Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126647
(Clockwi se from above left) Steve Eklund (8 ) had to work to get around Bubba Shobert for second . Mike Kidd 's night ended with th is fa ll in the fina l. Randy Goss (6 ) and Jay Springsteen put on a good show for fourth and fifth places. Fay and Team Honda members celebrate the victory. 14 fa ll in th e infield. Springsteen began to close o n Sco tt, in seco nd, and narrow ed th e gap consi derably, but ran o ut of time before th e ch eckered flag a nd finished third. The top three qual ified from each hea t. Eklund quickl y too k co nt ro l of the second heat as a batt le began for second. Kei th Day initiall y hel d second unt il Alex jorgen sen mo ved past with Ricky Graham quickl y clos ing in. Graham took thi rd fro m Da y on a pass as th e two exited the infield. G raha m then set his sig hts on jorge nse n a nd moved past o n a power pl ay as th e two hit th e st raigh t after th e first j u m p. Eklund was way ou t in fro nt a nd cas ting a n occasional gl ance over h is sho u lder. Eklund grabbed th e win wi th G raham gett ing a bit sideways before taking th e flag in second. j orgensen followed. The th ird heat saw Steve Mor ehead tak e th e lead away from Dave Hebb befo re th e first lap wa s over. T er ry Poovey then dropped H ebb to third in th e next lap and mov ed in on Morehead. Fay, stuc k in earl y traffic, quickly moved up to challenge. Morehead , Poovey and Fay wer e glu ed together at th e halfway flags. As Poo vey ch allenged Morehaed, Fa y moved in a nd dropped him to thi rd. Morehead th en fell prey to Fay's charge and th e order read: Fay, Moreh ead a nd Poovey. Once clear, Fa y ope ned u a small a with Poove debating Moreh ead allover the track for second. Poovey, with a slick move o ff th e first of th e two jumps in th e in field , slid by Moreh ead to follow teammat e Fay home in second. Bill y H erndon did a tremendo us job of stayi ng u p rig h t w he n h e touch ed wheels with Randy Green o n th e sta rt . Green too k the lead with H erndon following a nd Ran dy Goss in th ird . T im Mertens led Doug Chan dler in fourth with Peter H ook looking for a way a ro und. Green , Hern don a nd G oss cruised ou t fro nt, each sepa ra ted fro m the o ther by a bo u t 10 len gths. As the laps wore down, G oss began to p ut pressu re o n H erndon for second wh ile Green ran well in the lead. Roo kie Expert Green , on H onda's Support program for TT and short tra cks, made hi s win a wireto-wire o ne. Herndon h eld off th e cha lle nges of Goss to tak e second with Goss third. Semis There wa s only one spot up for gra bs in th e National from eac h 10 lap sem i. Day , Mike Kidd and Scott Parker set up a good battle in semi one. Day had a littl e edge in th e lead whil e Kidd had to fen d off Parker 's cons ta nt cha llenges from th e second lap on. Parker clos ed up on th e rear wh eel numerous times, bu t fell short in hi s drag race to th e finish . Winner Da y took th e ticket to th e National. In th e second semi , Do ug Ch andl er ca me through traffi c to tak e th e lead from Hebb on th e seco nd lap. Hebb stayed in seco nd unt il th e sevent h lap wh en Fran Brown moved by. Chandler, via his win . becam e th e second rookie Expert in th e Nati onal. Last Chance Qualifier There were eigh t Nat ional numbers a nd two roo kies in th e Last Chan ce Qual ifier. On ly o ne wo uld work hi s way to th e Nat ional. Kidd ran th e race in front fro m start to fin ish , but it was n' t th at easy as Pa rker ho unded hi m all th e way. National Fastest qual ifier Shobert also had th e fastest heat win a nd, thus, took th e po le for th e 15-rider, 25-!ap National. Eklund, Fa y, Green , Sco tt a nd , Grah am filled o u t th e front row. Poove y, H ern don , Springsteen, j orge nse n , Morehead and Goss mad e up row two, with Ch andler , Dav and Kidd sta rt ing from row three. There were 12 500 or 600cc four-stroke singles a nd three 750cc H arl eys in th e lineup. "T he edge is to th e singles if th e infield gets a bit dr y and sli ck, " said defending Sa nta Fe TT winner Ricky Graham. " If th e track stays tacky, th e Harleys sho uld do a ll ri gh t. There are a lot of variabl es with a tra ck 1ike thi s." Rook ie Green took th e advantage a t th e turn of the green lig h t, but Fay waited o n ly until they hit th e infield to tak e th e lead away and Shobert a nd Eklund followed in quick successio n , dropping Green to fourth. Poovey went ou t unhurt. in a cras h on lap two. By th e third lap, th ings had stru ng o u t with Fa y leading Shobert and Eklund with Green in fourth. Graham th en cras hed o u t of fift h, moving Scott, Goss and Springsteen up to fifth through seven th. Graham returned to th e race in 12th. On th e seven th lap, Fa y held a good lead wh ile Shobert held Eklund a t bay. Eklund shook his fist a t Shobert a number of times for holding him back. Green was a secure fourth a hea d of a stack-u p of riders cont aining Goss, Springsteen , Scott, Herndon, jorgensen , Mor eh ead , Graham a nd Kidd. On the 10th lap , Kidd dropped his bike in th e exit to th e infi eld a nd the n parked it. Ek lund mad e his move past Shobert stick a nd Shobert appeared to slow wi th a broken ex ha ust pipe. Green was wa y back in fourth whi le Goss began pi cking up the pace, in fifth , ah ead of a stru ng-o u t gr oup conta ini ng Springsteen, H erndon, Scott, jorgen sen and Graham, now up to 10th. The halfway flags saw Fay continue to stretch it out. He held a 3.5.second ga p over Ekl und as th ey began th eir 15th lap. Eklund h eld some 25 leng ths over Shobert while Green