ex>
•
Ii'
"-
M
....
'"
U
Nixon and Carr (26) raced together for almost the entire distance and when all was said and done they finished one-two.
MONTEREY, CAL., JULY 29
"I think my luck's changed. I
really· feel great," said Gary
Nixon, as he climbed off his bike
after winning. the Kawasaki
Superbike International at Laguna Seca
for Kawasaki.
For several years Gary has been
dogged 'by a string of bad luck. Last
year he led just about every National
road race until his bike broke. This year
he got hooked up with Irv Kanemoto
who has made Nixon's bikes stop
breaking, and Gary has now won his
second pavement National in a row.
It was almost as though Kawasaki
had written the script for the National.
Nixon was pictured on all the pre-race
promotional posters, T-shirts. and
programs. CBS chose him to follow
around for four days prior to the race.
It couldn't have been better if it was
planned.
The first heat saw Kawasaki riders
take the first three spots. Rider-tuner
Hurley Wilvert took the initial lead until
supplanted by' Cliff Carr and Art
Baumann.
In the second heat Kawasaki had to
settle for only the first two spots as
Yvon DuHamel set fast time, followed
by Gary Nixon. Paul Smart (Suz) had an
easy win in the Semi.
The start of the 75 mile Main was a
long green parade. DuHamel shot into
the lead and began to pull away, He was
followed by Cliff Carr who soon gave
way to Gary Nixon.
There were six Kawasakis in the race
and by lap 3 they filled the first six
spots! Behind Carr, Art Baumann settled
down to ride a smooth, safe race. He
was followed by Masahiro (U Flash")
Wada, the Japanese champion. Hurley
Wilvert was sixth, but he didn't last
long. One cylinder spit out a spark plug,
threads and all.
The first non-Kawasaki was Gary
Scott (Tri), who was holding off three
more prominent road racers: British star
Peter Williams, Isle of Man winner and
point leader (with DuHamel) in the
Anglo-American Easter series; Cal
Rayborn; and Kenny Roberts.
Rayborn must be getting horribly
frustrated, He started in the front row,
but you could see the horsepower
difference as the pack went into the
first turn. Cal was dry-gulched. He was
riding the wheels off that Harley just to
keep up. It's amazing how much ground
he can make up in turns. But no matter,
he loses it on the straight.
Kenny Roberts went past Cal, and
then passed Williams to go to work on
Scott. Kenny is a- be tter road racer and
got around.
Nixon again at Laguna 8eca
Kawasaki one-two in their own race
By lap 8 DuHamel was in to traffic,
going away but not doing anything
scary. KeJ Carruthers, Don Emde, and
Ron Pierce reured their Yamahas as
Nixon pulled out slightly from Carr in
traffic. Then Carr puUed back up
behind Nixon again a few laps later. The
order was now DuHamel with an eight
second lead, followed by Nixon, Carr,
Baumann, Roberts, Scott, Williams,
Wada (who was fading with a sour
engine), Smart, and Rayborn. Steve
Baker arrived on Rayborn's tail to start
hounding him.
Flash Wada went in and out of the
pits hoping to improve his engine, and
Paul Smart retired wi th a blown trans.
Meanwhile, Jim Evans and Steve
McLaughlin were having a terrific scrap
for what was then the 12th spot. They
changed positions every couple of laps.
As he lapped David Aldana, Yvon
was leading a four bike Kawasaki
parade. one of the four seemed to be
berserking it, but Nixon was picking up
ever so slightly on DuHamel.
Meanwhile, back in seventh, Peter
Williams, who would eventually finish
fifth, was joined by Steve Baker, who
had passed Rayborn. Baker, a rookie
Expert whose youthful looks
(heightened by braces on his teeth) belie
his prowess on a motorcycle, was
eventually able to motor away from t1:le
smooth Englishman, who was having a
little bit of trouble with his John Player
Norton.
In the last six laps, everything
changed. DuHamel's bike had been
smoking, and Nixon had closed the gap
down to almost two seconds at times.
But Yvon developed another problem.
A gas leak lubed his rear tire, giving him
a certain lack of traction. He said that
the rear tire was even spinning as he
accelerated up the hill from turn 4.
Then in the corkscrew, Yvon crashed.
