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/125866
The grandsta nd le a p s t o it s f eet ch ee ri ng Gary Ni xo n to victory in t h e ra in-d e lay ed Lo udon National. · he Great Scott T Harley Shocker Bv Gary Van Voorhi s L OU DO N , N.H. ,JUNE 15 "I just got so excited." That's th e way Gary Scott described his flag to flag ride to victory in the 50 mile Expert-Junior Combined race 32 at Loudon . You see, Gary was aboard the n ew Harley-Davidson 250cc water cooled two stroke road racer and he beat a lon g, long stri ng of Yamahas . Ken n y Roberts .fin ish ed second on the short side of a 17 second gap with Ro n Pierce in third. The win came in the d ebut race of the new (in th e U.S .) 247cc, 6 speed, sleek Italian styled and buil t wate r pumper and coincided with w ha t m ay be the last race fo r the Harley XR ro ad racer. Ca utio us optimism is Har ley's word on the fu t ure of the big fo ur stroke. Ha rley tea mste r M ark Brelsford starte d the pits b uzzin g on Fri day with so me very q uic k laps o n the new b ik e du ring o pen practice for th e Expe rts. Mar k cut so me fas t lap s and , in the process, even embarrassed a fe w of the big bike riders by ou t-running them. On Saturday Mark le d his h ea t until a cooling problem pulled hi m in. That left Gary Scott t o show the Yamaha ride rs a quicker way around Lo ud o n . Sco tt pick ed off his hea t win and the stands and p it s were b uzzin g w ith the fact that rna be. iust m av b e somebod h come up wit h a machine to end Yamah a domination of the C o m bi ned even ts. It was hard to believe, but Gary Scott rocketed from the pole to take the lead on the fast. light, and explosively accelerating Harley and just kept on lI;oing. In the first third of the race . Kenny Roberts shadowed the orange and black race r . but found that the Harley was mo re than a match for hi s Yamaha; at least for th is race. Roberts. after grabbing and losing the lead . eased up a bitand waited for the newcomer to break; or for Scott, in h is first two st ro ke ride in almost two years , to goof. Neithe r h ap p en ed . Ron Pierce pressured Rob e rts from h is third p lace position off and o n during the race but was never in position to move up any higher. lI arl ey racing manager Dick O'Brien was "p retty dam n happy" with the win. Gary's ride, while making him the happiest p e rson around. has succeeded in pro vin g to a lot of people what ins ide rs kne w all along; tha t Gary Scott is a he ll v Junior w inner Pat Hen nen. Nixon wins the "last" Loudon By Gary Van Voorhis LOUDON, N.lI .. ./UNE 16 -17 Suz uki works rid er Gary Nixon won whal may he the last National to be held at Bryar Motorsport Park in Loudon , New Hampshire. Nixon , fol lowed across the line by Yamaha works rider Ge ne Romero and p rivateer Dave Aldana. had La endure two separate races for th e • '. ..' ~ • l-'" ", .. . . , weather man re fu sed to cooperate o n ra ce day. It was th e 'first tim e in rece nt y ears th a t a Natio na l has b een r un o n a wo rki ng Mon d ay and p u lling th a t off t o o k q uite a lo t of lu c k . Nixon's nineteenth National vic tory and fou rth at Lo udon was a lso h is second in two years at the New England tra ck and gives him th ree of the fo u r w i ns on d iffere nt b ran ds . Yamaha Motor Canada ri der Steve Baker repeated his h o le shot technique for those on the front row of th e grid who failed to catch it the firs t ti me an d immediately charged into the lead with Ro b e rts, Nixon, McLaughlin, Romero, ,Evan s, Gary Scott and Du Ha mel all beh in d; two laps later Baker foun d himself fourth and being pressured. On the next go around he was dow n a fter "slipping on a frog" b ut up agai n quick eno ugh to not lose a lap o n t he leaders . Ke nny Roberts, who had slipped into the lead on the thi rd la p fo u nd it hard to stay there as Nixon picked off Romero and Roberts on successive laps to take the lead on lap seven. Ro mero and Du Hamel quickly dropped the defending Grand National Champion to fourth followed by closing Team Mexican rider Dave Aldana. A gap followed that five wav front ru nning freight befo re Jim Evan~ and Gary Scott rushed past followed in short intervals by Ron Pierce and A rt Baumann and a string of riders led by Mc l. a ugh lin , Smart and Long. Cliff Ca rr was abse nt fro m the ac t ion after a spectacular crash during h is h ea t w hic h to re the fro n t en d off the hike. Romero , pre ssu ri n g Nixo n to gai n the lead, final ly slipped arou nd th e pair we re almos t side by side on th e fin ish line with only a slight edge to Nixon. It could have proved a cr ucial le ad change for Gene . One lap later Art Bau man n unloaded in fron t of the main gra ndstands causin g a red flag and stopping the ra ce w hile the amb ulance attended to th e lim p B aum a n n . Fo r tunately Art suffered