Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

RECAP Con,'d The second half of the race again saw Nixon jump into the lead with Cooper running a close second and DuHamel coming up fast from the middle of the field to take over third at the end of the sixth lap. Then it happened. Cal Rayborn, who had been in and out of the pits all day long, ?r0pped a gush of oil on turn eigh t, a sweeping sharp left-hander. The next time the leaders came around they started a chain reaction crash never before seen in road racing. Nixon went down. Ron Grant went down. DuHamel went flying over the bars. Dick Mann baled off. Dave Aldana was right along with him. Altogether a total of seven riders, mostly front runners, hit the dirt to the outside of the turn. None of the riders were injured and all remounted at one time or another and limped into the pits. At this point Cooper took over with Kel Carru thers and Gene Romero close behind. Romero had crashed in the first even t and was far down the Olympic scoring list but was out to salvage money and points. At this point in the race it also looked like Mann would be out of it and there was a slim chance for Gene to retain the number one title. Romero· took the lead from Cooper on the 14th lap and started moving out, leaving the Englishman and the Aussie to battle for second. Then on lap 27 Romero came to a halt on turn 20 with a broken throttle cable and that was his last role at the "Big 0" as a serious challenger as Mann was back on the track and running at competitive speed. From Gu> 27 to the finish it was a two rider duel that had been typical of all of the cycle road racing at Ontario since the frrst even was run on Friday afternoon. How many times the lead changed, nobody knows as everybody lost count. Cooper and Carruthers were never more than a few lengths apart with first one and then the other in the lead. In the final stages it was Carruthers turn as he led across the line in front the two laps prior to the finish. The two road racing specialists came JUNIOR MAIN 1. Kenny Roberts 2. Bill Schaffer 3. Keith Ulickl 4. Bob Ely TOP TEN STANOINGS 1. Dick Mann 2. Gene Romero 3. Jim Rice 4. Jim Odom 5. Kel Carruthers Dave Aldana 7. Don Emde 8. Mark Brelsford '" & .. '" ;:: Yam BSA H·D ell BSA 422 363 257 226 219 219 192 165 164 151 ' 9. Dave Sehl 10. John Hateley * The Annual Charity Newsies 20-Lap AMA Half-Mile National really got the headlines this year as Bart Markel succeeded where he failed a week earlier, picking up the win - his 28th of his career, one more than Joe Leonard. Markel grabbed the lead early and stretched it out to win handily over Don Castro, who had to play second fiddle for the second week in a row. RESULTS, H·O 1. Bart Markel 2. Don Castro 3. Joh n Ha teley 4. Ronnie Rail 5. Jim Rice 6. Ted Newton 7. Royal Sherbet 8. Larry Palmgren 9. Dave Aldana 10. Keith Mashburn 11. Cal Rayborn 12. Dave Sehl JUNIOR MAIN Tri Trl Tri BSA Trl BSA Tri BSA Yam H-O H-O Pts. 82 74 67 61 56 52 49 46 43 40 37 34 Trl 1. Ga ry Scott 2. Kenny Roberts Yam 3. Carl LeBlanc TOP TEN STANDINGS BSA 422 363 313 262 226 219 218 213 198 192 1. Dick Mann 2. Gene Romero 3. Jim Rice 4. Dave Aldana 5. Jim Odom 6. Kel Carruthers 7. John Hateley 8. Don Castro 9. Dave Sehl 10. Don Emde * San Jose, Calif., July 5 Sonny Burres has a private audience with Dick Mann - complete with acting and dialog. The AMA circuit finally reached the West Coast and with the return to more familiar grounds, Gene Romero got things clicking and ended Jim Rice's long-time domination at the San Jose Fairgrounds. It was Romero's first National wit> of the season and to get it he had to fend off the charges of Nick Theroux early and Eddie Mulder and Rice later. RESULTS, Pt,. 82 74 67 61 56 52 49 46 43 40 37 34 Trl 1. Gene Romero 2. Eddie Mulder 3. Jim Rice Tri BSA H-D Tri 4. Mark Brelsford 5. Nick Theroux 6. Dave Sehl 7. Jim Odom 8. Dave Hansen 9. Dave Smith 10. Allen Kenyon 11. Dusty Coppage 12. Dick Mann H-O Yam Trl Tri BSA Yam BSA JUNIOR MAIN 1. 2. 3. 4. Yam Gary Kapus Bill Morgan Harry Dring Randy Scott Tri BSA Tri TOP TEN STANOINGS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 456 445 380 275 262 250 226 219 218 213 Dick Mann Gene Romero Jim Rice Jim Odom Dave Aldana Dave Sehl Mark Brelsford Kel Carruthers John Hateley Don Castro . Kent, Wash., July 11 The girls drill team warms up in the garage area. Warm UP. indeed. Saturday. it was so cold that several riders were stiff when the Jr/Ex. race was briefly halted due to a heavy rain. Sunday. it still wasn't a shirt·sleeve day as threatening clouds hung over the Big "0". Gary Nixon had his best day of the entire season. If he hadn't spilled in turn 8 of the second heat along with six other fellows, he would have had a good shot at overall. ,- ~ Some re-unions and getting acquainted time: From left - Norton representative listens in to Mark Brelsford, Bruce Brown, Mert Lawwill and Barry Sheene. ou t of the last turn with Ke1 in front by five lengths. Cooper made his bid on the straighaway and the two were side by side five yards from the finish. The rest if history with the first photo finish in the annals of American road racing. The fron t running two were far ahead of the rest of the top runners and it was a great season finale for Cooper, who defeated Agostinj two straigh t times before heading for American to win the biggest road race ever. Cooper took home nearly $20,000 in purse money, lap prize money and contjngency awards. He blew an additional $1,000 by not getting to the USA in time to get a new set of Bates Leathers but did pick up the folding green from Champion and Bell and many others that had posted money under the AMA program rules and regulations. Ron Grant and Art Baumann got the Suzukis in for third and fjfth place with Dave Sm.ith, teammate to Carruthers, running in fourth. Mann was awarded nin th place, a bjg cushion over Romero who finished in 24th. DuHamel never came back out of the pits after his crash and was 20th in the It began four weeks earljer, the. Dick Mann-Kel Carruthers show, and it continued at the tOO-Mile AMA National Road Race at Kent, won the year before by Ron Grant, This year, Mann won, but not after a fantastic duel wjth Kel for all of the race, At the end, Dick Mann leaned over to Carru thers in the winner's circle and smiled, "A 100 mjles used to be a long way until you came here, KeL" RESULTS, BSA 1. Dick Mann 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Kel Carruthers Don Emde Gene Romero Walt Fulton Mark Brelsford Jody Nicholas Art Baumann Dave Smith Jim Rice Ralph White Jim Odom Yvon DuHamel Ron Pierce Cliff earr Don Castro Tom Rockwood Mark Williams Dave Damron 20. Hurley Wilvert 50 MILE JR/EX. 1. Kel Carruthers 2. Cal Rayborn 3. Dick Hammer 4. Jerry Greene TOP TEN STANOINGS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Dick Mann Gene Romero Jim Rice Jim Odom Kel Carruthers Mark Brelsford Don Emde Dave Aldana Dave Sehl Don Castro * ~ " 0 ~ w Z W ..J (.) ~ (.) Columbus, Ohio, June 27 .

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