Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

rn Roberts .... =- rolls on iii DI:II ;Ill DI:II g g -::I" rC'l ,...... 75 mile Expert National By Gary Van Voorhis FLOWER Y BRANCH, GA., J UNE 2 AMA Grand National Champion Kenny Roberts picked up his first National road race victory- and his second National win o f the seasonwith a superb ride in the Roa d Atlanta Kawasaki Dixie National. Roberts, in scoring his win over Yamaha team mate Ge ne Romero and Suzuki works rider Gary Nixon, took another step o n the road to repeating as National champ. The co urse was a two and a half mile , 12-t urn favorite with the riders . Spectator turnout was small. 10 Roberts' victory, by a margin of some 30 seconds, was aptly de scri bed by Gary Nixon wh o said, " he was so fa r ahead 1 couldn 't even see him." Nixon actual ly had little time to sneak a peek as he an d Ro mero were battling for second pl ace on ly inches apart during the last two- thi rds of th e race. R omero , in the final yards, edge d Nixon by a bike leng th fo r second. A change o f ridi ng st rategy and the righ t tire choice p layed a big p ar t in Roberts' decisive win . Kenny, du rin g his' Imola an d Anglo-American Mat ch Race Series trip earlier th is year, d ecid ed to give up the wai tin g gam e and go all-o ut fro m the start , letting th e o the r riders d o the racing. T hat decision and th e choice of a hard co mpound Go od year slick instead of the softer one that R om ero chose accounted for th e increasing edge that R ob er ts bui lt up during the early lap s of t he race. The Kawasaki Dixie National, second of six road race Natio n als on the AMA circuit, found a lot o f ri ders and teams that h ad done their hom ew ork after Daytona. Yamaha, in order to cure th e problem of cracking ex ha ust pi pes, redesigned their entire exhaust system, substituting round pipes fo r the original fa ctory tri angular m odels. They rerouted o ne of the four pipes - Suzuki sty le - through the fra me to exit nea r the top of the right shock. Suzuki meanwhile had gone back to the factory' and almost rebuilt their Daytona b ikes ' fo r riders Gary Nixo n, Paul Smart and Cliff Carr. Incorporated in the reb uild was a lightened frame, improved exhaus t system an d more power th ro ugh a new carb system for b e t t er low end acceleratio n . The five-speed gear box re m ained un changed b ut th er e was a choice of ratios. Gary Ni xon and his t une r Erv Kanern oto , in an effort to break th e Yamaha . hold o n the to p spot had obtained a frame from Suzuki , refined it to suit the power of the engine, tested i t a t the On tario, California track before com in g to Road Atlanta and were more than hopeful th at the new co m b ina tio n would work well. That hope d immed somewhat when Nixon bent the fram e in Friday's practice after crashing, along with Roberts and another rider, on an oil slick. Nixon then set out to put his official works bike in order for the race. Kawasaki had new cylinders ' whi ch appeared to cure th e seizure problems but were down on top end as was th e Harley effort. Privateers came with various home-brew efforts, bu t Ron Pier ce 's effort to cure the Yamaha TZ exh au st problems (w hich was alm os t identical to the fact ory solution except that h is had all pipes under th e fairing) was the m ost su ccessful. Th e weather, a c ulpri t all Sa turday , finally decided to coopera te o n Sunday , only t o have another oil slick close practice after claim ing Art Baumann's Kawasaki and crunch ing th e fai ring along with some other mino r dam age. Baumann's bike was rep aired fo r him t o p lac e th ird beh ind the Yamah a du o You can tell a winner by the holes in his knees. One of these is Ken's. This is how he got his double. Roberts makes contact with Road Atlanta. Larry Ble il said he wo uld win this one, and he kept his word. o f R ob erts a nd Romero in th e fir st heat , earning th e Ka wasaki ace a spo t on th e front row of the grid . Roberts, in a display o f what w as t o co me in the Na ti on al , rode like the wind and finish ed an easy d ist ance ahead. T h e secon d heat was an eight-lap chase between Ron Pierce, wh o led th e en tire d is tance, an d Steve McLau ghlin who co uld n ' t quite catch Pierce . ' Dave Aldana , on his fi rs t Yam ah a TZ rid e af t er Norton-Triu mp h's p ull -out fro m road raci ng, r od e his private Winter Won derlan d sponso red bik e to a th ird, This put th ree privateers o n th e front row for t he Main . R on Pierce go t the jump a t the star t, but by t he time th e bi kes had reach ed t he down and up sweeping esses at turn five it was R ob erts wh o h ad moved to th e fron t and that was the last time anyone got close as Ke n ny pulled away at a second or b etter a lap. Rome ro im me diately charged in t o second p lace w i th Pi erce, Ald an a , McLau ghl in, Bau m ann , Fisher, Wilvert, Dale Wylie , Carr an d Ste ve Baker fo llowi ng past the start-finish line . N ixo n , after a b ad st ar t and some heavy traffic, began t o move on the th ird lap , picking o ff Baker an d Fisher in t he p rocess. On the next go aro und Rob erts was already a good d ist an ce ahead an d Romero was equally sb y o f Aldana. Beh ind tha t trio rode t he five bik e p ack of Baumann , Pier ce, McL au ghlin, Car r and N ixon with Baumann pi ck ing o ff Aldana one lap later and Ni xon swooping by everyone t o pick up fou rth on the n ext lap . Baker , who had been pressuring Fishe r in t enth positio n, bl ew a pi pe on the se ven th lap an d was r epl aced by Sm art who nipped Fishe r a lap la ter an d th en set o ut t o catch Pierce. J ohn Lon g, Hurley Wilvert and Yvon DuHamel w er e running in a pack aro un d 14 th p lace and slo wly picking up positions . , Roberts, lapp ing ri der s afte r the n in th lap, h a d m ov ed in to a co m ma ndi ng lead of almost 22 seconds by the halfway flags while Romero began to feel th e p ress ure of Nixon after Gary passed Baumann for third o n the 11th lap . With Roberts so far ah ead , t he atten tion of th e crowd centered o n the wh eel -to-wh eel duel for second between Ro m ero an d Nixon . It was , dep ending o n your vantage p o int aro und th e track , Nixon in the lead and then R omero o r vice versa since they passed an d rep assed each othe r th re e o r fo ur t imes a lap , feelin g each o t her out and se tting one another up for the last lap an d th e dash to t he fla g. Bau mann stayed ver y close t o t he ac tion but was relegated to th e rol e of in terested spectato r every t ime the trio hit the lon g b ack s tra igh t as th ey sped away leavin g Art to m ak e up every inch possible to t he t igh t sec li on s o f th e track. R omero led Nixon at the white flag, lost th e lead an d th en regain ed it on th e back st raight; go t a little sq uirrely under th e br idge while Nixo n stayed right on his back tire and finall y sh u t th e doo r on Nixon's b id to get ins ide on the last turn. Romero's edge w as alm ost a bike length, wi th the scene remarkably resembling last year's Geoff Perry-Kel Carruthers last lap tactics. Roberts, with a 3D-second lead a t the flag, was alre ady wavi ng to t he crowd on h is co o ling-off lap. Roberts, sho wing the wear and tear on his knees from touching t he course during the race, felt he had two seconds in reserve and that if he and Nixon or DuHamel were racing for the lead they co uld have set "new lap reco rds with every lap . The winner averaged 98 MPH . Romero, with some help fro m the winner circle curies, was enjoying one of his best ro ad race finishes ever, giving clever answers to questio ns and enjoying the lim eligh t. Results 7S -MILE N A TI O N A L : 1. K en Rober ts ( Y a m ) . 2 . Gen e Ro mero (Yam) . 3. Ga ry Ni xon (S uz) . 4 . Art Bau mann ( K aw) . 5 . S teve M cLaughlin (Yam). 6. Cliff Carr (Suz} . 7 . D a ve Aldana (Yam) . 8. Paul Smart (SUZ) . 9 . Joh n L o n g (Yam) . 1 0 . Ron P ierce ( Y am ) . 250cc Expe rt /J unior Combined Road Race By Charles Clayton Fresh from his masterful National

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