IAbovel Gary Scott has the leed going into the first tum of the National.
with Jay Springsteen 111 and Rick Hocking pressuring.IAbove right! The
start of the first heat was crowded. Scott Pearson 1951 and Wayne
Rainey 18EI.how the way.ISelowl Steve Eklund won his second
consecutive Santa Fe TT. after starting dead last.
AMA Grand National Champions
Santa Fe thri·ller
Newsies Half Mil
By Gary Van Voorhis
HINSDALE, IL, JUNE 22
COLUMBUS, OH,JUNE 24
Steve Eklund and Terry Poovey shared the respective wins in the Santa FeTT and Charity
Newsies Half Mile as the AMA Grand National
Championship/Winston Pro Series wound up
it initial eastern swing. points behind - 112 to 107.
Eklund's Santa Fe win was a
masterful and thoroughly thrilling come-from-behind ride that
saw him nip Jay Springsteen on
6
the final lap. At the Newsies, Poovey
took over the lead when leader Corky
Keener slid out on the 11th lap.
Poovey was never headed after that.
Poovey became the ninth different
winner in 12 Winston Pro Series events
-this year.
The weekend's winner on points was
Jay Springsteen as he put together
second and fourth place finishes at
Santa Fe and Columbus to come up
with 27. Eklund, via a fIrSt and 10th
place finishes, racked up 25 while
Randy Goss, scraping to hold onto
second in the point standings, could
only manage a sixth and seventh to
total 17 points.
Eklund still holds the edge in the
standings with 125, but Goss now finds
himsdf with Springsteen only five
Santa Fe
"I saw the opening that Springer left
me, and I knew if I didn't take it that I
wouldn't have another chance. From
there, I just gassed it. I'm still not
quite sure how I did it," Steve Eklund
said after the IT.
. The "it" Eklund was referring to was
his miraculous come-from·behind ride
to notch his second straight Santa Fe
IT win. Eklund wasn't the only one to
wonder how he did it - more than
one spectator was heard muttering, "I
saw it, but I don't believe it." Jay
Springsteen and' Gary Scott, who
Eklund passed in the last two laps.
were among the strong disbelievers.
Until the final two laps, it had been
an all Springsteen/Scott show in a 2g·
lap duel. Eklund blasted both out of
the saddle leaving Springer in the
place position with Scott settling for
the show money.
However, Eklund almost didn't
make it to the finish. First he got
