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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126542
00 0') (Above left) The bettie for the championship we. cIoae In the ••rty laps •• Mike Kldd (72).nd Gary Scott _ e aide by aIde.lTop right) KIdd enjoyed the winner'. circle c:eremonlea.(Above right) Trophy race winner Rich Amalz (18zl battles with Freddie Spencer. AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series: Round 26 Ascot Iinale to Gossas Klddtakes title By Dale Brown Photos by Dan Mahony GARDENA, CA, SEPT. 26 The battle for the AMA/Winston Pro Series number one plate extended. through the seasonending 20-lap Ascot half mile National as defending Grand National Champion Randy Goss won the race and Mike Kidd came from a second row start to second to win the 1981 title by five points over Gary Scott, who finished fourth behind Terry Poovey. 6 "I'm glad it's over. People can tell me that they don't worry about going for number one, but this last week has been so hectic. My wife and 1 have been through so much, and there were a couple of years where 1 wanted to retire, but 1 knew there was no reason to proved retire yet and tonight it," related Kidd as he escaped the crush of the crowd momentarily in the back of the Roherts-Lawwill Racing team truck. "I proved something to myself that when yo.u set out to do something, and you work at it hard enough - 1 worked awfully hard to come here and ride this race the way 1 wanted to ride it. When 1 got third in my heat 1 never was worried - 1 knew 1 had 20 laps in the main event," concluded Kidd, the smile on his face as big as his home state. For Gary Scott, the night was doubly tough to take. Not only did he miss the championship by less than three seconds, he also saw his brother Hank taken to the hospital with a broken left leg and left shoulder after a crash in time trials_ "I'll come back," he said after the race, 'Tm just getting my second wind. 1 started to piclt up on him (Kidd) a couple of times. All it would have taken was one bobble and 1 would have been right on him. But he didn't make a lot of mistakes that's what paid off for him." Behind the top four of Goss, Kidd, Poovey and Scott were Scott Pearson, Alex jorgensen and Riclty Graham. Lance jones, Bill Crabbe and Scott Parker rounded out the top 10. Poovey's third place moved him from eighth to sixth in the final point standings. The sixth place rider going into the race, jay Spnngsteen, crashed in time trials. Springer, who reponedly "'as not feeling well, had still run strongly in practice_ In the crash he had the wind knocked out of him as well as sustaining some pretty good bumps and bTUises and he did not compete further. Pearson's run from the third row of tbe National to fifth left him three points behind fourth place Hank Scott. The standing-room-only crowd of nearly 10,000 at the j.C. Agajanianpromoted KRW Helmets-sponsored event saw lots of action and several crashes. Both Scott and Kidd nearly had their title chanced ended in traffic on the first r-o laps of tbe race. A crash involving Steve Monger and Garth Brow on the second lap nearly involved Kidd as well, and it brought out the red flag. Time trials Terry Poovey showed that he was ready for a hot evening as he took tbe $100 fast qualifying money by turning a 22.S021ap on his ShoeilSisemore/K. Parker/Widman's Harley-Davidson XR. Riclty Graham was second fastest at 22.549, followed by Gary Scott (22.624), Steve Eklund (22.648) and Kidd (22.670). Goss qualified 10th fastest, and all three title contenders were in separate beats. Heats The first heat started as a three-way battle for first between Poovey, Kidd and Scott Pearson, with Poovey doing most of the leading. Soon he stretched out a lead as Garth Brow moved into the fight for a transfer spot on the third lap. Kidd, on the Roherta·Lawwill Raeing/I'fl/Wrangler/Nava/Rocky HarleyDavidson, and Pearson, backed by Ray Beck, Harry Lillie, Castrol, Arai and Interpart, actively diacuased second from the midway point to eighth lap. That was when Brown, who had Springsteen's spare engine in his own Cummings Harley-Davidson/Arai/ KlotzJ:::ed mount, made his and vanced from fourth to second by the time the white flag came out. Kidd triumphed in his battle with Pearson to take the final direct transfer. Pearson, who had transmiuion problema in practice and wound up using the transmialion out of Steve Eklund's spare bike was headed for the first semi. In the second heat Riclty Graham pulled the hoIeabot OIl his KlotzISboei/ Wiaeco/Dellorto/Ron Woodd HarleyDavidson while Scott Parker and Randy eo. ran alonpide. Parter ~ Graham going onto the baclt straight and a lap later ea. put Graham baclt to third. On lap four eo. took over the lead, and took it on from there with his Brent Thompson-tuned factory XR, Parker stayed right with ea., but IettIed for second on the KlotzIWIleCO/ HarIey-DavidaolllWItW/ AraiIDiamond Tex Peel Harley. Graham fmiahed a ways baclt in third, with jeff Haney taking fourth on the factory Honda NS7SO. Tbe third heat contained the last of the title contenders, Gary Scott, sponsOred by KK Motorcycle Supply, Sisemore and Duckworth and riding his brother Hank's machine after his personal bike had let him down the previous r-o Nationals. AlexjOigen&al, on the Sal Acosta/Megacycle Cams-