Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ANA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round IO Graham's way at San Jose'Mile By David Edwards Photos by Dan Mahony SAN JOSE, CA , MAY 22 (ClockWise from far left) Alex Jorgensen leads runners-up Bubba Shobert (67) and Terry Poovey (18) early on . Poovey, Shobert and Jorgensen join Miss Camel Susan Callicutt in winner's circle. Rookie Randy Green (6 5 W ) nailed fourth from Randy Goss after coming from the back row. John Burnett (68Y) and Brian Yocum tangle in a big way during one of the heats. If San Jose is T he Mile, th en, for n ow a t leas t, Ricky. Grah am a~d Jay Springs teen are The Milers. Almost from the beginning of th e 25-lap, Kawasaki-sponsored race, the two Harley-Davidson riders put o n a pass-and-repass show that had th e 12,000 fans in attendance standing on their feet \ National Bubba Shobert. wh o won th e fas test h eat . went from th e pole to th e first tum in front of the p ack, bu t a pile-up involving Jimmy Filice, Scott Parker ' and Rodney Farris brought out the red flag. All three m ad e th e restart , although it was touch an d go as to whether Farris ' machine wou ld join him a t th e starting line in time. Shobert again jammed into th e lead a t th e start, with Alex jorgensen a rid Pete H ames closest to him as th e pa ck made it unscathed through th e fir st two turns. At th e end of a lap it wa s" Shobert , Ha mes, Jorgensen, Mickey Fa y, T erry Poovey, Randy G oss and G arth Brow making up th e front runners. . Al tho ugh Sh obert (a nd most of th e o th er riders ) comp lained of ha ving th e front wheel skidding an d skating in th e corners, th e T exan loo ked in co n tro l o f th e fir st five laps o f th e race , drawing a way initiall y from ru n ne r-u p jorgensen , wh o had overtaken H ames. H onda teamma tes Poovey and Fa y had do ne likewi se. On th e six th lap, Jorgy m ade hi s mo ve for th e lead going through turn .fou r a nd made it stick. So on th e CanAm rider wa s beg inni ng to p u ll away . Whi le m ost o f th e oth er r ide rs had elected to g o w ith th e sa m e gea rin g as •they had used in th eir heat ra ces; J orgy went o ne tooth lar ger o n th e ' back sproc ke t to low er th e gea ring, and it wa s worki ng. By th e sevent h la p , th e to p th ree were set a t jorgen sen, Shobert a nd Poo vey. In fourth, Fay was so me di stan ce beh ind th e top three, a n d h e wa s tra iled by G oss. H ames ra n sixth ' ah ea d o f Bro w, an d Green had ad ' va n ced fro m hi s row-t hree sta rt to eighth. By th e hal fwa y point , j org y had pulled o u t a so lid lead . The .o n ly "cha nges in th e lead erboa rd were th at bo th Brow a nd G ree n had passed H ames. and th at Sco tt Pa rker wa s beg inning to work h is way u p. W ith 10 la ps 10, a three-wa y battle fo r fo urt h wa s sha p ing up between Fay, G oss and Green. Goss struck the fir st bl ow two laps la ter wh en he made his move on Fay, and Green duplicat ed th e feat two la ps further into the race. Wh en the five laps to go sign was given, jorgensen wa s into more and more lapped traffi c. Shobert and Poovey circulated togeth er, trailed by G oss an d Green . Green , who sco red a third a t the H ouston short tra ck o pe ne r this year , wai ted until lap 22 to pa ss Goss for fourth, and he h eld it to th e fini sh . Fa y wa s sixth , followed by Brow, H ames, Parker and G raham. " T he front end was skiddi n g," said J orgen sen a fter th e race, " With th e low er gea rin g I co u ld make th e rear en d co me around fa ster to co m pe n sa te. Once I passed Bubba I wasn 't wo rried a bo u t him a ny more, I wa s worri ed abo u t wh at was going on beh ind him . Norm ally I don't do th is, but I look ed beh ind towards th e end of the race. Th e engine was p in gin g qu ite a bi t a n d I wa nted to see if I co u ld ta ke it a lit tle easier. I didn 't see a ny body back ther e." Sho bert, d estined fo r th e m o st po int -p rod uctive weekend amon g th e top run ners, said, " I got off th e sta rt rea l well and th ought I wa s using th e right lines, but Alex showed m e a better wa y a nd I co u ld n ' t do wh at h e was doing." Poo veywas ob vio us ly disappointed wit h h is p lacing: " I was skiddi ng th e fro n t en d the en tire tim e, scared I was going to fall o ff. I think every body was skidd ing th eir front end." Poovey concl uded . "Th ird ain't good enough ." · • Resu lts 25 -LAP FINAL: 1. A le. Jorgen sen (C-A); 2. 