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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/143873
/ o p) Graham goes for the gusto in w in ner 's circ le. (Above) Sho bert and orgensen fought much of the evening . n field. He then moved to third as th e econd lap began. Springsteen tapped he rear tire of Dave H ebb, in th e ame corner he had fall en in earlier , nd went down. At first , it a p pea red e would call it a night, but then h e ernounted and charged all the way to he checkered flag. He would be sixth lternate when the Last Ch ance Qualfier came to the line. j eff Campbell, a strong TT rider :ro m Oregon, had established himielf in the lead and wasn 't letting go. He won the ticket to the National. Last Chance Qualifier The Last Ch a n ce Qualifier was a do-or-die situation for Springsteen. First, he wo u ld have to get into the iield from h is alternate slot and th en e would ha ve to win to make the National fiel d. H e watched disconsoa tely as all h op e of being in the National faded. " T h is sure isn 't the easiest way to make the Nat ional," said winner Gary Scou, " but I' m glad to make it. I've ~ot en ough miles on my butt th a t I No n 't n eed an y practice when we get .0 Syracuse." Sco tt led from sta rt to ·inish. at io nal " We've got six Can-Ams in the lllationa i. I th in k that's pretty good," iaid Ro n Wood of Ron Wood Raen g, the distributors of the Can-Am )OO four-stroke single based TT cc ac kage. Six Hondas and th ree H a r,eys filled out th e grid. Perha ps the happiest rider on th e ~ri d was Sullivan. " I ho pe to make a f ew National points so I ca n get a Nat ional number. Yo u 've got to be a at ion a l number fo r sponsors to [ea lly tak e a look a t you." Sullivan ha d his chain pop off la nd ing off on e um p and it cost h im two la ps pu t.ing it back on. H e fin ished 15th an d sut of the points. T he field took th e gr een li gh t and t was Graham (" I just sta rte d off in hird gear and gassed th e h eck out of t." ) leading into turn one. Fay, with 1 dead engine on th e sta rt ing line. as frantically trying to restart his ik e. Shobert, jorgensen , Ek lund, [o nes, Mertens, Parker, Goss and ",am pbell were close beh ind. By the fift h la p , Graham had p ull ed au t a few bikeleng ths on the Shobert/ j o rgensen/Eklund duel. A j ones/ Mert ens fight led one containin g Pa rker/Goss/Campbell while .Pearson / Sco tt/ Mo re hea d / P o ovey / Fay and Sullivan were in a tight gro u p. Fay was beginning to pi ck up stea m, despite riding with a brok en left wrist from which the cast had been cu t off. " I need another two or th ree months in a cast, " sa id Fa y after wa rds. " I had it taped. You don 't feel a ny th ing once you begin racing." Honda 's jerry Griffith wasgi ving Fay the " G o" sign and urging h im on. Fa y initially thought Griffith was waving his fist at him. Ten laps into the 25 and Graham still had things under control. Shobert/jorgensen/Eklund were playing rubberband, but had closed in on Graham. . Two laps later, Shobert hit a rut and went down as he was heading into the infield . jorgensen and Eklund quickly closed the ga p an d jones was fourth before Shobert was back underway in fift h. Fay was now in seventh and stal king Mertens. Scott had rear brake p ro blem s an d was slowed, Sulli van had the chain come off on lap nine, Morehead's bike was "a bit slow," while Pearson, despite a new engine/transmission combination, was experienci ng more tranny problems. Poovey would sa y later h e needed more TT practice. Mert en s wo u ld soon tick a n eutral in traffi c and slip way back . Eklund took up th e cha se a nd put enough pressure on Grah am for him to have though ts - for a n instant of " just saying th e heck with it and lett ing him by." G raham q ui ckl y - erased th a t from hi s mind. Eklu nd was unable to tak e adva ntage of two bobbles by Graham in th e clos ing laps and foll owed him h ome to winner's circle. Fay's rel entless charge tow ard the front took him past Mert ens a nd th en met hod ically past Shobert, j on es a nd, • fina lly, jorgen sen. Resul t s 1. Ricky Graham (H-D); 2. Steve Eklund (C-A); 3. M ickey Fay (Han): 4. Alex Jorgensen (C-A ); 5. Ronnie Jones (C-A); 6. Bubba Shobert (C-A); 7. Randy Goss (H-D); B. Scott Parker (H-D); 9. Jeff Campbell (C-A); 10. Steve Morehead (Han); 11. Scott Pearson (Han); 12. Terry Poovey (Han); 13. Tim Mertens (Han): 14. Gary Scott (C-A); 15. Mike Sullivan (Han). Time : 16 min .. 51.222 sees. Texan Bubba Shobert celebrates his second National win. AMA Grand National Champion- ship/Winston Pro Series: Bog"" 24 Shobert beats draft at S~raeuse By Jack Mangus Photos by Len Breech & Bill King SYRAC USE, NY, SE PT. 12 Texan Bubba Shobert won the KRW Syracuse Mile Gold Cup by holding off Jay Springsteen and four other riders, all riding in a tightly bunched pack as they crossed the finish line. An y one of seven riders who took th e wh ite flag signalling the beginning of the last lap could have won the ra ce, a race many co m pe ti tors and on-lookers felt was the " best of the '82 Winston Pro Ser ies." J oi n in g Shobert a nd Springsteen in th e winner 's circle celebrating was Steve Morehead who finished third. Sh obert , who scored his seco nd National win of the season and the second of his career, was carried onto the victory podium by Morehead. Asked if the race went as planned and if it seemed as fast to him as it was to those who watched, Shobert answered, " Yo u never know about a mile. I didn 't have anything in particular planned. It was the fastest one I've ridden! " The runner-up finish by Springsteen and a ninth place finish by point leader Rickey Graham, who had won the Santa Fe TT on Friday night while Springer failed to make the National, enabled Springsteen to close to within eight pomts of Graham, 198 to 190. Sp ringsteen , obviously the crowd favorite, came within inches of winnin g. " I pulled out of the draft coming down to the line, but l just didn 't h ave enough to catch Bubba," said Sprin gsteen . Time Trials Former Grand National Champion Gary Scott turned in th e fas test qualifying lap, a record breaking 36.207 second tour of the New York State Fairgrounds mile oval. H ank Scott, Gary's brother, has joined T eam Honda for the remai ning rac es of the sea so n - reportedly at $1 ,000 p er race, and that left h is H arley-Davidson XR750 parked u ntil Gary borrowed it and set fast time. Also breaking th e track record were Jay Springsteen and Garth Bro w, ' both with 36.326 laps. Alex Jorgensen made it a quartet of riders who broke the record when he turned in a 36.34 lap. Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers were Morehead, Steve Eklund, Shobert, Randy Goss , Honda-mounted Hank Scott, and Graham. Heats . The first IO-lap heat race ofthe day had the crowd on its feet as Morehead and Ted Boody conducted an early lap drafting affair that saw one then the other lead across the start/finish line. Then Bood y slipped back to third, a position he would hold to the finish , . and Hank SCOtt, aboard a Honda NR75 0, moved up to give Moreh ead all he could handle. Scott led laps six through nine (Continued to page 12) 9