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/126796
~ Honda's 1-2 Runch: mRiCky Graham" ~ Bubba Shobert Graham of his crash two laps from the end of the Springfield Mile National. "I thought: 'It's gone, the' championship is gone,' as I slid down after Ted (Boody) and I touched. It wasn'ta very good feeling. I was mad because I didn't think it was called for, but maybe Ted didn't see me. Anyway, it's all over and things worked out alright." Shoben, although initially in a glum mood over losing the championship by one point, put everything behind him. "I can't complain," said Shoben. "I had my best-ever season, I won six Nationals and one of those was a road race. Didn't that shock a few people?" Then he turned to Springsteen and jokingly said, "Boody could have made a whole lot more money if he had moved over and let me win." Springsteen, grinning, said, "You'd have gotten the same treatment if you were behind me." ••• By Gary Van Voorhis Shortly after the checkered flag waved at the Springfield Mile, Ricky Graham, his left hand immobilized by a temporary cast, swigged champagne from a bottle carried into the press room by Jay Springsteen holding court as the 1984 , . A.MA Grand Natlonal Cha~pIOn. Bubba Shobert, Graham s 40 leammate on Team Honda and ,partner in the toughest one-two punch een in nearly 10 years, joked with Springsteen as the two rehashed the race and aU the little things - like touching, tapping and grabbing at each other at nearly 130 miles per hour - that couldn't always be een. "Kick back and relax for a while is the name of the game now," said Graham, obviously glad that the nearly nine-month championship chase was over. Shoben agreed. He had come back from a six-race suspension for his involvement in a fight with Terry Poovey to stage the most consistent last·half·of-the·season performance in the Grand National Championship history and finished one point shy of Graham in the final Camel Pro Series point standings. When the joking was over and Graham was headed out of the facility for his trip to the hospital, he became serious. "I saw the whole sea-on ~oingaway before my eyes," said Graham's road to his second Camel Pro Series title was a smooth one and was running along as Graham had basically planned it. He had figured defending champion Randy Goss of the Harley-Davidson factory would be the biggest threat and that Shobert would also be right there. Shobert's six-race suspension left the battle to Graham and Goss until Goss ended his season at the San Jose Mile with a broken leg. Shobert, meanwhile, had never let up the pressure, but was still not a threat unless Graham struck a string of bad luck. Shobert changed all that by winning the Mid-Ohio Road Race National. "I got a call from Sparky (Edmonston, the chief tuner on Graham's equipment) and he wid me Bubba had won the Mid-Ohio National," aid Graham about the Septem ber 30 incident. "I laughed a lot, said 'sure' and hung up. I waited for Sparky to call back and tell me he