Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The starting line at Mallory with Kenny Roberts (11, Peter Williams (101. Gary Nixon (unfairedl. Stan Woods (15), John Long (4). Yvon DuHamel (7), Gene Romero (3). Dave Aldana (5). Percy Tait 1181and Dave Croxford (11). America vs. England road races Moral victories Top placing rider in t he series was U.S. Grand National Champ ion Kenny Roberts (above). Gene Romero (below) brakes hard for a slow. first-gear. hairpin corner. don't count Practice at Oulton, Peter Williams shows the way. I By Gary Va n Voorhis OULTON PARK , E NG LA N D , APR. 15 MALLORY PARK , EN G LAND, APR . 14 BRANDS HATCH , ENG LAND , A PR. 12 In what had to be some of th e closest racing ever seen in th e J ohn Player Transat lant ic Troph y Series, Britain edged the United States by a mere 14 points: 4 15 to 40 1. Th e win was the fou rt h for th e British in th e f our years of series compet it ion . The lack of en ough gas to co m plete th e last lap at Oulton Park sidelin ed Gary Ni xon and effec tively ended the chances for an ex trem ely close f inish by th e U.S. At th e time of Nixon's sputtering halt th e U.S. riders we re tied (p roviding th e finishing p ositions did no t change) with th e Brit ish and a last lap charge b y Nix o n or R om ero could have me an t a slim one O T tw o po int victory. I: Yamaha's Kenny Roberts em erged as the top rider of th e series scoring three wins and three second placings in the six race even t. R ob erts also set track records at each of th e tracks and w as awarded th e BP Mo to r Cy cle Man of th e Meeting at Mallory Park fo r his dual vict ories. Barry Sh eene, riding a wo rks Suzuk i. was th e top sco rer fo r the British riders with a win, three second placings and a third and f ourth . Sh eene, who can ou t hang his kn ee on even Paul Sm art, was easily th e m ost interesting rider in the solid Brit ish line up. rider Ron Cha nd ler. Mick Grant also ret urn ed to the British line up. Art Baumann. after exce ssive machine trouble in the first tw o meetings, wa s offered Kenny Rober ts' spare bike by Ya mah a "T ea m manager Pet e Sch ic k. Kaw asak i m an ager Bo b Ha nsen ac ce p ted the offer a nd Baum ann spen t as m any lap s as possible lea rning th e track on t he Yamaha . Dulla mel , pl agu ed with simil ar p r o b le m s f r om h is Kaw a saki , was d e te rmi ne d to add 10 our p o in ts. Gary Ni xon , for th e first t ime in th e series, led from the line wit h Kenny Roberts, Stan Wo ods, Dull am el, A lda na and Sheen e clo se beh ind . Nix o n lost the lead to Rob erts o n lap tw o a nd th en second pl ace to S he en e tw o lap s lat er. D ullamel, runn in g fifth, sei ze d a nd Oulton Park , th e site of the fina l races of the series, is also th e lo ngest a nd t he o ne wit h t he r o u gh cst surface, Its 2.7 mile 46 circ uit co m b ines a lo t o f h igh sp eed st raights wit h eq ua lly q uick sweeping co rn e rs . T he weat her, whi ch had bee n a lmost to o go o d to be true for th e firs t two m eetings, held th ro ugh the O ult on fa ces w ith s u m mer like sun and tempe ratu re s. If t he U.S . was goi ng to pull o ut th e w in in t he ser ies o u r riders wo uld have to fill th e fro nt as well as m iddl e spo ts in both hea ts. Paul Smart , a ft er a hect ic n ight time sessio n o f rebuilding h is bik e ..from "t he Mal lo ry crash , d ecided agai ns t riding a nd was rep laced by Triumph . . .. . . _-'- . _ _ ' _ . ~ I .. 