Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Top left) Jorgensen and Eklund celebrate in the winners circle. (Above) Mickey Fay aviates his new Honda 600cc TT bike. (Left) Jorgensen (44) bulls his way past Randy Goss' Harley. bu t less-agile, V-twin o u t in front for th e first half of th e race , but was being hounded over th e jump a nd in the tight co rners by Eklund 's more m an euv er abl e s i n g l e -c y li n d e r m ach in e. Eklund sh ot under Graha m com ing ou t o f th e infield sectio n and opened up a three- bike-l ength lea d th at h e kept to th e finis h. Harl ey team rider Scott Parker recovered fro m a poor sta rt, moving up from ninth , to fo llow G raha m h ome in) hi rd p osi tion and transfer to th e fina l. Hon da star Mickey Fay started the last heat race with a replay of J orgen sen's wheelie and w hen hi s front wheel fina lly came back to horizonta l, he was at the rea r of the p ack . Unda u nted, h e set ou t to ca tch th e top th ree, Keith Day, Brett Barkman and Rich ard Arnaiz. T u rn ing fast lap times an d us ing all the track, th e Washington TT specialis t methodically gained on the lead ers until th e last lap when he stuffed it under a surpri sed Arnaiz to ta ke th ird. Day a nd Barkman preceded Fay in firs t an d seco nd. Semis T wo rid ers wo uld transfer to th e main from each o f th e two semifin als and the first sem i turned o u t to be one of th e even ing's more exciting ra ces. Into th e fir st turn it wa s crowd favor ite Hames, with form er Yamaha factory rider Jim Filice and veteran Ri ck Hocking hot on his tracks. H ames held off th e two veterans for three laps before getting out of shape and allowing bo th to pass. Hames got things back toge ther , though , an d repa ssed H ocking in the infield to tak e seco n d behind Filice a n d secu re himself a star ti ng position in the final. Ted Bood y a nd Steve Moreh ead ' I . ... . .. , . , l ,. I . ~ were th e big names in th e seco nd semi an d a t fir st it look ed lik e a n upset as northwest rid er Frank Word took th e hol esh ot followed by Arnaiz. With Moreh ead down a fter a n in field tangle, it was up to Bood y to defend th e veterans' h onor. He didn't disapp o int a n d within seven laps, had hi s Yamaha 750 twin up front. Arnaiz ca me home seco nd and a lso tran s- ' ferred to th e main even t. Last Chance Qualifier H ockin g retired from raci ng in 1979 but ca me back this year , sayi ng, " It' s hard to keep away. I'm not goi ng to do th e fu ll season; j ust hit th e ones I' m good a t." If that's tru e, th en co u nt o n seeing H ockin g at more TTs ,' beca use th e fo ur- lime, National winner grabbed th e holeshot a t th e start of the Last Cha nce Q ua lifier a nd m ixed it up pretty well wi th his yo unger challe ngers. In some close action, Hocking was a t times a ll the way back to fifth place before th e race was red -flagged on lap six af ter Barry Pelkey hi ghsid ed h is Can-Am in th e sweepin g turn leading o n to th e front straig h t. Pelk ey stayed down for a disturb ingl y long time a nd th e ambulance was called in. Fortunately, it wasn 't needed and Pelkey was a ble to get up under hi s ow n p ow er. The race wa s restarted in sing le file and this time Hocking left nothing to ch anc e, co m in g from fourth to tak e the lead aft er one lap and holding on to take the last transfer into the final. National As th e bik es were wheeled to th e line for the start of the National , a quick rundown of the brands competing revealed Can-Am as th e most common name, with eigh t mach ines lined up. H arley was represented by four motorcycles, Honda three and . J • t ~- , .. . Yamaha two . The track, wh ich started fairly tack y, had slo wly become slicker a nd slic ker, making th e big H arleys a handful in the corners and seemi n gly giving th e Iighter thumpers