Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ c-r 00 0') ~ -.::l"' - .1-0 . .... 0. < (Above) Grehem end Tex Peel heve been 8 potent combo with two trips to the winner's circle in two tries. (Below) Eklund (S) end Fey ren close. (Ab ove) Ted Boody picked up his f irst 'S2 Netionel points et Ascot's TT. (Below) W eyne Reiney was the victim of e 't ire in the treck. , order: Pear son, Fay a nd 'Lawson. Frank Word III had the reflexes for the first start of h eat three but the race ws red£lagged when john Wincewi cz went down in the first turn and left in tHe ambul ance. Gary Scott took advantage of th e golden second cha nce and led third fastest qualifier an d Frid ay night half mil e wi n ner Ri ch Arnaiz (Hon), Brad Hurst (Tri), Don SHobert (Yam) , and crowd favorite Steve Wise. , t Scott, Arn ai z and Hurst stayed stalemated in th e fir st three positions, but Wise m oved hi s production CR480 Honda into fourth. In on ly a co u ple of pl aces on th e track was Wi se' s motocr oss style ap pa ren t an d he was backing .in to the turns like a regular. Wise arrived in controv ersy, but he ro de clea n an d well a ltho ug h th e motocro ss H onda was down 10 m ph on the long straigh t. Fell ow T exan Don " Bu bba" Sh obert moved up three positi ons and he a nd Wise p roceeded to put on a sho wl Shobert en de d it in fourth a fter bouncing Wise o rr o f th e o uts ide line. Scott found his T ri u m p h free wh eeling into turn one, sans brakes, and oversho t the track.wheelied acros s a ditch , shot bet ween th e haybal es, ne arl y cli p pi ng th e Armco and back on th e track in third wh ere he finish ed behind Arnai z a nd Hurst. .Ri cky Graham saw a beautiful first place sta rt go to waste as he pi cked h is H arley up o ut of the last infield turn on th e firs t lap o f th e fourth heat . Randy Goss in herited the lead foll owed by Wayn e Rain ey a nd Ted Bood y. G ra ham beg-an an aweso me me and gave me some pointers, I want to th ank him, it worked a lot ' better." "Better" a nd a bunch of hard riding could only get Wise into third in a race where only one wou ld go into th e main. r ch arge that would carry h im from a half lap behind to fifth on th e fin al lap. ' Goss cruised o u t in front while Rainey a n d Boody indulged in som e of the tightly fough t and physically clos e racing of th e night. They ran side by 'side.on the half mil e and collided a t least three times, once hard ' on th e final lap. Boody earned hi s ' seco nd and Rainey, took third. S emis Mike Kicld took the first semi from wire to wire a nd look ed every bit th e cha m pi on. j im Fili ce was th e rider to wat ch , h ow ever, as he moved hi s fac• tor y Yam aha 500 from fifth to second . Filice di splaced Steve Morehead , riding Filice 's ba ck-up 500 Yamaha, to tak e th e tran sfer. Sh obert gr abbed th e sta rt of th e seco n d semi, accom pa nied by Ronni e j ones, Gra ha m a n d Wise. Gra- ' h am too k th e lead o n the th ird lap a n d n ever look ed back. Shobert managed to stay close but was n ot a threat, whil e both riders kept a lar ge ga p on Wi se th at he co u ld n ot whittle down . j ones too k fourth. Last chance qualifier T he last cha nce for Steve Morehead left everyone else with n o cha nce as he won conv inci ngly o ver j eff Campbell (Ya m) a n d Wise. Wi se looked lik e he could pull o rr th e win in early going, but he hit Ca m pbe ll's back wh eel go in g o n to the half mil e an d dropped four positions. Wise wa s riding considera bly better th an . earl ier a n d said later , " I cha nged to a d iffere nt tir e a nd Mik e Kidd cut it for ........- ....... National Scott Pearson proved th at his rocket start was part skill a nd part h orsepow er as he pow ered to ano ther holeshot in the Nati onal with fast company jorgensen , Boody an d Graham behind. G raham , who blasted in to fourth from the th ird row said, " I' m go ing to hammer it a ro u nd the o ut side a t th e start, yo u ca n' t let the se g uys get ahead of you a t th e ge t-go a nd sta rt racing - yo u' ll never catch them. " It wo rked for him. On th e firs t lap he cu t under Bood y in turn two and went to third. j o rgen sen go t the lead for free a t Pea rso n 's expen se, whe n hi s Yam aha dropped its ca m cha in . ' As th e riders settled in , th e orde r read j or gen sen , Graham, Boody a n d Fay. The top three would stay sett led a ll th e wa y to the £lag with j or gens en stre tch ing h is lead a n d Graham ha vin g moments of worry wh en h is H arley quit wh ile in th e air over th e j u m p, but it started running normall y aga in . Arnaiz made hi s way pa st Fay wh o wa s just a hea d of Eklund, who was working up from 10th . T he two factory H arl eys were in the top 10, run nin g righ t together till Pa rker a nd th en Goss fell a nd were n o longer in co ntention. Fay moved back a roun d Arna iza nd Eklund came also. Eklund and jorgensen's Can-Arns looked very powerful, but Eklund was having trouble getting around Fay u ntil Fay hit a tir e in th e ' track ,a nd bent hi s brake lever . He sto p ped to strai gh ten it a n d broke it orr, making it difficult . to keep th e pace an d he faded to 13th a t the finish. The on ly rider do ing so me serio us moving was Yam aha 's Filice. Fil ice hadstarted poorl y a nd was stead ily cho p p ing th rough th e pack a nd was running ninth a t mid-race behind Kiddand Scott. Po sitions settl ed to the fin ish with th e exce p tio n o f Fili ce who mad e hi s ' way to six th . j or gen sen was' soft spoken . a nd mod est a bou t h is win, " I just wen t o u t th ere an d rod e m y ow n race." Graham said, " jorgense n's bike was fast; he didn 't have a ny pr ob lem s and I was riding as fast as I co u ld without berzerkin g i t." Bood y' s ra ce wa s smooth and cons isten t, " I kn ew' that as long as I co u ld rid e smooth ," Boody sa id , " I kn ew I had a p re tty good cha nce of drinkin g cha m pagne an d th at 's what I wanted." • Results . 25-LA P NATIONAL : 1. Ale. Jorgens en (C-A); 2. Ricky Graham (H-D); 3. Ted Boody (H-D); 4, Steve Eklund (C-A); 5. Rich Arnaiz (Han); 6. Jim Filice (Yaml; 7. Mike Kidd (Honl ; 8. Don Shobert (Yaml; 9, Gary Scan (Tri); 1D. Brad Hurst (Tri); 11. Steve Morehead (Yam); 12. Eddie Lawson (Kaw); , 13, Mickey Fay (Han); 14. Scott Parker (H-D); 15, Way ne Rainey (Kaw); 16 . Randy Goss IH -D); 17 . Scott Pearson (Yam). WI NSTON PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Al e. Jo rgensen (40); 2. Ricky ·Graham (36); 3, Mike Kidd (26); 4. Steve Wise1211; 5, Mickey Fey (21 ); 6. Steve Eklund (20); 7. Jay Springsteen (20); e, Randy Goss(20); 9 . Freddie Spencer( 161; 10. Terry Poovey (16). 7 ~

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