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/126664
PontlGeTT (ContinlUdfrom page 7) lem or a riding mistake. Noonechallenged the EasyTiders/Shoei/Castroll H-D/Tex Peel-sponsored Californian _and he did the fans a favor by walking away from the field. The favor? All eyes could then be glued on Randy Goss, who had worked his way ; through the infield on the first lap in last-place. By the time Goss reached thc:-.startifinish line at the end of lap one he was in 13th, and the front five after that lap read: Graham, Morehead, Fay, Springsteen and Parker. Springsteen dropped out of the baule up front when he fell in an infield right-hander and dropped back to 13th place on the second lap. At that point Goss had moved up to lOth. Graham established a large lead by the seventh lap and the baule for second was taking place among More- , . .(~t- • r ~. ;.:,1\' ..... head, Fay, Parker and jorgensen. Lap eight produced the moment Goss and his backers had been waiting for. Going into turn one of the oval after completing the previous lap, Morehead suddenly slowed and threw his arms in the air and pounded his bike's gas tank in disgust. A suspected sprocket had broken on the Lillie Can-Am and Morehead pulled 0(£ the track. That gave the 1983 Grand ational Champion title to Goss and the crowd went crazy. Goss' close friend, Terry Sage, signaled him that he was again umber One. "We had arranged for Terry to give me a sign if someone dropped out. 1 was busy racing and keeping my Harley on two wheels, bull can tell you one thing and that's 1 wasn't too busy to not realize the title was mine again," said Goss. But the celebrating had to wait as there were still 17 grueling laps to be run and the track was taking its toll as rider after rider crashed, most at slow speed in the tight infield turns. The 10th lap finished with Graham still way out in front, Fay running strong in second, and jorgensen and Parker fighting over third. Springsteen was charging back up through the field and was running sixth behind King. Get-offs continued and positions behind the front runners continued to shuffle as the race ran on. Lap 20 saw Graham and Fay holding down the front two spots while Parker had dropped to fifth behind a jorgensen and pringsteen dice for third. The following lap saw Springsteen unload for the second time and drop back to eighth behind Goss who was running strong in seventh, apparently "going racing" since the pressure had been lifted off him by Morehead's retirement. Graham rolled on, lapping riders as he clicked off the remaining laps. ·'ab'e tiCkets ava' Advance 1·cketron at' d under . d en \2 ~n ChI' r '12 prIce. ·00 A.tA. n at 9 • Gates ope tA 0:00 A. · ·ns a t \ practice be?' at 1'1001'1 Racing Beg,ns Few people knew that his right knee had popped out of joint in practice. "It popped right back in," said Graham. "I injured the k.nee when 1 was 13 and had it operated on." While the knee had him limping before the National final, it didn't bother him as he took the checkered flag that signalled his fifth ational win of the year, the 11th of his career. Graham stood on the pegs after he crossed the line and throwing his arms in the air gave the fans one of his football-style "end zone hip wiggles." Fay finished a distant second and he was followed into winner's circle by third place finisher Parker. Parker had dropped jorgen en from third on the next to last lap. While the top three finishers were celebrating in the winner's circle set upon top of the TT track's bigjump, Randy Goss was the guest of honor at an even bigger celebration in the pit area. The 27-year-old was encircled by well wishers including his tuner Brent Thompson, friend Terry Sage, newly appointed Harley racing team manager Clyde Denzer, wife Vicky and daughter janice. . "This is great," said Goss. "It's been a long year and looking back on it you have to keep one thing in mind: Brent put together bikes that ran great at every race. The only problems we had were my fault because 1 fell off three times this season. 1 fell once here and almost fell four more times, but every race 1 fell in 1still scored point. Brent's tuning let an average rider win his second title." When asked how he could possibly consider himself an "average" rider, Go s replied, "I know and you k.now I'm not the fa test thing that ever rode a motorcycle, but the combination we've put together is the best and I'm Number One again. 1 just hope we can do it again next year." Third place finisher Scott Parker popped open his boule of champagne and said, "Wowl This has been one tough night and one long day, but getting third in front of all these Michigan fans is great." Runner-up Mickey Fay was disappointed i·n not having won, but pleased that he was able to get second. "This was the most demanding TT track 1 have ever raced on," sa id the Team Honda rider. Winner Graham showed he 'is a gentleman as well as a champion when he told the crowd, "Randy did a great job all year and he deserves the title. This was a greatTace that capped a great year. The odds were again t me going in, but I'm still very happy I did what I had to do - win. My fOiks and some hometown fans flew in for the race and had to put up with a terrible plane ride. I hope 1 made the trip worthwhile for them by winning." Goss came to winner's circle and received a standing ovation from the crowd, a lifetime pass to the Pontiac Silverdome, and a Number One plate from Tex Peel. "Tex gave me this number plate and I'm going to get him to sign it. And you know what I'm going to do then?" said Goss. ''I'm going to party!" • Results NATIONAL: ,. Ricky Graham (H-D); 2. Mickey Fay (Hon); 3. Scan Parker (H·D); 4. Alex Jorgenaen (C· A); 5. DOUA Chandler (Hon); 6. Rich King (Han): 7. Randy Gou (H·D); B. Jay Springsteen (H·D); 9. Bren Barkman (C-A); 10. Mike Gilkey (Yam); 1'. Ganh Brow (Han); 12. Tom Maitland (C·A); '3. Randy Green (Han); 14. Pete Hames (C-A); 15. Steve Morehead (C-A). Time: 11 min.• 52.995 sees. AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES FINAL POINT STANDINGS: , . Randy Goss (297); 2. Ricky Graham (289); 3. Jay Sprinvsteen (272); 4. Bubba Shoben (255); 5. Scan Parker (209); 6. AlexJorv.nsen(161); 7. Tad Boody (159); B. Jimmy Filice(' 491; 9. Gary Scan (1 10); 10. (TIE) Mike Baldwin/St_ Morehead (92); 12. St.". Eklund (90); , 3. Henk Scan (84); 14. Mickey Fey (BO); 15. Terry Poovey (79); 16. DouV Chandler (76); 17. Miles B.ldwin (70); lB. Mike Kidd (65); 19. Gr_~,!,rz (63); 20. Tim M_na.(59).•