Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Hendy Go.. is fl8nked by Mi.. C8mel end Mia Hertey-D8Yidson 8ft.r winning end tieing for the points "'d. ANA Grand National Championshlpl Camel Pro SerIes: Round *' Hagerstown Half Mile thriller to Goss By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Bill King and Len Breech HAGERSTOWN, MD, JULY 16 Harley-Davidson's Randy Goss, riding in a very aggressive manner contrary to his usual business-like style, collected his first National win of the year in the D.C. Ramblerspromoted Hagerstown Half Mile National at Hagerstown Speedway. Steve Morehead, who has had more bad Iuck than he 12 would care to remember this season, led the fint half of the 2O-lap National and then chased Goss home for second. jay Springsteen rounded out the top three in the winner's circle. taking the spot fro~ Alex jorgensen in the final half lap. Springsteen didn't make a winner's circle appearance because he became ill once the race was over. Scott Parker continued to show he has learned to ride when there isn't a cushion by placing fifth. The Hagerstown Speedway track is a slightly banked oval, but the track set up after grooming for practice with no clear fast line through any of the turns. You could ride anywhere and get around, but that didn't necessarily mean it would be a fast line. "It's like riding in a cereal bowl," said one rider. Goss' win, coupled wi . an ei hth place finish by Ricky Graham, totally erased Graham's advantage in the Camel Pro Series point standings. The two are now tied at 182 each. Springsteen has moved into third with 156 points, dropping Bubba Shobert, who finished 12th, to founh at 151. Qualifying The 37 riders who showed up for the National made it the smallest field this year. Pre-entry for the race was 42. No-shows dropped that, but post-entries brought the field back up to 37. Steve Eklund, eighth in the point standings, was among the missing as was Tammy Kirk, who passed up the event to work on her mile track machinery. Garth Brow had a bike waiting for him at Hagerstown, but didn't have transportation to the race. jimmy Filice left his Eddie Adkinstuned and sponsored bike sitting, opting to road race at Laguna Seca. Morehead pushed his KK MOlOr- cycle Supply/Sisemore/D's Leathers/ Storz/Fass Gass/john Drago-sponsored, Larry johnson-tuned HarleyDavidson XR750 to fast time and a $100 bonus. Morehead's clocking was a very quick 24.835 seconds. Morehead was riding his own bike this week. "It seems when I ride somebody else's equipment, I have problems, so I'm trying something different this week," said Morehead. Graham followed Morehead a few ticks of the clock behind. Hank Scott put the first of the three Honda RS750s into the program with third fastest time. Goss and Parker rounded out the top five. Billy Norfleet was the .final qualifier with a time of 26.421. Heets The lO-rider field in the first heat race of the program, from which the top three would transfer to the National, scattered all over the track as they entered the first turn. Things didn't get any better in turns 3-4 as it appeared all 10 riders were using a different line. Morehead led Parker and rookie Matt ROlowicz in close formation across the stan/finish line at the end of lap one. The three-way fight continued until the halfway flags in the 10 lap event. Then Harley's Parker, with a better drive 0([ turn two, began to open up some breathing room on Morehead with ROlowicl, on his Condor Trading/ Sure-Fire/Wiseco/Bell Harley, in a secure third. The three finished in that order. Graham grabbed the lead on the start of heat two while Springsteen was forced high and lost about five positions in the bump-and-shuffie In turn one. Rodney Farris decided the high line was the right line, but quickly found out it wasn't and ended up chasing the leaders from eighth. Springsteen was quickly on the move and was up to second by lap three, having dropped Fran Brown, who had won the AMA Eastern Regional event at the track earlier in the year, to third. The halfway nags saw a Graham,! Springsteen fight for the lead trailed by a Brown/Tim Mertens batHe for third. Ted Boody soon moved in to make the battle for third a three-way one. Graham and Springsteen trailed the lead in a classic confrontation all over the track. The crowd was on it's feet and cheering on the final lap as Graham led into turn one, held on through turn two, and then lost the lead to Springsteen in turn three. Graham took it back only to have; Springsteen get a better drive 0([ tufn four to win the drag race to the checkered nag. Almost forgotten was the battle for third which went to Brown and his Robinson Rochester Racing/ Stevens Racing-sponsored XR. Hank Scott showed his quick qualifying time wasn't just luck as he led the fu II lOla ps in hea t three and turned in the fastest heat win of the program to put his factory Honda on the pole for the National, a first for the new RS750. Canadian jon Cornwell, on his Deeley/Bel-Ray/Champion-sponsored XR, tailed Scott the full distance but couldn't make any of his challenges to move past stick. The real war was for third with Dan Ingram, Terry Poovey and Alex jorgensen running three differem lines in each of the turns, all swapping the position at will. Poovey, on a factory Honda, held the position for laps eight and nine and was in command on lap 10 until jorgensen took it away off turn two_ Poovey came right back in turn three, but jorgensen's drive off turn four put Poovey in the semi and jorgensen into the National. Randy Goss didn't waste any time putting his factory Harley into the lead at the start of heat four. On lap three rookie Doug Chandler came up to challenge and began putting plenty of pressure on Goss. Bubba Shobert was in a safe third by lap five and would remain there. Chandler moved around Goss on lap eight for good to take the win on his jim Chisum/Simpson/Hi-Pointl ND/Bel-Ray-sponsored Harley. Goss stayed about 10 bikelengths behind, followed at a distance by Shobert. "I like the track," said Chandler, "because it's something like a track back in California where I learned to race." Semis The track had developed clearer racing lines by the semis and was covered in the turns with a good coatingof rubber in many places although the track wasn't a tire eater. Only the winner of each semi would make the National. Tim Mertens led all 10 laps in semi one, but never had an advantage of more than five to 10 bikelengths at any time. Rob Crabbe, Farris, Boody, Randy Texter and Eric Rausch were all in a pack behind. Mertens was challenged by Crabbe the entire distance, but wouldn'l give up his ground. Crabbe, with pressure from behind was never comfortable. Crabbe did manage to run up alongside

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