Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Springer returned to the National scene with a solid fourth. (Inset) Steve Morehead could only muster 10th. but retained second in the point stand ings. SCOll Pea rson took second early in th e going and also held t ha t to the flag: the; front -running du o pulled well away from th e pack as they headed for th e National. Wayne Ra iney wound up th ird in front of Lars T rul son . ~T he bailie for th e last two spots in th e National saw T ed Davidson jump out in front ahead of Horton Racing / KK Supply's Steve Morehead . Morehead wanted those Winston Pro po ints and took the lea d . Davidson passed Moreh ead back as th ey ca me on to the infield bu t Morehead muscled his way inside in a tigh t left hander a nd Da vid son was left with no place to go . David son bent his brake ped a l in the follow ing right hander and when he ca me into the ne xt corner, " I co uld n' t find my brake pedal and when I d id . I hit 'too hard a nd it was gone ," Morehead steamed along in front to the checkered with Micke y Fay keeping him honest from second. Buddy Robinson finished third. Honda Junior Invitational Yamaha's J im Filice took the hole shot on his Mert Lawwill-tuned TT500 , but soon th e order sha ped up to be Jeff McDaniel leadi ng on a factory Honda XR500 , followe d by Filice, Sa l Hoffman (Ya m) a nd Craig Scroggins (H on) . McDaniel had worked up a healthy lead by m id -rac e, but in the dosing laps, Filice sta rt ed to dose. Finally, on the white flag lap, Filice ja mmed by as they entered th e infield and went on to win . McDaniel took second while Scroggins edged Hoffman for third. Trophy Race The first Trophy Dash start was red flagged after a rider was left on th e line , Wa yne Rainey's holeshot effort was for naught . On the second try Tom Berry (T ri) took the lead in front of Buddy Robinson , Keith Da y and Ra ine y. Rainey was up to seco nd a lap later. Soon Berry dropped back in the pack as Day and Lars Trulson began to argue over third . T he argument became one over second pl ace a few laps lat er when Rainey pulled off the track with apparent mechanical d ifficulties. Rob inson , spo nsored by Budw eiser , pulled off an easy win followed by Trulson and Day. Steve Powell finished fourth. National Steve Eklund used up much of his two-m inute allowance to get his bike read y, but made it to the line in time and the 16-man field was ready to go. Alex Jorgensen , Mike Kidd and Jay Springsteen led th e pack into th e first corner, but Jorgy went wide in th e first infie ld lef t ha nder , went over a berm on the edge of the corner and lost five spots. Kidd took over the lead , but Springsteen passed him on t he ha lf mile portion of the cou rse to lead it across th e line a hea d of Kidd , Jeff Haney and SCOll Pearson . Kidd went by Springer on the entrance to th e infiel d , a nd with the exce p tio n of one br ief p robe by Sp ringer, would lead th e ra ce for th e rea m ining 24 laps. The re ar of th e field was brought u p by SCali Pa rker , who su ffer ed a m ild slide out in turn two , Behind the front running four, Ricky Graham , Jorgensen, Gary Scott and Micke y Fa y wer e ha ving at it with an eye towards the leaders. Graham was th e first to br eak into th e top four , ge ll ing by Pearson on th e fifth lap, and then taking Han ey on t he following go around , The eight h lap order read Kidd , Springsteen , Graham , Haney, Jorgensen a nd Pearson. The ninth circui t sa w Gr aha m pass Sp rin gsteen for second a nd th e be ginning of the 10th saw jorgy's efforts hit rough wat er in turn two . " I m issed a gear and could n' t slow down. 1 was too d ose to the ha ybales, so 1 laid it down instead of hilling head on, " said .Jorgensen after the rac e. He remounted and continued , assu red of points because th e SCali b rothers were