8ubba Sh ober t (Kaw) ; 3. Terry Poove y (Hon ); 4 . Randy Gre en (Ho n); 5. Randy Goss (H -D ); 6 . Mickey Fay (Hon ); 7 . Garth Br ow (Hon); 8 . Pet e Hames (Kaw ); 9 . Scot! Parker (H-D); 10. Ricky Graham (H- D); 11. Don Howa rd (Yam); 12. M ike Kidd (Hon); 13. Jim Filic e (Yam); 14 . Rich A m aiz IC·AI; 15 . Rodney Farris (Kaw ). TIME : 7:17 .8 6 JUNIOR INVITATI ONA L: 1. M ike Kir by (Ho n); 2. Dou g Chand ler (Hon ); 3 . Robert land (Yam); 4 . Dave Caba ll ero (Yam ); S. J im Taves: 6. M earl Barn ett (Yam); 7. Craig Scr ogg ins (Yam ); 8. Kevin H ugill (Yam); 9 . Ed San Roma n (C·A); 10 . Charl es Carro ll (C-A ); 11. Darren Hulbert (C-A ); 12. J oe l Gr een (Hon ). and whooping their approval. There were close to 30 lead changes before defending National Cham p ion Gra ham pulled out a small lead on the last lap a nd kept it to the ch eckered flag. It was Graham's firs t-ever win on the wes t coast and th e Ca lifornia reside nt was obviously p leased, so much so th a t he even threw the top to his $1000 leath ers into th e victory ci rcle cro wd before sp ray ing them with ch am p agne. " I went for it on the last lap," . exp la in ed Graham. " T h e whole race I was holding back a little, because running away with it 'ea rly wou ld have worn ou t the tires. It was just a matter o f keeping th e wheels in line a nd n ot getting too sidewa ys. I felt co n fiden t, wa ited to the end a nd th en went hard." Springsteen , bouncing back from hi s short track seizure th e night before, was almost as pl eased with his second p lace as Graham was with th e win. " It was g rea t o ut the re. Back and fort h like th a t, we were ha ving so m uch fun. I look ed back a couple o f times an d we had just split from every bod y else, " Sp ri ngs teen sa id, smi ling . T exan Bubba Shobert rounded o u t th e top th ree, taki ng th e third pl ace position after a race -lo ng battle with fas t qual ifier SCOll Parker a nd Sa tu rda y's sh ort tra ck wi n ner, Alex j orgen sen . T i me trials If bonus poi n ts were given for setting fast q ua lifyi ng ti me, Sco tt Parker would pro ba bly be a few n ot ch es h igher in the series sta ndi ngs . For the th ird race in a ro w th e 22-year-o ld Ha rley team mem ber p osted th e best qu alify ing tim e. Parker, wit h a 37.970-seco n d lap , a n d Ga ry Sco tt , with a 37.978, were th e o n ly riders to clock ti mes below th e 38,second ma rk . Fill ing o u t th e to p five po sit ions were j im Filice, G arth Brow an d Gra ham. Other riders wi th good tim e tr ial effort s were rooki e Pete Ha mes w ith th e 10th fas test tim e, a n d T erry Poovey, aboa rd Honda's steadily im p ro vin g RS750, wi th th e n umber eigh t position . I , I Heats The fir st heat was red-flagged as two riders slid down in turn one. On th e restart, it was Mike Kidd with the holeshot. H e was soon relegated to fifth, how ever, as new fat he r Ran dy Goss, Graham, Parker and Keith Day all go t by th e former National Champ. Goss had th e lead going into th e fourth lap, but got a little too high in the groove and went from frontrunner to fourth place in an instant. Parker inherited the head posi tion, bu t not for lo ng as Graham powered by to take a precarious lead. Goss got back in the leader's draft and pulled himself into secon d , leav ing Pa rker to fight it out with a very dete rmined Da y for third. Si tting back in fifth, veteran Kidd was watching all the action and slowly moving up on th e lead pack. On the last lap he was wit hin striking dis tance, a nd as Graham and G oss took th e checkered flag for first and second, Kidd willed his Honda p ast Day and Pa rk er for th e th ird a n d fin al tran sfer p osition; fist ra ised triu m p ha n tly in th e a ir. The seco n d h eat wa s a no the r barn burn er. Three rider s, G ar y SCOll, T ed Boody a n d Al ex j o r g ensen , quickl y cleared a way from the other riders a n d - p ro ceed ed to sho w th e newcomers in th e audien ce wh y mil e racin g has suc h a de vote d following. Inch es a part, th e tri o repea ted ly went side- by-side-by-s id e into the corners, eac h ri de r tryin g to h old th e th rottle o pe n a fract ion o f a seco n d lo nger th a n th e o the rs. The posi tio ns changed co n sta nt ly, bu t jorgensen, from nearby Stockt on, Ca lif. , seemed to be th e crowd 'sfa vorite and, as if on cu e, h e sh o t in to th e lead- go in g into the final turn a nd someh ow fo und the power to ho ld off Boody and Scott. jim Fil ice's 1983 seaso n hasn 't gone exactl y accordi ng to p lan so far , bu t he got-a much -need ed boos t of co n fide nce as h e wo n the third heat in co nv inci ng fash io n . After gett in g by a fast -starting Steve Ekl u nd , Filice p u lled o u t to a safe lead and wasn't challenged fo r th e remai nde r of the race. T h e hea t's dr am a was provided by Rod Fa rri s. Step he n Ha ll and T im Mertens . All th ree got around Eklund and set o u t to see w hi ch o ne o f th em wo u ld be un lucky eno ugh to finish in fou rth , o ut o f a tra nsfer posi tion. Farris a nd Hall seemed to have the 7

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