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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125793
o " g ~ ... N '" -' g « '" ;: w Z W ...J U > U By Art Friedman Phoros by Buzz Baty, Chuck Clayton, Tom Culp, Bob Lenk, John Bethea, Ed Drechsler, and Friedman MONTEREY, CAL.,June 23,1972 - It appeared as though the "Kawasaki Superbike Lnternational" 1'25 Mile National road race was going to be a head-to-head bettie between Yvon DuHamel on a Team Hansen Kawasaki and Cal Rayborn on a factory alloy Harley-Davidson. Calvin won the first heat by a comfortable margin, and Yvon won his by a smaller margin but posted a faster time in the process to get the pole position for the National. Also on the front row were Gary Fisher, Kenny Roberts, and Kel Carruthers, all on Yamahas. To win, Yvon was going to have to pull ou t enough of a lead to compensate for the. gas stop that his Kawasaki needed and Cal's H-D didn't. When the flag dropped Yvon hurtled away with his teammate Gary Nixon on his tail. Close behind were Rayborn, Fisher and Roberts. Mert Lawwill· (H-D) led the second wave. DuHamel went to work pulling out his lead immediately. Through turns two and three he moved away from his pursuers. Then as he exited turn four, his Kawasaki quit on one cylinder. He looked down for a moment and ran off course. His machine hit something and was pitched back onto the course into the path of the 50 bike, 100 mph charge. Roberts, who was right behind, said "I knew it was going to be bad." It was. The Kawasaki spun and bounced along the track leaving bits and pieces in· its wake. Dick Mann smashed-iRto it and went down. Cliff Carr and Jerry Christopher followed him into the wreckage. Gary Nixon bobbled and then got going again. Amazingly, no one else crashed and no one was seriously hurt. From the melee emerged a new leader: Gary Fisher. Right on his rear wheel was another upstart, Kenny Roberts: Rayborn had been forced to get on the brakes, but was in third at the end of the fiTst lap. Paul Smart (Kaw) was fourth. As the pack screamed in to the second lap, James Dunn crashed in tum one, a blind ve fast left-hander. His"bike was nearly destroyed and he was taken to the hospital where last reports showed him off the critical list. Nixon came by sounding very poor. LawwiU was beginning to drive, but then feU and retired. Until he did he passed a lot of people. On lap four Cal ou t-braked Kenny for tum nine and moved in to second, and then Calvin went to work on Gary who was doing wheelies out of tum nine. Lap by lap he closed the gap. Nixon came by running righ t again. The people who were involved in the crash walked back to the pits about this time: Mann looking very tired, Christopher and. Carr looking a little angry, and DuHamel looking very, very dejected. On lap 18 Calvin caugh t Fisher and took over the lead. Two laps later Cal turned his fastest lap at one minute, 14.775 seconds for a 91.44 m h lap Calvin was the man to beat-and nobody CQuld. Bugs and Burrito swap strategies. Bugs crashed. Gene was second. speed. Fisher pulled off a tear-off shield between turns eight and nine and missed his braking point which was what Paul Smart needed to slip in to second spot. Geof Perry was running near the fron t but he now retired with a flat tire. Calvin had an 11 second lead. Fisher no'w developed clutch problems and fell back and eventually pitted for several laps. Roberts was in third and began to stalk Smart. Gary Nixon pitted to fix a windshield broken in a crash. At the halfway point Smart pitted for gas along with Mike Lane (Yam) who was running sixth. Rayborn lapped Don Emde. Somewhere in here Roberts hit a slower rider and broke his front brake lever in tum nine. 'Fhe orde.r was now Rayborn (way out there), Roberts, Smart, and Kel Carruthers (Yam). The stinger on one of Smart's chambers on his Seeley Kawasaki fell off and his bike went off key. Chuck Palmgren came in with clutch problems. Frank Gillespie, who was on a Yamaha (not a Norton or Triumph) for this race, got off of it in tum six. The star of the last third of the race was Gene Romero - the Great Mexican Hope to the Triumph camp. Boy, was Burrito charging! He zapped Carruthers and the slowing Smart. He took over second when Roberts pitted for gas and then pulled away from everybody except Rayborn. Nobody was going to catch Rayborn. He had a 22 second lead and just kept opening it up. It began to look like . Calvin was closer to the leaders than they were to him. Mike Lane (Yam) came up from the back of the class to fifth. Mark Brelsford was looking good after his early three-lap stop to pump up a low . front tire. Carruthers pitted for gas just as Cal would have caught him. Calvin, and that Harley really shine. It went like that to the flag. Calvin, Burrito, and that first year Expert, Roberts. Calvin won it going away and taking it (or so it looked) easy. He got a kiss from Nicole Morin (she's a French Canadian actress and it makes winning worthwhile), some champagne, and got a good deal of prize money. NOVICE 50-MILER (26 LAPS) Kenny put out a fast; consistent ride for third._ The Novice heat races held a Jot of promise for the coming of a new order of things. This class has been dominated at previous Nationals by John Long. Up until now he has ridden his own Yamaha road racer, but for Laguna Seca he was on a 350 sinl!:le prepared by Team Hansen, the ~awasaki racing organization. He waJked away with his heat, and it looked as though we were going to see something besides a Yamaha in the top slot, particularly since Pat Evans has withdrawn from racing. Yamaha has won every 250 class AMA road race for years upon years, you see. The possibility of a non-Yamaha victory were increased when the second heat was won by Ralph Hudson on a