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/126457
Alex Jorgensen (441 and hla BSA looked like a winning combination until the bike "lUcked an Intake valve," .. Jorgy put It. Honda'. freddie Spencer I7II..d. Jay Springsteen (9) and Bruce Hanlon (74) earty In the main event. AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series: Round one King Kenny reigns over Houston By Jack Mangus Photos by Charles Morey HOUSTON, TX, FEB. 8 "Incredible! He's incredible," said one of nearly 25,000 spectators who had just witnessed the victorious return of Kenny Roberts. to his old stomping grounds, the Winston Pro Series dirt track circuit, after an absence of over two years. In winning the 25-1ap Houston Astrodome TT, the two-time Grand National and 12 World Champion tied Bart Markel's record of 28 National Championship wins. Markel was on hand to witness the tieing of his record and would only say, "Records are made to be broken." Following Roberts into winner's circ1e were runnerup Alex Jorgensen, who aboard a BSA vertical twin had shown Roberts and his Yamaha 500cc single the fast way around the HOUlton course for the opening 16 laps, and third place finisher Bruce Hanlon. who continues to make the HoUlton nents the only National Championship races he contests each year. Hanlon rode a Yamaha 500cc single. The TT course received Harold Murrell's magic touch for the 12th coosecutive year and provided a surpriae for all. Changed from the one jump standard of the past, the course was lengthened from 1,150 feet to 1,750. "I drew it up on a piece of paper last Monday and telecopied it to the AMA for approval," said Murrell. "I thought adding a second infield jump would make it more exciting," he added. Indeed, the second jump and a longer sweeping stretch of oval did provide exciting racing. The M design provided for nearly the entire oval to be circumvented with a sharp left hand tum leading the riders up over the largest of the two jumps, followed by a sweeping right hander, a small "whoop-de-doo" type jump and a sharp left hand tum leading back onto the oval. TIme Trials Riding a Harry Lillie-sponsored Yamaha 500, Scott Peanon posted the fastest qualifying lap at !l0.292 seconds. . Sc;cond fas~est. qualifier was Shc:lI Racmg SpecIalties-sponsored EddIe Lawson; a.1so Yamaha 500 mounted. Lawson s tIme was 50.446 seconds and he was followed by Yamaha-spo~red Kenny Roberts, who turned ID a !l0.474 lap. . Roundi~ out the top ~O qualifiers ~ three-ttm~ Grand National C~pIon Jay Spnngstee?, John Ge~, Alex Jorgensen,_ DaVId.Aldana, RI~ky Graham. defending National ChampIon Steve Eklund and Brad H,;,rst. The 48th and last quaJifi.er to m~e the field was Darrell Hendrickson with a !II. 79 lap. Heats The 12-man field for the first heal rolled to the starting line after nearly 45-minutes of opening ceremonies and then were further delayed when Steve Eklund pulled off the grid and into the pits to change his exhaust Ripe. On referee Duke Olliges' two-minute clock (the time allowed for minor repairs after once being gridded), the National Champ was allowed a bit more than the time allowed and returned to the grid. The race was then delayed when starter Phil Dyson caught both pole sitter Scott Peanon and John Gennai creeping and banished them to the penalty line. When the first green light of the season flashed it was Eklund leading the field away., Don ~rywn's race came , ~ ••• ';' • .1 • ......... to an end when he unloaded in the tum leading into the first infield jump. Peanon got by Eklund going in the infield entrance tum on the second lap and then proceeded to stretch his lead out to three seconds when the checkered flag was dropped on the 10th and fmal lap. The fourth lap saw Anny-sponsored Mike Kidd drop Wund back to third with a flying pass over the big infield jump. Each heat transferred three riders to the National and privateer John Gennai made sure he was one of the three when he dropped Eklund to fourth on the seventh lap. Heat number two was a crowd exciter and the fireworks were provided by BSA mounted Alex Jorgensen and Yamaha 500 mounted Bruce Hanlon. Jorgy and his "antique" twin led every lap but the one that counts. Dogged by Hanlon throughout the race, Jorgy saw his win go away when Brian O'Hagansponsored Hanlon pulled off a beautiful pass in the last tum on the last lap. The battle for the third and last direct transfer spot was also a hot one during the opening laps, but Brad Hurst made it a one-man show over the last half of the race. The crowd was up and cheering as Kenny Roberts took his place on the starting grid for the third heat. Roberts kept them on their feet as he pulled off a holeshot and proceeded to run away with the race. By the third lap the three-time Houston National winner established himself as the favorite for his fourth Houston win as he pulled out a three second lead over eventual second place finisher John Hateley. Hateley, aboard a Honda-sponsored 500 single, led third place finisher Ronnie Jones across the finish line by a comfortable margin. but an obviously upset Scott was on his feet immediately and had a few words to lay on Aldana. Also unloading in the third heat was Texan Bubba Shoben. He remounted to finish eighth, while Aldana got back into the race and finished 11 tho Scott chose to pack up. The founh and final heat brought out the three-time Rolling Thunder Show champ Jay Springsteen and it was the thunder produced by his factory-sponsored Harley-Davidson XR750 that boomed out the loudest. Springer, like Roberts in the previous heat, led every lap and again like Roberts opened up a three-second lead by checkered flag time. And more thunder was produced by Harley mounted Ricky Graham and Randy Goss. Graham, aboard what was described by many as the "prettiest XR they had ever seen - the Tex Peel prepared Harley, had dirtied up the bike when he unloaded in tum one on the initial start. Right after Graham unloaded, Scott Parker and Mickey Farley got -off in the infield entrance tum to bring out the red flag. Back underway, Graham had his hands full with rookie Expert Freddie Spencer as the pair fought over second behind Springer. But Spencer and his 500 Honda broke away hom the battle for good on the sixth lap. Graham then had his hands full with Randy Goes, who was enjoying his first Harley factory ride. Graham held off Goss on each lap and on the seventh lap Goes lost a big hunk of Texas real estate when he bobbled in the infield. But Goes dug back in and pulled off a pass over the last 10 yards of track to take the third and last transfer spot away from a disappointed Graham. Semis Attention to Roberts' perfonnance was diverted by a first lap get-off that spilled both David Aldana and Hank Scott. Aldana was bumped from behind and when he unloaded he took down Scott. Aldana played possum and motio~ to Scot~ to do likewise, • ,.I " " , . --t .. =!! .. 'v. "_'".' .i'~·1 ,. With only the winners of the two 10 lap semi events slated for transfer to the National, the races - as always were last chance events. The first semi saw Mickey Fay, the defending Houston TT champ, lead every lap to give himself a shot at making it two Astrodome TT wins in a row. , ....' ........ .:.- :., ... ....., , ,. .... "., ~ ~ . .... --- '.~...