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/125861
Ken ny gets the wreath , Gene gets the wine, Garry checks the house and Garry's mechanic Bill Werner gets h is picture in the paper. Roberts' Mile By Charles Clayton SAN JOSE, CAL., MA Y 19 Kenny Roberts gassed it hard coming out of the ultimate corner and whizzed past Garry Scott in the last inches of their 25-mile struggle to win the first mile-track National Championship of the year. Gene Romero was a fastclosing third, bracketing the number 64 Harley-Davidson XR of Scott's in a 1-3 Yamaha sandwich, Breathtaking performances led up to the climax, keeping the 9,000 audience guessing as to the final outcome. Thirteen men broke the year-old track record of 39.46 seconds in the qualifying laps. Nearly a hundred AMA dirt track Experts entered the winnowing process that would determine who's best. Would it be Mert Bruce Hanl on leads Alex J o rgensen an d Tom Berry home in the Junior Feat ure , 6 Lawwill, the fastest qualifier? j im Rice, who see med very confide nt of so me new t uning sec rets breathed into his Har ley by Tom Sif'to n P Defending champion Ge ne Romero, shed of his winter fa t an d ho t from Friday 's Ascot victory? Scott, of course , and of co urse Ken n y .. . The p reliminary races were no t d ull. Mert motored away with the first o ne while ji m ado rn picked off such fast-moving targets as Gene Romero and Bob Sanders on his way to a thrilling dice for second with Roger Crump. Brothers Hank and Garry Scott bunched up with Kenny Roberts in a second heat that brought fans to their feet, until Roberts settled that one. Then Rex Beauchamp overtook Frank Gillespie to lead the third heat and fend off the attack of Texan james Rawls, who'd moved up through the pack after a bad start. Rice's motor went sick in this race. Scott Bre lsford showed the way to Chu ck Palmgren in the last heat. The se mi-finals were spectacular also. Wit h o nly the first two going t o th e nat ion al lineup, Rookie Bob Sanders took daring chances to get in front of Albuq ue rq ue's Mike Colli ns in th eir semi. R ob Morriso n over too k the leaders and Terry Dorsch foll owed him through t he traffic to win transfers in their race. As the warm afternoon sun and cool breezes played over the softly ro lling California hills, the 20 fastest an d best motorcycle artists lined up on the bl ack dirt stage, The green flag snapped an d Garry Scott and Scott Brelsford, two Harleys, shot out from the rest. R oberts crowded past into second place and chased Garry for five miles before he could overtake him. Meanwhile Gene Romero, gathering momentum from fifth place, picked off Rick Hockin g's 4-cylinder mil er put out a d aim ed 95 horsepower.