Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above left) Winner Alex Jorgensen flies his Can-Am over the Ascot jump. (Above) Jay Springsteen (9) took the early lead. but faded to seventh. (Below) After "~ading for much of the race, Steve Eklund ended up second. (Below left) Ricky Graham (1) and Springsteen dice on one of the course's eight turns. Graham came out ahead, . AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 4 Jorgy charges to Ascot TT win By David Edwards Photos by Dan Mahony and Rex Wessels GARDENA, CA, APR. 9 The Camel Pro Series picked up again after a two-month dirt track layoff and Alex Jorgensen picked up where he leftoff last season as he maneuvered his 500cc Can-Am thumper into winner's circl e at the Asco t TT National for th e second year in a row. The 28 -year-old P ioneer 22 T rucking /CoorsiH i-Po int/Meg acycle Cams/Boss Frames/S torz-sponsored rider from northern Cal ifornia didn 't have an easy n ight o f it , however. j or gens en h ad to overco me a dis astrous last-place start in h is heat race to finish second and transfer to th e main. Then in th e main, he was forced to work hi s way through traffic, slow ly reeling in the leaders an d goi n g to th e front on lap 18 of the 25-lap event. " I've work ed real hard-for th e last co u p le of months to get read y for this race and I guess it's paid off," ·an o bviously pl eased j orgen sen sam alter the race. ' Following jorgensen to th e flag was another Can-Am, th e Gardner/ Red Line Oi l/Esprit / Arai-sponsored machine o f former Grand Nati onal Champion Steve Ek lund. Ek lund had th e lead for 14 laps befor e succ u m bin g to jorgen sen 's steady pressure. Defending Grand National Ch amp ion Ricky G raham filled th e third spot on th e victory ros tru m , p iloting his Iron Horse/ShoeilCastrol HarleyDa vidso n to a smooth, consis ten t finish. Time Trials Dur in g th e first p rac tice sessio n th e ri ders d isco vered th at Asco t' s famous jump had a bit too m uch tak eoff angle. Bone-jarring- la ndin gs and several near-crashes resulted as the riders were landing on the flat part of the track in stea d of the inclined landing area. Track officials did some quick man icuring with a grading machine, but the faster riders were still flying more than 50 feet off the jump. The air time didn' t seem to bother jay Springsteen , though , as the three-time Grand National Champion charged his Harley-Davidson XR750 to the quickest time trial lap, 46.39 seconds. jorgensen proved he hasn 't lost his feel for Ascot's tricky corners and posted a time just three tenths of a second behind Springsteen's booming Harley. Two more Can-Ams, a Yamaha, a Triumph, another two Harleys and a pair of Hondas took the rest of th e top 10 positions after the time tri als and it was difficult to tell wh ich type of machine would have the advantage going into th e heat races . Heats The first heat rac e was a HarleyDavidson benefit as Springsteen and fellow-factory rider Randy Goss, th e 1980 Gra nd National Champion, cleared away from the rest of th e field a n d waged a p ri vat e battle to see who wou ld take the win. Goss tried repeatedl y to pass on th e long front straigh t, but each time Springsteen had the moves to thwart the charge. At th e checkers it was Springsteen by three bike lengths. The race for third, the final transfer p osit ion , wa s inter esting. Rookie Expert a nd local hero Pete Hames h ad th e third spot but was getting a lot of pres sure from T exa n Bubba Sho bert . Shobert was trying all kinds of lines to pass th e young Hames and got o u t of shape more than once. H is persistence fin all y paid off and he was able to get by on lap four, much to the chagrin of Hames ' fans. • The second heat almost proved to be jorgensen's undoing. Getting ready for the race, he di scovered that his Can-Am had a broken clutch cable. Lacking the time to fit another, he wheeled the bike to the start line seconds before disqualification and hoped for the best . " I had to keep it in neutral, rev it . up and just cram it in gea r," jorgensen explained later. " l knew I was either going to flip it or kill it. I just had to take a chance." At the flicker o f the green light the pack was off , all except for jorgensen, who was running along beside his bike trying to get the front wheel back to terra firma after a spectacular wh eeli e. Once he go t things sorted out, jorgensen was in last place and had quite a di stance to go to catch the other I I riders. f He began slicing through the backmarkers within a lap and by the halfway point was within sight of the leaders, each pass accompanied by a rousing cheer from the spectators. Lap n ine saw jorgensen securely in seco nd place but still chargi ng after leader T err y Poovey, wh o was riding one of Honda 's ne w XL600-based, horizontal- shocked bikes. The Houston short track winner ran a very workman-like race until th e last lap wh en he almost looped the motorcycle over th e jump. The bobble let jorgensen mo ve up even closer , but at the end it wa s Poovey in front with a rapidly shrin king eigh t-bike-leng th lead over j org en sen . Tim Mert ens , aft er tak in g the early lead, dropped back to th ird , gain ing the final transfer spot . In the th ird heat race, it was Eklund and G raham sq uaring o ff from th e start an d battling it out. The National Champion kept hi s more-powerful,

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