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LAST YEAR'S BEST RACE IS COMING AGAINII
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Last year the Champion Spark Plug
Motorcycle Classics offered the best and
most important racing of the National
season. They were the most importan t
because they decided the National
Championship. It was at Ontario that
Dick Mann became National Champ for
the second time in h is long career and
Gene Romero saw his chance disappear
in his first heat crash.
The National Championship has
already been decided this year. Mark
Brelsford is the Man. Even so the
Classics may very well be the best racing
of the season.
Last year the two most importan t
races, the 250-Miler and the Combined,
were decided by inches and that can
easily nappen again. One of the factors
that made ·Ontario so important and
interesting last year was the appearance
of foreign stars_
Talladega for quite a bit, and, if his
wrist is properly healed, can win.
B'arring something unforseen, Jerry
Greene will win the Junior even t on his
Kawasaki. Something unforseen may
come in the form of Bob Endicott on
his BSA.
Kel Carruthers and Gary Fisher are
the most-likelies for the Combined,
based on history. Kawasaki may have a
chance. They still don't have a
ligh tweigh t win and wan tone sometbing
fierce.
Either a Yamaha or a Kawasaki will
win the motocross probahly.
last Year
COOp Coming
Plans have now been fmalized, and
John Cooper from England will be an
official entry in the 1972 Champion
Spark Plug 250-Mile National road race
at Ontario Speedway on October 1.
The 1971 winner will again ride a
BSA "Rocket" triple in the event,
which gained him first place last year
and earned Ilirn over $20,000 in purse
and contingency monies. The 1971
Ontario race was Cooper's only previous
race in America, and the 1972 Ontario
race on October 1 will again be the onl
AMA event he will enter. Since racing at
Ontario a year ago, Cooper has been
very active in road racing in England,
scoring many victories in 750cc events
since early this season. The native of
Derby, England still ranks as the only
Englishman ro ever win an AMA
National race, and he is returning with
the same idea in mind once again.
Another highly regarded European
rider will be flying over with Cooper to
compete in his first American road race.
It's twenty-three-year-old Tony Jeffries
from London. Jefferies is regarded by
many in European circles as the hottest
new
road
racing
ace
in
FIM
competition. He holds wins over
Cooper, Phil Read, Paul Smart, and all
the other ranking British Isle riders this
year.
Another European that will be on
hand is super-star J arno Saarinen who
will be aboard an AI Godin Yamaha.
Saarinen has beaten World Champion
Gjacomo Agostini on several occasions
and many rank him as the best there is.
He could be the man who takeshomethe
winner's $20,000.
Peter Williams is bringing the factory
Norton over and will be looking for an
American win.
A Prediction
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Even with the best of Europe coming
(with the exception of Agostini who
won't be allowed to ride because of the
claiming rule) the odds-makers will still
favor a North American rider. The man
that they will probahly pick is Cal
Rayborn. Calvin's Harley is a bit down
on steam which will hurt Ilirn on the
relatively long straigh t, but the in field
with its many, many turns will weigh
things in his favor. On tight stuff he is
difficult to beat.
Another man who will be at the
front is Yvon DuHamel on his Kawasaki
750. As shown at Talladega, Team
Hansen has the big green screamers
sorted out and they have pit stops down
to a science. Yvon is more than a match
for anyone or any bike and can win.
Backing up DuHamel will be Gary
Nixon. Gary is perhaps a shade less
aggressive than Yvon, but he is not slow
as he demonstrated by coming home
second at Talladega and by leading
Ontario last year until the tum nine oil
slick put him out. It might be Nixon's
chance to end a long ugly streak of
phenomenally bad luck.
If Yamaha is going to win, the man
most likely to do it is Gary Fisher. Gary
flew away from everybody in both
Expert even ts at Laconia and led
Laguna Seca until his machine puckered
up a bit. The in teresting thing is that
Fisher is a privateer and not a team
rider. The Yamaha team will place its
hopes on Kenny Roberts and Kel
Carruthers,
both
consisten t,
fast
top-runners.
Suzuki's best chance looks to be Art
Baumann. If he has recovered from his
Talladega injuries sufficien tly to be
competitive, he can do the job. The
Suzukis are about the fastest thing
going, but they haven't had the
seasoning
in
racing
that
their
competition has since they
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declared illegal after Road A tlan tao
Even
without
the
National
Championship to be decided, there are
many factors that will make the
Champion Spark
Plug Motorcycle
Classic i great race. First, it comes to
the end of the season. Almost all of the
machinery is sorted out so the front
runners aren't sidelined with mechanical
bothers. It also means that the slower
machinery has been breathed on a bit to
make it a little more competitive while
the fast machinery has been kept about
as fast but made more reliable; the
machinery is more equal..
