Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Steve Eklu nd for 12 laps; Eklund eventua lly got past and Hill crashed. (Below ) Eklund and Pearson celebrate. E As·....... s e opener By Paul Carruthers HO STO,'."IX. FEB_ I Harley-Da .dson-rnoun ted Steve Eklund inserted himself into the AMA record books with his fifth career ational short track win in the 1986 A A G rand National Champion ship/Cam el P ro eries opener in the H o uston Astrodome. Eklun d stalked the surprising first-year Expert Aaron 6 H ill for 12 laps brlon: taking the lead that he held 1 0 e fihilll." .. ... , . . It was a northern Ca liforn ia sweep in Texas as Eklund 's neighbors SCOll Pea rson a nd Chris Carr fo llow ed him home for second a nd th ird pl ace, respectivel y. The wi n p laced Ek lu n d in a tie with Kenny R o bert s for the mosrcareer ariona tshort track wins. T he win also bounced th e 30-yearol d Eklund ba ck from h is three-year drought without a a riona l win a nd he did it in th e sa me site as hi s last win - in th e Astrod ome. For Hill, h is rookie outing sta rte d strong, but ended on lap 15 when he crashed while chasing Eklund. One o f th e su rp rises o f th e sea so n opener ca me from th e m an who dominated the 1985 sea son - Bubba Sh obe rt. The def ending G rand National Champion su ffered a di smal ni ght. What ever co u ld go wrong, did go wrong for th e T exan. Shobert finish ed third in h is heat, had th e clutch goout in th e semi, cra shed in the Last Chance Qualifier , a nd finally fin ished fourth in th e restart. Bu t it all added u p to wat ching th e National from th e sta nds a nd n o points in defen se of hi s titl e. It just wasn 't Shobert's night. " After th e cra sh th e front wouldn' t steer ri ght," Sh obert said. "The forks were ben t. I j us t ro de like a pe lica n tonight." Also mi ssin g from th e actio n were last year's short track wi n ne r Randy Goss and Ri cky Graham. Goss entered the hospita l on j anuary 29 to undergo an operation o n h is lower left leg which he bro ke at the San j ose Mile in 1984. Graham was also on the mend from ha vin g a hand operation. Q ualifyi n g Texan Sammy Sweet and his Pyramid Bu ilders/H a rley-Da vidson of North Texas/Tsubak il Kal-Gard sponsored Harley dominated time trial s by posti ng a 13.860-second la p - the o n ly rider to brea k into th e 13-seco nd ra nge. Alex j o rgen sen was n ext after turning a 14.002 la p o n h is Wood-ROlax , follow ed by Hill a t 14.008 a nd j on a th a n Cornwell on a H arl ey a t 14.017. Mississippi 's j eff Coo per ro u nded o u t the fie ld as th e 71· ent ries were trimmed to 60. Si x I O-man h eats, two sem is a nd a Last Ch ance Qua li fier pu t 15 rid ers in the Na tion al. Heats Sweet co n ti n ued to be th e fast est ride r on th e Ast rodome track in th e open in g 1O-lap h eat race. Th e young T exan grabbed th e hol eshot in front of a sm a ll crowd estimated at aro u nd 4000 -peoplet bu t was-passed .by-Peee H ames (Gard ner Racing/ Arai ) and th e Ron Wood Racing/Shoei /RS Tai chi /H -D Motor Co. -sponsored Carr as th e three exited turn tw o together. Sweet rega in ed con tro l of th e lead before th e en d o f lap two whil e Carr and H ames continued to do battle, Meanwh ile, Minnesota 's Peter H ook was holding down fourth p lace. . On th e fifth lap, Carr go t off th e groove in turns three and four, bu t quickl y reg ained his composure to get back around Hames. On lap nine, 1985 junior National Champion Brian Atherton cras hed in tu rn four to put himself out of the program for the rest o f th e night. Sweet h eld hi s lead to th e fin ish with Carr getting th e better of Hames. Hook and Keith Day too k th e two transfers to the semi with th eir fo urth- a nd fifth-p lac e finish es. With th e smoothest track o f th e ni ght, Sweet 's 1O-lap timeof2:16.490 wouldn't be bettered. Dan In gram and h is Griswold Raein g /Be IIlK&N / Ba rn ett/ Dia m o n d Ch a in -sp o nsored H arley-Da vidson came into the Do me fresh off a seco ndplace overall finish in the Indoor Pro Ice Raci ng eries and he used the early season experience to grab the lead in turn one of heat two. The H a rley-m ou nt ed rider was followed a t th e end of la p o ne by Fredd ie Spe n cer /SuperTra p p Raci ng Team rider Do u g Chand ler, R ich King a nd Don Estep. jorgensen trailed in fifth . Kin g and Chandler started to m ix th ings u p on laps two th ro ugh four, but o n lap five bo th Estep a nd King had gotten by th e Ca lifo rnian. Mea rre w hil e, j orgy was a lso o n th e m ove an d o n la p seven, he to o . passed th e fadi ng Chand ler . The top four closed together o n th e fina l go-aro u n ds, but Ingram h eld o n for th e win over King , Estep and j orgen sen . Chandler finish ed fift h . T erry Poovey, Rodney Farris and J on Cha m p lin j u m ped th e start of h ea t three and were sent back to th e thi rd ro w for th e restart. Hill grabbed th e hol esh ot in to turn one, but jay Sp ri ngs teen clipped H arl ey teammate SCOll Parker 's back wh eel a nd cra shed ha rd , bringing out th e fir st red flag of the n igh t. Springer was unhurt an d ma de th e

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