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(A bo ve) The race : Carr (4 ), Springsteen (9), and Jones. (Belo w) Springsteen in victory, after his charge from beh ind.
Jay Springsteen ; He came to San
Jose healthy, and won.
AMA G
rand National Championship/Camel Pro
Series: Round 6
Springsteen wins short
track
By John Ulrich and Matt Hilgenberg
S.AN JOSE, CA. MA Y 4
Three-time AMA G rand Natio nal Champion J ay Springsteen came from third p lace
to win the Sa n Jose Short Track, passing
Chris Carr and R o n n ie Jones in th e first half
of th e 25-lap race a nd pu lli ng
.
..
o u t to a co nv mcmg vi ct ory.
" Boy. r i r's been a lo n g time
si nce I've been o n top of th e
6
box !" excl a i med Springsteen as he
stood o n the top of the victory stand
in from of the grandstands. " I tho ug h t
Ronn ie a nd C h ris we re gon na run
away. Bu t th e bi ke was j u st wo rkin '
so well 1 just sta rted to p ic k up time
o n 'e m ."
Spri ngs tee n wa s untroubled by th e
sto mach m al ady wh ich has p lagued
h im in recent yea rs a n d w hi ch kept
h im o u t o f th e recent Asco t IT.
Asked by co -a n nou ncer Dav e Despa in a bo u t his sta te o f healt h , Spri ngstee n repl ied th a t h e felt grea t. " I
hope 1 feel th is well tomo rr o w."
Spr ingsteen said.
And spea king of recoveries, th e big
new s in th e pi ts at Sa n J ose was
reign in g Na tio nal Champion R ick y
Gra ham, who made i t 10 prac tice j ust
seve n week s si nce br eaking hi s femur
in a cras h w hi le pl a y-riding wi th
Ken n y Ro bert s. G raham cred ited hi s
co nd itio n in g a n d th er apy program
-consisting o f swimming, Nautilus
workou ts .a!1d bicycl e ridi!lg under
th e supervrsron of sports tramer Dea n
Mi ller - with ma king his rapid recov ery possible. H e sho wed up with
his Team Honda short track er 10 ge t
some practice p ri or 10 th e next da y's
San Jose Mi le. Graham did no t run
the hea t races a fter ridi ng practice
and q ualify ing.
" E ve ry bo dy' s' e q u a l on th e se
thi ngs," expla ined Team H onda d irt
t ra ck coord ina to r G e ne R om er o :
" H ere horsepower doesn 't ma ke a ny
d iffer en ce a nd yo u ca n 't get a way
from eve rybo dy . You ca n end up
, running with so me g uys wh o yo u
d on' t want to ride with a nd ge t taken
O U I. 11'11 be differ en t on the m ile."
Gra ham q u al ified mid-pack a t
17.741 seconds .
Qualifying
Steve Ekl u nd was fastest in quali fyingo n his Ro n Wood-tuned WoodRo ta x, tu rni ng one lap in 17.219
seco nds 10 set a new record . Spring-
Chris Carr: Young, articulate . . .
and a hard-charger,
stee n was seco nd fastest a t 17.253,
wi th Freddie Spencer/S uperTra p p
Raci ng 's Doug Chan d ler th ird a t
17.290. Tea m H onda 's Bubba Shoben qualifi ed fourth fa stest a t 17.308,
a head o f P et e H a m es (H -D, 17.316 ),
Rand y Tex ter (H- D, 17.325 ), J im
Filice (H -D, 17.347) Keith Da y (H o n,
17.372), G a n h Bro w (I-I-D, 17.387 )
a nd SCOll Pea rson ( H on , 17.39 1).
Heats
"The track is rea lly n ice," sai d
Pea rson before the hea t ra ces sta rted.
" It 's nice a nd fast. All it takes is o ne
cli ck or bobble and every thing co u ld
change, no m a tter w he re a guy quali . fied . 11'11 be a good race."
Fred di e Spence r/S uper'Tra p p Racing's Rand y G o ss put to geth er a big
drive o ff th e seco n d turn a t th e sta n o f
th e fi rst h eat race 10 pull o u t a lead o n
Pi on eer Tr ucki ng-sponsore d Alex
J orgen sen a n d Eklund. T hey crossed
the fin is h l in e in tha t order 10 laps
lat er. Ra n d y Green wa s fo urth .
Ca rr j um ped o ff the li ne in fro n t o f
the second heat , chased by Don Estep
(Wo od -R o ta x ), J on es a n d Sp ri ngsteen . Sp ringstee n a nd Es te p both led
durin g th e h eat , b u t a t the fin ish i t
wa s Carr in front . Spri ngsteen a n d
Estep tr aded secon d severa l tim es a n d
Spri ngs tee n hel d second across the
lin e. Es tep wa s third, J ones fourth.
