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/126612
(Above) Pro-Unk suspension wes a new feature on the new NS760 Hondas (below). Jay Springsteen leads Ricky Graham in the National. (Inset) Tuners Bill Werner and Tex Peel celebrate. AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series: Roun Springer breaks the records wi By Dale Brown Photos by E.W. Dominie "We've done it!" was the shout of an exuberant' Jay Springsteen after he'd won the 25lap KRW Helmets-sponsored Sacramento Mile. The win was the 30th National of his career, and with that number he set a new record. In his seven year career, he now has more wins than Kenny Roberts (29), . Bart Markel (28) or Joe Leonard (27). 12 The wa y Springer set th e record was of far more importance to the 9,200 fan s at the J .C. Agajanianpromoted event. Throughout the National, Springsteen battled with Rick y Graham, a nd it was settled at the fin ish line by less than two feet. " Randy Goss had a similar margin on Terry Poovey for third place. " It feels beautiful," said HarleyDavidson factory rider Springsteen about the record , " Ri g h t now I , couldn't feel any better." J ay, who had missed two of the four previous Winston Pro events due to the mysterious recurring illness, was in fin e form through much of the evening. He qualified second fastest , won hi s heat, and then set a new track record in winning th e National. But a bout wi th nau sea soon after th e race ended sent him back to his ho tel early. G raham turned in a fin e performance of his own , setting new on ea nd 10-lap track records, as well as taking th e points lead when Alex Jorgensen QNf, Graham now, lead s the points with 52 to Jorgy's 41 and Springer's 40. Craham's tuner Tex Peel was happy about the wa y the night went: "J ay , Springsteen is the best motorcycle racer in the world. You run with him for 25 laps and you're not doing too shabby." Team Honda made the other big news of the evening by unleashing a [our-man, NS750-mounted team for all the Winston Pro Series dirt track events. In addition to previously signed Mike Kidd and Billy Herndon, both Scott Pearson and Mickey Fay wore the red , white and blue. Both Kidd and Pearson were riding newl y-developed machines with ProLink rear suspension, but only Kidd was destined to make th e National because all four riders were lacking practice on the machines due to in - ' clement weather in California 'o ver the past two weeks, or due to lack of opportunity. Pearson returned from a camping trip on Monday, Apr. 12 a nd found a message to call Honda Din T r a ck Coordin ator Gen e Romero. Behind th e top three in the finishing order a t Cal-Expo were Terry Poovey, new Ha rley-Davidson team rider Scott Parker, Steve Morehead, .Steve,Eklund and (;,a,ry Scott, Garth Brow and Jay Springsteen's younger brother Chuck rounded out the top 10. Qualifying Graham began his assault on the record books when he gu ided his K1otz/Wiseco/ShoeilTex Peel XR750 around the track in 38.51 seconds, breaking Randy Goss' 1981 record of 38.62 . Springsteen (38,66), Lance Jones (38.71) and Poovey (38.78) rounded out the heat race polesiuers. Heats Ricky Graham jeued out into the . lead of the first lfl-Iapper. and stayed there. Scon Parker did likewise i n second, but Scan Pearson proved his startingability remains by going from inside of the second row to third on the first lap. He was soon overtaken by Ted Boody and Steve Morehead, 'then dropped out with transmission problems before the halfway point. Boody, in his, ah, unique, yellow, orange and light blue flarne -pauern leathers, stayed in third to nab the last available transfer. Morehead finished fourth a head of Jay Beach. Graham's time for the 10laps eclipsed Hank Scon's 1978 track record by almost two seconds. Jay Springsteen led the second heat from start to finish on his Bill Werner-tuned factory mount, and though unable to best Graham's time, came away with second fastest heat of the night. Likewise, Garth Brow ran in second laps '1-10 to land himself a spot in the National. Dave Bradley got a good start and ran third in the early going, before Gary Scou became acclimated enough to his borrowed Ra y Beck Harley-Davidson and took it away, '. The third heat was a three-way brawl in the best of racing tradition. Bubba Shobert, Lance Jones and Steve Eklund £iled into turn three on the first lap three abreast, and they remained that way for much of the race. Shobert led laps 1-4, but then Jones tried an outside move through the length of turn three that proved to be successful. It didn't prove to be permanent when , Shobert grabbed the lead back three laps later. Jones tried it one more time with a liule bit of luck, but Shobert was out front at th e checkered. J ones had to settle for second with Eklund third. Ronnie Jones was fourth initially, but Hank Scott came up from his sixth place start to take it at the halfway point; however, the leaders were just too far gone. This was Scott's first appearance since his serious injury of last fall, and he was looking stronger with every lap. ' The final heat was also hard-fought. Randy Goss, Terry Poovey and Tim Mertens had the spotlight through the first two laps. Then Mertens made a mistake thatcost him some time, and defending Sacramento winner Alex Jorgensen took over third. Up front was a classic draft/pass battle being waged by the factory rider from Michigan and the Shoei/Sizemore-sponsored privateer from Texas. The order of the battle alternated from straightaway to corner as the two pulled away from Jorgensen, but in the end it was Goss nipping his Texas rival.