Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ricky Graham leads Charles Roberts (64) and Gary Scott early in the race. th e lead back as Jorgensen turned th e gas back on and took h imself to th e front at the start of th e final lap. Farris drafted past into turn three a n d he ld off the charges of Jorgensen a n d Jones to take th e win. The fourth h eat saw Sprin gsteen open an immedia te lead on Steve Moreh ead with a five rider grou p a short distance back. Springsteen conti nued to open space on Mo reh ead as Moreh ead did likewise on th e rest of the field. Sco tt Adams esta blished hi mself in thi rd with plenty of pressu re from Ro n n ie Jones. Spri n gsteen, la ter sa ying th e fro nt end was giving hi m problems, slowed on la p six with Morehead charging ri g h t to h is rear wheel. The two ran side-by-side for one lap until Springsteen di scovered a " new line through tu rn th ree." Sp ringsteen split, leaving second to Morehead. Jones p u t a pass on Adams on, the final lap and made it stick. J ones took third . ) S emis Each of the two sem is wo u ld transfer two riders to th e National. Scott Parker knew this was his best chance and he too k advantage of it to ta ke the win over Bu bba Rush in the first semi. Early in th e race th ere wer e six riders going for th e lead. Tha t fin ally settled down to a fo ur ri der ba ttle to th e fla g for second with Rush on top by a bikelength, Scott Adams made his perfect sta rt good for a nine lap run in th e lead of the final semi, but Ted Boody broke away from the five rider battle for second by the ha lfwa y point and shook his strongest compe tition when Garth Bro w blew a n engi ne on lap eight. Boody dosed on Adams a nd took th e win away on th e la st lap. O f note was an im pressive battle between Ri cky Campbell, riding th e T eam Yamaha Virago-based 750 in place of th e injured Jimm y Fil ice, and Team Honda's Scott Pea rson . The two waged a 10 lap war for th ird . . . with Campbell coming out on top . Last Chance Qualifier T im Mert en s took th e wi n in the Last Chance Qualifier to grab the fina l transfer to th e National. Pea rson a n d Camp bell contin ued their battle, th is time with the edge to Pearson. National Most riders in th e Na tional made only mi nor adj ustme nts for the 25 lap spri nt. Changes in gea ri ng for more top speed were co m mo n. Bill Werner, Springsteen 's tu ner. changed the front end. Carl Patrick lengthened the wheel base on Alex J org en sen 's mount to correct h andling problems. Sprin gsteen wo n the drag race to turn one. pi cked up mo re ground an d ha d 20 yards on the thunderi ng h erd as he exited turn two. Sh obert . Morehead, Park er a nd Gary Scott held a sli ps trea m battle for secon d . Far ris, possibly pulled in by th e draft of ru n n in g in a pack, crash ed in tu rn three and sustained two broken fin gers on h is right hand which ended h is night before the end of lap one. By the third lap, Parker moved to secon d with Gary Scott taking the spo t on the next go-around. Scott had one more strong lap left and appeard to have enough steam to d ose on Springsteen. However . Scott coasted to the pits. " I believe an exhaust va lve in the back cylinder was sti cking," said Scott afterwards. " My tailpipe was glowing red when I got into the pits." With Ga ry Scott out, Springsteen was left with a nearly four second advantage over Parker in second. Meanwhile, Goss was slowly moving through traffic from a rough start. By lap eight, second was a race between nearly the entire field with JO riders all running nearly on top o f one another. Par ker led the pack, and constant position swapping was the norm. However, many riders said later running in a pack that big actu. , . • • • •• • • • •• I" " Runner-up Goss leads third place Hank Scott (14) and ally slowed one.down and held back the riders with enough power to really make a move since they couldn't get out of traffic. On the 10th lap, Shobert took command