Chasing the Crown

Chasing the Crown

Halfway Through the AMA Grand National Season, It's Still Anybody's Year.

Gary Van Voorhis

What kind of a season has it been so far? At the end of the first leg of the American Motorcyclist Association’s Grand National Champion-ship/Winston Pro Series, to give the proper name, it’s been one helluva good one.

Baselined by the knowledge that defending champ Jay Springsteen and arch-rival Steve Eklund would be going at it in some way, shape or form, the first 13 events have been unpredictable in terms of winners, losers and contenders.

True to form, Springsteen was not the leader at the end of the first leg of the Winston Pro Series point fund payoff. He hasn’t been in any of the previous three seasons either and he’s gone on to take the title anyway.

This year things are different and Springsteen faces the toughest challenge in his career. Forat the halfway point, both Eklund and Randy Goss enjoyed 34 and 17 point margins respectively on Springsteen.

If you like variety, the first WPS leg had plenty of it. Through the Castle Rock TT. the 13th of 28 Nationals, 10 different riders had shown up to collect the winner's share of the purse.

Although there are five road race Nationals scheduled —Dale Singleton and Skip Aksland won Daytona and Loudon. respectively—within the course of the season, the title will be decided on the dirt. It has been in the past three years and this year looks to be no different, although it may not be Springsteen who comes out on top.

Springsteen has racked up three National wins thus far. raising his career total to 24, and was in solid command in each. Yet the defending champ is a long way from the front of the point standings.

This may well end up being a year Springsteen will want to forget... at least the first half, anyway. Injuries in the form of an accident-caused pulled thigh muscle and bruised groin and a nagging virus combined to keep him on the sidelines in both the Houston TT and Short Track Nationals.

Add to that time spent in a hospital early in May having the virus diagnosed as a urinary infection and you have the basis for his missing the San Jose Mile.

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time at the Castle Rock TT-in this case the first turn under a pile of five other riders that added up to one broken bike and pulled muscles in his left shoulder— and Springer was on the sidelines four times in 11 Nationals. Not a very enviable start to the season, especially for the defending champ.

But when Springsteen was on the track he was there to do business. At the Sacramento Mile he fought off the nauseating effects of his intestinal infection to place third behind Mike Kidd and Eklund.

It was a start to the season. But when Eklund won San Jose the next week. Springer found himself 46 points shy of first place.

The best way to beat an opponent is to stagger him with a good blow and keep on hitting. Springsteen did just that at the Ascot Half Mile in an almost deja vu replay of the masterful ride that decided the 1978 championship. The cast was the same— Springsteen and Eklund—and so was the outcome.

In quick succession Springer reeled off two more wins on the half mile tracks at Laurel. Maryland and Louisville, Kentucky. He had shown everyone that he was back.

Eklund is the only other rider thus far to score more than one National win. His luck, which went sour at times last year, has returned. Although the way he won the San Jose Mile wasn’t luck, the way he got there surely was.

Eklund must have had a sick feeling when he felt his bike losing fire while running third at San Jose. But Lady Luck, in the form of rain and a red flag, was by his side as he coasted to the pits on lap seven with a dead battery.

A place at the back of the single file restart (after fitting a fresh battery) did little to dampen Eklund’s enthusiasm, as those in front found out.

By the final lap four riders—Eklund. Rick Graham, Gary Scott and Steve Morehead—had a shot at the win, but it was Eklund at the flag. From fourth to first in half a lap. Graham ended Scott’s hopes for second and Morehead nearly did the same.

At the Santa Fe TT, Eklund staged a come-from-behind win that was one of the most exciting races seen in a long time. Caught on the starting line in neutral, he cut a swath through traffic to move into third on lap 16 of 25.

Springsteen, on his factory Harley and Gary Scott on his trusty 750cc Triumph were oblivious to Eklund. having engaged in a battle of their own at the front. Two laps to go and Eklund w'as past Scott: one lap to go. Springer lost traction for an instant and Eklund was gone. It was his second straight TT wán at Santa Fe.

Although Eklund is reluctant to admit it. an injury to the tendons in his right hand three weeks prior to his Santa Fe TT win, in a warm-up event at the same track,will probably cause him to ride injured for the rest of the season.

The list of first time winners shows three names: Mickey Fay. Randy Goss and Brad Hurst.

Mickey Fay provided Honda with an instant sales boost when he won the Houston TT on an XR500 in run-away fashion from the Triumph of John Gennai and Randy Goss’ Harley. The distinct thump-thump-thump of the 500cc Single has been heard doubly loud since Honda joined Yamaha in the dirt track (TT) game.

