Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Top left) M ike Kldd !recks his Honda into the groove ahead of third and fourth place finishers Terry Poovey 1181 and Alex Jorgensen 1441. ILower left) Randy Goss 161 and his Harley took a fifth in the short !reck. IAbove right) A victorious Jay Springsteen wheelies his saven-yaar-old Harley. Kidd because tuner J err y Griffith had hi s bike in th e pits a n d it wa s well into the two-minute clock before he brought it OUI. When th e heat did sta rt Kid d took th e lead , batt ling si de by side with Kawa saki pilots Eddie Lawson and Ronn ie J o nes. The o rde r quickly went from side by side to fron t to rear, a n d the 10 la p s pass ed wit h Bubba Ru sh putti n g h is Ka wasaki int o fourt h. T he fifth heat fo und the sta le o f Michigan in the driver's sea l as Ra nd y Goss look the lead with h is fact or y H arley a n d Gart h Brow ra n second o n h is water-co ol ed Yamaha . T hat order co nti n ued for a no ther five la p s wh ile Brett Barkman ra n th ird , T hen with four la p s 10 go, Brow took over the lead and held it to the finis h . O regon 's J eff Campbell, rid in g a Ya maha , g ra bbed the lead in the fina l h ea t. Rookie Ch ris Can non (Yam) wa s seco nd, but o n ly fo r a la p before Terry Poovey replaced h im. Ca n non was soon OUI wit h a der a iled chain , a nd tha t se t up a two-ri de r bailie for the lead. Poo vey got OU I front o n lap five a nd went on to record the fastes t h eal o f th e eve ni ng. Ca m pbell held o n 10 seco n d d esp ite a lat e lap charge by Sco tt Parker. Semis Th e first semi sta rted as a northern Ca lifornia show wit h J im m y Fi li ce step p ing out front a head o f Steve Ekl u nd a nd SCOll Pearso n. Ek lu nd had just gained co n tro l of seco n d a n d was starti ng 10 move o n Filice when Mi ke G i lk ey and P earso n we nt down in the fir st two co rners , and a lap la ter, th e red flag went OU I. Gi lkey had th e wind knock ed ou i of him, but walked a way under his o wn power. a nd Pearso n made the restart. Filice led on the single-file sta rt, but three laps later' he found h imself loo kin g atthe rea r fen der ofEkl u nd's Zanoni.'Arai Yamaha . It wa s the same si tua tio n a t th e checkered fla g,as th e two were followed by Keith Day a nd Pearson. Eklund look the so le tra ns fer. In th e secon d semi Ro n n ie Jones needed o ne la p to get around Brett Ba rk ma n , but once h e did he wa s o ff 10 the ra ces, or more correctl y, into th e Na tional. Scott P a rker wo rk ed his wa y from fourth on lap tw o 10 seco nd by th e fini sh , where he was trai led by Barkman . Last Chance Qualifier T h is W;IS the firs t race of its kind run under th e new AMA rul es th at o u tmolde d th e o ld trophy race. T he winner o f th is purse-payi ng event wou ld ea rn a spot in the Nationa l field . Yamaha-mou nted Ronn ie Edgens grabbed the lead in th is first-ever race, ru nni ng ahead of the fas t company o f SCOll Pa rk er, Ji mmy Fili ce and Scott Pearso n . Parker, o n the Klo tz/W iseco /R ick Toldo H a rl ey, displaced Edgens on lap two a nd ran unimpeded to th e National . Edgens he ld second all the wa y whi le Fil ice carne ou t a head in a battle for third wi th Keith Da y. :Junior Invit at ional Aft er a crash ca used the first start to be red-flagged , th e 12-m an field went a t it agai n . Honda-mou nted Matthew Ros owi cz took th e lead fo llowed by Randy G reen . T he two ra n up front throug h m ost of th e race, wh ile Barry P elk ey worked hi s wa y th ro ug h th e pack to third . With a bo u t five laps to go, Green nearl y jum ped off in turn four a nd tha t a ll o wed Pel key by. T h ree la ps from th e e nd he made a m ov e o n Rosowi cz fo r the lead , a nd h eld it to th e checkered flag . G reen a lso passed Rosow icz, doin g so o n the last lap for secon d. National . ~Vhe n t he gr~en flag dropped fo r th e season's firs t Natio nal. ;\I ik e Kidd resp on ded w ith th e hol esh o t, Steve Moreh ead , Mic key Fa y a