Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(A bov e) Jay Springsteen simply out ran the field to win his 33rd National and close to points gap to four. (Top right) Third place Hank Scott (14) leads Jay Beach in a heat. (M iddle right) Springer diced with Ricky'Graham ear ly in the National. (Lower right) The battle for second mcluded Hank Scott. Graham and Scott Pearson : ' --.' AMA Grand National ChaJllplonship/ Winston Pro Series: Round 35 , . Springer rules at San Jose; title ehase to the wire By Dale Brown Photos by Wizard Racing Photography SAN J O SE, CA, SEPT. 19 Jay Springsteen ran away and hid from the field in the 22nd running of the San,Jose Mile, while points leader Ricky Graham nipped Hank Scott at the line for second. Their finis he s res ulted in a four-p oi nt sp read between Graham a nd Sp ringsteen as they head for the last National of the year. Vv'ith Ran dy Goss to lose the runner-up slot in a final draft pass at the finish line. With teammate Scott Pearson finishing a close fourth , it was the best ever Team Honda performance at a Mile National. Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker finished fifth, followed by Terry Poovey, Steve Hall and Mike Minnig. " Everyth ing' s been going great," grinned Springer when it was all over. " R icky's been having his bad luck and I've been having my bad Iuck, and so I hope all the bad Iuck is over with. T he best man wins, and it's coming down to the wire just like it always do es." Graham , who almost wound up in the haybales as a result of a mid-race running back in the pack, Graham a nd Springsteen are the only title contenders. It appeared that Graham had an edge going into the San Jose main event after shattering the one- and 1O-lap track reco rds. Bu t after Graham led the first la p, Springsteen steadily pulled away to ta ke the 33rd National win of his career. Scott, riding one of two Honda NS750s in the field, came from 16th in th e early going to lead Graham out of the final corner on ly ~. '! . . ', 1(. J J If • '... . t, " • ,I..;. t E. ; , - t.~ -; • J :) _ ' . I ~. oJ..: I t ;.J 1 ,I t ~ ~ , ...... : .' I . , , • encounter with Bu bba Shobert, admitted to p lay ing co nservative. "We raised the tire pressure so that th e tire would last th e race. We knew it probab ly wasn' t go ing to be as q u ick, but we wanted to be around at the end of the race." A near capacity crowd of approximately 10,000 enj oyed the Bob Barkhi mer Associates event in sun ny, warm california weather. Time trials Five riders were in under Scott Parker's 1981 track record of 37.04 seconds. Graham, on the Tex Peeltuned/ron Horse/Wiseco/ShoeilHiPoint/Sam's Mobil Harley-Davidson, absolutely decimated it , clocking a 36.196. Springsteen's Bill Wernertuned factory H a r ley wa s the closest, recording a 36.568. Ted Boody (36.868) turned in the third fastest time, followed by Ro n n ie Jones (36.916) and Hank Scott (36.962). Only 46 riders recorded a qualifying time, so there ' were no cut-off times. Heats Graham started out like h is qualifying effort, lea p ing to the front of the first hea t and starting to p u ll I J 'I J I. ~ . 1 ( _ l J ... .J " • • " J .. .J .. away from the second turn on. Hank Scott held second initially, but was quickly displaced by Texans Terry Poovey and Bubba Shobert. That ' order he ld through the first half of the race, while Scott Parker was working his wa y up from a mediocre start. Two laps from the end, Parker passed Scott Adams for fourth. Then, a lap later, Parker overtook Poovey to finish third and lock up the last direct transfer to th e National. Poovey, Adams and Scott led those semibound. Graham 's time of 6:08.42 decimated the 1O-lap track record of 6:19. Scott Pearso n proved again to be the quickest starter on the National circuit by taking a huge lead into turn o ne. The race was red-flagged , but there were no penalty-line inhabitants as a result, so the race was restarted. O n the restart Pearson d id it again, bu t Springsteen was around hi m quickly and o ff to a ru naway. T h e battle over second q u ick ly tu rn ed in to a three ri der dice in volving Pea rso n, Steve Morehead and T im Mert ens. Tha t race went every way bu t sideways before Pearson was a ble to secure second with Mertens third a n d Morehead dro pping off the pace, a vict im of a bad ignition. Mo rehead dropped back enough to give fourth place to Charles Robert s. Sp ringsteen's ti me of 6:14.48 was also u nder the record. Pearson and Merte ns made the National, while Roberts, Morehead and Honda 's Mickey Fay were off to the first semi. The third heat saw Ted Boody and Ran dy Goss go into the fir st two positions with J eff H aney fitti ng a borrowed Yamaha into thi rd. AMA officials decided that was too good of a start for Haney, whose own bike ha d been un ab le to post a q ualifying ti me, so they put o ut the red flag. O n the restart Boo dy a n d Goss again filled ou t the first two positio ns , with Steve H all in third and Tammy Kirk in fourt h . - . \

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