Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Gary Scott, go ing away . After t he first lap , no body even got close . 8 Wirth by abo ut Lap Six . During all this, Aldana ran off and hid, while Wirt h and the othe rs tried to see who coul d get into t he biggest tan k-slapp er without co m ing off as th ey blasted o ut of t he North T um . T he seco nd Heat was red-flagged when Rick Newby and jim Odom collided in the North T um. The crash snapped both o f Odom 's lower fork legs straight acr oss, ab o ut a th ird the way up fro m the ax le . Th is br ought a worried crew m an out to try to le arn the exact mod e of the crash , as th is wasn 't th e first such fork br eakage. On th e restart, Rex Beauchamp repea ted h is holeshot lead , Chuck j o yn er got ri dden o ff d own near th e du ckpo nd, a nd Gary Scott cl osed right up with Beauchamp to ta ke over by the fo ur th lap. joyner go t ba ck int o it dead last and worked ba ck up to six th by th e che cker, at least assuring himself of a sho t a t on e of the Semi-Fin als (whic h he in fa ct won to work in to th e Main. ) Ileauchamp , Dew ay ne Keeter (H-D), and Du sty Coppage (T ri) tran sferred direc t be hind Scott. Mike Kidd (T ri) did th e Texas fast dr aw on the thi rd Hea t with Ken Roberts rue ked in be hind . Rob er ts pressed K idd o n fir st o ne side , then th e other in the switc h bac ks after the jump, finall y drew even up the front straight on ab o u t the fo ur th lap , but co uld n' t ma ke eno ugh speed to rid e aro und on th e o ut side of th e So ut h T um . After that, Ken be gan to fade back, wi th the Ya ma ha 's ig n i t i o n b r eaking up progressively a t the top en d . (T hey pulled th e battery after th e Heat , found it about flat, put in fresh juice fo r t he Main ). Mark Williams and Dann y Ho c kie passed Pat McCaul in turn to grab th e other two transfer sp ots. Gene R omero and John G ennai w ent into th e first tu m righ t together wit h Randy Skiver and Eddie Mulder for close co m pa ny, an d th ou gh th eir Heat was t he slo wes t of the fou r (8 :04 .5 5) it prod uce d so me of the night 's b est d own-h orne ra ci ng. R omero tu cked in tightest and beat Gennai past .the du c kp o nds to the j ump , while Ric k Ho cking joined Skiver and Mu lder in a t igh t gro up . With Gennai p ressing Romero all aro un d th e circuit, and t he o t he r three closing up be h ind, th e normally mo od y cro wd just co uld n 't stop ye lling . The fro nt five became six wh en j im Rice joined the fra y, then Hocking started to move, taking both Skiver and Mul der in the so uth end o f the course an d closing up with the Gennai / Rorn er o tan go. Under the palm s ju st b efo re th e jump, Gen nai finally sco o ted by, and they ca me off the jump into the swi tc h bac ks with Hocking looking like he was trying to pass Rom er o on both side s at o nce . Ric k fina lly too k o ver second before the white n ag ca m e o u t, Mulder pu t Skiver behind hi m, and Rice loo ked about to bu mp Eddie in to a Sem i just before he ate a hay bale. Ch uck joyner, To m White, Terry Dorsch, and Randy Scott all worked in t o t he Main the ha rd way, wh ile Fra nk Gill ispi e appeared t o be wre stling his Yamaha tw o falls out o f th ree in his Semi . Frank did some reall y insp ired ca tc h-u p riding to get eigh th in h is Sem i and thi rd in th e Trop hy Race be hind SoCal riders d o some d o wn -home TT racing. Terry Do rsch nli dged Ra ndy Scott o u t in t h eir Semi-F inal. Mike Branan and Ron Po wel l. The T ro ph y Race went into a single file restart af te r being hal te d wh en Walt Mundt ( Yam ) cras he d hard off th e j ump while lea ding and was taken for emergency treatm en t. In the brief interm ission period , Randy Sco tt 's crew pulled a co mp lete rear suspension change and reposi tio ned the forks . Romero's fo rks were getting some m allet tuni ng . Ro be rts and Sco tt dressed t ires an d me ditat