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/125845
The TT: Hansen, Roberts & Kidd By Richard Creed HO USTON, TX. , FE B. I Under the watchful gaze of the Astrodo me sco reb oard which flashe d " Be cool, save fuel, rid e a mo to rcycle," all nigh t long, Dave Han sen, sponsored by Champion Frames, held o ff a final lap blitz by defending gran d nati onal cham pion Kenny Roberts to write yet All this while. Dave Hansen , on another T riumph was winning the Houston TT. To the victor went the spoils and the champagne. another chap ter in th e Astrodome IT Cinderella story. T rium p h-m o un ted Hansen led the race from th e start an d coolly held off th e asau lts of Mike Kidd and then R ob erts to sco re an impressive ~ vic t o r y a s ov er thirty thousand emotional fan s scre am ed for Roberts to avenge his last year 's loss on th e sam e tra ck. Roberts slashed h is way th rough the field after a mediocre st art pu t him o u t of th e lead pa ck . Roberts also avoided a first-lap pileup b etween Dave Aldana and J am es Rawls that left R awls pinned in th e h ay bales with his Harley's engine blubbering to a fialt in ches from his head. Aldan a rej o ined th e race but was n ever in co n ten tio n. The real excitement was up front as Triumph factory rider Mike Kidd set out after Dave Hansen at abo ut the same time that Roberts was getting past Gary Scott's Har ley . Although Kidd tried every' tri ck he knew and rode his .. National Champ Kenny Roberts (Vam) chased Mike Kidd ITri) in the closing laps of the TT. Ken studied Mike's line in the left-hande r••. ...and passed him - to take second place. bi g tw i n l i k e a li gh t weig h t shor t-t rac ker , Roberts contin ued to whittl e away at th e co m ers and gain a foo t here and a few -in ch es th ere u ntil he was righ t on Kidd's rear tire. Mike di d n 't give in easily and kep t Roberts at bay in the nigh t 's longest b at tle fo r positi on. Final ly o n the nin eteen th la p Kid d got into the o utside cush io n of the swee per and Roberts rode the insi de blue groove past him in to secon d pl ace. The R ob ert s-Kidd clash had been an ad ren alin p um per as th e cr owd of partisan Texans chee re d on Robert's co me from behind dash an d Kidd 's det ermined effo rt to hold onto second place and b ecome th e high est-placin g T exan in Dome IT histo ry . With only six laps to go everyone b ut Roberts felt the race was over as Hansen rode con fiden tly and smoothly many bike lengths out in front. But Roberts s o mehow found more sp eed and tr action than ever be fore and so on was fo rcin g Hansen into a desperate ride for survival. With Kidd out of a winning chan ce the fans w er e chee ring and stomping for Roberts, Kenny made his supreme effort on the final lap coming o ut of the tight left-hander whic h led onto t he sweeper fr ont straight. Hansen went into the co m er smoothly but left a tad wider than before. Roberts saw his chan ce, threw his bike sideways an d slashed to th e in side lin e. It was a beautiful mov e that almost worked, but Hansen was n' t cowed and fo ught back an d defeated Roberts by less than tw o bike lengths at the flag. In the heat racea.j ohn Hateley pulled a spectacular win over Gary Sco tt in the second heat. Hateley wowed the cr owd with Lackey like sky shots while James Rawls muscled his duai-disced Harley into a secure third place behind Scott and ahead of Chuck Joyner. Kenny Roberts ran away with his heat as Don Castro crashed on the first lap and Tom White, carrying Robert's old n umber 80, pulled a well-deserved second place over Dave Aldana. The final heat was full of action as Mike Kid d go t a beautiful hole shot into the first tum. Behind Kidd, everything we n t haywire. When the dust cleared Rex Beauchamp was looking a t a gaping hole in his tank with fuel pouring o ut on the ground. Buddy Powell ran out of the pits with a roll of duck tape an d patc hed the puncture as flagmen st ood by wit h fire extinguishers in hand. On the restart Rick Hocking took the lea d with Mike Kidd in second place. Hocking led the first few laps b ut Kid d soon passed and J ohn Gennai charge d in to third and began pres sing Ho ck in g. Ge nnai flew past Hoc king on the jump app roach on lap seven and began moving away as Hocking 's Yamaha started to blo w smoke. In Se mi action Mark Brelsford ra n away with the first one on a restart following a getoff by Gene Ro mero. R andy Scott took the seco nd eve n t with ease. The trophy race was a walk-over from Chuck .Joyner and Sonny Burres who held th e lead positions fro m start to finish . Jimmy Lee provided the race with a banzai blitz from a poor start to third place at the chec kered flag. Lee might have gone farther had he not b een plagued with lo ose handlebars that tried to fold under when he landed o ff the j um p. The Roberts-Hansen clash was the highlight of a program th at lacked th e mind-snapping tension and emotional drain of pr evious year s. The cond it io n o f the track was a definite facto r. In th e past th e trac k had always been rough with man y ripples and ch uc k h ol es which m ad e for ex ci tin g but very dangerous racing. T his ye ar the AMA brought in Harold Murrell , the Ascot Kin g, who turned th e jagged top soil in to surfa ce as sm ooth as a babv's behind. . • Results F ir st H e a t : 1. Dave Han se n (Ttl ) ; 2 . Ma r k .- William s ( Trl) i 3 . Edd ie Mul der (Trl ) . Seco n d H eat : 1. John H at ely ( Yam) : 2 . Gar y Scott ( H -D) : 3. J im Rawls (H-D) . Th ird Heat : 1. K enny R obe rt s (Va m ) ; 2 . Tom W h it e (T rl); 3. Da ve A ldan a ( NOr) . Fou rth Hea t : 1. M i k e K idd (T rl) : 2. J onn Gen ':!ai (H ~D ) : 3 . R ic k Hocki n g ( Y am) . F i r st Se m l·Fl nal : 1. M ark Brelsf ord ( H · D ) : 2 . Chuc k Jo yn er (T r i/ : 3~ Mer t Laww ill (H ·O). Second Sem i~ FlMa : 1. RandY Scott ( V a m ) : 2 ~ Darryl Hunt (Y am); 3 ~ G il R eed (Tn ) . Expert F in al: 1. Chuck J o y n er (T ri); 2 . Son n y Burres ( Y a m); 3. Jimmy L ee (Tri ) . ~ TT Nationa l Cham p : 1. Dave H an sen (Tr l); 2 . Kenn y R obetts ( Yam) ; 3 . Mike K ldd (Tri); 34 . Gary Scott ( H -D) ; 5 . Ri c k H OCki n g ( Yam) .