alread y ou t of the race ; Hank with a flat tire, an d Ga ry with un known d ifficulties. T he halfwa y point found Kid d with a good lead over Gra ham , Springsteen, Pearson, Fay, Haney, Ran d y Goss a nd Brad Hurst. La p 15 sa w Fay set u p Pears on , whose good motor broke in p rac tice and for ced hi m to use an olde r one (" It d idn't have a flywheel on the cr a nk, so it was kind of ha rd to ride ," sa id Scott later) . Lap I 6 sa w Fay in front of Pearson and looking for Springsteen. Four laps was all it took for Fay to find , and pass , him . With five la ps remain ing in th e rac e , the order read Kidd, Graham , Fa y, Springsteen , Pearson and Haney. T hree la ps la ter the fin ish ing order was set as Fay got by Graham for th.. ru nner-up posit ion. "Abou t 10 laps into the race, 1 looked ba ck and they were qu ite a ways back , so I unz ipped m y leathers and tr ied to stay coo l and ca lm and not make a ny m istakes," sa id Kidd after th e ra ce. " It's nea t to win a TT because I've al ways been good on th e miles, half mi le and short tracks, but never th e TT. I made a switch this yea r ( 10 Honda and Triumph TT bikes) and tr ied to pu t a progr am together th a t' s co m pet itive, and I think I've do ne it now," Fay, who'd come off a t hird row sta rt to take second , was asked where he made up most of his time . " I th ink th e tig ht infield just before the jump is where 1 made up most of my tim es, From there a nd coming inside on th e big corner past th e jump, I picked up a lot of time because I could see myself com ing up on them ," replied Mickey. Behind the two Hondas in the finishing order were two Harleys , the T ex Peel machine of Graham and Spr ing stee n' s factory bike. Pearson, fin ish ing his first TT th is yea r , took fifth in fro nt of Haney, Haney's sixth place finish pu ts him 10 po ints up on the nearest rook ie, fellow Honda rider Freddie Spencer . Brad Hu rst finished seventh, followed by Rick Hocking, Randy Goss a nd Steve Morehead. Mike Minnig, SCali Parker, and AlexJorgensen filled the I I -13 slots, and getting one po int for 14th afte r pulling off midway through the race was Steve Eklund. Asked wha t went wrong, Eklund said, "It's a new bike. No time, no money. " • Resu lts 25-LAP NA TIONAL: 1. M ike Kidd (Hoo); 2. Mickey Fay (Hon); 3 . Ricky Graham (H-D); 4. Jay Springsteen IH·D); 5. Scon Pearson IYam l; 6. J eH Haney IHon ): 7. Brad Hurst ITri); B. Rick Hocking IYam l; 9. Rendy Goss IH-O); 10. Steve M orehead (H·D!: 11. Mike M inniq (H· 0 1 12. Sco rrv Parker lH-D I; 13 . Ale. J",gensen IBSAl; ; 14. Steve Eklund ITri); 15. Hank Scon ITri); 16. Gary Scott CTriJ. TIM E: 19:5 1.49. TROPHY RACE 11 2 LAPS ): 1. Buddy Robin son IH·DI; 2. lars Trulson lHonl; 3. Keith Day (Yam); 4. Steve PoweJi IHonl; 5. frank W Old IIIIYaml; 6. Bernie Larson (Tril; 7 . M ike Inderbitzen (Tri); 8. Brian Thompson (H-D); TIM E: 9:33.59. JUNIOR INVlTATlONAL 110 LAPS!: 1. Jim F_lYarn): 2. Jeff McDaniellHon ); 3. Cratg Scroggins (Hon); 4. Sel Hoffman (Yam); 5. J eff Allison (Yam); 6. Ron Yamamoto (Yam); 7 . Dan Atkinson (Yam) ; 8. Dennis Camp (Hon); 9. Darrell Brunner {Honl; 10. Steve Kars1en (Yam ); 11 . Bob Russell (Honl; 12. Rod Sullivan IYam). TIME : 9:32.20. AMA GRAND NATlONAL CHAMPIONSHIPIWINSTON 921 PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS , 1. Hank Scon 1 ; 1. Steve M Ofehead (82); 3. (TIEl Ricky Graham/Ran dy Goss 17 91;5 . M ik e Kid d 1 661; 6 . Billy Labrie 1 : 7. Al e. 671 Jotgensen 1 65); 8. Gary Sco tt (591 9. Rich Schlach t er ; 4B): 12. 1 56); 10. Ted Boo dy ISO); 11. Scon Parker 1 Scott Pearson 1 47); 13 . Ja y Springst een 1 ; 14. 431 Ronnte Jones (4 1); 15. (T IEl Sieve Eklund/Corky Keener 1 3B); 17. W as Cool ey 1 J61: 18. M ickey Fav 1351 19. ; Kenny Roberts (3); 20 . Bruce Hammer (32 1. 11

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