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/126470
fast time and blazing to his heat ra ce win , but had a little trouble in the National when the track dried more than expec ted. The winner of the American Hondasponsored 500cc Invitational was, ap· propriately enough , American Hondasponsored J eff Haney. 'J eff the J et " rode his Jerry Griffith -bu ilt XR500 to a relatively easy winover Yamaha riders T ed D avidson and Junior Jim Filice. Time trials Steve Eklund missed mu ch of prac tice whi le he and mech a nic Frank Dye (Craig Fillmer is no longer wit h th e team) sorted things out. Steve th en pushed the Zanotti/Castrolllnte rpa rt XR750 around th e oval in ' 22.27 seconds, good for fast time. Ricky Graham was second fastest at 22 .37 , while Wayne Rainey waved off a good time of 22 .72 to set a better one , 22.40. J ay Springsteen rode his Bill Werner-tuned factory Harley-Dav idson to t he fourth fastest tim e of 22. 55. SCOtt Pearson and T erry Poovey were rat ed fifth a nd sixth fastest, just ah ea d of Labrie . Heats In a scene that rarely happen s, Eklund was sent ba ck to the penalty line for ju mping the start , along with Pea rson a nd T om Ber ry. With a littl e mo re brea th ing room on th e fro nt line , roo kie Expert Bu bba Sh ob ert dash ed off int o the lead, bu t by th e en d of a lap , Alex J orgensen an d Eklund were breathing down his neck . Moving up to second a lap later , Eklund took the lea d on the third lap a nd cruised ou t in front for the remainder of th e race. J orgensen put his Ron Wood/Dell'Orto Carbs/ Alphabet Headers Harley into second and ' stayed there. Shobert kept his cool and put his Hi-Point /Castrol-sponsored machine in third a nd made his first National. Rick Hocking and T om Berry led those semi-bound. T erry Poovey, Steve Morehead and Ronnie Jones scrapped for the lead as the second heat started. Ricky Graham made his way up to third , and then to second , behind Poovey on lap three. Behind the leaders, J eff H a ney was giving his Ho nda single a helluva workout as he was as high as fif th before d ropp ing back. At th e m idway point, Graham rea lly started to pu t the pr essure on Poo vey as th ey p ulled away from Moreh ead. Graham got by Poovey to lead laps eight and nine, but Poovey ha d the ad, va nt age at the fla g , putting his BelRay/Jack Sisemore / Widman H ·D / MX L-sponso red m ou nt on the pole of the Nation a l with the fastest heat of the n igh t. Gra ham took second with his T ex Peel- tu ne d ma chi ne and thi rd went to Horton Competition/KK Su p ' ply-sponsored Morehead . SCOtt Parker and Ron nie J ones placed fourth and fifth. T he third heat saw W ayne Rainey lead the firs t five laps as Billy La b rie and Ga ry Scott battled over second . Scott was soon left to ba ttl e with brother H a nk, while Labrie slipped undernea th Ra iney in tu m two on th e sixt h la p to tak e the lead. T he Scott brothers' duel , with H a nk now in front of Ga ry, got past Rainey a lap la ter and the fou r fin ished under a blanket with Labrie winn ing on hisJ on Robertstu ned , Fletcher's H ·D /Daytona International Spe edw a y-sponsored m achine. H ank Scott was second , Ga ry Scott thi rd, a nd Ra iney off to th e semi. Mike Kidd fin ished a d istant fifth . - T ed Davids on jumped into th e lead of th e final heat, but that didn't last long as Jay Sp ringsteen had th e lead a t the end of lap one , an d every lap thereafter. Da vidso n was cha llen ge d for secon d , first by rookie Expert Ge ne Church , an d then by Harley-Davidson's Randy Goss. Goss emerged in second after fou r la ps, an d then it looked like (Above) Steve Eklund scored his first Winston Pro Series points of the year (Below) Aiax Jorgensen finished eighth and picked up the point lead. nine - with a sixth place finish. 7