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/125608
Mann Iin't eolne to I.t It b. Above: Thll II th. rae. that Mark.1 won, Friday nlchl, but Dick (2) walt for th.lr chane•• 8 .. (55) Rtlm .. and Gen. (20) Romero ealY. Chuck (38) Palmer.n, RoC" Daytona Ihort track• low: Som. of Iht action that drawl turnaway crowd I .ach y.ar to ...-..: AlIA offlclall didn't I.t a IIttl. thine Ilk. rain .Iow th.m down. SHORT TRACK STEALS SHOW Photos by Dennis Greene Don Tw1Ir of Hagerst own, Md. grabbed Unless you've been to the Daytona an immedi ate lead in the consy race, lIJlt Beach Memor ial Stadium at least once soon scattere d bis engine, setting up dur1llg motorcy cle sPeed. week, you've Pennyslvan1a's Ed Varnes for the win. track speedmissed the greates t sbort Rail lost b1s cbance in the first semlway rac1ng in Americ a and quite possibly tlnal when bis compre ssion release stuck tile world. The track Itself is notb1Dg open. Scberbe rt, who was riding with a more !ban a 1/4-mU e sandova louWn1 IIg cast on his tbrottle wrist, blew bis engine you used to trot a football field, the kind atter passing Rall. Ahead of It all was around in b1ih school. A bard, green, Dick Mann on the scream ing Ossa. Robrick wall surroun ds the oval, scant mero moved to second place. Dallas from the groove. Were it not for inelles Baker on another Ossa was third and bard sand surtile track's Rear-pe rfect Nlxoa fourth. fKe, tbat wall couid be a tombsto ne for Fred Nix got bumped in the second many an eager rider. 11 is no racetra ck semI, leav1llg Markel and Reiman to tlgbt re. for the insince tor Mllwauk ee's bOIlor. Markel won this You bave to get there early to find a preUm with a vast lead, leaving Mashseat. By 6:30 p.m. on Friday night all burn, Reiman and Palmgr en in the trans5,500 seats were jammed (so were the fer spots. Mashbu rn was the only Amafences) and the races weren't aisles, the teur in the feature event, com1llg trom 8:30. Disappo intschedul ed to start until 'way back on his Yamaha to capture ed faDs were tarDed away in droves. second in Markel' S semi. Too bad. They would have seen BeautiD1&lr1ng out in the teature , Markel got Marke llattle unlucky Dick Mann ful Bart the pole with Mann closely second and . Markel proved be to a dazzlin g victory then Mashbu ra. Baker's motorcy cle rewas still king at the sUdes that night, fUsed- to l1ght. Romer soon went out .. Bugs" Mann continue d his "starva tion preble with electri *eak" and if YOUlll Mark Brelsfo rd first lap the 011 Com1llg on1t"lIa ve eJcbt Uves were a cat.; mgren, Mann. el, order was ]eft to go. Bugs quickly motored tbrougb to first The whole H'irley- DaYids on racing while Palmgr en's engine exploded. Then team was there with 250Cc Sprints .lndoor Mann's current jinx caught up, caus1llg n Ronnte Rail was short track champio bis f\lel tap to vibrate shut. Markel got trying out tbree Bultaco s in practice to past, and before Bugs could locate the wII1ch ODe he l1ked best and World _ trouble and open the tap, Reiman sUpped Speedway Cbamp BalTY Brigs was enby. allely his q1ne blew tered, but unfortun Mann Just barely managed to regain after tbree full-tbr ottle laps of anatter second place In the payUne as Bart ran 110OII demOllS1:rat1on ride. away with the checker ed tIar. Keith Mashbu rn, one of the bottest (Result s on page 20) s, was there, along Amateu r class hotshoe with so many assorte d racing talents thst fourteen el1m1nations were require d to reduce the field enough to bec1n the riders In the land to take Novlc. Fred (101r) Edwardl of Rlwrllde , Calif. bu18d the but new lIle Wedn..d~ nlpt Novlc. show on hi. Yamaha. THE RAIN DIDN'T HURT THE RHUBARB saturda y night