Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ Q,) (Above) Graham takes aim befora letting the cork fly in victory circle. (Below) Tim Mertens at the front of a three-rider draft on the front straight. ..0 o .... u o (~bove) Jim Filice took the early lead and was looking for yet another mile Win. before a broken valve spring put him in second. (Below) Action in the Junior final. race, but was I)ever reaJly able to close on Filice. Behind the first two finishers came Kidd, who had to pull every move in the book to take third from Garth Brow. Semis Ifj Privateer Steve Lawson, who had qualified fifth - his best ever in a National program, saw his day end when his bike wouldn't fire after the first semi's field gridded. He was forced to watch as Shobert, who had LFP ered the race fourth in the point ,standmgs with slim hopes of a title, _,Produced the loudest clap of thunder as the Rolling Thunder Show left the •Aine. Shobert led all the way, leading Mertens across the line and into the illational. Mertens had to work for JJO;s advancement position and in the mIddle Laps of the race appeared to ,nave clipped bars with Jay Beach. Jtc;rtens survived a vicious wobble on 9~ye front straight and went on to fin,1£/1 a distant second to Shobert. b J.,Brow and Drake ran 1-2 for the first r laps of the second 10-lap semi, \;ut Farris moved into second on lap L!~'ie and into the lead for good on lap Slx. The Maryland rider and his earl , 'f.J' trick Harley XR took the check~ r,r,ed flag well before Brow crossed the I line with an equally lonely second. , trast Chance Qualifier 9in'Tom Maitland led Hebb for eight Hips of the Last Chance Qualifier, IUt Hebb charged into the lead on the , nite-f1ag lap and went on to win -1ifjd take the last available transfer to ,l fie National over Dan Ingram, who llfropped Maitland to third on the J f.i'nal lap. JNovicelJunior Invitationals dd~1fhe event's promoting group, the '(~ninois Motorcycle Dealers Association (IMDA), conducts a "grass roots" 5.dirt track series and they rewarded the - tQP 16 riders in both the Novice and xJunior ranks with 10-lap races on the lIfamed Springville Mile oval. 5 It was a one-man show in the bNovice race as Texan Duane Duvall ·-a.liJd his Honda 250cc two-stroke led 'l (tom the green Iigh t to the checkered Hag. The racing behind Duvall was . hot and ended up with George Minor taking second ~ith Bruce Robinson third. -,n The only race get-offs of the day > QJ:cured on the third lap of the Junior Invitational race and necessitated a J.r~tatt.lh.a.Lsa.~ Stc.lItl La boJ:dvs,equal '!iis- first' s'tart's noleshot. T.aooious J led the first two laps but from there to the finish it was Alexandria, Indiana's Kenny Maynard in front. Labordus finished fourth behind Maynard, Randy Triplett and Randy Lyman. National Filice, by virtue of having won the fastest heat, occupied the pole position for the 25-lap National. Joining him on the front row were Graham, Goss, Jorgensen, Springsteen and Parker. Row two was formed by Hank Scott, Jones, Kidd, Boody, Morehead and Cornwell, with Shobert, Farris, Mertens, Brow and Hebb occupying the third row . Filice pulled the holeshot alld led the field around the mile oval on the opening lap. Taking advantage' of the holeshot, the 115-pound Californian added precious feet to his leading margin on each lap until by the seventh lap he appeared to be on his way toa runaway victory. But Springsteen and Graham had hooked up in a drafting, corner-stuUing battle that hel ped them close the distance on Filice. The 10th lap saw Springsteen, a three-time Grand National Champion, and Defending Champ Graham right on Filice's rear wheel. The three went down the back straight side-byside on the II th go-around and from there to the checkered flag it was anyone's race as they took turns passing one another by either straight, away drafting or corner stuffing. Behind the leading trio a threeman fight for what seemed destined to be fourth place was taking place among Shobert, Goss and Kidd. Their drafting tactics moved them right up on the Filice/Springsteen/Graham trio and the race became a six-man affair on the 22nd lap. Position swapping took place all around the track and when the white flag, signifying one lap to go, was waved, the order of the sextet was Filice, Graham, Goss, Springsteen, Kidd and Shobert. Going into turn three Springsteen got by Goss and as the pack exited turn four it was Graham who hooked up the best and he led Filice, Springsteen, Kidd, Goss and Shobert across the line with his fist in the air. Watching from the sidelines at the finish were Jon Cornwell, Hank Scott and Scott Parker, who were listed as "finishing" 15th, 16th and 17th, ,r~pectiyt:I¥.S~QtJ was.engagl"d.,in a . 