Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Fay and fourth place Rod Spencer (49) fought in their heat. (Ri ght) MXer Wise gained t ime off the big jump. (Continued from page 8) a t all in th e fin al yet. Hi s ridin g co u ld o n ly be described as un ique, man y times d ivin g ins ide and sq uaring o ff th e turns like a Supercross, whi ch th e track was not a ltogether u n like. T h e o n ly part of the track th at h is bike look ed like it wa s p ossibly a t a disadva ntage was th e o ne fast t urn . Wa sh ing ton ho tsh oe Mickey Fay showed wh y he lo ves the 'Dome as he ro cketed int o th e lead of hea t th ree ahead of Ra ndy Goss a nd Eddi e La wso n. Lawson blasted aro und th e o u tside , lOtally si dewa ys in th e cushion. Edd ie sa id before the race that " Ho rsepo wer is no problem ; p u tting it lern. " Ou t in th e cus hio n it wa s ge ttin g lO th e grou nd. a nd he went from si xth to third in th e first tu rn . O n th e firs t lap j im Fili ce, j ohn Burnett a nd joh n Win cew icz went down in a tigh t tu rn , a n d a rider stood u p , pulled u p o n the bar s a nd used Filice's back for a j ump. The race was red-Il agged.and th e restart hurt both Go ss a nd La wson . Fil ice was a ble to wa lk away but sai d, " Ma n , m y back hurts." Fa y gra bbed th e restart over th e Ma ico of Rod Spen cer a nd Keith Da y. T he fin ish in g orde r was th e sa m e. Ricky G raham m oved ou t of th e pack to win th e fin al hea t. H e passed from fifth to firs t in four laps a nd wa s flying. Terry Poo vey and Scott Parker foll ow ed h im in. Parker was rid ing h ard a n d was th e o n ly rid er to ri de the cus h ion a ll day. Semis 14 Wise made his ret urn in th e first semi and m oved in to the lead on th e th ird la p . Wise ro osted awa y to a q ua rt er-lap lead and flew off th e big j u mp a nd pun ch ed his fist into th e a ir. Hi s o ne-ha nded j u m p had th e cro wd go ing w ild. H eads were sha king . hu t no o n e wa s g ivin g h im a ny cha nre a t th e fin al yet. More people wert' wo rr ied that Wise migh t ca use pr obl ems in th e fin al with his in experi en ce: - _. Randy Goss took a well deserved win and final tran sfer in th e final sem i. Edd ie Lawson hol eshot th e race an d led until halfwa y through th e last lap wh en G o ss horsepowered past a fter diggin g th rough the pa ck. Last Chance Qualifier T he o ld T roph y race has been changed to th e La st Cha nce Qua lifier a nd on e more tran sfer spot was up for grabs. The ra ce was red-flagged at o ne p o in t. line. bu t Brett Ba rk man moved o ne of the prettiest H ondas in th e field into th e lead for good a nd took th e last tran sfer spot. J u nior Invit at ional Randy Green set fas t time a nd led every lap o f th e j u n io r Inv itat ion al. G reen , from Wa sh in gt on, rod e h is ver y fast Honda to a ni rnpressive win . Don H am ilton was in seco nd at th e sta rt but was passed by Mark Hill. H ill managed to keep hi s g ras p o n seco nd until th e lap that co u nts, th e last o ne . Don H amilton passed back into seco nd on th e fin al lap. Th e top three were Green , Ha mil ton a nd Hill . National There wa s e lectrici ty in the ai r at th e beginnin g of the fin al. Wi th Springer go ne, Kidd look ed like th e man to bet o n, but Fa y a nd G raham look ed very good , a nd w hat abou t Wise? Kidd wa s co n fide nt before th e race, go t to be smooth . Th ey've go t th e hors epow er . just stick in the sa me lin e and don 't ge t tired. I th ink peopl e respea yo u wh en yo u tak e a Harley ou t th ere." Graham ea rned th e respect he go t. Fay g ra bbed th e ho leshot on his fact or y Honda 500cc, bu t lost it to G raham o n th e first lap . Pear son had th ir d, bu t he and Pa rker we nt down in th e ea rly laps. By th e fou rt h lap th e race was O il, an d the to p four pos itions were up for gra bs. Gra ham . wit h a sma ll lead . was followed by Fa y, Kidd a nd Wise. Wis e hung back like he didn 't want to get in Kidd 's way for two la ps th en ma de his m ove. Wise was rid ing u nlike anyone o n the track (wh ich wa s a to p ic of several h eat ed Wise charged in low and took the inside lin e from Kidd. Kidd tried to accelera te with him a nd they both swep t across the tra ck with Kidd da ngerous ly close to th e hay bal es. Getting p assed by Wi se seem ed to fir e Kidd up, a n d Kidd, Wi se or Fa y would be in seco n d o