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/125794
eti gi c( (/) ~ w Z W ...J U >- U By Bob F. Read Time to get ready for the stretch run on the National circuit. Four riders will race it out to decide who will be the Grand National Champion this season. lt is a pleasan t tum of the wheel to see at least four riders rather than the usual two take the point race down to the wire. The four riders that are the contenders are Mark Brelsford for Harley·Davidson, Gary Scott, Triumph, Kenny Roberts, Yamaha, and Gene Romero, Triumph. The added flavor comes from the fact that Brelsford and Romero are the seasoned veterans while Scott and Roberts are first year rookie Experts. Of ·the four, only Romero bas ever tasted the wines of the Grand National Champion in previous years. Eight positives and one probable National race remain. Brelsford and Scott are running nose to nose with Roberts trying to hang in there and everybody waiting for Romero to make his normal late season charge. Gene has won a total of eight National races since 1968. Seven of those eigh t wins came in August or Spetember. Romero has either ranked first or second in the points at the end of the season the last three years in a row! Brelsford has seven National wins. Only one has come after the mon th of July. Of course, three of those scores have happened this year with Mark getting the full backing from his factory now that he is the only hope of the entire Harley team to regain the title that has gone to BSA and Triumph four of the last five years. Of the four contenders, Gary Scott ranks as the only privateer entry in the race for Number One. He has scored a few points on a factory backed Kawasaki and once on a Triumph road racer but the great majority have corn.e on his dealer·sponsored Triumph dirt machines and his privately-owned Yamaha road racer. If Scott can grab the title he will become the first rider to ever win the Number One plate without having full factory backinl{ and support for an entire' season. Being able to obtain one of those reliable Triumph Trident road racers for the final three pavement races of the year may be just the push he needs to get over the top. Scott is as good an all around racer as Brelsford or Romero and we give him the nod in the all around departmen t over Roberts. Harley. Triumph and Yamaha will battle it down to the final race whkh will be the 250 miler at Ontario, California on Sunday, October 1. The point title, barring injuries will be decided by two or more riders in that event. Count on it. Individual {'redictions now? Not yet, too many things have been known to happen with more than five or six races to run. For years the cry has been for the AMA to enforce their rules. All of the current ones are thought of and voted in by the Competition Congress. Many of the old bad ones have been thrown out, also by the congress. One publkatio n recen tly prin ted a short article giving the AMA mud in the eye for not allowing a rider to road race wi th non -approved tires. The only requirement to gain approval is for a company to submit them to the AMA. How difficult. How easy it is to slam without getting the facts. Another company, very well known in lightweight racing events, has not even bothered to submit racing models for approval - for three years. Yet they send two men to the congress every year. The AMA is npt always wrong but few ever bother to check and get their side of the story. It happens in more than just the competition realm. Biggest disappointment of the year was the IndianapoHs National road race. Promoter, Harry Kelly, was heard to say that he always wanted to put on a "private" event. He did, to the tune of about thirty thou, sO we are told. Too bad, as it was a first class promotion and far better than most of the current road races as far as before and during are concerned. Indiana is getting a blacker eye as Nationals have been tried in the past at Hammond, Terre Haute and Indy. 'AlI have fallen by the wayside. The only one that shows promise is the mile at the Indy Fairgrounds and it takes a State Fair to keep that one alive. What's wrong, Hoosiers? The fastest road race that will be run this year? It could be the first time non-national event at Charlotte, North Carolina in mid-September. The course is mostly the paved oval with a couple of twists that will take the riders on and off the straigh taways with a couple of bHnks of the eyes. Promoter is former car racer, Paul Goldsmith. Comments from the riders for the first time Laguna Seca Road Races was not all that favorable. Most felt that the sports car track was not buil t to give a rider in trouble any place to go if he got off the course. Mark Brelsford was one who supposedly stated that it was not his favorite place to try for the title. Kel Carru thers, the most experienced road racer in competi tion in America, has repeatedly made an excellent point. Kel cannot understand why any road race course has any low gear comers. Carruthers says this is not racinl{. We agree. Unlortunately, most of the present tracks that run Nationals do have at least one low gear tum. This may be due to the fact that Amateur sports car people lay them out. People want to see the fast go fast, not who is the most talented gear-shifter. Western National starter, Bob Malley, is still taking tumbling lessons and has stated that he will be able to do back flips halfway down the straightaway at Ontario by race time. The current starting procedures have cut down on "Bouncing Bob's" sometimes crowd-pleasing maneuvers. Atlanta fans can look forward to at least a request for a National Mile in Atlanta next year. Limited seating hurts the effort to pay a good purse and still make money. When was the last time the Southeast had a National? One of the last ones, a Half-mile, was an absolute dead tie for the win. There are still pictures around to prove it. How about 1948? NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. "i0. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.. 31. 32. 33. 34.... 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 1012 902 767 761 700 561 521 Mark Brelsford Hary scott Gene rRomero Kenny Roberts Jim Rice Chuck Palmgren Cal Rayborn Dick Mann John Hateley Mert Lawwill Eddie Mulder Gary Fisher Vvon DuHamel Mike Kidd Dave Sehl Mark Williams Rex Beauchamp Don Emde Kel Carruthers Don Castro Frank Glllespie Dave Hansen Ray Hempstead Dave Aldana Dave Sm;th Larry oarr Keith Mashburn Terry Dorsch Fred Guttner Chuck Joyner Gary Nixon Jimmy Odom Doug Sehl Mike Lane Ron Pierce Tad Sloan Gary Landry Charles Seale James Allen Mike Ninel SkiP Van Leeuwen 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 408 406 360 5l. 311 305 270 263 239 212 196 188 176 171 166 156 154 144 138 124 121 95 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 94 80 66 63 60 59 56 54 50 50 45 41 35 68. 69. 70. 7l. 72. 73. 74. r-:::::""l L.:::.J FULL STOCK IllfJE® 17 15 15 15 14 12 12 10 10 10 10 9 Robert E. Lee 9 9 Steve McLaughlin R. G. Wakefield Geoff Perry Dusty Coppage Ike Reed Robert Winters Jess Thomas Eddie Wirth Gene Brown Larry Schaeffer 78. 9 8 8 7 6 6 _5 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 Don Twigg Andre LeSCQutx Reg Pridmore 76. 77. 79. 80. 8l. 82. Douglas Libby Dave Damron Robert Ely us "STRONG" gtp~llIP MAICO PARII AI Kenyon Randy Scott James Dunn Frenchle LeBlanc Jim Jones Bill Eves Mike Haney Ron Moore George Kerker Bart Markel Ed Hermann Tom Rockwood Bob Bailey Paul Bostrom Joh n Samways Roger Ring 1831 ARTESIA BLVD.,GARDENA POWER ~I~??c~~iman 75. CA. 90247 PHONE (213) 3ZHJT31 Sponsoring Tim Hert 30 27 26 25 22 20 20 20 20 18 Ted Newton Conrad Urbanowski Duane McDaniels Larry Palmgren Marty Lunde Ronnie Rail X 2 48-2850 A't13ches 10 Front or Rear Fnmes of Any • CAR • TRUCK • TRAILER IS THE lAY IT IS! I I ~~ E·Z ..... ON/Off LOAD RAMP' loading Ramp Telling you about Chain Spray won't prove a thing. 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