Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

OC") 00 0") ..... Cleft) Springsteen. Graham and third-place Randy Goss are an smiles on the victory podium. Ahhough both Graham and Springsteen closed the point gap on series leader Goss. he still holds a commanding lead with two races left in the season. (Right) Graham leads a sideways Goo in the final. (left) Ascot favorite Alex Jorgensen (44) tries to hold off the challenge of Scott Parker. Parker got by for fourth, while"Jorgy" finished in ninth place. ( ight) Honda's TT specialist Mickey Fay (13) and Rookie of the Year Doug Chandler both did .wen at the ha" mile, finishing in the top 11. n~~w baul lOa interesting battle for the last two '(swect transfers as Alex Jorgensen, 22 lifornia privateer Mike Garrison It rl Scott Parker trailed Goss across -' thf line on lap one. Garrison nailed Jargy going down the backstraight on lap two. Garrison held the runneropposition for the next three laps as Parker seemed a bit far back in fourth. On the fifth lap Jorgensen regained second, and almost immediately arker was right on Garrison. He oharged past Garrison on lap six, and then caught up to Jorgensen two laps later. Making his move down the back chute, Parker took second and held off Jorgensen for the final two laps. Semis As Goss' closest pursuer, Shobert needed desperately to make the National, but California rookie Pete flames led the first semi all the way ana there was only one transfer. SecOl:ld off the start, Shobert found bimself set back to third by Bmy Scott, then to fourth by Don Howard, and then to fifth by Rob Ely. Shobert battled back to third by the end of the race, but it was too little and almost too late. The string of wire-to-wire wins came to a halt in the second semi when Mike Sullivan led Filice at the t:nd of the first lap. Filice made his way around Sullivan going into turn one shortly thereafter, and the race was his. Sullivan followed Filice to the flag ahead of Garrison and Steve Monger, but only Filice had his National ticket. Junior Invitational co' Agaip soll1fPfldotgoJ to~ell RAbert Land that the battle for top Junior was supposed to be between Oregon's Dan Bennett and Virginia's Mark Hartley, the top two yellow plate points producers in the country. Land led the first lap, then really banged bars with Bennett for two laps before finally surrendering the lead to the Honda rider. While Bennett made his move to the front, Hartley was advancing his Harley up from a fifth-place start. By lap six he had passed Land and began eating away at the margin Bennett had ·gained. By tbe white-flag lap Hartley was almost within striking distance, but a gentle slide-out in turns 3-4 nullified his chances. Bennett took the win followed by Land, Larry Earhart and Charles Carroll. Hartley picked his biKe up and finished eighth. Along with thanking sponsors Megacycle, Electro West and KRW, Bennett had words of praise for his tuners, "My dad and 1 do everything and I'm proud of both of us." Last Chance Qualifier Shobert got a scare before the Last Chance Qualifier when his shifter came loose on the starting line, but things were tightened up before the allowable two minutes were up. That accomplished, Shobert went on to lead all the way. Rod Sullivan ran second before mechanical troubles dropped him back and eventually out of the race. Billy SCOlt took over the runner-up slot and he and Ronnie Jones made their way up to pressure hobert for the final two laps. They pressured but they didn't pass and ,. hobert wasfinalJ#jo.themainevent. National There was a three-way battle for the lead going into turn one as Mike Kidd, Jay Springsteen and Ricky Graham all guessed right on the start. Springsteen and Graham were nearly side by side as they crossed the finish line for the first time. A little gap separated them from the field of Kidd, Randy Goss, Terry Poovey, Scott Parker and Steve Eklund. On lap two Graham took the lead away from Springsteen through turn two and Goss advanced all the way to second by the end of the lap. Parker was up to fifth by lap two, then passed Kidd for fourth on lap three. The first dozen laps were a battle of Jines and strategies. Goss hugged the pole as he constantly pulled alongside or ahead of Graham on the low line through the corners. Graham would counter by pulling down from his high lines in turns one and three to go low and shoot across Goss' bow each time. Springsteen hung right in with them. Behind the battle for the lead, Parker was running a lonely fourth. Eklund was turning in his best half mile performance of the season by running fifth ahead of Boody, Fay, Kidd and Alex Jorgensen. Right at the three-quarters mark, Graham suddenly had a little. gap on the pursuit, and Springsteen had losed up on his teammate. Springsteen officially took second on the 16th lap, and then the three held positions to the checkered flag. Parker continued on ("I just cruised") for fourth, while Boody took fifth away from Eklund with a la tlap pass. Riding his final h<\lf jflile before retiring, Kidd finished seventh ahead of Fay, Jorgensen, Pete Hames and Doug Chandler. Bubba Shobert finished 12th, a victim of a rock that punched a hole in his battery on the first lap. ''I'm so glad to be back in California with my family and friends," said Graham, "And 1 haven't won a race since last May. This will help me out, but Randy and Jay were right there." Springsteen said, "I kept Ricky in sight, but he was riding too fast. 1 rode my hardest, the hardest I've ridden all year. Randy lost his right footpeg and that's' when 1got around him. " "I wanted to keep up with Ricky and Jay for the first half of the race," said Goss, "I thought after that I'd be pulling away, but it didn't work out that way." • Results 20-LAP NATIONAl: 1. Ricky Graham (H-D); 2. Jay Springsteen (H-D); 3. Randy Goss (H-DI; 4. Scott Parker (H-D); 5. Ted Boody (H-D); 6. Steve Eklund IH-DI; 7. Mike Kidd IHonl; B. Mickey Fay (Hon); 9. Alex Jorgensen (H-D); 10. Pete Hemes (H-DI; 11. Doug Chandler (H-D); 12. Bubbe Shoben (H-DI; 13. Terry Poovey (H-D); 14. Jim Filice (H-D); 15. Man Rosowicz IH-D). TIME: 7: 15.43 (New track record. Old track record of 7:21.53 set by J.y Springsteen in 19B3.) JUNIOR INVITATIONAL: 1. Dan BennelllHonl; 2. Roben Land (H-D); 3. Larry Earhan (H-D); 4. Ch.r1es CarroIlIH-D); 5. Ross KI.n; 6. Edw.rd San Roman (W-RI; 7. David Cabellero IW-R); B. Mark Hanley (H-D); 9. Rusty Miskowkis IH-D); 10. J.mes Dunleavy Ie-AI; 11. John Lundgren (Vam); 12. Meerl Barnett. (Yam). AMA GRAND NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP/CAMEt PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Randy Goss (279); 2. Jay Springsteen 12521; 3. Rickv Graham (249); 4. Bubbe Shoben (246); 5. Scon Perker (196); 6. Ted Boody (153); 7. Alex Jorgensen (146); B. Jim Filice (133); 9. Gary Scon (1101; 10. Mike Baldwin 192); 11. Steve Eklund (90); 12. (TIE) Hank Sconl Steve Morehead /841: 14. Terry Poovey 1791: 15. Miles Baldwin (70); 16. Doug Chandler (661; 17. Mickey F.y 1641; 18. Gregg Smrz (63); 19. Tim - JL ......n.f~};,2ll,~iH\C~~1 ••• c,.. , 7

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