of second as Parker slipped off the groove and slid to fifth . Morehead's engine began to go sour and he slowed co nsidera bly . Mertens, strong in the earl y running. was sliding all aro u nd th e track. He had chosen the wrong rear tire and had already burned off the tread. He finished a couple of laps down. Springsteen had a straightaway lead by lap 12 and there were still 10 riders in contention for second, now with Goss at th e front of the pack. Parker had moved to th ird a nd there were thoughts in th e H arley factory camp of a 1-2-3 finish. . Scott Adams h eaded to the pits on lap 14 with a sick engine. Meanwhile. Ri cky Graham. who had been caught in traffic, was making a bid for a front -running position. Sp rin gsteen held command with G os s, Parker, Poovey, Graham, H ank Sco tt, Shobert and Boody far behind. Lance Jones began to slow on lap 16 with apparent engi ne problems. Morehead , with a surging en gi ne, would soon hit the pits. G raha m picked off Parker for second with C oss dropping Parker to fo urt h one la p later. Poo vey, Boody a nd Jones were ri ght behind. "I looked over my shoulde r a coup le of times in the late la ps," sa id Goss. "It was scary. All I cou ld see were guys trying to run over my rear tire. " The 20th lap found Springsteen sweep ing through turns one-two as th e battle for second exp loded off turn fou r. Despite it being a runawa y, Sprin gsteen was interestin g to watch as he rode what had to be a perfect line. Th ings bega n to chan ge quickly as Goss found himself back in sixth on lap 2] after a slight bo bble. Graha m , Parker , Poovey and Hank Scott were ~ubba Shobert. ahead wi th Sh obert (sufferin g from fro nt end handling problems and "cooling it "), Boody, Jorgensen. Jones and R ush following. Graham lost second to Parker on lap 23 and tried to regain it with an inside pass as the two blasted into turn three. Neither rider backed off and Graham hit Parker , sending him crashing into the haybales. Graham barely saved himself from highsiding after dipping tbe bales himself and losing his brakes in th e process. The incident dropped him to fifth. Poovey led Hank Scctt at the white flag, the two having moved up at the expense of the Parker/Graham confrontation. Goss was able to catch their draft on th e backstretch and dose on the two who wer e so intent in their battle they didn 't notice him. Coming off turn four with the flag in sight, Goss pulled alongside and made it a three abreast drag race to the finish. Goss was ahead by inches with Hank Sco tt an inch or two ahead of Poovey. Springsteen had taken the win a good 16 seco nds in front of the ba ttle for second. Sprin gsteen was elated in winner's circle, citing " Pabst and Harley p ower" as the key to the win. " I think the las t five Nationals are going to be rea lly interesting," said Springsteen in response to a question a bout a possible fou rth championship title. • Results INDY MILE: 1. Jay Springsteen (H· D; 2. Randy Goss (H· D); 3. Hank Scan (H·D); 4. Terry Poovey (H· D); 5. Ricky Graha m (H·D); 6. Bubba Shobert (H· D); 7. Ted Boody (H· D); 8. Alex Jorgensen (H·D); 9. Ronnie Jones (H· D); 10. Bubba Rush (H- D); 11. Tim Mertens (H· D); 12. Scon Parker (H·D); 13. Lance Jones (H· D); 14. Steve Mor ehead (H· D); 15. Scan Adams (H· D); 16. Gary Scan (H· D); 17. Rod Farris (H· D). TIME: 15 min., 17.539 sees. AMA GRANO NATIONA L CHA M PIONSHIP/ WINSTON PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Ricky Graham (172 ); 2. Jay Springsteen (166); 3. Randy Goss (15 1); 4. Terry Poovey (133); 5. Scon Parker (130); 6. A lex Jorgensen (113); 7. Bubbe Shobert (90); 8. (TIE) Gary Scon /Steve W ise (89); 10. M ike Baldwin (72); 11. Steve Eklund (70); 12. Ted Boody (6B); 13. M ike Kidd (66 ); 14. Steve More· head (65 ); 15. Wes Cooley (62); 16. Tim Mertens (48); 17. Eddie Lawson (4 2); 18. Thad Wolff (39); 19. Wayne Rainey (37); 20 . Ronnie Jones (34). }9 ~

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