n every lap . Non e of th em seeme d to be a ble to stay in seco nd a ny lon ger th an the ot hers. Wi se went to seco n d th en back to fo urth , a n d the peop le in th e infi eld look ed stu n ne d . A veteran race p hotograp her sai d, " I ca n' t believe nobod y h as kn ock ed Wise o ff yet." Wise mad e hi s return from fo u rt h a nd again , th e four front -runners were pa cked toge ther agai n . T he pack ca me upon Terry Poovey to lap him , Kidd tangl ed wi th him a nd th ey both went down . T he fa ll to ok th e Win ston Pro Ser ies lead out of Kidd 's gra~ p a nd he co u ldn ' t resta rt his mach ine . Kidd said lat er, " Poovey made a stu p id mi stak e, he m ust have had a brain fad e or so methi ng. You don 't race wi th th e leaders. H e tried to pass Graham ba ck and sta lled hi s engi n e, I ran into hi m a nd stalled my engi ne, a nd that put m e out of th e race." Graham made it by Poovey safely and co nt in ued to run in front , relati vel y un ch all en ged . R id ers wer e alway s cl ose but nobody was stickin g a wheel under h im . With Kidd o u t Fa y moved into seco n d but still h ad Wise to deal with . Wise fought with Fa y a nd th en put one o f hi s nowfami lia r inside moves on Fa y a nd m oved up to cha lle nge Graham . . Before Wise co u ld get enough to cha llen ge for th e lead , hi s back brake broke. leavin g th e so ftly sus pe nded two-strok e wi th on ly a front brake and no co m p ression brakin g. Th a t was it for G raham: he had the Nat ional sewed up. Fay m oved int o seco nd while Wise faded to th ird. Rod Spencer, th e o n ly oth er rac er atti red - lik e Wise - in i\IX gear, had gott en a 10th p lace sta rt a nd wo rked th rough th e p ack. He m ad e a last lap driv e on j erry Gr eer 's, Cycl e New s p roj ect Mai co rnactrin e and closed a huge ga p o n Wise in the la st two laps and went outside on th e fina l turn but d idn 't have the horsep ow er or tra ction to ma ke the pass. G raham took a happy but sore w in foll owed by Fay a nd Wise. Spen cer ca me in fo urth Iol lowed by Randy Go ss o n the fact ory Harley. Go ss charged harder than a nyone but didn 't have th e combi nat ion. Second Texan in the to p six was Bubba hobert, After th e race the firs t man to be int erviewed was Wise. bu t Fay gra bbed th e mike a nd said, " Steve Wise is one o f th e best motorcycle racers I h ave ever seen .,. Graham sai d , " I kn ew I h ad pressu re from behind, bu t I kn ew th at if I just kept my lin es right th ey couldn ' t p ass me wi thou t st u ffin g m e. My inju ries di dn' t bothe r me wh il e was riding, but m y ribs a nd whol e right sid e hurt no w. But n o p ro blem , we don 't race again for three weeks , and I ca n sure use th e mo ney. I o n ly ha d a bo ut 100Iel t. " " I reall y have to adm ire th e guy wh o won ," sai d Wise, " T h a t Harl ey is a heavy bik e. You ca n' t take a ny th ing away from th ese guys. " With a ll th e co m p laints o f rough riding o n Wise's part a n d wh at looked lik e rough ridin g to wa rds Wise, he said, " J'rn n ot worried abou t th at , I ca me here to race. I don 't think I wa s rid in g rough. If th ey want to race, le t's race. If they want to play tiddl ywin ks, th en let 's pl ay tiddl ywinks." Results AMA /GRAND NATIONAL CHAM PIONSHIP/ WINSTON PRO SERIES POI NT STA NDINGS: 1. (TIE) Jay Springsteen/Ricky Graha m/Randy Goss (20) ; 4 . (TIEl Mickey Fay/Ale. Jorgensen (1 9); 6. Mike Kidd (18) ; 7 . Terry Poovey (161; 8 . Ron nie Jon es/ Steve Wise (1 3); 10. Rod Spencer (11): 12. St eve Eklund/8ubbe Shobert 19) 14 . (TIE) Eddie ; Laws on / Ste ve Morehead/Brett Barkman (7); 17 . Gerth 8row (61 18 . (TIEl Soon Pork er;Wayne Rai; ney (5 1 .· NATIONAL CHA M PIONSHIP rr RACE; 1. Rickey Gra ham (H -O); 2. M ickey Fay (Hon); 3 . St ev e W ise (Ho n); 4 . Rodney Spencer (M ail ; 5. Rand y Gos s (HOI; 6 . 8ubba Shobert (Yam/; 7. Ale. J or gen se n (C, AI ; B. Br ett Ber kman (Ho n); 9. Ronnie Jon es (e -A); , O. St eve M or eh ead (Hon ); 11. Ke ith Day (Yam); 12 . Terry Poo vey (Hon ); 13 . Mi ke Kidd (Ho n); 14 . Scott Parker (H-Ol; 15 . Scott Pearson Ie -A). LAS T CHA NCE a UALIFIER: 1. 8ren Barkm an (Hon l; 2 . Gary Scon (Honl; 3 . Jeff rey Cam pbel l. J R INVITATIONA L: 1. Randy Green (Hon ); 2. Do n Ham ikon ~ H· D); 3. Bill Oavjs- (H ~O ); 4 . Pete Haimes . (Yam);5: 8arrY Pelkey (Yaml.

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