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/125821
skydiving aerial display - end of commercial. Now we go to the pits for a lot of twisting, sweating, tightening, sweating, changing, sweating, rechecking, sweating, tire cutting, sweating, gear changing, sweating, tire checking, sweating and all the other neat things you do on a hot Sunday afternoon at the Peoria National. . A long list of riders remain·ed to fight it out for the remaining four spots left on the National grid; mostly the West Coast riders, who ride IT like we do half-miles. AI Kenyon, Eddie Wirth, Terry Dorsch, Gene Romero and Ike Mizen are Ascot IT regulars, while Pat Marinacci and Sonny Burres come from the land of IT (Washington and Oregon) and the Cal Rayborn-Rex Beauchamp duo were itching for a few national bucks. .... '" ~ ... ,... M .Cl> ~ ~ « en ;: w Z W ..J U >- (.J .Semis - The first Semi went to Terry Dorsch, foUowed by AI Kenyon, who could get . close enough to read the decals on Dorsch's rear fender but no further; everyone else was trophy race bound. Semi two was won, with a tremendous effort, by a guy who is so used to riding those little oval races they call short .track that they say he can't ride anything else; indeed, it was Mike Gerald's second IT. Gerald ran third for the first half of the race behind and sometimes in between Ed Wirth and G.ene Romero, thel;l barged by both and held on to win from a surprised Romero. The Cajun kid even amazes himself sometimes, and this was one of them. The National grid was filled. • Sonny Burres survived a penalty line start, two restarts and a lot of Cal Rayborn's dust before finally picking up the win in the lengthy Trophy race. Pat Marinacci and Clarence Wells got dinged in the first crash, while Gordon Dusenberry and Keith Ulicki tangled in crash two with only Dusenberry able, of the downed riders, to restart. Buddy Powell was a close third. Main The three row start for the 16 rider National caused Gene Romero to quip (from his back row position) that "they should run the race in the opposite direction so that I would be on the front TOW." On a narrow track like Peoria any disadvantage is magnified. Dave Aldana used the two minu te stall on the starting line to do some last minute surgery on his (two crashes) Norton; Dave then proceeded to show everyone where the lead was, as he outgunned the field out of tum one. Jim Rice got a good start, but somehow got crossed up in traffic, went down, and lost almost a full lap in restarting, injuring his left ankle. Aldana began to motocross the jumps in tire early laps but couldn't shake a determined Meru Lawwill and Scott Brelsford who were close behind. A short gap separated the front three from Roberts, Gary Scott, Dave Sehl, Chuck Palmgren, Don Castro and Dick Mann; a small herd containing the rest of the pack followed chased by a blitzingJim Rice. Mert leads Aldana (13) and Gene Romero (31. A ldana broke, Brelsford crashed and Laww£ll became the 14th w£nner £n 16 nat£onals. LawwiU finally zapped Aldana off the jump on lap 11 and began to pull away, as Aldana's engine appeared to sour, spitting puffs of smoke every time the throttle was backed off. Lap 14 took' its toU as Scott Brelsford wrinkled his machine in the tricky tum one-two, leaving Roberts in a safe second ahead of Aldana, Dave Sehl, Mann and Gary Scott. Scott appeared to be lacking something, as he circuited in fifth place, being pressed to hold position rather than charge. Mann almost saw his chances go over the handlebars, as he slipped from a Things get tense and tight in heat racing as Don Castro (11) and Scott Brelsford (84) get dose. Chuck Joyner (6) does a cross up and Chuck Palmgren (38) flies. footpeg landing after the jump and got the goUywobbles before saving it. Roberts, a few laps later, laid his Yamaha down on turn one·two but was back up and away quickly enough to lose position to only two lapped riders; however it took the pressure off Lawwill. Mert kept WFO to lap 20 when he realized that the race was 25 laps, meaning another five busting, bone jarring laps to go. He finished a good margin ahead, too tired for a vic tory lap. Palmgren' and Dorsch eased by Scott for fourth and fifth with two laps ,0 go; Aldana nursed cloud, and seventh, his way to the sun hid behind a a breeze began to bl~w. . Ph yeah, there isn't any competition on the National circuit; it was only the 14th different winner in 16 races. RESULTS 1. Mert Lawwill (H-D). 2. Ken Roberts (Yam). 3. Dick Mann (Tri). 4. Chuck Palmgren (Yam). 5. Terry Dorsch (Trl). 6. Gary Scott (Tri). 7. Dave Aldana (Nor). S. Don Castro (Yam). 9. Gene Romero (Tri). 10. AI Kenyon (Yam). 11. Jim Rice (H-D). 12. Dave Sehl (H-O). 13. Mike Gerald ('Vam). 14. Randy Scott (Tri). 15. Scott Brelsford (H-O). 16. Chuck Joyner (Tri). Terry Dorsch (22) won his heat from all these people.