Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

runners in half mile competition, languished to a ninth-place fini sh . Semis If Springsteen 's win in th e fourth heat was anti-cl ima tic, then th e racing in th e semi- fina ls more th an made up for it , with o n ly th e winner transferring to th e National. Th e first semi sha p ed up as a battle betw een four riders. After th e first turn , it wa s vetera ns T ed Boody a n d Alex j orgen sen sq uarin g o ff agai ns t n ewcomers Rob Ely an d Rodney Farris. Bood y took a precarious lead, trail ed by th e wil ey jorgensen , with Farris a n d Ely nipping close beh ind. Soon after, Far ri s ca rrieda little too much speed into turn one , got too sidewa ys and low-sided. H e was uninjured , as rid er s strea med by on either side, but out for th e even in g. EIy was co nte nt to wat ch jorgensen and Boody duke it o u t for a few laps, then decided to take matters into his own hands. In a bold move, th e yo u ngster zipped betw een th e two lead ers an d forged to the front. .Ely's time in th e spotlight was short- lived , how ever , as firs t Boody andjhen jorgen sen swep t back by and pulled ah ead . Th e two riders then took turns p assing eac h o ther for the remainder o f th e race , a lte rna tin g diving low an d riding hi gh , until th e last lap wh en Boody thwarted j orgensen 's cha rge by hugging th e in side line an d scam pering to a half-bikelength margin o f victo ry. . - All three H on da s were in th e seco nd semi -fina l and Poovey got th e best start o f th e trio o n h is RS750 , but h e stilI trailed Mike Minnig a nd Sacram ento Mil e win ner Bubba Sh obert coming out of th e first turn . Sh obert go t aro u nd a det ermined Minnig on th e th ird lap an d Poovey sq ueezed by a la p la ter. Poovey got inside Shobert severa l times to ta ke the lead, but th e . Harley wa s a ble to edge back into th e fi rst p lace. Then o n th e last lap, Poovey o nce aga in slid inside Shobert going into turn three and it lo oked like the new Honda would make the National in its first try, bu t Shobert was a ble to gather things back up an d powered out ofturn four to tak e th e win by a wh eell ength. Last Chance Qualifier Th e La st Chance Qualifier wou ld be th e fin al op portu n ity for T erry Poovey to pl ace hi s Honda into th e fin al. j orgen sen , mired by a seco ndrow sta rt in hi s h ea t an d j us t beat o u t of a tran sfer spot in h is sem i, was a nother rid er to wa tch . Form er National winner jim Filice, not ha ving th e best o f yea rs, was a lso in th e lineu p a nd a threat. j orgens en an d Ti m Mertens led th e pack into th e first turn an d were even goi ng do wn the back straigh t. j or gensen , wh o kn ow s Ascot as well as any body, took the lead an d n ever let it go, pu lli ng stead ily a hea d as Mert en s was slo wed by mech anical p roblem s. Rob Ely ca me up to fill th e seco n d slo t, but co u ld n 't ge t close to j or gensen . Meanwhil e, Poove y h ad been running dead la st and eventu all y pulled o ff th e track after ge tt ing lapped by th e lead ers. J unior Invitation al Doug Chandler ga ve th e Honda ca m p th eir o n ly br ight m oment o f th e even ing a s-he ca m e from a th irdpl ace start to tak e th e junior Invitational win o n a borrow ed 500cc sin gl e. David Caball ero , on a Can-Am 500, an d Robert Land on a restricted H arley-Davidson 750, p u t o n a good show for seco n d-p lace h on ors, with Ca ball ero just holdin g o ff a n on -th egas Land. Cha nd ler, who is undefeat ed a t Ascot as a junior, said a fterwa rd, " I reall y lik e this track , it's grea t to ride here. I'd lik e to th ank th e H onda team for loa n in g me the bi ke tonigh t." National After a fin al bit of track gr ooming , th e 15-r ider , a ll -H ar ley-Davidsonmounted field took to th e starting gri d, an xious ly waiting for th e sta rting light to turn gr een. Wh en it did, Sprin gst~~ was off and sl idin g, usin g (he low line through the fir st turn to snare th e lead. Gary Sco tt a nd Ri cky Graham wer e in seco nd a n d third bu i a lready sta rt in g to fall behind the rapidl y disappearing Springsteen . Randy Gos s was moving up fro m a nother less-than -perfect