Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1984 02 15

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Randy Goss takes careful aim and showers photographers with a stream of champagne as he celebrates his Houston Astrodome short track victory. AMA Grand National Cham~ionshipLCamel Series: Round 1 Number one starts 1984 that way son. The event was promoted by Pace Management. By Dale Brown Photos by David Edwards Time trials HOUSTON, TX, FEB. 4 Harley-Davidson's Randy Goss began his second season of carrying the sport's most prestigious plate in fine style, lassoing the short track portion of the Bud Lite-sponsored Wild West Motorcycle Championships at the Houston Astrodome. Gbss took the lead from sudden sophomore sensa- 6 tion Pete Hames haJfway through the National, then went on to record the first victory under new AMA rules that allow 500cc four-stroke singles to compete on short tracks. "The last time I came down here with the number one plate I didn't get past time trials in the TT, so it feels great to win this year," said Goss after it was all over. One other fact noted was that with this short track win, Goss has now amassed victories in all forms of AMA/Camel Pro Series dirt track racing. "That's great," grinned the victor, "I was kind of bummed out when I didn't do it last year. " With Hames finishing a strong second, third went to Harley's Jay Springsteen after a long fight with former champ Ricky Graham. Graham was a close fourth in his debut ride for Team Honda. This first race under the new rules saw most riders go with 500cc machinery. Only a couple of riders made it past time tria Is on 250cc twostrokes, and only 1983 Houston Short Track winner Terry Poovey was able to get his into the National. Approximately 20,000 fans were on hand as the AMA Grand National Championship began its 30th sea- Hank Scott, more well known for his mile track progress, turned up fast time on the Tex Peel-tuned Harley. De pite the fact that he hasn't ridden at Houston for two years, Scott stopped the clocks at 14.594. Honda's Bubba Shobert was second fastest at 14.696, followed by the PioneerTrucking/Hi-PointiMegacycle/ Lillie-sponsored H-D500R of Alex Jorgensen. Graham, Steve Morehead and Mickey Fay made up the remainder of the heat-race polesitters. The cut-off time for the 6O-rider field was 15.187 seconds. Heats Hank Scott and rookie Dan Bennett battled for the lead on the opening lap, but then Rod Sullivan barged through to occupy second. Sullivan trailed Scott for five laps, but then the Mockbee/Champion/Kal-Gard CanAm rider passed Scott and led it to the finish. Scott took the other transfer and Bennett led most of the others into the first semi. Steve Eklund made his evening a little less memorable when, after crossing the line sixth, he tangled with two riders after the flag and crashed. Pete Hames showed all of the brilliance expected him in his rookie season, leading the second heat wire to wire on the Iveco/HDE/Doherty/ Simpson/Ketchie Can-Am. Shobert seemed to be a secure second, running in that position for nine laps as Goss made his way up toward the front. Third on the second lap, Goss waited until the late laps before closing in on Shobert and nailing him on the last lap. Shobert was yards in front of Tim Mertens, but shon track heats only transfer twO to the main. On the second try for a heat-three start after someone jumped the gun, Honda's Doug Chandler charged into the point position, trailed by Poovey and the Shoei/Dallas Honda-sponsored two-stroke. Poovey stayed close to the '83 rookie of the year for five laps, then put an aggresive move on the youngster that gained the Texan the lead and straightened Chandlq right up. The two then held positions as Alex Joregensen followed them home. The fourth heat found Megacycle! Knight Frames-sponsored Ronnie Jones fastest off the line on his H-D registered single. Brett Barkman trailed initially, but Ricky Graham moved into second on lap two and soon was very close to Jones. It all came down to the final lap, where Graham edged past momentarily through turns 3-4, but· then Jones had the momentum off the final corner to take the win by mere millimeters. Keith Day finished a distant third. New York's Fran Brown was the star of the filth heat, leading all 10

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