C ha nd ler led th e stan o f the th ird
hea t, bu t the race was red-flagged
w hen C har lie Orr crashed exitin g
turn tw o. O rr made th e res tart , a nd
th is time Pea rson jumped o u t in
front of C ha ndler wi th Bill y H ern d o n (H o n) and T er ry Poo vey racing
close behi nd . Cha ndler took the lead
for good af ter o ne more lap, a nd
P ea rson a nd Po o vey we nt a t it for
seco nd. Poovey ca me close 10 crashing
once i n t urn two wh en h is bike's
front wheel h it Pearson 's rea r w heel ;
Poo vey d id crash exi ti ng tu rn fo u r o n
the last la p , h ead in g for the checkered
flag . Po o vey tried comi ng arou nd
P earson, di d n ' t ge t by, a n d ran into
th e ha ybal es, di sloca ting a shou lder.
" He leaned o n m e a nd 1 held to m y
line" sa id Pearson lat er. " H e d idn 't
gi ve a n in ch a n d 1didn 't g ive a n inch ,
a nd we h it , a nd he slid o u t. 1 hate to
see a ny bo dy go d o wn , but short track
raci ng is ti ght!"
.
Wi th P oovey o u t, H erndon wa s
third, C had Feli ci o fourth.
Ga rt h Brow won th e fo unh h eat;
th e race ended up being bet ween
Shobert, who sta rted from th e pe na lty
line a fter j u m p ing th e sta rt, a nd SCOIl
Ada ms (H -D) . Sh obert ca ugh t a n d
ran it underneath Adams on the last
la p, m ak ing th e frn al a nd sen di ng
Ada ms 10 the sem i-finals.
Jones led Ted Boody's Co llege Bik e
S ho p / K&N Mo torc ycl es H ond a ,
H ames a nd Da y at the start of th e
fifth heal. H ames immediately m oved
in to second a head of Da y a n d Bood y;
Jones a n d Ha m es pulled slightly
a head of Da y a nd Bo ody, w ith SCOIl
Parker (H -D ) a lo ne behind . H ames
ra n i t up close to J on es goi ng into
t u rn o ne. b ut co u ldn 't ge t by. At th e
fin ish it was J ones. Hames, Day, •
Bood y a nd Parker.
T he sixth heat was red £lagged
w hen Texter fell in turn o ne a nd
Fi lice th rew it down rather than ride
o ver the edge o f the track in to the
parking 101. Do n H o ward, riding o ne
o f th e o n lv Hondas wi thout a Radial
Four Vah:e engi ne, hol esh o t the sia n
a n d led Fil ice a nd T im Merten s.
Menens cras hed in the fir st tu rn on
th e second la p a nd was o u t wi th benr
handleb ars.
Fili ce wo n th e heat, a head o f Arnaiz,
T om Ma itl an d (H. D) a nd H o ward ;
Maitland got b y H o wa rd in th e cl osin g la p s.
S em is
Herndon wo n th e first semi-fina l,
beating o ff the cha rges of Es te p; Eklu nd worked his wa y u p fro m fi fth
past Lan ce J o nes a nd Felici o 10 fin ish third; Fel ici o got past J ones, too.
H owa rd h o lesh o t th e seco nd semi fina l, to o , a head o f Boody, Mail1and
a nd Da y. Mai tland m o ved into seco nd
a n d ca ug h t H o wa rd , a lmost go t
und ern eath irito turn two, a nd th en
made th e pass: Da y ca m e from third
to pass bo th H owa rd a nd Mai tla nd :
Mail1a nd crashed in turn four and
Da y wo n, wit h Bo ody second a nd
H o ward thi rd.
Last Chance Qualifier
H o ward bla sted away firs t in th e
L a s t C ha nce Q u al if i e r , lead i n g
Ada ms, Eklund a nd Boody. Pa rker
fell in turn fo u r a nd was o u t; Boody
wo rked u p into th e lead; Boody found
h e co u ld rr' t run lo w w here h e wa n ted
10 because th e rid er s in from o f him
were a lrea dy o n th e low line. So h e
rode arou nd th e o utside, took the
lead , th en pull ed d own 0 010 the low
lin e a nd won th e rice. Eklund got .
p ast H o wa rd a n d the finish was
Bo ody-Eklund -H o wa rd .
Junior National
C h ampion Fr am e s -sp o n sored
Aaron Hill (C- A) began th e Junior
program by winn in g the first six-la p
h eat o ve r Br yan M cDowe ll a n d
Winkie Fr ei ta s (Hon) . The seco nd
heat was the slower of the two, a nd
Br ian Atherton was the winner. Bruce
(Continued to page 8)