'healed coriversatiori w'itli ieleree Duke Olliges. Scott had pulled out of the race with an oil-coated £aceshield. The oil had come from Cornwell's engine and Scott claimed he had been pointing that out to the starter at the start/finish line for several laps. Cornwell retired from the race with a blown engine several laps after Scott had pulled off. Parker had dropped out of the race due to a suspected broken primary chain. While Graham took his victory lap, his mentor, Tex Peel, accepted congratulations from everyone within handshaking distance. The win by Graham, his third straight at Springfield, was Peel's fourth straight. He tuned Scott Parker's XR for Parker's 1981 non-National win and, of course, has been the guiding force behind Graham's wins on the Illinois oval. Filice was obviously disappointed with not winning, but he was nearly ecstatic when asked to describe the duel he had just been part of: "Wasn't that great? It was so rough out there that I was gettin' out of control all over the place. Heck, Jay was out of control too. I was having fun and I think I could have won it but the bike bogged down coming out of the last corner. I think it got dirt in the carb," said Filice. He was later told a valve spring had broken. Springsteen, still the obvious crowd favorite every ti me he goes t9 the J ine, said, "I feel like I ju Lgot off my road racer. My hands are tingling. That was one hell of a race. I had my hands full with Jim and Ricky and then Randy came up Lhere with us. Man, I'll 'tell you I got up against the wall coming out of four and that was one b,ig eye,ope.\l,er..I "'i1!l1 to, thank. all -. rhe-!':lJfnvho'l'urned out 10 make chis a large crowd and I'm glad we could give them a race like we did." Co-announcer Jack Hall, who had earlier been honored for 25 years of race announcing and was announcing his final event before retiring, was mistakenly informed that Goss had clinched the title and he interrupted the Despain-conducted winner's circle interviews to relay that misinformation to the crowd. He was quickly corrected, but the announcement and then correction lifted Goss up and then let him down hard. "That was wrong," said Randy's wife Vickie. "I can't believe they did that." Winner Graham, who had earned $6,175 of the $35,000 purse, closed out the day by saying anything could happen at Pontiac. "I do well on those indoor TT tracks and anything can happen. People do get knocked down in those kind of races, you know." He sensed he had spoken a bitoutof line and added, "Hey, we'll both be going [or it and one o[ us will win and one of us will lose. I hope I'm the winner." • Results , 25-LAP NATIONAL: 1. Ricky Graham (H-D); 2. Jim Filice (H-D): 3. Jay Springsteen (H-D); 4. Mike Kidd (Han); 5. Randy Goss (H-D); 6. Bubba Shobert (H·O); 7. Steve. Morehead (Han); 8. Rodney Farris (H-D); 9. Ted Bdody (H-D); 10. Ronnie Jones (H'D); I 1. Alex Jorgen;;en (H-D); 12. Garth Brow (H-D); 13. Dave Hebb (H-D); , 4. Tim Mertens (H,D); 15. Jon Cornwell (H~D); 16. Hank Scott (Hon); 17. Scott Parker (H-D). \ Time: 15 min., 18.453 sees. AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: ,. Randy Goss (289); 2. Ricky G'raham (269); 3. Jay Springsteen (265); 4. Bubba Shobert (255): 5. Scott Parker (196); 6. Ted Boody (1 59f: 7. Alex Jorgensen (150); B. Jim Filice (149): 9. Gary Scott (110); 10. (TIE) Mike Baldwin/Steve Morehead (92): 12. Steve Eklund (90): 13. Hank Scott (84); 14: Terry Poovey (79); 15. Miles Baldwin (70), 16. Doug Chandler • (66); 17. Mike Kidd (65); 18. Mjckey.Fpll(~); 19. . - Gregg Smr. (63): 20. T,im Mertens (59): • , '7

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