Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Randy Goss (6) finished eighth in the final. got in through the Last Chance Qualifier. (Below) Ronnie Jones finished fifth. Shobert lofts his trophy and grins as Chandler holds up his bottle of champagne in the winners' circle at Ascot Park. makin g u p time, closing th e gap, visibly gain ing grou n d into the first turn , makin g u p more. ti me a t the entra nce to the in field , m oving u p in th e in field esses before th e ju m p . But Jorgen sen seemed to get it back a n d mo re exi ting the inf ield , around the last half mi le track turn before th e fin ish lin e. Shobert a lmost got arou nd Jorgen sen co mi ng o ut o f th e in field one lap; th e n ext lap h e go t side ways in th e last in field rig ht -ha n de r, and Jorge nse n wa s go ne. Jorge nse n won. Poovey h ad sta rted th e h eat in third , beh in d Sh obert an d J orgensen , ahead o f Scott Pearson , wh o in turn was a hea d o f a tight battl e be twee n Gary Sco tt , Ross Klatt a nd Chad Feli cio. But Poove y's bike quit , a n d he sai led in to th e pi ts, unsure w hat wa s wrong. Pea rson fin ished third , with Scott fourth. G reen led th e seco nd heat a hea d of Hames an d Fili ce, wh o cras hed; whi le Filice go t going again Ted Bood y ran third and tried to hold o ff Ronnie J ones. Boody an d J ones wen t at it a nd ra n nose-to-ta il la p-after -la p, but Jones fin all y go t p ast Bood y a nd staye d in third. Meanwhile, H ames passed Green an d opened u p a sma ll . but-secure lead. T he actio n was beh in d, Filice movin g up, grabbing a posi tio n here, making a p ass the re , fina lly lockin g into a battle with motocro sser Warren Reid - o n a Whi te Brothers Yamaha - for fifth. The pa ir went back -andforth until Fil ice ran it u ndernea th Reid in th e last half m ile trac k turnwhich Reid h ad ea rlier described as hi s wea k point o n the track-and got a far-super ior dr ive off th e corner to tak e and hol d fifth p lace. Reid finished th e race with his bik e dr ench ed in oil and down on p ow er - th e cam tensio ner fell o ut in the clos ing laps. T he hea t wa s red -flagged a nd de cl ared o ver w he n Do n H oward crashed. Chris Carr blasted hi s 660cc Wood Ro ta x into th e lead of th e third h ea t, a head of Chandler , Kin g , T im Mertens, Da y a nd G oss. By th e third lap Ca rr and Cha ndler had p u lled away fro m Da y, who was a lo ne in thi rd Kin g , G oss, Mertens a nd Mik e H al e were mixing it u p in a pass-andrepass figh t for fourth. On th e fourt h lap Cha ndler ran it underneat h Ca rr o n th e la st ha lf m ile track turn bu t was clea rl y and co nvinc ingly o u taccele rated a n d repa ssed o n th e . stra ig h t by Ca rr and the 660. But th e ba ttl e ended when Carr 's bike threw its cha in approach ing th e jum p , Carr pulled into th e pits. Chan d ler was a lo ne , wa y out front n ow; Carr rej oined th e race a lap down. Da y fin ish ed seco n d, a head o f H ale, G oss a nd King. Fa y led off the start o f the fourth h eat, pursu ed by Frank Word an d Eklu nd . It didn 't tak e Eklu n d even o ne lap to pa ss Word for seco n d place, a n d Eklund quickl y blew p ast Fa y on th e stra ight, dem onstrat in g th e 660's horsepow er. Fay repa ssed in the infield, but Eklund went back u nderneath in th e last righ t-h an der and was o u t in fro nt for good. At the finish it was Eklu n d, Fay, Parker, Sa m Sweet a nd Sa l H offman ; Word fini sh ed eig h th, beh ind J eff Cam pbell a nd Charlie Orr. Sem is T he first sem i turned o u t to be one o f th e ni ght 's best races, wit h G ar y Scott jum p ing off th e lin e first, a hea d o f Bood y. T he race quick ly shaped u p into Scott leading Feli cio , Boody, Poovey; Filice a nd Reid , with Scott sligh tly a head and th e o thers in one j umbl ed string. Fel icio passed Poo- vey an d it was Sco tt-Fel icio -PooveyBood y-Filice-Reid. Then Poovey got by Feli cio , broke free o f th e others a n d went after Scott. Filice dro ve underneath Bood y h eading for th e jump. Just as Poovey slid by Scott and Filice moved a hea d of the pack , Boody fell going onto th e last h alf m ile track turn and Reid ran into th e hay bales trying to a void him. Poovey pulled a way from Scott as Filice caught him, a n d th e dramatic fini sh wa s staged : exi ting the last turn Filice tri ed to d r ive h ard undernea th Scott a n d wa sn 't q u ite by wh en th e two co llid ed , bounced apart, coll ided aga in. Filice's handlebar ca ugh t on Sco tt 's bike an d Fil ice went down on th e main stra ig ht, in fron t o f th e grandsta nds. Scott finished seco n d , a head o f Felicio; Fi lice's tuner im media tely ran ove r to Scott's pi ts a nd tried to p ick a figh t, shou ting obsceni ties and calling Sco tt a p unk. Amazed onlookers watched as Scott handled the sit uation ca lm ly and rationally, telling th e irate intruder to get ou t of his p its bu t seeming unsh ak en an d unpertu rbed w hen th e , i rrat io nal mechanic left. "I was all the wa y out o n th e edge of th e cu sh ion when he took a run at m e," Sco tt to ld a nearby reporter. " T he re was n o place for me to go and if I had backed o ff he would have taken out my front wheel. It was just racing, one o f those th in gs. When I hear J immy complain-other th an being hot because he lost-then I'll worry. As far as that guy (the mechanic) goes, if it was m y bike, I'd be mad, too." Fili ce, unhurt in the a-ash , described the incident in much the same terms as Scott did. " It was just racing, " h e sa id . " I th ought I co u ld get underneath him beca use h e really wa sn 't co n nectin g with th e driv e - but I co uld n 't an d h ooked my handlebars ." T he inciden t ended with Fil ice shaki ng Sco tt 's hand an d sh ruggin g it off; the AMA referee reach ed the sa me co ncl usion as Sco tt a n d Fil ice whe n h e had talked to bo th. T he seco nd semi la cked th e firs t's dra m a , being si mply straigh tforwa rd raci n g between Carr and Kin g. Kin g led fro m th e sta rt, a h ead of Campbell an d Ca rr, a nd again Carr used the p ower of the 660 to co me from the seco nd ro w, wo rk past Campbell , then ca tch an d pass King . Sweet a nd 7

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