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/125666
.... Story by Bob Sanfor d Photos by Bob Sanford and Terry Pratt -~ "'"t:a: This Is tho race that Ran won. But n'ot before this lengthy duel with Oa.. Smith, and an earlier bait Ie with Suzuki teammate, Art Baumann. Grant, constantly pressed throughout tho contest, managed to keep his cool for 125 miles at speeds reaching 160 mph . into the front straightaway. The ex-jet pilot said later that he di dn't know what had happened. The fir s t thing he remembered was somebody trying to wake hJm uP. He apparently wasn't seriously injured, but was out of the runn1ng for the rest of the day . BSA-Triumph also had a commendable day, placing four riders in the top ten . Along with Nixon and Aldana, team Triumph r id er s Gene Romero and Don Castro powered their three cylinder ·Tridents into 7th and 8th r espectively • Nixon, who has been out of action with a broken leg for eight months, said his arms grew tired in hJs nip and tuck race with DuHamel. The Phoenix, Md. pro pointed out that the li ghter, less powerful Yamaha was out braking the big Triumph in the turns. But, he said, the powerful Trident had the advantage on the straigh t s ections . An independent Kawasaki rider, Dave Smith, looked very impressive in the waning moments of the race. Although one lap behJnd, Smith took over Baumann's r ole , racing Grant every ineb of the way through the final nine laps . After the race, the young Lakewood, Calif. EJlI)eri said that he had s tarted the weekend with new tir es. But because of the wet track, he couldn' t scuff the m enough for proper traction. He had even tried a file, but it was n' t until the trackhad started drying in the late af te r noon that he was able to obtain the des ired degree of r oughness. In what was described by man as rather typical Sea tile wea ther , the temperature lev eled off at around 50 deg r ees, and very li ght showers fell sporatically from dawn ' til dark. Th e track in clined to puddle, and brooms a nd a convoy of ears were us ed to dissipate the water. This was def initely not Ya maha Inte rnational' s day to s hine, as Dusty Coppage was the only team member to fi nish the race, ending up a dis tant 19th. As with all two-strokes, Inclemenl wea the r caus es tuning difficulties, and, among many, many othe r pr oble ms the boys in ye llow an d black apparently could not s eem to arrive al a workable solution. - In anutshell, here ' s how it went: - 1s t Qualify ing heat. Yamaba mounted Dan Haaby jumped off in the lead, but by the fi r s t turn , Art Baumann had edged Into the front. Don Emde had trouble s tarting his Yamaha and was several hundred yards behind the pac k. Cal Rayborn was In s ec ond. Rayborn grabbed the lead in the second lap, and Baumann hel d on 10 second. On the thi rd Iap, Rayborn had inc r eased ( Conti nued on page 16)