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/126410
complete a back-up machine , but as it turned out , one wouldn't be necessa ry . The sole fact ory Harle y entry in th e race , Steve Morehead , qualified second fastest , turning a 37 .76 on his Steve Storz-prepared XR750 . Third fastest was th e Doug Sehl m onoshock XR ridd en by Corky Keener, cloc king a 37 .86 . The final po le pos ition in the heats went to Sacramento winner Mike Kidd , wh o was th e last rider under 38 seconds with a time of 37 .91. Hank Scott, John Hateley , Bubba Rush , Skip Aksland , Lance Jones and rookie Scott Parker were the re m ai n ing top 10 qualifiers. Heats Hank Scott and Randy Goss led Steve Eklund through the first two turns, but Eklund d isposed of Goss in the second turn and slipped a round Scott in th e third to lead a ll th e way to Bob Malley's checkered flag . Scott, riding th e Patrick Ra cin g /Sure-Fire / Jerry Branch/Carlisle/Barnes Wheel Harley, held second most of theway and made the National field , the first time he'd don e it in '79. Third was a three-way battle between Coss, Chuck Palmgren and Terry Poovey until Poove y d ropped out with mechanical ills. Goss (W iseco / Klotz / KRW H.D) and Palmgren (Dan Gurney H·D) battled from one co rn er to the next and the ir b attle utlimatel y brought them to Scott's rear fender. Goss got arou nd Scott in th e first corner two laps from the finish, but Scot t went by at the sa me spo t a lap later. Goss tried o nce more but Sc ott regained h is posit ion down the back straight and kept it. Sonny Burres and J ohn Sperry , fin ished fifth a nd sixth , b ehind Palmgren. The second heat featured a holeshot by Morehead, with Scott Pearson (H ·D West H ·D) after him like a bill collector. The two of th em had the ir own d ice go ing for th e lead , and a three-wa y d ice was d e vel opin g between Scott Parker, John Hateley a nd Brad Hurst. Hurst q ui ckl y lef t. that battle a nd m oved up with th e leaders, p assin g Pearson on th e third la p . On the following ci rcu it , Hu rst stuffed his W ayne Hall /KRW / Lectron Harley past Morehead going into turn three. Morehead returned the favor on the opposite corner of the course and was not passed aga in . With Pearson in third , the transfer positions were se t. A three-way battle erupted late in the race for fourth , with Danny Cartwright nipping Parker at th e line for fourth . Rookie Mike Minnig was close behind for sixth . Gary Scott took reading-the-starter honors in the th ird heat , but lost some pos it ions g o i n g down th e back strai gh t. At the end of o ne it was Rick Hocking, Corky Keener, Scott and Ricky Graham in front of the pa ck. Keener, Scott and Graham passed Hocking, and on the next lap , Keener and Scott excha ng ed positions three times . The back and forth p attern continued for two m ore laps , and H ocking a n d Graham al so were alternating sp ot s. Nobody in the top fou r had gotten more than a few ya rds from ea ch other, so H ocki ng a nd his Chris A rmstrong Harley didn't have to come from very far back 10 pass Scott. Privateer Bobby Sanders joined th e scra p a nd he edged by . bo th Graham and Scott . On the whi te flag , Graham (Boss Racing Frames H-D) went to .work and made a pass on Sco tt finall y sti ck. He passed Sa nders co mi ng out of tu rn two and was assu re d of a tr ansfer wh en Sanders went down unhurt be tween turns three a nd four. Keen er , Hocking and Graham wer e headed for the National , whil e Scott, Bubba Rush and . T om Ber ry led th e othe rs 10 the sem i. The fourth heat looked to belong to Mik e Kidd all the way. He was leading on his T eam Army Harley by the end of the first lap and stretching his margin on ea ch succeeding lap . An incredibl e thre e -way b attl e wa s shapi ng u p for second between J oe Wilson on a Capshaw Ent .lPatrick Ra cing Harley, Skip Aksland a board a PJIIM ert Laww ill H arley, an d Gen e R om ero , wh o was rid in g on e of Laww ill's pack-u p Harleys. The order between the three va ried on just abou t every co rn er a nd st raighta way . If t he ba ttle for second was n't close , crowded and exciting enoug h a lready , it was IAbovel Veteran Chuck Palmgren 1381 and rookie Scott Parker staged an exciting duel in the first semi.IBelowl San Jose was hit with several rain delays late in the program, 11