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 60 % q uota with p aymen t at the tin i sh based o n th e tal ly of th e fourteen th lap on Sunday . Th is brough t out the riders on various machines including John Long and Gary Fisher o n their 250's and most others on their spares . The parade race w as on u n til the promoter , ob servi n g a patch of blue in a sky of gre y, de cided that maybe a race-rac e was better and - what the hell . maybe we could get the Juniors in too . The rid e rs reactio n was verbal and unprin t able ; it w asn't th at th ey didn't want to race - they did - but the y wanted to get on with it an d quit all the messing aro un d . AMA referee Charlie Watson, after listening to the riders various sugge st ions and the promoter's change the p rogram every five minute attitude , decided it was now o r never and called th e full grid of riders to the line. For Nixon i t was a flag to flag affair from the staggered single file restart on lap 15 but his was the only position that was not changing. With Nixon lea ding by a sli m margin ove r Ke nny Roberts and foll owed closely by Gene Ro mero an d Dave Aldana the q uartet m an aged to open an increasing gap ove r fifth place ride r Steve McLaugh lin a sho rt fou r la ps in to Mondays race. By lap 24 Nixon had a 3 second ga p on Roberts who was barely ahead of Aldana and Romero. Ro mero zapped Aldana two laps later and then carried his charge past Roberts in fro n t of the main grandstand two laps fur ther on . Roberts, experiencing muscle cramp s in his forearms from his stretched riding position slipped back to fourth two laps later (30) and th e front four were set for the remaining 17 laps . Fifth pl ace eventually fell to Yvon DuHamel on the o n ly w orks Kawasaki in th e race . Yvon , wh o had worked his w ay up th ro ugh the pack after a po or st art ca us ed by flooding carbs on the line, nipped McL aughlin for h is spot in the last fee t be fore the fla g. Gary Sco tt , adding to his fan tas t ic ride o n Sat urd ay , p roved there' s a little life left in the lI ar le y XR roa d racer by fi n ish ing a c red itable seventh w h ile Steve Baker. min us his brace s , worke d his way from his crash o n Sunday to eigh th at the fin ish . Ron Pierce an d J ohn Lo ng hel d o ut for th e 9 an d 10 posi tions . The fini shing posi t io ns give little hint of the lap by lap d ueli n g between the fifth through ten th pl ace riders during the race . Ni xon , satisfied with his 6 secon d margin o f victory over Romero , popped hi s famous victo ry lap wheelies, told everyone to buy a Su zuki, praised h is tuner Erv Kanemoto for the frame and engine work he did o n the winning bike, took a coup le of slug s of the victory champ agne and th en sp lit for Japan to test the Suzuki GP 5 0 0/ 4 works bike for his use in the June 29 Du tch G P. • Nixon injured in Japan Gary Nixon, less than a week after his Loudon Nati on al victory, suffered broken arms, an d possibly a brok en back, foot an d ri bs, in a L oudon road race Con t inu ed f rom page 32 50 only a b ruised hip and so m e b ad gashes on his hands. Before the race could be re sumed from a single file restart the weatherman in te rvened with a d ownpour that put a hold on the racing and started the real fun . The positions at the red flag were : Nixon, Romero, DuHamel, Roberts and Aldana. All the discussions on Sunday as to what to do paled when rain greeted the riders on Monday and a "closed" meeting of the leading twen ty ride rs the on es who would share in th e pa yoff at that t i rn e -p r o du c e d a lot o f grumbling. Numerous pit rumors had everyone going in different di rections with the firmest one calling for a "gentlemans agreement" parade of the riders to fini sh the requi red lap s to meet Gary Scott on the new H-D 250 twin leads Roberts, Pierce and a buncha Experts and Juniors to lightweight victory. high speed ge t-o ff wh ile testing a 5 00cc Su zu ki-4 road racer in J ap an in pr epa rat ion fo r the up coming Dutch GP. According to his wife ~I ary , who was reached a t th e N ixon home in Maryland, " Gary ca lled m e at 3:30 this morning Uun e 2 1) an d gave me th e bad new s. He had bee n in an d o u t o f su rge ry and his voi ce so u nded stro ng. li e didn't sou nd groggy fro m drugs as he did both t imes he b roke hi s leg. I as ke d him if he wanted me to fly to .Japan and he said no . lie d id tell me t o st ay by the phone and he would let m e kn ow when to co m to San Francisco to m eet hi m wh en he return s." Erv Kan ern ot o, the mechanic who ha s been a large part o f N ixo n's road racing success o ver the past two y ea rs, upon bein g co n tac ted add ed , "The Suzu ki -c re portedly se ized and Nixon was separa ted fro m the bike. Ken Araoka was fo llo wing Nixon and hit Nixo n' s downed bike. Early reports rec e ive d vi a tel ex by Su zuki indicates th at A rao ka is in mu ch worse co ndi tio n than Nixon ." •