a n adva ntage. . Handful or not , Springsteen gu ided h is orange and black bike into the lead a t th e start o f th e fin al and a ttac ked th e co u rse as if he were ridin g a m o tocrosser. Fresh o ff h is road raci n g victory in Daytona 's Battl e of the Twins class, he was loo king to erase hi s siza ble Camel Pro Series points deficit. G ra ham and then Goss powered by Ek lu nd d uring th e first two la ps to ma ke a 1-2-3 showi ng for th e Milwaukee bi kes. It didn ' t stay th at wa y for lo ng, though, as th e 340-pound H arleys quickly tired thei r riders and a llowed Eklund to ta ke th e lead o n the fifth lap . Powerin g up from a second row start, Jorgen sen was m ak ing tim e on the leading four o f Eklund, Goss, Spri ngs tee n a nd G ra ha m . By the eight h la p, he had displaced a fadin g Sprin gsteen to take third and withi n three laps caugh t and passed Goss to p u t h is Harry Lillie-prepped bik e into second. Eklu nd was still a com forta ble distance ahead, but with 13 laps still to go, the crowd sensed th at J orgen sen's pace would soon have h im with in striking dis ta nce o f p oints lead er Eklund. Sure en ou gh, within seven laps, he wa s on Eklund's fender and able to get by with little d ifficulty, passing in th e tight co rn er leading o u t of the in field. Once past, it was smooth sai lin g for Jorgensen. " I just wanted to ca tch Eklund," J orgen sen sai d of his ra ce strategy . " When he started to dis appear , I got a little worried, bu t I could feel myself slowly catch ing h im . T ha t gave. me OUI .... , •• , • • _ • I' • 1i I ; I ( ; 4 • confidence; gave me some th ing to cha rge for . " O nce I got a little lead o n th e guys behind me, I didn 't ha ve to worry a bo u t them passing m e an d I could go up wide in the turn s. I don't even remember wh ere I pas sed Steve, I was just worried a bo u t winn ing." Eklund seemed satisfi ed with h is second pl ace finish as it increased his lead in the series to II points. " T h e p ace I set wa s about th e best I could do ," Eklu nd said afte rwa rds. " Eith er J orgy's bike was workin g a litt le better or I was a little more tired . The tra ck was gett in g slic k towards the end a nd I was gradua lly losin g traction. I just d idn 't wa nt to . p ressure m yself a nd fall down. I wanted first, bu t I'm happy with second." Grah am look ed a li ule winded after wrestlin g h is wa y in to third. " I j ust tried to keep it on two whee ls an d ride co nsistently," he sai d . "The track got real hard a nd slick. Co mi ng int o co rners, th e front wh eel kept loc ki ng u p and th e bi ke was trying to slide o ut, so I tried to be real smooth. " " T here was really n o wa y to keep up with Steve and Alex ," G raham sai d when asked a bo ut th e p ace h e set. " After a few laps, th ey were pretty much h istory." • Results NATIONAL : 1. Ale. Jorgensen (C-A); 2. Steve Eklund(C-A); 3 . Ricky Graham (H-D): 4. Randy Go.. I H-D): 5. Mickey Fay (Han): 6. Bubba Shobert (H-D): 7 . Jay Springsteen (H-D): 6. Scan Porker (H·D): 9. Ted Boody (Yam); 10. Richerd Arnoiz (C·A): 11. Terry Poovey (Han); 12. Pete Hames (C·A): 13. Keith Day (C-A): 14 . Jim Filice (Yam): 15. Brett Barkmon (C-A): 16. Tim Mertens (Han); 17. Rick Hocking (C-A). AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Steve Eklund (45); 2. (TIE) Rondy Goss/ AIex Jorgensen (34 ); 4. Ricky Grohom (301; 5. M ickey Fay (281; 6. Bubbo Shobert (27): 7. Terry Poovey (261; 8. Eddie Lawson (25): 9. Kenny Roberts (20); 10. Ronnie Jones I19): 11. (TIE)Scan Pearson lTed Boody (16); 13: Stove Wise (14); 14 . Rondy Green (13 ): 15 . Sco tt Parker (12); 16 . Steve Gervai s (11 ); 17 . David Aldona (101: 16 . Kurt LentzI9): 19.(TIE) Hop Eoton / Joy Sp!ingsteen {81 . 1 ":; • t h~ J I , ~.:> ..J a ... I t:I I, I I

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