"Rayborn was in front of me. I gassed it
as usual and ...bam!" The slippery tire
got him. This po. t Gary Nixon in the
lead. Carr had begun to close slightly on
Nixon again, but about the same time
that Yvon crashed, Carr's rear brake
system developed a leak. Besides giving
him no rear brake, the leak lubed his
rear tire with fluid. When he saw
DuHamel down and realized that he was
in second, Carr 'backed off. No sense in
losing it now, he decided.
If Kawasaki was disappointed at
seeing their train shortened, Yamaha
was crushed. Their only remaining fron t
runner, Kenny Roberts (Gary Fisher
had crashed in practice, breaking a
coUarbone), broke a chain and retired,
moving his rival for the National
Championship, Gary Scott, into fourth
followed by Baker.
But the real heartbreaker was
Baumann. Holding third now, a
comfortable distance behind Carr, Art
had ridden a th'oughtful, consistent race,
taking it smooth and easy, and looking
for a good team showing. Art even
seemed to stay clear of traffic. He made
no mistakes and took no unnecessary
chances, but that didn't save him.
Two laps from the end someone in
the Kawasaki pits asked, "Where's Art?"
Sure enough, no Baumann.
His ignition system had failed,
stopping the bike cold. But the
incredible will that drives the man, the
same will that at another time has made
him go so fast that he's crashed, was still
pushing him. From turn four, Baumann
pushed his bike up the long, steep hill to
the corkscrew, an exhausting task. But
it wasn't soon enough.
Meanwhile, the Evans-McLaughlin
battle continued, and their pace brought
them up on sixth place Cal Rayborn in
the closing laps. Evens slipped by, but
Rayborn held off McLaughlin. They
fmished sixth, seventh; and eighth.
In victory circle, the coolness of
Nixon was overwhelmed by the
jubilation of Carr, who sprayed
everyone with champagne, then
apologized. As announcer Larry
Huffman interviewed Nixon before
moving on to Carr, Cliff pondered,
"What do I say? I've never been here
before." Cliff ended two years of
frustration with his second; it was
refreshing.
Shy Gary Scott seemed almost
surprised to find himself sipping victory
champagne in his second straight road
race.
• .
Back in the pi ts Gary Nixon signed
autographs and looked thoughtful when
someone asked if he thought he could
be National Champion.
RESULTS
FIRST EXPERT HEAT: 1. Cliff Carr IKaw).
2. Art
Baumann
(Kaw).
3. Hurley Wilvert
I Kaw). 4. Steve Baker (Vam),
5. Gene
Romero
(Trl).
6. Ron Pierce
(Vam).
7. Conrad Urbanowskl (Vam). 8. Jim Evans
(Vam).
9. Ron
Grant
(SUZ).
10. Kel
Carruthers (Yaml.
SECOND EXPERT HEAT: 1. Yvon DuHamel
(KiWI. 2. Gary NI)(on (Kawi. 3. Cal RaYbOrn
(H-D). 4. Gary Scott (Trl). 5. Mashlro Wada
(Kaw). 6. Kenny Roberts (Yam). 7. Peter
"williams (NOr). 8. John Hateley. 9. Steve
MCLaughlin (Vam). 10. Dick Mann (Trl).
EXPERT SEMI-FINAL: 1. Paul Smart (Suz).
2. Marty Lunde (Yam). 3. Doug Sehl (H·D).
4. W. Ring (Yam). S. George Miller (Vam).
6. Michael Cone (Yam). 1. Reg Pridmore
(BMW). 8. BOb Bailey (Tri). 9.Eddie Mulder
(Yam). 10. Eugene Brown (Vam).
RESULTS:
RE5ULTS
OF
EXPERT
MAIN-UNOFFICIAL: 1. Gary Nixon (Kaw).
2. Cliff Carr (Kaw). 3. Gary Scott (Tn).
4. Steve Baker (Vam). 5. Peter Williams (NOr).
6. Jim Evans (Vam).
1. Calvin RaYbOrn
(H-D). 8. Steve McLaughlin (Yam). 9. Don
Castro
(Vam).
10. David Aldana
(Nor).
11. Marty Lunde (Vam). 12. Jim Rice (H·D).
13. Dick Mann (Tn). 14. John Hateley (Yam).
15. Howard Lynggarcr (Vam). 16. Mert
Lawwill
{H.ol. 17. Gene Romero (Trl).
18. Dave Croxford (Nor). 19. Masahlro Wada
(Kaw). 20. David Damron (SUZ).
Winners time: 49m 55.765 (40 laps1..?5 miles)
Fastest lap: No. 17.1m 13.75 (93 M~)
