Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

o 00 (j) Ricky Graham 1411 and Gary Scott were out front all day Sunday. Graham's fInt National win ' was the flnt 100 , + mph. AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series Rounds 20·21 many. It also marked the first National win for tuner Tex Peel - after a long seven years of trying. Goss mov ed into the points lead with Graham following him, relegating Scott to third place. The tally now . reads Goss 145 points, Graham with 138 and Scott holding at 133. Poovey hot, Saturday Graham hotter at Indy; Goss regains points lead By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Bert Shepard/Silver Shutter INDIANAPOLIS , IN , AUG. 23-24 "Wahoo," yelled an exhuberant Ricky Graham after his win in Sunday's Indy Mile, "Hey, I knew we were moving right along, but I didn't think it was that fast, We were really traveling." Traveling is definitely the word. Graham notched a spot in the . record books by a veragmg 100.467 mph in his win. It mark- 6 ed the first -ever 100 .mph d irt track race in AMA Grand National Championship history. Ga ry Scott was the partner in that two man battle, but dropped slightly off the pace near the end leaving Graham to track the last five laps like he was on a string. Hank Scott gave Indy an additional reason to call itself the "Fastest Mile" . whe,!, ~e shatt~ red the ab solute mile qu a hfYJ.ng ~co~d he had set at the DuQuOIn Mile In 1978 by almost two mph upping the flying mile to 102.032 mph . Terry Poo vey led off the weekend ' with a win in Saturday nigh t's race over Randy Goss th a t was decided at the finish line by ha lf a wheel. T he win marked Poovey's fourt h Nati on al an d his first of the season. It also brok e a string of bad luck which ha s dogged him th rough the yea r. Graham's win was his first National victory and was viewed as overdue by Terry Poovey almost didn't race the National. "I was sick to my stomach after my heat race and went to sleep in my van. I wasn 't going to race, but once I got on the bike I forgot about everything." Poovey didn't look like a winner in the early going, but moved slowly through traffic to a challenging position with only a handful of laps to go . " It took awhile for everything to start working right, but once it did I was on the move ," said Poovey. " I lost DuQuoin because of a flat tire. They couldn't take this one away from me. I can't say enough about the help I get from Jack Sisemore, Bel-Ray and especially Earl Widman whose bike I ride ." Harley-Davidson's Randy Goss took second barely a foot shy of the win . "I followed him through turn . four (on the final lap) looking to draft past at the line. He go t the rear tire loose and then caught traction. I lost the good d raft . Sometimes you get that extra edge, sometimes not." Ricky Graham , on the Klotz-Wise co Harley owned and tuned by Tex Peel , came on 'strong in the closing laps to scoop up third. "I wasn 't su re what position I was in ," said Graham afterwards. "I just kept going as fast as I , could, passing everyone in front of me . It was good enough for th ird." Qualifying Scott Pearson put his Ray Beck owned and tuned XR through the tim ing lights to collect the fast qualifier's $100 with a 37.274 second ride. Gary Scott, Hank Scott; Scott Parker and Ted Boody on injured Corky Keene r's Harley, rounded out the top five. Nestled in 42nd position was Yamaha ri der Darryl Hurst aboard the onl y non -Harley in the 48 rider field . Heats Track preparation stretched the start of the heats two hours past the originally scheduled time. Scott Pearson turned on the steam in heat one from his grandstand pole position to grab the lead. Ted Boody settled into second as Mike Kidd started his charge. Kidd began to catch Boody ·at halfway in the lO-lap heat, went past on lap seven and then set his sights on Pearson. Kidd probed and prodded, finally taking the lead for good on the last lap with Boody holding on to take the third transfer spot. The highlight of the second .hea t was the tremendous battle for second as Goss ran away with the fastest heat of . the evening. Shobert, Gene Romero, Gary Scott and Lance Jones ran four abreast down the back straight on numerous occasions. Jones dropped off the pace .making it a three-way battle with Shobert leading Scott by half a length at the flag with Romero another three feet behind. The third heat produced anothe'ithree-way, 10-lap shuffle only this time it was for the win. Hank Scott, Graham and Steve Eklund traded positions all over the track in a high speed ballet. At the flag it was Scott by a length over Eklund with Graham another length behind. Chuck Springsteen exploded the bales in tum one and came away with bruises. q Scott Parker took the first step toward his second Indy win by taking the fourth heat from Poovey and Billy Labrie. Labrie, aboard Jay Spring' steen's Harley, battled with Poovey for second in the middle laps while ParKer moved away. Poovey got the upp,:r hand with three laps to go and closed dramatically on Parker. However~ Parker just twisted the throttle a bit harder and opened a safe margin. . I , 1 Semis ')wl The semis were brought to the lig~ as soon as the dust had settled from the heats . Two riders from each would transfer to the National with Billy Schaeffer and Romero taking first semi tickets. Lance Jones had second sewn up when his engine blew in the final turn of the final lap. He coasted ' toward the line as Romero blew by. A disappointed Steve Morehead went to the Trophy Race. . '~ The second semi was all Alex Jorgen' . sen's as he took advantage of a little luck when seven of the 12 starters were sent to the penalty line. Second spOt went to the wire with Wayne Rainey getting the nod by half a length over Danny Cartwright. Trophy Race "I was getting so much drive off d ie corners that it' was easy to draft and pass ," said a happy Mike Rhoads after winning the Trophy Race, "I want to thank BGF Racing in Toronto, Canada, Doug Sehl and Paul Eggleton for all their help." Rhoads was mired vln traffic at the start and worked past Jackie Mitchell, Morehead and Chas Roberts for the lead. Morehead, after a long duel , followed him home. 0 National ,.fl" " It 's butterfly tim e a nd I've ~ot them ," said Shobert waiting for '' d ie start. "You've got to play it cruel and not give any slack," said Pearson.with a smile. It was m idnight when starter Phil Dyson flicked on the green light. Hank Scot t led off the line with Pa rker com ing on strong down the back chute to take over. Pearson then moved into second as the pack ended lap one. Kidd and Goss moved in to make it a five rider battle and they ra n three and four abreast on both straights with the leader out of the turn usually last into the next corner. Hank Scott coasted to the pits on lap fou r, the victim of a broken ign ition rotor. "T his isn't exactly the .way I planned things ," said a dejected Scott. Poovey was engaged in a four rider duel for position with Shobert, Kidd :

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