Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jay Springsteen recorded win number 35 at the site of his first National win - Louisville. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 11 Springsteen wins fourth Louisville Half Mile By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard/Silver Shutter Photography LO UISVILLE, KY, J UNE 4 Three-time Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen scored a record fourth Louisville Half Mile win, the 35th National victory of his brilliant career, after a thrilling du el with H arl ey-Davidson teammate Randy Goss. Defendin g Camel Pro Ser ies cham p Ri cky G raham took third after 12 a m id -p ack start from th e pole p osition. " I wo n my first Nat ional h ere in m y rookie year (1975), a n d since this race an d th e Indy Mil e are my two favorite even ts, th is wi n reall y feel s great," sai d Sp ri ngs teen after th e race. He h ad go ne into th e event tied with Bart Markel and Ca na dian Dave Seh l wit h three Lou isvill e win s. Of co u rse, every Nat ion al win in ceases h is a lltim e record victo ry to tal. Wh ile Sp ri ngsteen's victory was n o surprise, the co nd itio n of th e Lou isvi lle Do wns track was. Over th e past six yea rs the oval h ad p rodu ced n othing bu t blue groove follow the lea der races, but for this, the 17th an n ua l runn in g of the event , the track o ffered riders both a groove a nd a cus hion to ride on. " It was great," sai d Spri ngsteen. " You' ve got to congra tu la te th e tra ck crew because th ey let us sh ow th e fans real h alf mile racing ." The tra ck was prepar ed by Bud Southard 's cre w of Bud 's Race Track Servi ces. Time Trials Ri cky G raha m was th e first rider on th e tra ck in ti me tria ls, but h e never stopped tim er Du ke Pennell 's clock. G ra ha m and h is Tex Peel XR750 went down in turn three, bu t h e was OK a n d th e onl y visi b le da mage to th e bik e was bent handl eba rs. Gra ha m's seco nd a tte mpt, lat er in the sessio n, was fifth fastest. Ha rley-Davidso n 's Sco tt Parker was fastest qualifier wit h a lap a t 24.486 seconds. Pa rk er was a lso the fas test quali fier a t th e p recedi ng di rt track National, th e May 22 Sa n j ose Mile. Priva teer Ga rth Bro w turned in th e second fastest time a t 24.893, wh ile former Gra nd Nationa l Champion Ga ry Sco tt was th ird fa stest with a 24.929 lap. Parker , Brow a nd Sco tt were th e on ly three rider s to record la ps a t u nde r 25 seco n ds. Rounding o u t the top 10 qualifiers were Rodney Farris, G raham , Billy H e rnd on , Spr in g s t e en , jon Cornwell, Hank Scott and John Cooper. C u t-o ff tim e for th e 48 ride r progra m wa s 26.658 seco nds a nd th at was logged by Phil Culver. Am ong th e riders who fa iled to make th e p rogram was Lance J ones, who wa s ridin g th e Sure-Fire/Reno Le on i Du cari . Heats Rookie Ex pert Chris Evans, rid in g o ut o f Doug Sehl's shop in Can ada , pulled off th e hol esh ot in heat one, but Parker blasted by o n th e o u tside a nd h eaded th e field a t th e en d o f lap one. By th e fourth lap of th e 10 lap heat , it had turned into a Parker vs. Graham battle and th e pair's riding had th e crowd screa mi ng. G raham 's ins ide line th rough turns three-four worked better th an P ark er ' s dirt sq ui rt ing cus hion ride a nd G raham took o ver th e lead fo r good o n the sixth la p , Parker kept the pressu re o n, bu t it was Graham with th e wi n by inc hes a t th e chec kered flag . Eva ns took th e th ird transfer spot wh ile Tea m H onda 's Hank Sco tt a nd his RS7 50 wer e fourth a n d se m i bound. Still racing on a race bv.race . basis for H