Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Left) Randy Goss (6)and Terry Poovey fought in their heat and the National. (Right) Steve Eklund leads Poovey early on, ~;ve Sacto mile win and it worked. He took the lead out of the gate, was neve r headed, a n d hi s ma rgin of victory was th e better part of a stra ig h ta wa y. Yam aha 's Jimmy Filice go t his Virago-based machine o u t in second, accompanied by a tight pack th at included Jay Beach and Mike Inderbitzen . Filice wa s in th e midst of things until the fifth lap, wh en he lost a few positions. Then Inderbitzen and Beach fou ght over th e other trans fer until Inderbitzen slowed with mech anical troubl es. Making his way up all th e time, though, was Chuck Sprin gsteen . He made hi s mov e on Beach start in g on the white flag lap, then held o n to pl ace second and earn hi s first-ever mile National start. Beach fin ished secon d with Filice third, but Filice made some angry ges tures a t Beach on the coo l-off lap. The seco nd sem i sa w H ank Sco tt blitz into th e lead, soo n to be followed by Ti m Merten s. Behind them, Mik e Kidd was on hi s way fro m six th to third, but th e two tran sfers fro m the semi were so lidly in the hands o f Scott and Mert en s. The two did play it tight, with Mert en s steadil y ga ining until he took the lead with a lap to go. That proved to be a n error, for on e lap was a ll that Scott needed to get back out front a nd take th e chec kered first. Last Chance Qualifier T he fin al qualifyin g race o f the night set th e stage for the first n onHarl ey-Davidso n in the Na ti onal line-up. Yam ah a-m ounted J immy Filice took th e lead , ignorin g a foot injury suffered th e week before in a practice cra sh at Riv erside Intern ational Raceway's roa d co urse . Behind him was Mik e Kidd a nd th e Hon da , but soon it was th e other way around. Then it wasn 't, an d Willie Crabbe mov ed up to join the factory riders an d make it a three-wa y battle. Filice d id much of th e leading, while Jay Beach di splaced Crabbe for a spo t in the top three on lap seven. Going into th e last lap, Filice was leading with Beach second. Going into turn one th ere was appar ently some contact between th e two - some said Beach hit Filice - wi th Beach falling an d Filice being sh u nt ed back to fourth. At th e chec kered £lag i t was Kidd, with Cr abbe and Scott Adams finishing 2-3. By taking the 17th spot, Kidd became th e first rid er in AMA hi story to put a Honda into a mile National. National There were 17 start ing slo ts, but on ly 16 riders left on th e line. H ank Scott replaced a di stributor between hi s sem i an d th e feature, but wh en th ey sta rt ed th e bik e u p , it made a loud clanging noise, and they sto p ped it ri ght th ere. " I guess we'll have to go back to sq ua re one," said Hank later, " the trick winter stuff didn' t work too well. " Ri cky Graham took the lead upon th e display of th e gr een ligh t. Springsteen was secon d com in g o ff th e line, an d tri ed to pass going into th e th ird corner, but Graham held him off as Bubba Shobert a n d SCOll Parker trailed in th eir wak e. Sprin gsteen go t o u t in front on th e fo llo win g lap, a nd Parker passed Shobert on th e same tour of the circu it. A lap later a nd th e order was: Sp ri n gsteen , Graham , Parker , Shobert, Steve Eklund, T err y Poovey, Ted Bood y a nd Steve Moreh ead. Mik e Kidd had worked h is way up from his last row start, but was forced to pull off into th e pits on th e third lap when he kn ocked a carbu retor off with his leg. After getting it fixed , he returned to the track . Kidd hoped that some riders would drop out, but th at wasn 't his main concern. "T h is is the first time we've had the bikes on th e dirt, " said Kidd. " When 1 made the National , 1 told Jerry Griffith th at a t least we 'll have 25 more laps of practice." Springsteen started to put a lillie breathing ro om over Graham, while behind him Terry Poovey advanced ' to third. Poovey wasn 't th e only rid er advancing. Randy Goss was coming off a poor start a n d was past Eklund and int o fifth o n lap 10. Eklund reported th at he was havin g problem s with his facesh ield foggin g up. T he hal fway point saw Poovey, Go ss a n d Sh obert mat ch up in a di ce for third th a t would almost go to the £lag. Meanwhil e, Graham was reeling in the former three-time National Champ, and on lap 14, regained th e lead. So began an o ther battle that would last to th e £lag, with th e identit y of th e leader dependent on wh ere you wat ched the race. Still a no ther side by side figh t was brewing wh en Parker a nd Morehead hooked up in an argu ment over sixth. The th ree races within a race co nti n ued unab ated until lap 23, wh en Sh obert was sideline d by a broken condenser bracket. T h ings ca me do wn to th e final lap , wh ich Sprin gstee n led goi ng into turn one . Graham a p pea red to h ave a littl e tr oubl e with that turn , but ca ug ht up down th e back ch u te. H e took the lead into turn three, and had it coming out of four. That's when Springer made his move, getting a better dri ve off the corner to collect win number 30 by about that many inches. " I don 't know what happened," sa id Springer. " H e got around me o n th e inside, and 1 got a good shot, a good draft coming off the last corner." "I thought 1 was doing th e right thing," related Graham. "Every time 1 passed Jay going down the back straight, he wouldn 't catch my draft until turn one. So 1 figured if 1 co u ld do th at, he wouldn't catch my draft until after that start/finish lin e. 1 guess 1judged it wrong. Normally on a mile track, you want to be in seco nd coming out of turn four, but the way everyth in g was working, 1 thought he wouldn 'be able to get by me until a fter th e finish. " Third-place finisher Goss said, " At the sta rt 1 was a little bit late at th e switch. Even though my bike was running good, you just can't spot those guys that much." - Results 25 ·LAP NATIONAL.: 1. Jay Springsteen (H·D); 2. Ricky Grah am (H·D): 3. Randy Goss (H· D); 4 . T.rry Poovey (H- D); 5. Scon Park.r (H-D); 6. SIeve Moreh.ad (H· D); 7. S,eve Eklund (H·D); S. Gary Scott (H-D); 9. Ganh Brow (H-D); 10. Chuet< Springsteen (H-D); 11. Subba Shoben (H-D); 12. Mik. Kidd (Hon); 13. Ted SoodY (H· D); 14. AI•• Jorgensen (H-D); 15. Lance Jones (H-D); 16. Tim M.nens (H-D); 17. Hank Scon (H-D). TIME; 15;51 .09 (New ,rack record) . LAST CHA NCE QUA U R ER; 1. Mike Kidd(Hont.2. W ill i. Crabbe (H-D); 3. Scon Adams (H· D). AMA GRAND NATI ONAL CHAMPION SHIP / WINSTON PRO SERIES POINT STAN DINGS : 1. Ricky Graham (52); 2. AI•• Jorg.nsen (41 t. 3. Jay Spr ing steen (40 ); 4. Randy Goss (33); 5. (TIEl M ike ; Kidd/Terrv Poovey 129); 7. SIeve Eklun d 12S) S. (TIE)S.ove Wise/Mickey Fay(21); 10. SIeve More head (20); 11. Subba Shoben (19); 12. Freddie Spencer (16); 13. mE) Ronnie Jones /Jim Filice/Ted Boody (15); 16. Robeno Pietri (13); 17. (TIE) Mik. Baldwin/Rod Spenc. r (11); 19 . (TIE) Rich Arnaiz/ Eddi. Laws on /Dale Singleton (10). . . • . • , 13

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