Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The straight between the first jump a n d th e turn/ second jump had been shortened . Although the surface remained rel at ively tack y throughout th e n ight, i t ap pe ared as though the track wo ul d favo r th e 500cc riders ove r th e approxi ma tely 60 Ibs. hea vier H arl ey m ounted entra nts. Scott P earson 's 1981 tra ck record o f 39 .149 sec o n ds wasn 't threatened. Can-Am mounted Bubba Shobert, at 40.068, led a 500c c assault on the top five pl aces in time trials. Alex Jorgensen, Fay , Eklund and Terry Poovey followed. SCOll Parker, in sixth fastest, was the first Harley rider. Fifty riders were on hand for qualifying. Heats (Top) Winner Ricky Graham leads Bubba Shobert (67) and Alex Jorgensen. (Aboye) Mickey Fay (59) and Randy Goss dice. A M A Grand National Cha m pio ns hip/Winston Pro Series: Round Z,3 Graham tops Sant a Fe TT By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Bert Shepard /Silver Shutter HINSDALE, IL, SEPT. 10 Ricky Graham and Jay Springsteen have found, within the span of seven days, tha t Lady Luck can be very fickle. Graham, who watched from the sidelines at last week's Hamburg Half Mile National while Springsteen placed third and took the Winston Pro Series points lead away, saw the 8 scales tip in his favor at th e rain-da te running of the Chicagoland TT National at Santa Fe Speedway. This time it was Springsteen's turn to watch - after crashing in both h is heat a nd semi and faili ng to make the Natio nal - w h ile G raha m put in a superb 25 lap ride to lead th e National wire-towire for th e win . The bottom line is that Graham headed to Syracuse, th e second leg of th e weekend double- h eader, with an 18 point spread (192174) o ver Springsteen with just three National s left in th e season . Steve Eklund, the 1978-79 winner of th e event, broke out of a nearl y season long slump and stri n g of bad Iuck to roll home in seco nd a few bik elengths adrift of Graham. The defending even t champ, Mi ck ey Fa y, ca me from dead last on th e sta rt to ca rve his wa y through traffic and take a well deser ved third. " I didn't h ave a game p la n as suc h for th e Na tio nal," said Graham a fterwa rds. " Tex (Pee l - G raha m 's tuner) a nd I ta lked it o ver a bo u t j ay (Sprin gsteen) not being in the fiel d a nd decid ed to take what I cou ld ge t, bu t · n ot to ta ke a ny chances . I kn ew I could get th e hol esho t. It was j us t a ma uer of hanging on.J iterally, for 25 laps. I' ve been injured for a lmos t five wee ks a nd ha ven 't rea lly been a ble to train th e way I no rm a ll y do." Graham was a board the Peel p repared Iron H orse/Sh oeilCastro l/W iseco / H i-P oint sponsored H arley-David son X R75 0. Ekl u nd is a crowd fa vorite a t Santa Fe. " I have a lot o f fri end s a nd fans h ere at Sa nta Fe. I get p u m pe d u p w he n I race here. When th e fa ns a re cheer ing you o n yo u rea ll y want to do well," said Eklund. " I've just gotten a new sponsor na med Charlie G ardner who jo in s Zano n i Enter p rises, Ca stro l, Es prit, Ara i and O u t Front Number Pl a tes as my main support. I've a lready begun thinking about next year's program." Honda's Mickey Fay was a bit disappointed in "only finishing third . I made a stupid mistake on the start and watched the wrong set of starting lights - the ones they use for their regular weekly program at Santa Fe," said Fay . " I realized my mistake just as the lig h t turned green, killed the engine in my has te and was way bac k by the ti me I got th e bike started. I should ha ve ru n up front from th e start, " Time Trials T he TT co urse at Sa nta Fe, us ing a portion of th e short track a nd winding through th e infield, had been red esigned somewhat from previous yea rs. The entrance and exit infield turns were tighter as were the turns leading to the first and second jump. Graham said bye-bye to the field in the first heat right off the start and didn 't look back. He had a comfortable margin by the end of the third lap and increased it to the finish , posting fast heatof the night and grabbing the pole position for the National. Shobert followed at a respectable distance in second after bumping Steve Morehead to third on the second lap. Poovey displaced Morehead to fourth at the halfway mark and th e three transfer spots to the National were filled . Parker put in a valiant ride for the first half of h eat two, holding a challenging Jorgensen at bay. Jorgensen then got past and pulled away to an eas y win. P arker was safe in second. The third place battle saw Washington State rider Mike Sullivan home free when Rich King crashed while challenging in the final laps. This was Sullivan 's first time in making a National field in six seasons as an Expert. Of note was Honda's Steve Wis e, the MX er turned road racer a n d d irt tracker. Wi se, sporting a titanium skid shoe an d MX riding gear, had the chain br eak on his factory Honda CR480R tw o-stroke before th e end of th e first la p . There was p lenty of bashing a nd handleb ar banging go ing o n in h ea t th ree. Scott Pearson led Fa y and Randy Goss w h ile Sp ri n gs tee n, stuck in h eavy traffic, sought to make a quick m o ve. On the seco nd la p, Springsteen crashed in th e turn before jump one. H e was u p quickly, but at th e back of th e field. " It was m y fault, " sa id Springsteen lat er. " I got into the corner to o fast a n d th e front en d wash ed OUl." Meanwhile, Fay was hounding Pearson all over the track . On lap seven, Fa y took th e lead whe n Pearson beg an to experien ce problems with th e tra nsm ission in h is factory Honda XR500 four -s troke. Fa y ca m e hom e th e winner wit h Goss taking seco n d a nd Pearson n ursing his bike home in th ird. Springsteen, in eig h th, ea rned a spot in the seco nd sem i. T he fourt h h eat was an Eklu nd be nefit from sta rt to finish. T h e ba ttle for second, between Ronnie Jones, Tim Mertens a nd Dave Bradl ey h eld to the finish wi th th e three runnin g in tight formatio n to the flag. J ones and Mertens took seco nd a nd third. Gary Sco tt, running without a rear brake, found himself semi bo u nd. Semis The two semis, for th e 15 rider . Na tional, would transfer only the WInners . Steve Morehead was ted lillie time in putting h is mar k o n th e firs t semi a n d tu rn ed in a runa way per fo rmance. King put in a cut-th ro ugh traffic ride to p lace seco nd. The g randstand side of th e ba ck row in semi two fea tured a Springsteen sandwich - Chuck and Jay - of _ Gary Scotl. All eyes were on J a y Springsteen. Jay got a good start and had carved hi s way through traffic to fourth before the field was out of the

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