Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Clockwise from above IeftI Mike Kidd was very pl..sed to learn that he had taken over the points I. .d. Randy Goss' second place moved him to within four points of the len. Hank Scott 1141 and Dave Bradley battled in their heat. and then In the National to finish 5-6. halfway point. With only a couple of laps remaining, Rush slipped by Jones to take third, but then lost it when he crashed coming out of turn four on the last lap. Rush walked away from the crash. but the transfer went to Rob Crabbe and the Mills H·D/F3prit/John Sullivan XR. Mike Kidd quickly passed third heat holeshot artist Tim Mertens and ran 10 laps in the lead on his Robertsl Lawwill Racing/PJI/Nava/Wranglerl Rocky·sponsored mount. Behind him Mertens had his work cut out for him to stay in front of Ted Boody, who was turning in quite a ride on the Jerry Griffith·built Honda "twingle." In the end though, Belleville Honda·spon· sored Mertens (H·D) held second. In fourth was Brad Hurst ahead of Phil McDonald. KK Supply/Sisemore I Duckworth· backed Gary Scott got with the pro· gram first in the fmal heat and led Randy Goss' Brent Thompson·tuned factory Harley and Terry Poovey's Shoei/Sisemore/Parker/Widman ·spon· sored H·D at the end of a lap. Two laps later "Pooh· Bear" had wrested second away from Goss and that order held for much of the race, although the gaps between the top three wore down to near nothing as the checkered flag approached. Finally. in the last corner, Poovey made his move and led it to the checkered flag. Scott Adams was fourth. Semis Jim Marts/Oil Slickies·backed Ron· nie Jones was out of the gate first in the first semi, soon working up to a humon· gous lead. Steve Monger held an early ~ndas~h~undandS~n~ , 1 fOllnc! ~h;es • ir~9) ~ht ~~dle of the pack. By the midway point, Joe Wilson, Eklund and Springsteen were running 2·lJ·4 and starting to close on Jones. Eklund then displaced Wilson and with two laps to go, really pressured Jones. Going through turn three on the final lap. Eklund edged ahead. but Jones got a better drive off four to take' the single transfer by a bikelength. Mike Minnig made a try for the final transfer by jumping into the second semi lead ahead of Russell Gourley and Lance Jones. Sure·Fire Distrihuting·sponsored Jones, riding the injured Billy Labrie's machinery. moved to second on lap three, then into that transfer position a lap later. Jones kept it up to win with Minnig second over Brad Hurst. Trophy Race Gourley stepped right into the lead of the 12·lap Trophy Race, with ~und soon coming up to challenge. The Rookie Expert held off the former National Champ for four laps before Eklund made a successful turn three pass and went on to win easily. Gourley ran second for another lap, then slipped back in the pack as Willie Crabbe and Mike Minnig finished 2·lJ. National Alex Jorgensen had the pole for the National, and chose to start on the inside of the groove. Pearson got a spot right on the edge of the groove, and from there he got a helluva start (Too good some riders said later, feeling that there should have been a restart). Behind Pearson into the first turn were Mike Kidd and Alex Jorgensen. Jorgy slipped to fifth a lap later, however, as Randy Goss and Hank Scott moved up. Pearson imlTJ:ediately, a,rte.d, to . stretch his lead as Kidd and Goss settled into second and third. Behind Hank Scott and Jorgensen, Tim Mertens held sixth until Ted Boody' took it away. That was as far as the Honda rider would get - his soft com· pound tire soon started to go away and he dropped back. Positions stayed the same well past the halfway point. Back in the pack Gary Scott was having handling. problems caused by a bent swingarm that cocked the rear wheel to the right. Lance Jones was circulating well back with a slowing machine and was soon to be lapped. Ronnie Jon!5 dropped out with a broken rotor. At about the two· thirds marker, Goss started to challenge Kidd, and before long was in second. Jorgensen made his way around Hank Scott for fourth, and Dave Bradley was giving the fans something to cheer about as he moved up to sixth. Positions held right through to the checkered flag, although Goss and Kidd had eaten up much of Pearson's early lead. To say that Pearson was delighted with his second AMA/Winston Pro Series dirt track win in a row (and third career win) would be a gross understatement. The San Jose rider jumped up and down deliriously on the seat of his machine before jumping off and into the winner's circle cere· monies. "Ray Beck and I have been working awfully hard this year," said Pearson. "We had a lot of hard luck the first half of the year and we've finally hit a good combination since Topeka where we had brake failure and DuQuoin where we had carburetion trouble. We came h~c: a ~ nq R C?ble"¥ just t'lr! happy. I had some help from Steve Eklund, who showed me some good lines, and I more or less followed them." Goss' second place moved him from 10 points out of the lead to just four back. "[ had a plan for the start, and it worked out just like I planned, which was amazing," said second row starter Goss after the race. "Just went around the top and got in with the front guys and raced with them. Pearson was gone at first but we closed on him a little bit. It was a pretty good race." "Pearson got an excellent start," said Kidd. "In my opinion it should have been restarted, but if I could have gotten away with it I would have done the same thing. I'm not arguing the point that he jumped the line, but he got away with it, and I've done the same thing and they didn't restart the race. Other than that it was a good race. Jorgensen, Goss and [ had a good battle and nobody did any bumping; it was good, clean passing and [ think we had a good race to the finish." • Results 2MAP NATIONAl.: 1. ScoIl " - - (li-D); 2. FW1dy <>- lH-Dl; 3. Mill. Kidd lli-DI; 4. Alex J o r _ (Ii0); 5. Honk ScoIlIH-D); 8. Dow Il.-dIoy (li-D); 7. Tom Monono (H-D); 8. Gory Scolt IH-D); 9. Ted Iloodv (Han); 10. w.vrre Roinoy lli-DI; 11. Tony Poovey (li-D); 12. Rob C _ (li-D); 13. lMlc:e J.,.,. (li-D); 14. Ronnie J.,.,. (H-D). TIME: 8:33.831. 1HAP TROPHY RACE: 1. St... Eklund Iii-D); 2. Willie e - Iii-D); 3. Mik. Minnig Iii-D); 4. Donny Porkino (li-DI; 5. 5 _ Monger (li-D); 8. Il-11491; 4. Scolt " - - (127); 5. J.., Spooo ...._ i 11 061;_ 8. Alex ~ (105); 7. 5 _ Eklund (104); 8. Honk ScoIl 193); 9. St... Morohood (82); 1O. Tony Poovey l711; 11. Ricky Grohom (70); 12. ScoIl Per. 1831; 13. W.".. Roinoy (57); 14. Jim F1lico 158); 15. mE) Dolo SingIotonI Ted Iloodv (52); 17. Nicky Richichi 145); 18. Mickey F"" 144~ 19.1TIE) Bubbo - - S - .l. 1 ( J" '-,-:-.: .. ~)-:}'1"i i j 7

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