1 ~1o, . · . L. ~ .. : , ,. ~ _ ;. C \ . c( . r ei - tt. .J ret ired . Meanwhile Ge ne Ro m ero was ma k ing a d etermined move from the ba c k of t h e fie ld m o v in g from fourt een th o n lap o ne to fifth b y t he tenth lap . By th e fifth lap th ings had strung out a litt le o ve r th e long track with Roberts h olding off S heene . Nixon in th ird a head of Stan Woods and Aldana, Fisher, Ro me ro , Peter Williams and Jo h n Long filling the mi d dle po sit io ns. Art Baumann. slo wly getting used to th e Yamah a, was in tw elfth pla ce . S hee ne too k ov er the lead o n la p seve n o f t he ten lap race an d held it t o th e flag with Roberts a he ad o f Nixon , Wo od s, R omero a nd A ld a na . Mick Grant finis he d seve n th fo llow ed by Long an d Fishe r t o out sco re t he Bri tish team 75 to 6 1 and na rrow th e lead t o 2 2 poin ts for the Bri t ish . Fo r th e fin al showdown , Jim Eva ns rep laced Yvo n DuHa m el wh os e bikes were g ivi ng c o n s t a n t mechanical problem s. It was clear fro m th e wa ve of th e sta rters fl ag t hat Kenny Robert s and th e en tire American team we re o u t t o d o the ir best a nd if n ot fo r a p int of gas we jus t m igh t h ave t ied th e m at ch o r, with luck, won th e w hole thi ng . Wit h e ver yth ing go ing great a nd a ll our riders in the top twe lve spots, d isast er struck in th e fo rm o f Gar y Nixon ru nning o u t o f gas wit h one la p to go wh ile running in fourth pos iti on . T he t wel ve p o in t differen ce between last and fo urt h a lo ng wi t h moving t he next two Brit ish ride rs up a posi tio n ad ded up to a d efidt of 14 poin ts in the f ina l t a l l y. The tr a ck. wit h it s e x tre me ly ro ug h surface, m ad e the S u z uki o f N ixon (a n d pr o babl y •. I l ~ _ • • • • :. ., 1 I I 'f . ' • :;. t , • , I J ' "1\.0 t." r every o ne el se' s b ike) ha ndle badl y so that runn ing wit h j us t eno ug h gas for the ra ce incr eased th e edge fo r Nixon. Unfortunately, he was shy a p in t or a q uart an d t he chances o f N ixon an d the U.S . team cam e to a sp uttering halt on the las t lap . R o b ert s, never ' o ne to wa it aro und especially wh en he has t he lead , lef t th e en tire field in th e d ust by open ing a t o ne p oint a n u nofficial eleven second s over Sheen e in second. Sheen e su ffe ring from shocks th at were rap idl y we a ring o u t, put in a 10 lap dice wit h Ro m er o and Nixon , in one of the best races o f t he seri es . T he t hree swa p p ed p lace s n ume ro us ti mes during the race w ith the fina l c hange in Sheene's favor. Unofficially on th e nin th lap t he team s were tied in total points as th ey flashed past t he st art/ fin ish lin e wit h Roberts wa y o u t in fro n t , Sheene in second and Ro mero in th ird. Nixo n was fo u rt h th er e , but a short d istance fu rther down th e track he sat up and coasted t o the sid e of the track. Wo ods , o ne o f t he most co nsistent of th e British riders was fifth foll owed b y Gr ant, A lda n a a n d W i ll ia ms. America n's Baumann, Long , F isher a nd Eva ns filled o ut th e nex t four pl aces lea ving th e last fo u r pl aces fo r th e other side. Cro xford, Ditch b u rn , Ch andler and T ai t fi lled out th e sixteen m a n field. Had t he ra ce been flagged o n lap seven as Romero h eld second a nd Nixon fourth , we co uld hav e emerged as a tw o p oint victor. We lo st , but only in t he points st andings. Our showing , especia lly b y Ken ny Robert s was a m or al victo ry for the team . • • I • 'I' , .. ~ '" ~ ,_ I I

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