Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~/Winston Pro Series: Rounds 11/12 Eklund; Poovey dusts Charity squirrelly in his heat race off the TT jump and crossed outside two track markers before re-entering the track. This was brought to the attention of AMA Central Region referee Duke Olliges, but no action was taken. In the National, Eklund's brake fluid cylinder developed a leak which dripped fluid onto the exhaust pipe of his Yamaha TT500 giving ,the appearance of a badly smoking engine. Olliges and Craig Filmer, Eklund's tuner, spent six laps watching closely before Olliges was satisfied that no oil was leaking on the track, thus averting a black flag situation. Qualifying Gary Scott and his durable Triumph topped all qualifiers with a 35.173-second run ~ about one-half second off Steve Eklund's track record of 34.69 seconds. Eklund placed a tick be/lind Scott with Springsteen bringing home his Harley-Davidson factory mount third. Honda XR500 mounted Rick Hocking, a winner in the Wednesday night warm-up event, clocked fourth fastest. Wayne Rainey put his Yamaha Tr500 into the program with the fifth fastest time. Heats Gary Scott, Eklund, Springsteen and Randy Goss grabbed the winner's share of the spotlight in the four qualifying heats. Scott Pearson thought he had things locked up in heat one, but Gary Scott had other ideas. Pearson had to settle for second with Skip Aksland ousting Terry'Poovey from third to put himself into the National. Mike Kidd left Rick Graham and Rick Hocking to fight off Eklund in heat two, but that didn't work long. Eklund quickly moved to second and then dispatched Kidd to the runner-up spot. Hocking moved in to challenge and picked up second. Kidd faded with tranny troubles and Rod Spencer moved to third for his first trip to a National. A rocket-like start put Springsteen into the lead from the first tum to the checkered flag in heat three. Hank Scott and Corky Keener banged around the track fighting for second in the early laps until Scott took the edge. By that time the trio had a good distance on the field. Randy Goss did a disappearing act on the field in the fourth heat while Billy Schaeffer did his best to hold off Jeff Danke for second. The battle went right to the flag with Schaeffer holding on. Semis Mike Kidd and Phil McDonald made the National the hard way by earning their starting spots with wins in their respective semis. Kidd stormed off in the first semi with McDonald doing the same in the final semi on his Sonny Burres tuned K&N/CPD of Wichita sponsored XR. Trophy Race Scott Parker, after making challenges in his heat and semi, finally got a chance to show his stuff. Parker led every lap from the green starting light. Behind Parker, Robert Conway, Odell Davis and Darryl Hurst were crowding the track for third. In the end it was Davis leading Hurst and Conway. "Dam, I got out here one race too early," joked Parker. "I thought this was the National." National Six Harley riders - Springsteen, Pearson, Goss, Kidd, McDonald and Keener - lined up to do battle with the Triumphs of Gary and Hank Scott, the Honda XR500 of Rick Hocking and the Yamaha TT 500's of Eklund, Aksland, Schaeffer, Danke and Spencer for 25 long laps. On the first flash of the green light Pearson got a tremendous holeshot. It was so good they red-flagged the race. The second start was as notable for who grabbed the immediate lead' Springer followed by Gary Scott - as it was for one who didn't move off the line - Eklund. "I thought I had it in gear," Eklund would say later and shrug. "It was one of the funniest things I've seen lately," said Schaeffer who charged from the second row past the motionless Eklund. "He dumped the clutch, gave it a handful of throttle. and just sat there as I went blasting by." Eklund was quick to recover and had regained two spots by the time traffic headed into the infield. In the meantime, Springsteen and Gary Scott were giving the fans what they came for - a' knock-down, dragout fight· for the lead on every inch of the track. It continued without stop for 23 laps. Then the Eklund fans sensed something they had only hoped against hope for as Eklund closed on' the leaders. Steady as clockwork, Eklund had sliced his way to fourth by lap eight, and then dispatched Rick Hocking from third on lap 16. As he closed on the Springsteen/Scott duel, it seemed that the laps would run out. But no. Heading for the start/finish line to begin lap 24, Eklund ran right up on Scott's rear tire. When Scott took his wide approach line into the infield - the same he had taken every lap - Eklund was right there to stuff it underneath. Springer was unaware of what was happening behind him. Charging into the first tum of the short track portion of the TT course, Springsteen momentarily slid high off his line. Like a flash, Eklund was through. The pair snaked through the infield like a rubberband, over the jump, through the right-hander and quickly through the left-hander and back onto the track. Springer spun his tire on the exit and lost two yards. It was all Eklund needed. "Hey, talk about being surprised!" exclaimed Springsteen after a big swallow of champagne. "The last person 1 expected to see slipping under me was Eklund. It blew my mind when I saw it wasn't Scott." 7

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