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/142447
Winner Randy Goss leads Sonny Burres (69), Jeff McDaniel (87), Mickey Fay (59) and Gary Scott during their heat. Parker. Alex jorgensen turned in the best-ever finish by a 500cc bik e at Peo ria since the event went to a 750cc race forma t by placing his Pioneer Trucking/Boss/Megacycle Can-Am in third . Steve Eklund, a boa rd a Zano tti Enterprises Yamaha 750, took fourt h followed by Harley-Da vidson 's j a y Springsteen . " I really needed to break th e ice wi th a wi n," sai d Goss of h is first National win of th e season a nd th e seventh of his career. " I' ve gotten seco nd a t Peoria th e past two yea rs and I figured this was my time. The only problem I had was almost bailing off whe n I turned around to see who was behind me ." " I couldn't get out of traffic quick en ough," said Parker. "If I had, I feel Randy a nd I would ha ve put on one helluva race. " " T he bike really ra n strong," said jorgensen. " I lacked a bit of top end on th e straigh ts, bu t in th e tight parts of the track it was gobbling up ground. This is m y personal best a t Peoria ." Missing fro m the progra m at Peoria was defe ndi ng Winston Pro Ser ies C hampion Mike Kidd. H e h a d ch ip ped a bone in his kn ee a t Sa n ta Fe on Friday n ight and ha d headed home to Texas to have his doctor eva luate the injury and see if a n operation was necessary. 12 Qualifying Parker had about two min u tes glory whe n he broke Ken n y Robert s' 28.27 qua lifyin g record set in 1973 wit h a 28.166 rid e. T riu m p h mounted Brad Hurst th en lowered the record to 28.127 and that held. Parker, Rich Arnaiz, Goss and Eklund rounded out th e top five. Crashes and mech anical problems whittled down th e field to 50 riders who time-t rialed for th e 48 man program. Heats _ Eklund establish ed himself as a strong contender in the mind of the crowd with -h is win of th e fir st a nd fastest of the four heats. Eklund would sit on th e pole for the National. On the start, Hurst sped awa y with Springsteen a nd Eklund in tow. Eklund began to put pressure on Hurst by the second lap with the two really getting down to business on lap four. As the two began the fifth lap, Eklund moved to th e lead in the fir st turn. Eklund pulled away leaving Springsteen to unsuccessfully _ hound Hurst to the chec ke red flag and th e seco nd a nd third finishing positions. A red-flagged bad start in the second heat gave Tim Mertens time to tape a leaking gas tank, but the rep airs fai led and h e was out on lap two. T ed Bood y, riding th e T eam Yamaha TT500 of injured j immy Filice, led the first lap before surre ndering to _ Sco tt Pea rso n on lap two . Pearson lost th e lead to Parker on lap three. Win ne r Parker a nd run ne r-up Pearson p u lled a way fro m th e battle for the thi rd a nd last Nati on al tra nsfer between Steve Morehead a nd Bood y. Moreh ead held on to follow Parker a nd Pear son to the fin ish . The estima ted 12,000 fans centered th eir a ttention on Steve Wise a nd his two- stroke Honda CR480R MX bred from Brett Barkman in the final feet TTbike. Wise didn't disappoint them. Arnaiz led jorgensen as the two set when Barkman's engine began mi ssup a battle for the lead. Wise was in ing badly. fifth . On lap three, Wise blasted by A series of crashes caused a restart joe Peterson over the jump for fourth . of the second semi. Gary Scott took ยท On th e next lap, he challenged Bubba the lead, but Bubba Shobert snatched Shobert for third and one lap later it away on lap two. The two ran noseblasted into third - again over the to-tail for three laps before Shobert jump. Meanwhile, jorgensen had _ could pull out some breathing space. been probing Arnaiz's weak spots Shobert then bobbled in one of the sweepers and Scott clos ed back up. and on lap eigh t he took the lead Then it was Scott's turn to "get both from Arnaizover thejump. jorgensen too k the win ahead of Arnaiz with feet off th e pegs and one hand off the handlebars." Scott settled for second Wise - clearly the crowd's favorite with his on-the-foopegs riding style behind winner Shobert. going to the National via his third Last Chance / place finish . Burres, to thunderous cheers which Veteran Sonny Burres, the 1975 echoed around the natural amphiPeoria winner, was a sentimental theater in which the Peoria track is favorite of much of the crowd. Burr es laid out, took the win in the Last will be 47 on November 21. He led the Chance Qualifier and a ticket to the fourth heat for two laps before losing National. "I couldn't believe the the point to a strong challenge from fans :" said Burres. " Everywhere I Goss. On the third lap, jeff McDaniel, . looked they were waving me on, urgMickey Fay and Gary Scott touched ing me on. I had to win. I could actuwheels coming off the jump, but no ally hear them cheering. I ca n 't tell one went down. Fay, riding with a you what a feeling that is." a cracked bone in his wrist from a crash National -, a t Santa Fe, took second from Burr es with McDaniel taking third away on Due to threatening weather, th pace of the program was hurried l!P the seventh lap. Burres had missed shifts at inop port u ne times. Gos s a nd th e junior Invitational bumped took a n eas y win w ith Fay and ~J to last on the schedule. McDaniel advancing to the National. The 17 rider grid was comprised of fou r Harley-Davidson XR 750s, one Sem is Yamaha 750 and two Triumph 750s, Two riders would advance from The 500cc four-stroke brigade fea~ tured fou r Hondas, four Can-Ams each of th e two semis. Ted Boody handily won semi one after a -crash and one Yamaha. The Honda CR480~ involving T erry Poovey and Peter two -stroke of Wise filled out the field~ Hook took out his closest competiThe start saw Goss come out in _ tors . Dave Bradley took second away front of a handlebar banging traffi~