onda, SCOtt has been offered a co ntract 10 co ntes t th e rema ini ng m ile and half m ile races . " We' ve g iven Hank a co n tract to look over a nd we ho pe to h ave him signed short ly," said Honda dirt trac k team mana ger Gene Romero. With hi s two- week o ld daughter on hand for her first race, for mer G rand National Cha m pion. Randy G oss wa s eager to show her wh y he is o n top o f the Ca me l Pro Series poi nt standings, a nd h e did by winning the seco nd heat a fter d ue ling wi th Brow for the firs t seven la ps, L ike the first h eat , it was a n insi deo utside d uel. with Go ss' in side lin e working th e bes t. Bell evill e (Ill inois) H onda sponsored T im Mert en s took third, j us t ahead o f J ohn Cooper. H eat number three wa s red-fl agged after three laps w hen T exan Bubba Shobert went down in turn o ne wh ile runn in g seco nd to Sp ringsteen. Alex j org en sen a n d hi s bike th en went flyin g w he n th ey encou n tered Sh ob ert 's bike. Both were OK a nd a fter a tte ntion to th eir bik es were back a t th e line for a single file restart. Questi onable o fficia ti ng left Sh obert sitt in g wh en th e start er flashed th e green light. "T h ree offi cials were sta nd in g th ere talking to me a nd looking over m y bike, but th e sta rte r ignored th at a nd flashed th e green light," sai d a dejected a nd a ngry Shobert . H e had gone into th e event ti ed with Gra ha m for seco n d in th e point sta ndi ngs. Whi le Sh obert was o u t of th e race, Sprin gsteen wa s in front o f it a t th e start a n d he led a ll th e wav to score th e wi n a head of G ary Scott a nd h is broth er , Chuck Sp ri ngsteen. The fourth a nd fi na l h eat was a o-h u rn a ffair co m pa red to th e firs t tree, Winner T ed Bood y led a ll ten ps, a good dis ta nce a hea d of Steve loreh ead . who wa s a n eq ua l di s.nce a hea d of Rod Farri s. Eighth ra s re s t qu al ifi er J on C ornw ell dropped o u t o f th e ra ce o n th e third lap with mechan ical p roblem s. Th e fas test h eat wa s th e firs t a nd winner G raham had ea rned th e pole for th e fin al. Sem is Th e fir st sem i produced a battle between H onda teammates Hank Scott a nd form er Grand National Champi on Mike Kidd. Scott took th e lead off th e line, but Kidd moved a ro u n d Mike Gilkey on th e second lap a nd began to pressure hi s teamm ate. Th e two ran wh eel to wh eel through th e m iddle laps, but Kidd d ropped off th e p ace on th e eigh th lap a nd th e wi n a n d o n ly transfer to th e fin al went to Scott. The semi had start ed with Jimmy Filice a n d J a y Beach parked on th e side l ines . Bea ch 's Farg o ( N o rt h Dakota ) H-D sp o n so red XR750 's ig n itio n had p acked up, while Fil ice's H arley su ffered a broken coi l mount. Indiana's Dan In gram. wh ose father Sam was a dirt tra ck co m petitor in th e six ties a nd seventies and perhaps is best remember ed for cl aiming Kenn y Roberts' Yamaha at th e Indy Mil e in 1976, took to th e o u tside a t th e start of th e seco n d sem i a n d blew by th e field in turns one -two. Ingram wa s gone a n d wen t on to an unch allen ged win. a hea d o f Alex J orgen sen a n d Fran Brown . Brown took third a way from former G rand National Champion St eve Eklund on th e final lap. Last Chanc e Qualif ier Alex J org en sen put o n a tremen dous displ ay o f cush io n rid in g as h e scored a runaw a y win in th e Last Chance Qual ifi er . J orgy buried hi s P i o n e er Tr uc ki n g /C o ors/ Arm s tro ng/ S to rz XR in to turn three deeper th an a nyone else had done a ll ni ght.. The ha ybal e clip p ing- style

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