Another reason that the race will be
close is the prestige and money. There is
$100,000 up for grabs and the winner
can get over a fifth of that. The long pit
stop required at half-way adds a
dimension to the race that isn't available
elsewhere, and the Umotocross" scoring
system, whereby the scores of both
halves of the race are added, can make a
winner in the second half of someone
who was downfield in the first half.
With 250 miles to race; a lot can
happen.
Besides (More Predictions)
In addition to the Classic there are
the rest of the races. There are three
other road races and a motocross. One
can expect Yamaha to win both the
lightweight events, unless Team Hansen,
with several a1mosts to its credit, can get
its act together and bring one of its 350
singles in first. Th ree names are to be
watched in the Novice event: Ted
Henter, Talladega winne'r and a sort of
winner at Laguna Seca; John Long,
winner of all Qut two Novice pavement
events; and Tim Rockwood. Tim led
Perhaps no one has a more vivid
recollection of the final 200 feet of the
second heat of the inaugural Champion
Spark Plug Motorcycle Classic than Kel
Carruthers.
In that brief distance Carruthers,
bearing down on tile finish line and the
checkered flag, saw the front wheel .of
Englishman John Cooper's motorcycle
pass him and cross the finish line,
wil\ning by a scant four inches.
Last year's Classics marked a number
of motorcycle racing firsts. It was the
first time an Expert race was run in two
heats, and it was the longest race run.
More money was available to the riders
- $100,000 - than ever before and it
was the first time anything but a short
exhibition motorcycle race had been
conducted at Ontario.
The schedul.e included the 250-mile,
two-lap Expert race, an Expert-J unior
"lightweight" combined race, a Junior
race, Novice race and Motocross for
250cc and 50cc bikes.
The entry list was huge. For the
Expert race, more than 100 motorcycles
started the first heat.
It was the Classic, the final race 'of
the 1971 season, that determined last
year's Grand National champion. Only
defending champion Gene Romero and
Dick Mann had a chance for the title,
and Mann was leading in poin ts going
into the race. Early in the first heat,
Romero crashed, and Mann went on to
earn the championship.
The topper of the Classics came after
the racing was allover. Bob Bailey, a
southern
California
accessory'
manufacturer and Expert racer, claimed
the motorcycle ridden by Classic winner
Cooper. It was spelled out in the AMA
rule book and Bailey, armed with
$2500, had every right to take "his"
new
BSA
Rocket-3
home. The
motorcycle was a special factory
machine, certainly not available for sale
and it was probably worth 10 times the
claiming fee. In the end, Bailey agreed
to reverse the claim, bu t he ended up
with assistance from BSA.
Cycle News called the Classics the
greatest motorcycle race ever. The 1972
version has all the elemen ts introduced
last year, and there may be a few
surprises.
location
Ontario Motor Speedway's 3.2-mile
Grand Prix road course, in Ontario,
Calif., located alongside San Bernardino
Freeway (Interstate 10), 40 miles east
of the Los Angeles Civic Center.
Tickets
Sunday, Oct. 1 - Reserved Central
Concourse seats, S8; unreserved East
and West Concourse seats, $6; General
admission, $4. Juniors (15 and under),
half price (available at Ticket Office,
Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario,
Calif. 91764, or at all Ticketron Outlets
in California; including all Sears and
Montgomery Ward stores). A limited
number of Victory Circle seats at $35
•are available only at Speedway Ticket
Office. For further ticket information
call (714) 984-2255.
Schedule
Wednesday, Sept. 27 - Practice (all
classes), 9-12 -1-5;$1 admission.
Thursday, Sept. 28 - Practice (all
classes), 9-11 a.m. $2 admission (15 &
under, $1) Qualifying Races, 1-5 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 29 - Practice (all
classes), 9-12: $2 admission (15 &
under, $1) NOVICE RACE, 1 p.m.
(250-360cc) 24 laps, 76 miles,JUNIOR
RACE, 3 p.m. (750cc max) 39 laps, 125
miles.
Saturday, Sept. 30 - Practice, 9-10
a.m. $4 admission (15 & under, $1),
JUNIOR/EXPERT COMBINED RACE,
11 a.m. (250-360cc) 39 laps, 125 miles.
Mo tocross
Practice,
1
p.m.
MOTOCROSS RACES (25Occ class &
500cc class, three heats each), 2 p.m.
Sunday, October 1 - Expert Practice,
9-10 a.m. CHAMPION SPARK PLUG
MOTORCYCLE CLASSIC, 12 noon.
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