Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1982 05 12

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Ricky Graham (4 1I. Jay Spri ngsteen (9 1and Steve Morehead mix it up near the halfway point. Morehead lat er broke away t o score the win. AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series: Round six San Jose Mile swapfest to Morehead By Dale Brown Photos by Patrick Behar SAN JOSE, CA, MAY 2 It was a fo ur-rider, draft, pas s and swap co n- test for most of the day, but Steve More h ead pulled it out in the late laps to win th e Kawasaki San Jose Mile before a capaci ty crowd at the San La Clara Coun ly Fairgrounds. After his own bike bro ke in practice, Morehead borrowed 8 Ricky Graham's spare machine, and it was Graham who followed him across the finish line to make it a 1-2 finish for tuner Tex Peel. Harley-Davidson's newest factory rider, Scott Parker, went down in the.. first turn of the 25-lap National, but when the race was red-flagged two laps later, Parker took advantage of the restart to finish third. He was followed by Jay Springsteen and Alex Jorgensen. Graham, who has finished in the top two in every race he 's finished this year, finds himself with a solid points lead, 68 to the 51 jointly held by Springsteen and jorgensen. . The first two turns saw not only Parker crash. but several others as well. In a two rider accident in the fourth heat, Rich Arnaiz and Willie Crabbe went down. Arnaiz wa lked away from the crash. but Crabbe was taken to San Jose Hospital. where he remains in critical condition. This race featured a battle of brands as both Mi ke Kidd and Scott Pearso n qualified their NS750 Ho ndas into the National. TIme trials Graham was by far and away the fastest one-lapper, turning in a 38.134 on his Klotz/Wiseco/ShoeilTex Peel! Sam's Mobil Harley-Davidson. Next fastest was '79 San Jose winner Steve Eklund, whose Castrol/Zanotti/ Ara i/ Knig ht/Esprit-sponsored XR 750 licked the clocks at 38.74 I. Mike Kidd heightened spirits in the Honda camp when his 38.866 bought the pole in the third heat, and Gary Scott rounded out the top four with a 38.869. Heats Dave Bradley, Lance Jones and Ra y Beach reacted fastest to the green light in heat one, with bo th Ricky Graham and Ra nd y Goss in the middle of the pack going through turn one. But midway through the next lap , Graham was out front, going around the outside of Alex Jorgensen in turn two . Graham and Jorgy swapped the lead for a few more la ps as Goss passed Jones for third, and then it became a three-way battle. Graham, Jorgensen and Goss all led , but the final two laps belo nged 10 Graham and he took the win over Goss and Jorgensen with a time four seconds faster than any other 10 laps o f the day. The second heat was the Bubba Shobert show. After getting pas! fast starter Wayne Ra iney, Shobert led laps two through 10 t,o grab a spot in, the National for sponsors Scott Machine. Megacycle, Sisemore and Bruster. The fight for second was a wild one that involved Ted Boody, Hank Scott a nd Steve Eklund. They hooked up in the middle laps for some three abreast racing before Eklund got a little brea th in g room in second. But at th e finish, Boody was right ,on Eklund's tail with Scott a distant fourth. The third heat was Morehead's first chance 10 shine, leading a sixwheel freight tra in of h imself, Shoei/ Castrol/Conley's H- D-backed Terry Poovey and Mike Kidd. Kidd turned the tables, though. leading the second lap and the fourth. Other than that, however, Morehead stayed in front. With four la ps to go, Kidd lost his runner-up position 10 Poovey, and with only two remaining, Jeff Haney was starting 10 close in on the two Texans with his privateer Harley. When it came down 10 the finish, Kidd rega ined his second pl ace and Poovey fended off Haney. Scott Parker got in front of the fina l heat, but going through the first turn Rich Arnaiz and Willie Crabbe crashed. The race was immediately red-flagged, and although Arnaiz was able to make it back to the pits - he appeared pretty shaken - Crabbe was quickly rushed to the hospital. Parker again was first out on the restart, but Gary Scott nailed him-in turn two for the lead. After some initial sorting out. two contests evolved. One was between Harley teammates Parker and Springsteen for the lead, the other was between Scott and Scott Pearson for third. The first battle alternated order from lap 10 lap , the second was settled when Pearson ran into Scott and knocked himself off the groove. However , on the seventh lap, Garth Brow slid off in turn one and the race was

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