Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

lAbove) Bubba Rush 124) made it to the top 10 in the National. finishing ahead of Jay Springsteen 11I.IBelow left) Founh in the National. Randy Goss leads Skip Aksland in a heat race. IBelow right) Runner-up Eklund and Craig Filmer prepare for the race. Malf Mile, Springsteen 11th Semis The two semis provided battles right down to the flag for the two remaining National starting spots. Rick Graham dogged Phil McDonald until the closing laps of semi one before exchanging places. Graham led McDonald to the flag by two bike lengths. Bubba Rush's win in the final semi was even closer. Rush edged Marty Bushman by less than a wheel width after a last lap, last turn drag race to the checkered flag. Trophy Race Phil McDonald put his Sonny Burres·tuned. CPD of Wichita, Kansas, Team K&N Harley out front on lap one of the consolation race. However, Marty Bushman was having none of that as he stormed past McDonald and moved into a comfortable lead aboard his Archie's Gas and Oil sponsored mount. Then, with just five laps remaining, Bushman began to slow and quickly discovered that one carburetor had come loose from the manifold. That was all for Marty. McDonald retook the lead and held off a late,l"p I:l:tatge,by Ric:k. Hockin~ National "It allows me the most direct line to where I want to go," explained Mike Kidd on his choice of the outside pole position. Brow, Poovey, Gary Scott, Springsteen and Eklund filled out the rest of the front row positions on the 6· 6·2 grid. The second row had Mitchell, Hank Scott, Labrie, Pearson, Goss and Jones lining up with Graham and Rush on row three. The 14 riders roared into turn one in a flying wedge with Brow, Kidd, Gary Scott and Eklund all going for the lead. It was Brow who hooked up best coming out of turn two. Springsteen, about sixth at this point, was almost last by the end of the opening lap. By the end of 20 laps he had moved up to I I th, although this was due more to the bad luck of Hank Scott. Mitchell and Graham than any good fortune. "I wanted to make sure my tires were scrubbed in before making my move," explained Kidd. "Everything felt good by lap four so I began to push," By the end of lap four Kidd was around Scott for second. Two laps later he had displaced Brow for the lead. "When I passed Garth, I knew I could win unless something happened," said Kidd. Brow soon began to feel the pressure from Gary Scott, who in turn was being hounded'by Eklund. While the Brow/Gary Scott/Eklund battle was going on, Goss and Hank Scott were hooking up and moving toward the action, By lap 12 Goss and Hank were at the front of the second wave followed by Mitchell, Jones, Pearson, Labrie and Poovey. Springsteen and Rush were fighting for last. On the next go·around Eklund moved by Scott and dropped Brow to third one lap later. Hank Scott saw his challenge in sixth go away on lap 15 in an easy slideout between turns 1·2. Mitchell was now the victim of electrical problems and Graham's Bart Markel sponsored mount was on one cylinder with a bad plug. Eklund began to cut Kidd's lead by holding a very low line while Kidd stayed high. "I tried the high line early," said Eklund. "But what worked for them, didn't for me. Then I tried the groove, but that didn't work either. Finally, I put it as low on the track as I could. That worked." , Unknown to Eklund, Kidd had been slowing bit by bit from about the halfway flags. However, the race played itself out with Kidd never relinquishing his grip. Lost in the drama up front was the battle between Randy Goss and Gary Scott for fourth. Goss' traction on the final lap proved to be the winning factor. "Two more laps," sai!! Eklund to Kidd in the winner's circle. "I know," said Kidd. • Results NATIONAl: 1. Mike Kidd IH·D); 2. Steve Eklund (HOI; 3. Garth Brow IH-D); 4. Randy Goss IH·D); 5. Gory ScoIlIH-D); 6. Scoll Pearson IH-D); 7. Billy Labrie (H·D); 8. Te

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