Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ricky G rah a m h a d a case of the grins after taking his first Camel Pro Series win of the yea r . It was his second in a row at S p rin g f ie ld. o n ly its seco n d Nationa l. Fourth place Alex j orgen sen put in a so li d r ide o n hi s Pioneer Truck- ing/Coors sp onsored H arl ey to lead the KK Motorcycle Su p p ly/ Sise more Traveland Harley o f Gary Scott in fifth . Goss, via his second in the Nation al , padded hi s Camel Pro points lead while Graham vaulted from fifth to seco n d. Goss has a 17 point lead ed ge - 79 to 62. Notab le names in the top 10 who did not make the National were jay Sprjl1g~t~en"Steve Eklundand Terrv, AMA Grand National Ch am p ionsh ip / Cam el Pro Series: Round 7 Graham again at Springfield Mile By Ga ry Va n V oorhis Photos by Bert S hepa rd /Sil ve r S hutter SPRINGFIELD, IL, MAY 15 Defending Camel Pro Series ' Champion R icky Graham grabbed his first National win of the season and his second consecutive victory in the Sp ri n gfield Mile with a calcu- lated ride to the front. Graham put his Iron Horse/Shoei /Cas- trol/Tex Peel Racing H arley- Davidson XR 750 in the lead on the 15th o f 25 laps and ne ver looked ba ck . The pl ace and sh o w po sitions went right down to th e checkered £lag wi th Harley-Davidson's Randy Goss hold- ing 0(( a last chance draft a n d pass attempt by Hank Scott at th e line. Scott, o n a ra ce by race d eal wi th Honda to develop th eir new RS7 50 V-tw in dirt tracker, was delighted 8 wi th his showingqn I~C; fl\a,ch.i~c; ~ I.1 > P o o vey. Eac h h ad problem s in their h eat ra ces. Mo th er Nature o nce a ga i n pl ayed a ro le a t Springfield . Stead y rains prior to th e event , rath er tha n during a s was the ca se la st yea r , added an ad di - tio nal three hou rs o f tra ck prep a ra- tio n to th e p ro gram. The weather was ' a k n o w n fac to r, h o wever th e stor m front l ingered o ne da y longer th an p red ic ted with th e sh o wers end- ing Saturday eveni ng. This left th e spo nsori n g Illino is Motorcycl e Deal- ers Asso c iatio n a n d th e gro un ds cre w a t th e Ill in ois Sta te Fa irgr ound beh in d before th ey sta rte d . T he National too k th e g ree n light at 7:29 p .m. , the exac t tim e it had sta rte d in 1982. Time T rials . Sco tt P ark er was th e first ri d er on the tra ck for tim e trial s and clocked a 37.434 seco n d to u r o f th e mile tra ck for a tim e which would hold up a s qu ickest a ll d a y. It was wa y off h is 36.20 I tr a ck record set in 1981 a t a non-N ati onal ra ce a t th e facilit y. The o n ly other rid er to br eak into th e 37 seco n d bracket was Sp ri n g steen with a 37.893. jay Bea ch , G a ry Scott a n d G o ss fill ed o u t th e top five . Hank Scott was the top Honda rider in 15th a t 38.901. . A field of 66 ~iders a tt em p ted to m ak e th e 48 rider program with T .j. Houghton th e 48th at 40.175. Heat s A number o f riders in the first heat wanted th e track groomed more. "The track is rideable," said G ary Scott who was not in the he at. " It's groov- ing up and some riders want a cushion on top." Chuck Springsteen brought o ut the red £lag on the first lap by crashing in, turn three. It took 20 lminutes to g et th e tra ck ready a nd Spri ngs teen was bac k for th e restart. Goss , Parker , Bubba Shobert a n d T ed Boo d y, o n a n ew ride for Sou th East H a rl ey-D a vid son , ran o u t front o n th e restart. Park er took o ver o n la p th ree wit h Bood y in to w a s Goss s lip pe d to third a head o f Shobert . S teve Ek l u n d pulled 0(( for un ex- pl ained reasons o n la p fo ur. Sh obert lo st th e dr aft o n la p six and Parker, G o ss a n d Bood y began swa p pi n g th e to p three spots. Boody led th e final la p a n d held o ff a challenge by P arker in tu rns 3-4 to tak e th e win with G o ss a cl ose th ird . Sp r ingsteen put hi s sta m p on heat two at th e sta rt with Steve Hall , o n h is Esprit/Simpson /Pj I entry, cha l- lenging for the fir st four la p s until Springer broke wa y. Ro okies Eri c Rausch , o n the R-C Racing/KRW / S m i tty 's H-D /Diamond spo ns o re d H -D , and Matt Rozowi cz sandwi ch ed J o n Cornwell in a battle for th ird. Springsteen' s dayended on lap seven wh en h e bent a pushrod in the front cyl in d er of his fa ctory Harley. Hall took ov er to lead Rausch and Corn- well to the finish . Rozowicz put his Condor Trading/Sure-Fire/Wiseco z Bell mount in fourth . H ank Scott showed fans the Honda RS750 's strength a s he took the win in heat three. Scott led all th e wa y a fter some earl y lap challenges by teammate Mike Kidd , aboard the CX500-based NS750. jorgensen, aft er missing a shift just after th e start, sl iced his way through traffic to nail down second a n d drop Kidd to third. Kidd then had to fend off the cha l- lenges of Beach and regain thi rd from him on the final lap to advance to the National. , I Therfinal heat ' p r ovid ed sorrse of

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