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September 11, 1973 Page 12 Carruthers leads Yamaha sweep of Talladega By Jack Mangus Photos by Bob Lenk. Bill Neil & Gary Van Voorhis TALLADEGA, ALA., SEPT. 2 Kel Carruthers led a Yamaha sweep in the fourth running of the .Talladega National Championship road race today. The Yamaha road First year Expert Steve Baker was second. racing team managerlrider took over the lead on the twenty-seventh lap and went on to take the che€kered flag on the thirty-eighth and final lap of the 150 mile race with an unchallenged lead. J oiningCarruthers in victory lane were Steve Baker and Gary Fisher. . A slim field of 29 Experts started the race with two of those, Dick Mann and Gary Scott,joining the race after the field had been flagged off. Both Mann and Scott were delayed by electrical problems in their team Triumphs and Mann actually roared out of the garage area and down pit lane to join the race while the leader was up on the banks. Scott got underway on the second lap but a sour engine limited him to "circulating." Absent from' the starting grid were Cliff Carr, who had gotten off in morning .practice, and Jean Lysigh t, out with mechanical problems. The winner of the last three National road races, Gary Nixon, took the lead at the wave of the green flag followed closely by po]esitter Yvon DuHamel. For the firs t twelve laps around Tallegega's four-mile road course DuHamel dogged Nixon, and many felt that the Canadian was following the red head rather than actually trying to pass him. Whatever the reason, the pair had the large crowd on their feet lap after lap as they raced side-by-side and wheel-to-wheel both through the infield course and.around the banked oval. DuHamel pitted on the 13th lap and was in and ou t of the pits quic k1y while Nixon pitted on the nex t lap and was in and out before DuHamel came back around. The gas stops' by the pair allowed Suzuki team rider, Paul Smart, to close up on the fight for the lead, and On the 15th lap he took over the lead. from DuHamel after Nixon failed to make a lap following his pit stop. Nixon's only comment when asked why his bike stopped was, "engine." Smart led the 15th, 16th and 17th laps until DuHamel took the lead away on the 18th lap. Smart then endured an agonizingly slow pit stop that gave DuHamel a 37 second lead by the 21st lap. Yvon pulled out even more room over Smart on the next three laps only to have his bike burst into flames on the 24th go around. Steve Whitlock, Yvon's tuner, described what eliminated DuHamel. "Yvon was motoring along with a 40-second lead and we figured we would need one more gas stop and with a spread like that we would still have a 15-second lead. Then a rod wen t through the engine case into the transmission case, and the engine caugh t on fire. We had it won." After DuHamel's retirement it appeared that Smart was home free as he held a healthy lead over Kel Carruthers, who held an equally comfortable lead over Cal Rayborn. Rayborn, who worked his way up to Cal Rayborn was a hero with a drive into the top three, but mechanicals got him again. Ron Grant was the first non-Yamaha in sixth. He leads Conrad Urbanowski (28) Steve Mclaughlin (83). and Baker. Former World 250 Champ Carruthers has visited many victory circles. This was his second National win.