. Rickey Campbell had t he cro wd on its co llective feet with a supe r rid e through th e pack to a third place fini sh . Triumph -mounted Campbell made up for a lack of horsepower by a fantast ic display of riding in th e corners that had th e Harley-Davidson rid ers ea ting thei r hearts out. Campbell's aggressive style almost ca rried" him pas t Kidd at the flag , Corky Keener didn't wait for a nyone in heat three . Keener split a t the Rreen light. leaving th e crowd to sort itself ou t. Joey Purdu e held -a n ea rly second pla ce only to be dropped to thi rd by Kenny Mc Dona ld . Hank Scott t hen moved into th e action dropping Purdue to fourth and then ta kin g McDonald's second p lace in the closing laps. Purdue tried, but co uldn't work his way ba ck past McDonald. The final heat of the night was a ll Springsteen's. Jay finis hed with a comfortable lead despite a rear tire that was going flat in the final four la ps. The race was for second place where Alan Loughead held th e advantage for eig ht laps only to lose it to Billy Crabbe a nd then Tom Berry in th e fin a l two laps . " I made Novi ce mistakes in th e final two laps" said th e Pat e's l-l-D v sponsored rid er . " I had seco nd , but I blew it. " Semis T he highlight of th e even ing's racing occ u rred on th e fin al lap of th e first semi . It was a classic sho w of hard riding and det erminati on in wh ich both riders d eserved to be th e winner. The see-saw batt le between T erry" Poovev and Steve Freem an cam e down I • to th e fina l 2 ,640 feet. Poovey a nd Freem an were wheel -to -whee l and elbow-to-e lbow exiting turn two and J stayed gl ued together right t hro ug h th e final turn , In a classi c duel to th e finish line, th e pair tried to occupy th e , same single lin e on th e track, Freeman was th e more aggressive and too k th e decision. The final semi saw a good dea l of swapping of the lead between Billy Schaeffer and Eddie Lawson after the crowd which had fought for th e front running spot in the opening laps sorted itself out. Lawson too k fina l com m and and the final transfer to the National. Trophy Race Billy Schaeffer proved to be the toughest one in the T rophy Race . Schaeffer, riding a bik e sponsored by Bel-Ray , Schaeffer's H- D and Corky. Keener , outdistanced Terry Poovey and Scott Pearson for the victory. Poovey and Pearson were locked in a tight duel for second place which Poovey won on th e eighth la p . ' I felt 1 rode go od ," said Schaeffer la ter , "but I wish th e rid er had come in th e National. " National 'T T ed Boody', via hi s fast heat win " chose th e ou tside (grandstand) pol e positi on for the sta rt of th e 20 -lap Nat ional. T he track, wh ich was groome d once afte r th e end of th e heat ra ces, had turned into a rather narrow