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/125669
.... - By Dewitt Thuett GARDENA, CALIF. April 23, 1970 Dusty Coppage, riding the new Yamaha. 650, found his way into the winner' s circle for the tt r s t ti me this year Thursday night, becoming the fl!th dl!ferent Expert Main winner of the young TT season at As cot Park, as well as the first P r ofe ssional to score a victory on the recently approved big Twin twostroke. The big break for Coppage came befor e the half way mark in the final, when Mark Br elsfo r d, Ascot' s only two ti me TT winner thi s year, broke a Magneto, while running in fro nt of Coppage and point lead er , Skip Van Lee uwen. The Brelsford Harley Spor ts te r rolled to a stop on the front s traig ht, and it was a brand new chase between Skip and Dusty. Coppage jumped at the chanc e to become the first rider to eve r win an Expert final aboard the new 650 and actually stretched Van Leeuwen mor e after Br elsford dropped out. Van Leeuwen's Tr iumph had been sent ahead for the long Sacramento race scheduled on Sunday, and Skip was aboard a borrowed machine. Eddie Mulder got caught trying to jump the Starter for one of the fe w times in his colorful career and had to start from the r ow three peanlty line. Eddie then charged harder than he has in many a year to work his way up behind rook ie Don Dudek, who gave Mulder his second surprise of the event and r efus ed to give gr ound. Dudek hel d all the way to s cor e a well earned and sur pris ing third over the vet eran Mulder, who knows the track llke the back of his hand . Dave Aldani, and Keith Mashburn r eturned to action, with both being r egula ted to the s emi-main fr om the heat races. Aldana had things under control and looked llke the winner in the semi. '0 On the yellow flag lap, however, Dave g locked into four th gear, and failed to 8" negotiate the tight, south-end turn. He ~ ended up on the outside, half- mile track, and was out of contention for the r est of )5' the evening. Mashburn then took over g to win. 0; Keith came up with tgnttion troubles f,l on his Yamaha in the final and dropped ~ to the back. Amateur John Hatel ey found the going tough, but not too tough to keep from ( Conti nued on p age 16) a: Dusty Coppage leaps the new Yamaha 650 high over the Ascot jump on h is way to the l irst pro T.T. win lo r t he new machine. '0 ~ ~ ~ ern o .., co ~ co Mert (1) Lawwl ll brought the Ascot ride to Its reet In a race long catch-up race with Tom (38) Rockwood. Mert got oIllourth ahd Inche d h is way up belore z ipp ing past Tommy In the last laps. MERT CATCHES ·TOM ON HALF-MILE By Dewitt Thuett GARDENA, CALIF . April 24, 1970 Anything can happe n once. It it happends twice, you know you have something going. It happened again at As cot on F r iday night, when the big guns of all professional racing, the halt mllers, rolled them to the line. Mert .La wwill's 750 Harley and Tom Rockwood's 650 Triumph went at it for the second week running. This time, it was even better and even closer than the opener the previous week. Mert and Tom were the fastest two qual1fiers by a country mile, each winning their respective heat races with Uttle pressure fr om the rest of a well seasoned group of riders. Mert. cam e into the Trophy Dash looking for his 5th straight win and he got it over Rockwood, Mel Lach er and Dave Aldana. The crowd seemed to sense what was com ing in the 15 lap final. Rockwood shot off the line, blew Dewayne Keeter off in quick time and set sail toward becoming the fir s t to s top Mert at Ascot this year. Mer t was a close four th, dueling with Aldana for third. In one swoop, Lawwill head ed aU both Aldana and Keeter and was now second, in a rider reversal of last week's Rockwood-chasing-Laww1ll battle. From then on, one of the greatest displays of 90 mph riding and sllding took place. Lawwill foll owed Rockwood into the turns, with both riders pitching their machines full throttle. Mert came in too hot twice and ate the "Roos te r Tail" dirt thrown by the Kid fr om Gardena. Lawwill has had things pretty much his own way at Ascot during his early and late season appearances the past two or (Continu ed on page 16)