Randy Goss, in his third year on the circuit, has finally come into his own. His equipment, sponsored by Klotz/Wiseco and built and tuned bv himself and his father-in-law. Larrv Johnson, with addi-

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tional help from Tex Peel and John Apple, is finally living up to his talent.

Goss will never astound anyone wfith his style, but every time you look over your shoulder he’s there. The Middletown Half Mile was just waiting for him. It was his day on the groove track, so much so that no one even posed a real threat.

Consistency has proved to be Goss’ strong suit and with seven finishes in the top four in just 11 events, he has to be giving both Eklund and Springer something to think about.

Brad Hurst was the third rider to add his name to the list of first time National winners. Hurst did a last-to-first number on the Castle Rock TT aboard his Messier Performance/KRW Triumph. Eklund. aboard the Zanotti Enterprises/Castrol 750cc Yamaha for the jumpless course, and Triumph mounted Mickey Fay had their own private war going for the lead when Hurst blewthem away.

The three remaining dirt track Nationals fell to riders who have already carded one or more career wins: Ted Boody, Mike Kidd and Terry Poovey.

Boody got a' leg up on the season in a hurry. Having been dropped by the Harley-Davidson team after two seasons, Boody was out to let everyone know that he was still a winner. There’s no better way to do that than before nearly 40,000 cheering fans in the Houston Astrodome Short Track.

As a master of the techniques of getting to the first turn first and making the most of a narrow groove, Boody was right in tune at Houston. Eklund and Goss were reduced to waiting for a mistake and Boody, when he’s on, doesn’t make mistakes.

His racing season was shortened somewhat by a horrible high speed crash in the Winston Pro Series National road race at Loudon. Boody ran off the track with another rider and sustained a broken left wrist, a dislocated left elbow, torn cartilage in both knees and numerous bashes and bruises about the head and shoulders. He’ll be back in action* before the end of the season.

Mike Kidd waited a year for his Army sponsorship. The Army only had to wait until the Sacramento Mile, the fourth National of the season, for their payoff. Kidd put in a brilliant ride on his Stormey Winters tuned XR (put together the night before and fired up for the first time at the track) to lead Eklund by less than two bike lengths at the end of 25 mi.

Kidd is enjoying one of his best seasons in his eight-year career and is spending a good deal of time on Army promotions and other public relations functions that go along with the sponsorship package. “I'm having a ball,” he says with a smile.

Terry Pbovey, winner of the Charity Newsies Half Mile, has been playing pickup for most of the season. He has no regular sponsor and has ridden for Tex Peel, Sonny Burres and Doug Sehl. It was aboard Sehl's XR that he picked up his second career National win at the Newsies.

Not content to be second after leading the opening laps. Poovey put a lot of pressure on leader Corky Keener, it apparently worked. Keener left him with a scant opening that Poovey took as the pair entered turn three at the halfway point. Keener slid wide and ended up watching the finish from the haybales on the outside of the corner.

There are other riders who bear watching.

Gary Scott, off to his best start since his title winning 1975 season, has given up fighting (or so it appears) and has gotten down to racing.

Garth Brow continually proves to the skeptics that with good machinery he is a constant threat.

Rick Hocking hasn't been seen much in the past two seasons, but he is still competitive and is making a strong comeback performance.

Rick Graham is a name few people outside of California had heard before the beginning of the season. However, Graham has made a name for himself by adapting readily to the various styles of tracks on the eastern swing of the circuit. He'll be one to watch in years to come.

Corky Keener is having one of his best seasons ever despite losing his sponsorship from Harley-Davidson.

Scott Parker is the youngest rider (he will be 18 in November) ever to earn an Expert dirt track license. He is making a shambles of what initially promised to be one of the classic Rookie of the Year battles in recent years. His exuberance on the track has led to his downfall-literally in some instances—yet two appearances in the winner's circle already this season bear evidence of a multitude of talent that just needs seasoning.

Steve Morehead the happy, outgoing privateer is now Morehead the quiet factory Harley-Davidson rider. Bad luck, in the form of minor problems, has plagued him enough times to cloud the resources of talent he has. But when he gets on the track, watch out.

Skip Aksland, one of the few riders as at home on the pavement as on the dirt, picked up the Loudon road race National win. But on the dirt, Skipper has been facing a drought. Aksland tweaked his collarbone in an early season accident and didn't get back to 100 percent form until near the halfway mark. It wasn’t until the Charity Newsies that he and Lawwill finally felt they had meshed as a team.

On paper, Aksland’s match-up with Lawwill tuning on dirt and his brother Bud as the road race end of the team, appeared to be a solid bet for the championship. Although bad luck has slowed his charge, he could still disrupt a lot of well laid plans.

The final half of the season will tell the tale, ft is there-especially in the four Mile Nationals sandwiched into the final six weekends—that the title may be won or lost.