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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126507
A 00 Eerfy In the race, Terry Poovey 1181, eventual winner Jay Springsteen 191, Steve Eklund. Randy Goa 111 and Alex Jorgensen 1441 chased Scott Pearson 1961. er's By Gery Ven Voorhis Photos by Dele Brown end Cherles Morey HOUSTON, TX. FEB. 7 In an electrifying race that went right to the checkered flag, Jay Springsteen, in no uncertain terms, proved to one and all that Springer's back. Holding off all challenges by Scott Pearson after stealing the lead from him on the 14th of 20 laps. Springtook the win in the Budwelser/Yamaha Gold Cup Short sre:n .. 6 Track National in Houston's Astradome by a scant bikelength. Lurking onimousiy in the background was Terry Poovey who waited impatiently in third place for mistakes by the front runners that never came. Springsteen's ride in the closing was a brilliant one and perhaps could be called the most important of his career for ,it dispelled lingerin~ doubts that Spnngsteen c;ould regam both the form and desIre he had ~ore what took al?1ost .two years to dIagnose ~ border~~ diabetes began to put his careermjeOpardy. . Half an h~ur aft,:r t~e race Spnngs~een w~. sllil b~kmg In the glow. of V1C~Ory, ,Hey,. 1 m back to fighllng weIght. 1 ~e gamed al~ost 15 !;X'unds ?ver the wmt~~, 1 hav.en t"feltthlS good m two ye~rs, he saId. 1 llad a fe~ problems I~ those last fiv~ laps and It seemed. 1 hllthe same rut (m turns 3·4) every tIme • went through. The key was the last lap.• wasn't about to let (Scott) Pearson have any advantage, so 1 stayed very tight to the inside forcing him to take a long ride outside if he wanted to pass. The bike is the same one that Scotty Parker won with at S~nta ~e last year. It's definitely a ~~ Pearson figured he was going to win. ". felt that' could win when the race started, but 1 made a few mistakes. The restaru really bothered me a lot.• also couldn't seem to find the right line coming off tum four, and that broke my rhythm. Still. second place is a good way to start off the season. Please say something about my sponsors Harry Lillie, Ray Beck, Boss Frames, 'nterpart and Arai." ". should have won," said third place finisher Terry Poovey. "The engine was detonating in my heat race so we added another gasket to help solve the problem. However, that cut the compression down and 1 didn't have the drive off the comers that • would have liked. We could have gam. bled the engine would last, but decided to take the sa.fe way oul. My brother Teddy still built a strong engine, and 1 couldn't have done anything without help from Al Lamb's Dallas Honda, Jack Sisemore, Shoei and Magura." There was a lot of attention centered on the threejapanese factory efforu Honda and Suzuki with their direct support and Yamaha through Robertsl La_ill Racing, Unfortunately, thi~ didn't work out as planned as mechanical gremlins spoiled things for all. Time Trial. The IIO-rider field, of which 60 would qua1iiy for the program squeezed itself into a six· tenths sandwich. Leading the pack was Terry Poovey with a 14.8l!6 second clocking followed just a tick away by Scott Pearson. Mickey Fay, Rookie Expert Rusty Gourley and Steve Eklund rounded out the top five. The 60th position went to Wayne Kerns with a 15.413. Heats Space is always at a premium on the 14-rider National grid, even more so when it's a short track since only the top two finishers from the six heats earn transfers. As the track became rougher, times slowed. Springsteen gave a preview of things to come with his win in the first heat, taking the pole for the National in the process. Wayne Rainey charged out front for three laps before Poovey and Springsteen both got by. Springer then worked on Poovey from an outside line and outran Poovey down the back stretch on lap seven for the lead and the win. Poovey settled for second. Notable retirements were jimmy Filice of the Yamaha camp with a fried clutch which led to a broken chain on the start and Team Honda's Freddie Spencer who had a suspected se,ized engine. Winston Pro Series champ Randy Goss put in a tremendous come-frombehind ride in the second heat when he charged to second after ending up last in a tum two traffic jam on the start. Scott Pearson was gone when the green starting light flashed. john Burnett held a secure second throu~h lap eight before a methodical p'icked him off and put himself iot the National. Pearson was not to caught. Billy Labrie and Mickey Fay stage