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l-4 a,; ..0 o <-l U o Defending National Champion Ricky Graham heads up a six-rider formation during the letter stages of the Springfield Mile. Graham held on for the win. while Jim Filice (17. behind Graham) and Jay Springsteen (9) finished in second and third. raspectively. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 33 Graham scores third Springfield Mile win By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard/Silver Shutter Photography SPRINGFIELD, IL, ocr. 2 "Jimmy (Filice) had the horsepower because he's the lightest and Jay (Springsteen) was going in harder, but my bike was faster out of the corners and I was lucky," said Ricky Graham after he had scored his third straight Springfield Mile victory. Graham led Filice and Spring- 6 steen across the finish after the trio had conducted a furious lead swapping duel that began on the 10th lap and became more intense with each tour of the Illinois State Fairground's oval. Coming out of the fourth turn on the 25th and final lap, Graham hooked up the best, Filice's bike suffered a broken valve spring, and Springsteen failed to get the drive he needed. That gave Graham, the defending Grand National Champion, the win he needed to stay alive In the point standings. ,Ran$Y 99~~ ,t~e !1Ja~ o!' tllP.of the ~ point standings, finished fifth and that gives him a 20-point lead over Graham, 289 10 269, going into the final round of the Camel Pro Series, the Pontiac TT on October 22. At that event Graham will face anOlher must-win situation. The only way Graham can garner the number one plate for the second straight year is to win the Pontiac TT while Goss, the 1980 Grand National Champion, fails to score a point. In that case, the pair would wind up tied on points and the title would go 10 Graham by virtue of his having more National wins. Springsteen and Bubba Shobert, who fini~hed sixth, were mathematically eliminated from the title chase. Finishing fourth at Springfieldbe)hind Graham, Filice and Spril;lK.. " r • I J 1 k..'1 " -1 ~ steen and just inches ahead of Goss was Mike Kidd who was taking part in the last oval race of an illustrious career. "I have butterflies," said Kidd prior 10 the race. "This is my last oval race after 25 years of racing. (He started racing at the age of 5 in a quartermidget caL) When I came up in 1972 as a rookie Expert with guys like Kenny Roberts, I thought I was as good as him and the others, but it took my winning the Grand National Championship in '81 to satisfy me as far as those thoughts were concerned. I've had a good career and now I'm going to devote my full time to having a good career as a promOler. I'd certainly like 10 turn in a good race today." And that he did as he showed the spark that many felt he had lost after the past two injury-filled years. Goss and the 30-year-old Texan waged their own battle behind the front running trio and Kidd and his factory Honda matched every move made by Gossand his factory Harley-Davidson. Time Trials An exceptionally strong turnout of 73 riders at Springfield made for long practice lines. The track that greeted the riders had been beautifully prepared and several riders turned in practice laps below the existing lap record of 36.201 seconds which was turned in by Scott Parker at a nonNational race in 1981. But by the time qualifying began the track had "slowed" due 10 "drying out" and a strong headwind on the front straight. Graham turned in the fastest qualifying lap, a 37.091 tour. Shobert, Dave Hebb, Filice, and Steve Lawson rounded out the top five. Goss, who was hoping to clinch the title, stunned everyone - including himself - when he qualified in 38th position with a 38.247 lap. Steve Monger was the 48th and final qualifier with a time of 38.693. .: } ... !-jJ. j' ( ~ '!.' c.' 1.4 4 '_. I ( rjl.... ! Heats Ted Boody led the first heat field across the start/finish line at the end of the first of 10 laps, but the following lap saw Graham draft by Boody on the back straight. Graham then walked away from the field and he took the checkered flag over thTee seconds ahead of his pursuers. Scott Parker and Boody hooked up in a fight for second that saw Parker edge Boody by inches at the finish line. Pole sitter Shobert grabbed the lead at the start of the second heat, but all eyes were on Goss who started in the second row. While Shobert maintained his lead lap after lap, Goss mounted a charge that moved him into fourth on the third lap, second on the eighth lap, and into the lead on the white-fla~ lap. Going down the backstraight on the final lap it was a five-man race with Goss, Shobert, Steve Morehead, Ronnie Jones and Tim Mertens all shooting for one of the three transfer spots. The checkered flag saw Goss take the win with jones second and Morehead, aboard a Team Honda NS7 0, third. The race prompted annouQcer Dave Despain to say, "It doesn't get an y better than that, ladies and gentlemen'" Heat number three saw Dave Hebb and his Babe DeMay-tuned Harley XR750 pull the holeshot and Hebb held the point position until the fourth lap when Canadian Jon Cornwell, Honda's Hank Scott and Alex jorgensen drafted by him on the back straight. He was dropped even further down the order by Rodney Farris arid Scott Drake, who was riding Morehead's XR in only the second race tie has competed in this year. jorgensen took the win by inches over Scott, while Cornwell grabbed third just a few feet ahead of Farris. Jimmy Filice and his Eddie Adkinstuned Bayland Racing XR led the fourth and final heat all the way. Springsteen held second for the entire 11 FC...=.:. f I ;:! f t _ i 1 .. l_ : ~(-! "--{