ed . Mike Kidd went int o a h udd le wi th hi s crew ove r tir es, and th e Alda na entourage sat p at , smiling a t everybody. Mike Kid d , having won t he fastest Heat , chose the o ut side pole, but be fore the Main had go ne one lap , he, Ro m ero, Mar k Williams, Randy Scott , and Eddie Wirth were o n the ground in t wo separ ate piles. All o f them mad e th e r e st art. a f t e r R omero ' s cr e w strai ght ened his fo rks, Kidd's crew d id a worried huddle , and Williams go t o ver being middleman in an acc o rd io n. With everybody so r ted o ut again , Gary Sco tt ju mped into the lead which he wo uld ho ld fo r th e duration . Mike Kidd . j oh n Ge nnai, Dave Aldana. and Ken Roberts strung o ut be hi nd, as Scott put at least five bike len gths on his lead in th e firs t lap . Gen nai , Aldan a and Roberts bunch ed up tight by th e thi rd lap , sha do wed by Rex Beau champ and Mark Williams . Eddie Wirth pipped Romero for eigh th , Williams put the pre ss on Beau ch amp, driving him up behind Gennai , who co nt in ue d to sh ut th e ga te o n t hem both for t he next few lap s. Now Rob er ts began to unco r k him self. firs t rid in g aro un d Ald an a o u t s ide the decreasing-radius lef t co m ing o nto th e infield , and ge tt ing co m p le te ly by as th ey banked o ver righ t pas t the d uc kpond. Romero and Wirth trad ed h ip bl oc ks in th e same sp o t next lap , wh ile Ro be rts zeroed in on Kidd . By m id-race , Rob ert s had Kidd bagged, an d A ldana. hangin g clo se, cam e by m in utes after. For th e nex t five laps , Ken Rob er ts wen t wi ld, th ro wing th e Yamaha righ t d own to th e gr ound in th e So uth T urn with the wh eel s chatteri ng acr oss th e surface as he cam e onto the in field each t im e, Alda na h an ging o n griml y abo ut a len gth bac k. Sco tt began lap p ing pe ople, a n d managed t o kee p so m ebody be twee n h im s elf a n d th e Rob erts! Aldana tango m ost of the rem aini ng time. Ro b erts lost hi s partner whe n Alda na tried to stick it in on th e inside of the North T um. When Ken dr agged the bars down an d t h re w th e po wer to it, Dave got ho o ked t o th e ground, almost sure Rob er ts was goi ng do wn with hi m. Whe n he go t up and saw Rob erts wasn't on th e ground too, he went an d sa t on a haybal e, very depressed. Mike Kidd 's cra nk wen t to lu nc h in th e closing laps, no t lo ng after he mi ssed the righ t hander af ter the ju mp, apparen tly hav in g t rou ble fi ndi ng gears as we ll. Romero took Wirth an d th en Mark William s to co me in third. Wir t h slid by William s in p ursuit of Burri to, fin ish ed fo urth. Rick Ho c king had to ride up from a t welfth pl ace bo ttleneck to c ollec t si xt h , just ahead of Rex Beau champ. Fo r Gary Sco tt , a kind o f calm determin ati on an d t horo ugh co nce n tration on the c hanging tra c k surface paid o ff in win ni ng his third straig h t Natio na l and sec o nd straight 1'1'. Ken Roberts and his cre w took things philosophica lly. lo o king fo r a turnab ou t o n Lag un a Se ca 's asphalt nex t week. • Results 2 50 L a p N .Jti o nal T T : 1. G ary S cott ( H ·D); 2. Ken R ob ert s ( Y a m ) ; 3. Gene Romero (Y am) ; 4. Eddi e Wirth (Tri ); 5 . Mark W i lliam s (T ri ); 6 . Ri c k Ho cking (Y am) ; 7. R e x Beau cnamc ( H·D ) ; 8 . Pau l Bost r o m (T ri) ; 9 . C h uck Joy ne r ( Tr i); 1 0 . John G e n n a i ( H·D) . T ro p hy Ra c e : 1. M ike B ra na n (Y a m ) ; 2. Ro n Po w ell ( T r i); 3 . F ra nk Gilles pi e ( Yam) ; 4 . Jo h n Sp er r y (T n) . AM A , N at'J . Po in t St an d i n gs aft er A sco t (U noff iCIa l) : 1. Ken R obert s (11 2 2 ) ; 2 . G ar y Sc o tt ( 102 3) ; 3 . Mike Ki dd (6 6 8) : 4. G en e Romero (605); 5 . Mert Laww i ll (35 9; 6. Gary N i x on (275 ) ; 7. Dave H an sen (2 71 ) ; 8. H a n k Sc o t t (216 ): 9 . D a ve A lda n a (215); 1 0 . Mark W ill iam s ( 205) . . -

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