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/143887
(Top) Steve Wise I,!oked his speedy self. but atthe end of.the day had to settle for second. (Above right) First Chandler had to ~attle with Graham, then after the Harley rider faded. his bettie was with ~se (above right). second with Baker third, Reid fourth and Cunningham fifth. Semi Only one position remained in the final, and Mickey Fay got power to the ground first on his Honda fourstroke, geuing the holeshot over Reid and Jorgensen. Fay stretched out his lead through most of the first lap, but ihen had the misfortune to tangle with a haybale in a chicane on the finish line straightaway. That caused him to crash hard, with the bike cartwheeling down the track: Nearly run over by several competitors, Fay was up quickly, only suffering abrasions on his left arm, but h~ was out for the day. That left the lead to Jorgensen and his Can-Am, with .Reid, Mo~ehead and Ronnie Jones running behind him. Reid lasted only another lap before his bike seized, and Jorgy had liule trouble running away with the race. Jones moved up to finish second, followed by Morehead, Mercier and Cunningham. Final The final was gridded in four rows, with heat winners up front, runnersup in the second, third placers in the third and Jorgy in the fourth. Graham used the power of his Tex Peel motor to ace the start, but Wise lost a liule ground in the first turn when he almost rode up Graham's rear wheel. That gave Chandler the inside track to second, with Spring'steen filling in third. Wise was running in fourth, follow~ by Sh?bert, Jorgensen, Malherbe, Baker, Wolff and Pietri. The top four were tight, with the Harleys running wild on the pavement, and the Hondas making it up . in the dirt. On the third lap, Spr!ng·steen got by Chandler momentarily, but then Chandler repassed and took Graham as they exited the dirt. Graham responded by passing Chandler back on the pavement, and then the two repeated it on the following lap. On the fifth time around, Graham wasn't Chandler's biggest concern Wise was. Wise nailed Magoo on the dirt, but Chandler struck back quick-. ly. Graham and Springsteen were starting to drop back slightly as the task of hauling the big bikes through the dirt....... to .tell. Jorgensen had began ... .. settled into a distant fifth, but was starling to make up time. Shobert and Malherbe were running 6-7, with Malberbe being affected by a minor injury incurred in the heat race crash. Up front. Chandler and Wise were trading paint in their battle for the lead, with Magoo seeming to thwart· Wise's every move. Then, with three laps to go, Wise nearly crashed in the same place that Fay did after hiuing the same haybale. "I came into the chicane too fast, got on the brakes too hard and lost the front end. The front end skidded sideways and if the haybale hadn't been there, I would have been down. The haybale hit my bike and knocked it straight up again, although it did damage the pipe and I lost quite a bit of power," said Wise .. I 7