Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

:ALDANA TRIES TRIUMPH·· TRIUMPHANTL Y u GARDENA, CALIF., Oct.- 9, 1970 o The usual opening night jitters seemed ~ to come on the final night under the w ligh ts for the professional half-milers. If ~ anything, the track was too fast for the ..J many riders that have been [acing at ~ least once a week all over the nation for (,) the past seven or eight months. For the first time ever the trophy dash was made up of riders who ALL timed in the select 22 second bracket. Even the first alternate clocked a whizzing twenty two - and still did not make the dash lineup. Jody Nicholas cut the fastest time trial lap of the year before defeating his teammate, Paul Conserriere in the heat race. Dave Aldana, showing up on a Triumph for the rlrSt time, had to come from behind to top Yamaha mounted Dan Haaby who has been out with a tweaked ankle for the past month. Mel Lacher outlasted Tom Rockwood in the third and final heat race. Nicholas nipped Aldana at the finish line in a close one for the trophy dash win. John Hateley was third with Lacher running fourth. The weekly battle of the Nortons vs. the Triumphs found Norton still holding at intermission qme. Time trials started the fast ball rolling and it - continued to get faster with Hateley missing a new amateur heat race record by 1/100th of a second as he topped Oklahoma winner Don Emde. The Novice final had Kenny Roberts trying too hard to overtake Gary Scott. Roberts nearly took the wall on the rlrSt lap and then came around on the second to smack the boards full bore. His machine bounced towards the middle of the track and fast improving Lairy Stiles hit it dead center. Stiles vaulted high in the air and did an end over end in front of the stands. Surprisingly enough, both riders later walked to their respective pit spots. The Experts got th.eir fair share of action when first Frank Gillespie tried a long run at the comer that sent dirt over the wall and fearless Frank nearly through it. He finally brought it back into the groove. Then Tom Rockwood got into one of his rare moments of trouble. The Ascot point leader did ..... end over end in the rmal going on the backstretch. Tommy jumped up and was over the wall before the black flag came out but the machine Was bent from end to end and out of action. Scott went on to win the Novice final after the [e-start. The win again brough t the Novice point battle down tight and the overall point winner will not be decided until the final race. Loyal Penn, the 250 winner the previous two weeks, could pull no better than third, behind Earl Barker. Hateley again won the Amateur rmal with Emde again running second. Terry Dorsch was third with Chuck Hart running in for fourth place in the ten lap yeUow plate final. Now a few words about the Expert final. After the Rockwood tlip, the riders were brought back for a single me re-1ltart with Nicholas up front. Flying rC-1ltarts are supposed to rmd the leader bringing the riders around at a slow to. moderate speed with a quick twist of the throttle AFTER the leader hits the starting line. • AU riders were advised of this prior to the restart. Yet here came J ody at full throttle and far too fast over the official order. The starter, who has had more downs than ups this season, dropped the flag, with Nicholas and Aldana holding a big early lead. The two were to battle all the way with some not so funny happenings. J ody held the lead the first five laps. Then Aldana took over for the next We have three American riders in America's motocross classics. We think they're the best in the country John DeSoto and Brad Lackey will ride the Inter-Am Series. John got off to a flying start at Elkhorn, taking the top American spot. Jim Wilson, the newest member of the C:Z team, will ride the Trans-AMA. ~ AMERICAN JAWA L TO., 3745 Overland Ave., Los Angeles 90034 - (213) 838-7349 seven rounds. Along the way Aldana caught Jody Nichols when his N orton crashed into the back straightaway wall so hard he bounced off and flew all the way into the infield! Back he carne to again catch Aldana, or was Dav.e trying for two? A t any rate Jody led as the riders started the final lap. Then Aldana took the lead away to go on for his second Ascot Main Event win of the year. While the action was hot and controversial up front, Mel Lacher and his Norton supplied his own type in the early laps. Twice he tried to comer without shutting the throttle off. The manuever nearly sent him straight through the boards. A cooler head and looser throttle hand eventually gave hirr a 7th place in the action. Mark Brelsford returned from the Oklahoma National win to win the semi and then take a distant third in the action packed final. One more half mile will be run at Ascot this season. The date will be announced in the near future. It will give all of the top guns a chance to cool down and get their equipment ready for one more assault. (Results on page 22) Ascot Finale To Brelsford By Maureen Lee GARDENA, CALIF., Oct. 10, 1970 The last TT of the season turned into a run-away for Mark Brelsford. There was just no catching that hot Harley of his. He had the pole for his heat race, took the lead and Skip Van Leeuwen (Tri) just couldn't catch up to him. It was the fas test heat of the two Expert qualifying races. Eddie Mulder won the other and it looked like it might be his lucky night as his machine was running perfectly. The Trophy Dash was an all Expert affair, with Mulder getting one of his famous fast starts and Brelsford right on his heels. Mike Haney (Tri) feU off and Brelsford waited until they got to the left-hander onto the back straight and then just ducked under Mulder and it was adios. Mulder let it aU out but you could see the sheer speed of the Harley was greater. Van Leeuwen carne in for third. There was a re-start of the main after a couple of the guys tangled and Van Leeuwen popped into the lead with Brelsford second, Mulder third, and coming on very strong, Haney. Brelsford got by Van Leeuwen and then Mulder nailed him. Haney feU off again on the turn after the jump but got it up and running again to finish in sixth place, behind Larry Wilburn and Tom Rockwood. After the early passing took place, you could say that race turned into a procession which can get pretty boring to watch. John Hateley was the Amateur winner after winning his heat although he had to work for it a bit to get around Tom Clark in the heat. Don Emde on a BSA was second fonowed in by Stu Posey and Sany Armstrong, both on Triumphs. As with the Experts, this main also developed into quite a procession. The Novices provided the crowd with some of the tightest racing. Montesa mounted Ken Roberts and arch rival Gary Scott on his Bultaco both won their respective heats with Roberts' time being the best. Northern California rider Matt Falconer on a Bid took the third one. The semi got pretty exciting as usual with Ray Vanderpool just flat sailing to win it, with Sal Peluso and Ron Moore being the other two riders to transfer to the main. Roberts won the main, getting a pretty Rood edge over Scott and Chuck Gann. Saturday's action f'mished the flat-track and TT action for a while but according to Ascot's Stu Peters a general up-grading of more diversified racing will be upcoming, including events when cars and motorcycles will be running on the same day so that fans can get a look at what each half of the racing world is doing at the same time. (Results on page 22)

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