Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126600
The third !lip of the NIItioneI found Springs1Hn 191 in front of Eddie Lawson 1211. Mickey Fay lbehind Lawsonland Mike Kldd. carrying number one. AMA Grand National Championship/Winsfon Pro Series: Round 1 Springer's . Houston win ties himwilh Roberts at 29 By Dale Brown Photos by Karel Kramer and John Ranniko HO USTON . TX. FEB . 6 " Sprin ger's back!" was the yell of th e winner in h is firs t words to the tracks ide microp ho ne. " I really feel great," added H arleyDavidson 's Jay Spri ngs teen, wh ose win in the opening night short track portion of Pace Management's Budweiser Wild West Weekend crea ted a tie with Kenny Roberts 6 for most ca reer AMA Grand National. wins. Both riders have tasted th e winn er 's champagne 29 times. an d for Springer, this wa s th e second co n secu tive year winnin g th e H ouston short track. Finishing second in th e en la rge dthis- year-to-25-laps main event was th e defending AMA /Win ston P ro Seri es Champ Mike Kidd in his fir st outing with Team Honda. "I 'm reall y happy," said Kidd, " I' ve been telling th e press a ll week long that a n yth ing ca n happen in th e ' Do me. and so to walk away with second place - I'm not griping." Third - and as in Springer's case, a repeat performance of the previous year - was T erry Poovey. Poovey rode his Dallas Honda /Shoei / Castrol-sponsored Honda into the winner's circle after lying seventh in th e early laps. Finishing fourth and fifth before the crows of approximatel y 25.000 were Alex jorgen sen and Randy Goss. Ronn ie jones, Eddie Lawson. G arth Brow and Wa yn e Rainey ro u nde d o u t th e to p 10. H alft im e cere monies in cluded a farewell to Miss Win ston. Lynn Griffis. A fixt ure o n the circui t since R.j . Revn ol ds' firs t in vo lveme nt in AM A G~n d Na ti o nal racing in 1975, this wa s L ynn 's last race in a n o fficia l capa city . We ca n only say , "Than ks for every th in g. L ynn . We'l! miss ya." Ti m e t rials T he di fference between wi n n in g th e po le p ositi on in th e fir st h eat a nd m akin g the 60-rider fie ld at a ll was th e sca nt difference between 14.542 seco nds a nd 15,298. T he for me r time wa s reco rd ed by H onda su p port rider Mick ey Fa y, an d with it h e earned $200 in fast qual ifying mon ey from R.C. Engineering. Alex j orgensen qualified hi s jorg y's Can-Am seco nd fast est with a 14.579, and he was followed by Springsteen (14.604), Kidd ( \4 .7 18) , Garth Brow ( 14,810) and Mik e Inderbitzen ( 14.8 11), Arney Wick turned in th e aforementioned cu t-o ff time, and a mo ng the 50 or so riders not making th e field was Ricky Graham, a victim o f wat er in th e gas, Heats After Bill y SCOll and Steve Burkh older drew penalty lin e positions, the first heat started with Mickey Fay , Billy Labrie, Gary SCOll and Steve Eklund leading the way , That order continued through the first half of the race before SCOll and Eklund nailed Labrie for second and third . Fay was gone and SCOll eventually took second and the ot her direct transfer, hol din g off an exceptionally hard last lap charge by Ek lund to do it, Labrie finished fourth. fo llowed by Rookie Billy SCOll, who had worked his wa y up from the third row. . The seco nd heat go t off to a start with Cyclear- sponsored Steve Morehe ad (H o n) a n d jimmy Filice, on th e water -cool ed factory Yamaha , running 1-2 while Alex j o rge n sen a nd Kawa saki-m ounted SCOll Pearson trad ed third , Moreh ead and Fil ice co nt i n ued to hold th e fir st two p os itions wh ile th e j orgen sen/Pearson arg ume nt wa s settled in j orgv 's favo r. As th e fi nis h neared . Morehead 's posi tion was secu re, but jorgensen wa s rig h t on Fi lice as they sta rted th e final la p. That la p tu rned into hi gh dra ma as j orgen sen swooped low th rough th e fourth turn an d took seco nd from FiIicc a t the fla g. " I don 't kn ow wha t th e pe na lty in T ex as is fo r g ra n d larcen y," inton ed announ cer L a rr y Huffman, " bu t jorgensen just stole seco nd from Filice." Pearson fini sh ed third . Kawasaki s ra n 1-2 to start the third heat with Wayne Rainey and Rod Spencer up front . jay Springsteen wa s an initial third , but put a move on Spencer for second at the end of lap one. Springer then moved up to pressure Ra iney for the next five la p s, eventuall y making a turn two move work. Th e two factory riders then s ta yed wh er e they were for the transfers, followed by R ich Arnaiz , Keith Day and Spencer. The moments before the fourth heat .sta rted wete: anxious 'o n es for