start a nd by th e fourth lap was close behind Sco tt. After pressu ring Scott for a few laps, Go ss barged by and set o ut after Grah am. It took a no th er co up le o f laps, but Goss, using a n ex treme inside lin e th at required heavy braking and co nseq ue ntly h eated his di sc rotor to a glo wing orange, d ispat ch ed Graham , making it a 1-2 sh owing for th e orange a nd black of Harley-Davidson. Meanwh il e, Scott Parker was p u ttin g on a charge of his own . He too had a tough time getting around th e cagey Scott, wh o seemed to be getting a better drive co m ing o ff th e corn ers. Once p ast Scott, h e moved up on Graham a n d went by with co m p ara tive ease . With four laps to go it was Harley-Dav idson 1-2-3. And th at 's how it ended. Steve Morehead mov ed up in th e fin al laps to tak e fourth , Sco tt h eld onto fifth a nd Graham ca me home six th. Fill in g up th e rest of the top 10 slo ts were Pete H ames, th e only Rookie to mak e th e fin al , Bill H erndon, with h is best Na tional sh owi n g in a while, jeff Haney, another form er T eam H onda rider, and Bubba Sh obert, wh ose IOthplace fini sh dropped him out of a tie for the lead in th e overall point standings, into seco nd pl ace. Springsteen was sti ll h appily signing autographs 45 m inutes after th e ra ce was over and exp lai n ing how h e won. " It went real smooth ," he sai d , " T he o n ly time I looked back was abo u t five laps from the end, and I sa w I had about 10 bikelengths on Randy. I figured I'd really h ave to scre w up bad to lose it." Third-pl ace fini sh er Parker, th e junior m ember o f th e H arley team , seeme d mor.e ela ted a bo u t th e factory sweep th an about hi s own finishin g p osit ion. "It was tough go ing for th e fir st few la ps," h e said . " Everybody wa s ge tt in g it on . I was working m y wa y u p wh en Randy started to pull a way an d go af ter jay. I realized it wa s up to me if we were go in g to 1-2-3 this thing so I go t o n th e gas ." G o ss, wh ose wi fe Vicki was home in Hartland, Mich ., expecti ng th eir first child, was hap p y to p lace second an d leave Ascot in sale possession o f th e Ca me l Pro Series po int lead. " It doesn' t bo the r me getting bea t by j ay," th e four-time Asco t H alf Mil e winner sa id. " I was h oping h e'd slow do wn so I co u ld get a shot at him , bu t th ere's not much th at slows th e Sp ri nger down ." • Resu lts NATIONAL FINAL: (20 LAPS) 1. Ja y Spring · steen (H·DI; 2. Randy Goss (H · D); 3 . SCott Par ker (H· D); 4 . Steve More head (H· DI; 5 . Gary Scott (H·D ); 6 . Rick y Graham (H· D); 7. Pete Hames (H·D ); 8 . Bill Herndon (H· D); 9 . Je ff Haney(H· D); 10. Don (Bu bba) Shobert (H· D); 11. Ted 800dy (H· D); 12 . Stave Eklund(H ·D) ; 13 . FrankWord (H· D); 14 . Garth Brow (H·D); 15 . Alex Jorgensen (H· D). TIM E; 7 :21 .53 (New Track Racord ). J R INVITATIONAL ( 12 LAP S): 1. Doug Chandler (Hon) ; 2 . David Caballero (C· A); 3 . Robert Land (H· 0 1 4 . Ed San Roman (C·A); 5 . M ike Kirby (Tr i); 6. ; Charles Carr oll (H·D); 7 . Larry Earhart (H· D); 8. Darren Hu lbert (C-A); 9 . Don ald Robert s (H· D); 10. Ross Klatt (H· D); 11. J oel Gree n (H· DI; 12 . Charles Orr (Yam) . TIME ; 4 :41 .63 . AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAM PIONSHIP / CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS ' ; 1. Randy Goss (63 ); 2. 8ubba Shobert (52); 3 . Steve Eklund (48) ; 4 . Jay Spr ingsteen (44); 5 . Ricky Graham (4 2 1 ; 6 . Terry Poovey (37); 7. Alex Jorgensen (35); 8 . Scott Parker (34 ); 9 . Mi ckey Fay (28); 10 . Eddie Lawson (25) ; 11. Gary Scott (2 1); 12. (TIEl Ted Boody/Kenny Roberts (20 ); 14 . Ronn ie Jones (19) ; 15 . Scott Pearson (16) ; 16. Steve W ise (14); 17 . (TI E) Randy Green /Steve Morehead (13 ); 19 . (TIE) Steve Gerva is /Pete Hames (11). · Un off ici al pend in g prot est appea l. (T op) Springsteen sprints to the lead in t urn one. (A bove) Scott Parker had t o work to get by the veteran Gary Scott. (Be low) Springsteen, Goss and Parker celebrate their 1 -2-3 sweep . (Botto m) In one of t he eve ning's most excit ing ra~es. Ted Boody (12) j ust nipped Alex Jorgensen for a semi w in,

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