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/127208
Steve Morehead (4 2) pulls the holeshot on the National final's field as an estimated 9500 spectators watch. Grand National Champion Scott Parker (1 ), Dan Ingram (31) and Jay Springsteen (9) start the sixth and final lap of the Syracuse Gold Cup. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel ,Pro Series: Round 14 Springsteen "wins" rained-out Syracuse Mile, Hale crowned Junior National Champion By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard SYRACUSE, NY, SEPT. 10 "I told them to give-me a Na tional win and they could keep the money," said Jay Sprin gsteen as h e stood in the rain at the New. York State Fairgro u n ds la te Su nday afternoon. Springsteen and 16 other riders had started what was scheduled to be a 25-lap .. Syracuse Gold Cup Mile final 6 only to see the red flag being waved after they had completed six laps. "It started getting slick on t~,e l ~p before they waved the red flag, said Springsteen , "and it wa s reaIly slippery when we came back around after the race was stopped." Referee Duke Olliges and Art Bania, the AMA's head of dirt track racing, huddled and after a half-hour delay that only saw the rain increase in intensity decided to call orr the race. " Since we didn't run half the scheduled distance, we've declared it a non-race and no points will be a wa rd ed ," said OIliges. "We're going to pay the riders in the order they qualified (via heat races) for the final. " That gave Springsteen, who had nipped Doug Chandler at the line in the fastest of the four qualifying heats, the lion's share of the $42,500 purse - $5750. But Springsteen wasn't kidding about wanting a National win rather than the money. The Michigan Harley-Davidson rider scored his record 40th National win at Syracuse exactly four years and two days prior to Sunday's rain-out, "That's too long to wait for the next one," said Springsteen who has been p lagued with a mysterious stomach ailment since 1980. "I feel the best I've felt in many years . I started with a new sports doctor halfway through this season. He has me taking new medicine in the morning and the evening and I feel great. " For years I'd go water skiing and after a few minutes I'd be tired. Now I can go out and just ski and ski. " I was getting sick every three or four weeks, even in the off-season at home, but now I'm not. I feel 100percent better than I did at the beginning of the year," sa id th e three-tim e Grand National Champion. Taking home "runner-up" money was Springsteen 's Harley teammate Scott Parker, who won the second fastest heat in a manner that prompted Rodney Farris to say, "The race is for second." When asked if he was " p laying " in his heat race, Parker pointed to Springsteen and said, "Hey, he's sure going fast, isn 't he?" Told he was avoiding the question, Parker said, "He's really going fast." To which Springsteen said, " Yea h , but I'm working and you're playing!" Parker had swapped the lead and second spot with Ronnie Jones and Farris during all but the last lap of their heat race . On the third lap he reached over and slapped Farris on the right leg as he drafted by at the start/finish line. On the next lap, he reached over and squeezed jones's right arm as he flew past. Only on the fina l lap did Parker pull out all the stops to take the win with a few bike lengths on Jones. But Parker 'did n ' t play around in the $17,500 Camel Challenge, the five-lap race that pits the top six riders from time trials against each other in a fight for the $10,000 winner's reward. For the third straight weekend it was Grand National Champion Parker who would head to the bank in his hometown of Swartz Creek, Michigan, with that $10,000 check. Second went to Jones, who had led laps two through five, third was Steve Morehead who led the opening lap, Springsteen took fourth, Morehead's Sponseller Racing teammate Dan Ingram was fifth and Keith Day, aboard Hank Scott's spare Honda, was fifth. Third in the "National" pay-off order was Ingram, fourth place money went to Morehead and fifth place money was -awarded to Doug Chandler who was back on the H ank Scott Honda after having won the AMA Superbike Championship the weekend before at Heartland Park Topeka. Scott was upset over the way Chandler had been scored second to Springsteen in their heat race. "At first they said Dougie won and then they said Springsteen won. I asked them why they changed the decision and they said they reviewed the tape (videotape recorded by the Cycle News Finish Line Camera). I asked them to play it back for me and they said they had erased itl" said Scott. One National was completed at Syracuse and that was the Junior National final that was won by Larry Pegram. But a second p lace finish was all Texan Mike Hale needed to win the '89 Junior title. The Karl Klemen t /Shoei /Tsubaki /Hog Wash/Ron Wood-sponsored Wood- ' Rotax rider finished the l l-round series with 139 points, four more than Pegram's 134. Audie Huff Jr., seventh on the day, finished third in the series with 127 points. Time Trials Prior to practice, signs that the silly season is upon us were evident. The Eddie Adkins Harley-Dav idson was sporting Will Davis' number plate after having carried the #92 of Farris all season. " L et's just say our life styles clash," said Adkins. Farris said, "I just got tired of arguing." And under the Hank Scott/Bob Donabedian pop-up tent, Keith Day 's #22 plates were bolted onto Scott's spare Honda that was sitting next to Chandler's bike. Farris arrived and went shopping for a ride. He first landed one aboard Scott Stump's spare Honda, but that let go after just one lap of practice. " I came across the (start/finish) line and she blew," said Farris, who then took to the track aboard the Ed Fisher/Johnny Goad Honda which Day had vacated for the ride on the Adkins Harley, Ingram was the fastest of the 37 riders who turned in qualifying laps. The Indiana rider, aboard the Skip Eaken-tuned Honda , lo g g ed a _36.495-second, 98.643 mph lap, shy of the track record 35.969 second, 100.089 mph la p turned in by Bubba Shobert in 1986. Second came Morehead wi th a 36.583 lap, third quickest was Pa rker at 36.633, Day was fo u rth at 36.662, Springsteen fifth with a 36.705, and Jones grabbed the final starting spot in the Camel Challenge with the sixth fastest lap, a 36.959 one. Honda-mounted Tim Mertens was the only other rider to log a lap under