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/126659
0(") 00 0") Jim Filice (17) berrels put Scott Parker (behind Filice) just inches before cro.singtheSanJosefinish line, while the tightly pecked pair of Jay Springsteen (9) and Bubba Shobert (67) follow in third and fourth. Filice'. victory gave him three wins in the Iut four Camel Pro Series Mile races. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 31 San Jose thriller to Filice By David Edwards Photos by Dan and Mary Mahony to the rapidly disappearing Filice. SAN JOSE, CA, SEPT. 18 In a thrill-packed, 130-mile-an-hour game of , . .I. . d .I h one-upmanShlp Jim FI Ice waite unn t e .' I' h last possible moment to sings ot past a . . In surpnsed Scott P ar k er an d ta k e t h e win. t h e , Co Kenny Ro berts. Yamaha untry San Jose Mlle. An all-time record crowd of more than 18000 watched as 8 'ng FI·ll.'ce wI'lled his Eddi'e the cunrn Atkins-tuned Harley-Davidson around Parker coming of[ the finaJ turn for the win. In the previous laps, Filice had to deal with a freight-train formation ofeight other ridcn, almost anyone of whom could have taken the win in one of the best races ever to take place during the 24-year history of "The Mile." "I knew I couldn't outrace them, so I had to outsmart them," said Filice of his strategy when he realized how many riders were in contention for the win. "I knew that if I could get the last run at it,l could win. I didn't want to lead going into the last corner; so when I saw Scon come alongside, I shut it off a Little. I knew then I had him." Parker finished in second ahead of three-time former National Champion Jay Springsteen, who picked up 13 points for his third-place finish and closed the pointgap in the Camel Pro Series Championship race. Springsteen now has 236 points, compared to 243 for Bubba Shobert, who finished the race in fourth, and 265 for leader Randy Goss, who notched a ninth at San Jo~e. r ~ • "With three races left, I'm just trying to finish second in the point standings for the year," said Springsteen. "Randy is so consistent, Ithink he's just about gOllhechampionship sewed up, but you never know untiJ the last race of the year." Time trials Filice gave indications that things might go his way today when he recorded the best qualifying time of 37.361 seconds, aJmost three-tenths of a second quicker than the secondbest time, posted by Alex Jorgensen. The soon-to-retire Mike Kidd showed he still knows the fast way around a mile track when he clocked the thirdquickest time. Lance Jones almost made a mistake by waving off the fourth-best time, but decided to keep it at the last second. Time trials were delayed shonly when an errant spectator walked across the track almost directly into the path of a rider, and several riders had to be re-timed due to difficulties with the timing equipment. Heat races Afterrwo restarts because of crashes, heat race one got underway with Filice grabbing the holeshot and powering to an immediate five-bikelength lead. Behind, the trio of rookie Don Howard, Garth Brow and Steve Morehead formed up'and gav~ chase '. .Filice.. showing that his fast qualifymg time was no mistake, soon stretched his lead to 15 bikelengths, leaving the b~ttle for second to proVide the race s drama. Howard was giving no quarter to the more experienced Morehead, on a factory Honda,and Brow, aboard the HarleyDavidson that Filice had campaigned earlier in the year. By lap five, the three riders were joined by Ronnie Jones, back on the circuit after injuries. A lap later, Howard's ride came to a disappointing conclusion as he coasted to a stop with mechanical problem,S. Jones, meanwhile, s.howe.d h h d h e asn t gonen too rusty urmg IS layoff by movmg past Brow and More~e~d ~o nail .d?wn the second-pl~ce hmshmg poslllOn: Brow got the thud transfer sp~t, wllh the hard-luck Mo~eh~~ ~IS~tc~ed t~ one of t~e semiS. Flhce s wmrnng ume of 6: 11.:> I would hold upas the fastest of the day. Springsteen rocketed into the lead as the green Light flickered at the stan of heat race two, only to be drafted on the back su:aight and shunted back to founh behmd Jorgensen, Hank Scott and Terry Poovey. By the next go'round, Springsteen had tucked in behind crowd-favorite Jorgensen, with the two Honda stars following to mak~ up a very tight four-in-a-row formatIOn. "Jorgy" and "Springer" traded the point position with every-other-Iap regularity, and it soon became evident thatthe finish would come down to a last-lap run at the £lag. Pulling a slight distance ahead of the scrapping Honda teammates, Jorgensen and Springsteen £lashed past the starU finish line, with the privateer taking the win inches ahead of the factory Harley rider. Scott got the nod for third in an equally tight dice with Poovey. The third heat race slated defending ational Champion Ricky Graham against the 1981 Champ Mike lUnd. Kidd bas already stated his intention of retiring at the end of the season; so this wa to be his last competitIve appearance at San Jose. ''I've g, t something to prove," was Kidd's-C1etermined statement before the race}' And prove something he did as lie fell in behind Graham at the stan and simply blew by the number-one If.arley coming out turn two. It all w' t for naught. however, as a turn-~e crash brought out the red £lag. . On the restart, Graham again ~~t to' the front, and this time he aged to keep Kidd at bay. Not that ~~ Honda team captain didn't tJJ: though. Several times he slingshpt his way past Graham, only to repassed in similar fashion. Going into the last lap, Graham had the lead. Exiting turn two, howevq, Kidd's RS750 seemed to get the better drive and he moved into a narrow lead. Graham made up the ground, though, and coming out of the Last turn, he moved past Kidd to take' a very close decision. Rookie Matt Rozowicz took a distant third behina Graham and Kidd. Heat race four pitted Camel Bro Series point leader Randy Goss against teammate Scott Parker and the mas-ter of the last-turn draft, Bubba Shlli bert. But as the light turned green,jl was Lance Jones getting the power to the ground first. A slight miscue soon put Jones back in sixth positiori, looking for a way to get back to the leading trio of Goss, Parker and Shobert. By mid-race, Shobert had mo 'ed into second ahead of Parker, and me hard-riding Jones had scurried pa two riders to hold down fourth. Shobert seemed content enough in second, knowing that more often than not the runner-up position is the place to be in mile racing. True to form, the Texan held back until the last corner, then he popped out from behind Goss and blasted ahead to take the win. Parker finished in third and Jones was fourth. m'l9:: lie . . ... ..