n d J a y Spri ngstee n swarmed after h im. By th e second la p Sp ri nger had advance d in to th e lea d , a nd Eddi e La wson fo u nd a h ol e a n d ad va nced into th e lead g rou p after hi s secon d row sta rt. Sp r inger a nd Kidd battled for the lead o n la p th ree as th e lightly spaced pa ck fou nd riders swa p pi ng posi tio ns all o ver th e track . Alex J o rgensen was th e next rid er 10 co me up a n d cha llenge the leaders. S hort ly before rh e halfwa y m a rk , Springsteen led with Jorgense n. Kidd , Terry P oo vey, La wson a nd Ek lu nd fo llowi ng. Fa y was dropping back with w hat he la ter ter m ed "traction tro u bl es," R ig h t after the halfway mark, Kid d loo k ove r second for good a nd started 10 make his move on Spri ngsteen. Poovey dropped Jorgy 10 fo ur th whi le Ek lu nd demoted La wson a no tch . Lawson was beginning 10 tire, and as he tired, his rece ntly-inj ured shou lde r began to bother him. Kidd closed rig ht up on Spri ngsteen a nd loo ked fo r a wa y arou nd. but the H a r ley rider was sticki ng 10 h is lin e a nd ma king no m istakes. Corning up through the pac k stea di ly was Spri ngstee n's teammat e Ra n d y Goss, a nd h e hu stl ed pa st Ek lu nd in th e late laps 10 ta ke o ver fifl h beh ind Spri n ge r, Kidd, P o ovey, and J o rgen sen. At the e nd of 25 laps Sp rings teen took th e checkered flag , sim u lta ne o usly tying Kenny R o be rt s' wi n reco rd , an d se lli ng th e Harl eyDa vidson camp a light with deli ght. No o ne in black a n d orange see me d to to uch ground. Asked if h e k new that Kid d was righ t in back of him , threat en in g , Spri nger replied. " I d id n 't until I loo ked back on the ' hip before th e whit e flag. I didn 't k now who it was; I just sa w so meone right there. And I m ade su re if th ey were goi ng to pass m e th ey wer e goin g to go a rou nd the o u tsi de of me." Commenting o n tying the 29-w in record , Sprin gsteen sa id, " It means a lot; i t realIy does as far as m y career goes. It 's g reat to take it back to Mi ch igan where it wa s before. " " I tri ed a lot of move s o n Jay tha t I th o ught would work," sa id Kidd, "a nd n one o f th em worked . H e ca me here to race - h e wa sn' t pl a ying. " U nfort u nately fo r Spri ngs tee n, th e glee was short-lived. Mo ments a fte r the br ief p ress co nfere nce, th e m ysterious ail ment th at h as kept hi m sideli ned much of the pasI lWO yea rs, struck again. J a y suffered from stornach cramps through much of the nigh t a nd d id no t ride th e following day. H a rl ey-D avidso n Racin g Team Ma nager Dick O 'Brien said the fol lo wing day, " Jay's no t feeli ng. 100 we ll. H e had some pretty ba d stomac h cram ps last nigh t after h e got back to the hotel. It ' s a little bit of a repea l, a lthough h e' s resting well now . T he med icat ion he's taki ng he j us t sta rted beca use ir's o nly been on the market a few d a ys. So th e doctor said it's goi ng to take a bout a mo nth before the medication starts to ta ke e max effect. " Results JR INVITATIONA L: 1. Bar ry Pelkey (Yam); 2. Rand y Green (Ho n); 3 . M atth ew ROl owicz (Hon); 4 .. W illia m Dav is; 5 . M ark Hill (Ho n); 6 . Don ald Hem il- ton (Kaw ); 7. Jeff Joiner (Hon); 8. Pete Hames IKaw); 9. Dan lngram IKaw); 1D. Kirk Engl and(Yam); 11. Sammy Swe et (Honl: 12 . Timothy Houghton (Kaw ). LAS T CHA NCE QUAU FIER: 1. Scott Parker; 2. Ronni e Edge ns; 3 . Jim Filice: 4 . Keith Day; 5 . Billy Scott; 6. Ted Boody; 7. Stephen Hall; 8. Brett Bark· ma n; 9. Scott Pear son; 10. Billy Herndon . NATIONA L CHA M PIONSHIP SHORT TRACK: 1. J ay Spr ing ste en (H-D); 2. Mike Kidd (Hon); 3. Terry Poovey (Hon); 4 . Alex Jorgensen fe -A); 5. Randy Goss (H · O); 6 . Stsw Elund (Yam ); 7 . Ron ni e Jones (Kaw); 8. Eddie Lawson IKaw l; 9. Garth Brow (Yam); 10. Wayne Ra iney (Kaw); 11 . Scan Parker (H- O); 12. Mickey Fay (Hon); 13. Steve Morehead (Hont. 14 . Gary Scon (Hon); 15. Jeff Campbell (yam )_

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