at the Daytona Short Track races was present ed In the gOOd old Americ an, "kill the umpire " manner . Underst andably rattled after last night's Brelsto rd acciden t, the Harley- Davidso n team watcbed trom the fence as the barasse d Referee waved whatever tIars came to band, causing no end of contusion. It started In the second lap of the feature race with Dick Mann leading and Gene Romero second, when Ronnie Rail and Jim McMurr en tell. Both riders were up Immedi ately, but the starter, wanting to avoid a recurre nce of the Brelsfo rd mishap, went for the black flag and waved the c!lecker ed one by mistake . Contused, the racer s sbut oft and returned to the starting Une to see what was UP. "Resta rt, I I said the AMA officIals. But Rall and Bootle were theoret ically out of content ion. Thereupon erupted what sports writers love to refer to as a "rbuba rb". Brlgbtly clad riders, about a dozen AMA officials in their white unit 0 r m s and even tbree Jamaicans, Ju-t for added color, argued what to do next. If the tIar had indeed been black, as it should have beelr, there'd have been a s~ered start. So' that's bow they Uned up for the restart, In the order that they came across the finlsb Une: Mann flrst, and Rall at the rear. The tlag again waved and they were off. Rall unloaded agaln, but got up and continued about 3/4 of a lap behind. Mann was closing fast on bis Ossa and Rall, being the s~an that we all love to see, moved ovtr and let Mann pass to victory . T e ~ sbort track star Cbuck Southgate capture d third behind Gene Romero • A $100 match race between Barry Briggs and Rail had been promise d, and now the tans were on their feet call1llg tor It to begin. True to the showma n's creed, Barry borrowe d a two-stro ke that he was comple tely unfamil 1ar with and prompt ly lost the match to Mann and Rall. Althoug h tor two of the tbree laps you could have place a paper cup over the tbree of them. Mann was added to the matcb by popular demand. Maybe Bugay has managed to shake bis jinx. Only time will tell. (Result s on page 20) reeuIar program. In the first heat an inspired Dick Mann a scald1n g-bot Ossa held otrRall, who in t1IrD was barely ab1II to gift the raspberry to Florida 's Royal Scherb ert. The second beat was Marllitl be1llg held Reiman in a otl by road race ace R UCbt battle right to the clleeker ed flag. Chuck Pal m g r e n and Freddy Nix followed. Nationa l Champion Gary Nixon got defeated by Triump h teamma te Gene Romero wII1le Dallas Baker and Larry carr basaled over thlrd (Baker got it). That was heat number tbree. EWott Schultz started the fourth beat by dropp1llg bis mount, prompt ing Bob Hinkle to ret off bis motorcy cle in a spectac ular fasbion . On the restart, Schultz got a way badly, overdid it and weat down in front of Mark Brelsfo rd, who was alreadY commit ted to his turn. Mark bit SChultz's macblne and catapui ted 15 feet into the reta1n1ng wall. Fortunately his worst injury was a broken wrist, Sid Carlson was dsclare d the winner, followed by Muhbu rn, Jim Rice and Obio's Bob H1nkle. 011 Roml. Rail roally IIku to .lId., and nobody can do It btt18r lIlan th. balhful' Ohio Dairy ow",r. M.k "Isford looks like en outfl.ld " IDlne for a hlih fly. Actually h.'. lIallllllln . Into tile wall whll. ludll. hi ••hort track ev.nt as Sid Carl.n DlOtOrs around tile ecllon. lIrel.ford suffered a broken wrl.t and brul.... - of Dhlo, J 1m (lOY) Rice and H,,". Brelsford (numb" 17) In Ill. I.ad, with Bob (40) Hlnkl. of Cellfornla nlpplne at hi. htlls. K.ltII (30) Mashbwn n.w rider. In lb. land to take NoYlc. Fred (10lr) Edwardl of Rlv".ld ., Calif. bt.18d the btlt Iht W.dnuday nllht Novlc. show on his Yameha.