Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• ANN BIEAKS ON DUSTY CIRCUIT Rayborn Wins Livonia 20 (Minus 6) - Miler LIVONIA, MICH., Aug. 8, 1971 "W;,en the dust settled" has long been a term used by writers to say "When the race was over." Today, however, that cliche had to take on a new meaning as the 20-Lap AMA National Mile was shortened to 14 laps after the race had been hal ted after seven laps because of... you guessed it, too much dust. Visibility in tum four was reduced to about two feet for riders caught in the middle of the pack. Nothing really seemed to work all day. Practice was scheduled to begin about 9 a.m., but it was held off until 11 so that the track could be better prepared and watered. Despite the concern for the riders' safety, many of the 20,000 spectators lodged their complaints for the delay with occasional boos. The en tire Motown area hasn't received very much rain recently, and the normally tacky surface had really dried hard and dusty. Relentlessly, the officials dumped water on the surface and finally things got underway. Cal Rayborn is the only man to ever have gone 265 mph, but today his "not as streamlined" Harley-Davidson could only crank out a 95 mph with a clocking of 41.02 about the mile oval. Yet, this was still good enough to set fastest time during qualifications and set the note that he was the man to beat. Dick Mann, who was edged out of the number one position in the point standings a week ago in the controversial running of the semi main at the Corona National, was not out here for nothing as he recorded second fastest tin1e. Through the process of the heat races and semi, the Main Event finally got its riders lined up on the still dusty course. The top four riders currently in pursuit of the National Championship each held a berth in the Main. Also included in the list of riders were aU three of the Palmgren bothers - Chuck, Larry and Dennis - a rare occurrence indeed, especially for a National. The track had seemed to have improved during tI1e course of the day's usage, but as the 20-man National took. off, the dust just became unmanageable, BOHN LEADS AMA NATIONAL ENDURO STANDINGS_ A revised tabulation of tI1e AMA National Championship Enduro Point Standings indicates that Pittsburg's Ron Bohn leads the 1971 championship race as of Aug. 1, the AMA reports. Bohn, riding a Swedish Husqvarna, has compiled an in1pressive record of 148 points through consistently good performances in the 10 National Championship Enduros that have been run to date. Bob Fusan, Bohll's companion from Pittsburgh, started the season off as a serious contender, winning three of the championship events. However, his faifure to collect points in six otl1er events drops him to fourth place in the standings with 98 points. Second is Nonnan Ford of Port Gibson, New York, with 112 points, followed by Lorain, Ohio's John Penton, former Grand National Champion. Penton, now In semi-retirement, has won more . championship enduro events than any other man, and held tI1e AMA Enduro Grand National Championship plate in 1970, having won it during the 1969 season. Current defending Grand National Champion Jack McLane of Port Huron, Michigan, has not yet earned a spot in the top twenty, having failed to enter many of 1971 's events. ENDURO POINT STANDINGS 1. Ron 8oh" Hus 2. Norman Ford Hus 3. Jonn Penton Hus 4. Robert Fusan Hus S. Bob Puckett Bul 6. Ed Schmidt Hus 7. Bud Howseman Nor 8. Richard Chase Yam 9. William Kain Hus 10. Buck Walsworth Oss 11. Jim Crawford Kaw 12. John Fisher Hus 13. David Evans OSs 14. Dallas Nichols Kaw 15. Vern Street Hus 16. Ray Kussmaul Pen 17. Max Bubeck Hod 18. Robert Brooks Hus 19. Thomas Penton Pen 20. Jack Shool Yam 148 112 102 98 93 78 60 40 37 35 32 32 30 30 30 28 24 21 20 20 leading to the halt after lap seven. The water truck made yet anotl1er appearance, eliciting thunderous disapproval from the grandstand. A conference was held between AMA officials and it was finally decided to cut the main down to 14 laps. They lined tI1e riders up in the positions they held at the red flag and began sending them off, again. Rayborn left first, followed by Chuck Palmgren, Mann, Dave Sehl and Gene Romero. Mann was having mechanical troubles and had made some hasty adjustments before the restart and was holding down third until lap 12 when his motor expired, leaving him 18th in the shortened main. Rayborn continued to hold his lead and finally led the field home to collect his share of the $9000 purse as well as a $100 check from Cycle News for displaying his Stickie on his fender. Chuck Palmgren garnered second ahead of Sehl and Romero. The fourth by Romero strengthened his lead over Mann in the points race, and Mann now has to look over his shoulder as last year's number two rider, Jim Rice, is creeping closer to regaining that spot with his fifth place finish today. Jim Odom, fourth in the standings to Rice, picked up 12th place points today to' retain his possible title shot. Sehl's third returned him to the top ten with a 333 total, just seven points al1ead of eighth place Eddie Mulder, who finished 14th. This dropped road race specialist Kel Carruthers down to nintl1, just al1ead of John Hate1ey, Don Castro (20th) and Don Emde. Castro had trouble even making it to the main. Earlier, he pulled a wheelie coming out, but it appeared that he tried to grab another gear and it became a lovely back llip instead. He redeemed himself in the Semi by passing Odom on the front straight to get the victory and transfer. Bart Markel showed up for his third National attempt and looked very fast before lunching a piston in his heat race. In the Junior class, Carl LeBlanc and Ken Roberts set fastest qualifying times with 42.21 and 42.70 respectively and both in turn won their heats and faced off brilliantly in the main. LeBlanc appeared to be in control for most of the race, but Roberts finally edged by in the closing laps to gobble up yet another win. Gary Scott, who has had many fine battles witl1 Roberts, remained on the West Coast for some half-mile action and is not expected to follow the circuit for the rest of the season. He will, however,- parti",ipate at his home track at Ascot Park, Gardena, Calif., in the September Half-Mile National-lhere. AMA NATIONAL MILE Livonia, Mich. Aug. 8, 1971 EXPERT MAIN Cal Rayborn H·D Chuck Palmgren Yam Dave Sehl H-D Gene Romero Tri Jim Rice BSA Larry Darr .......•........... H-D John Weaver BSA Ted Newton Tri Ronnie Rail Tri Larry Palmgren Tn Keith Mashburn Jin10dom Yam Dennis Palmgren Tri Eddie Mulder .......•.......... Tri Tom Rockwood Tri Rex Beauchamp H-D Charles Seal Dick Mann BSA Ron Butler Tri Don Castro Tri JUNIOR FINAL Ken Roberts ............•.... Yam Carl LeBlanc Tri Neal Blochinger BSA Harry Wynns .........•........ 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