Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

away Junior), while Jedy Nicholas survived a four-way dice with Ron Pierce, Steve Bake r, and Walt Foster for seventh. Pierce, at ninth, brought the only other llacley into the top ten. Novice race Skip Aksland (Ya m) of Manteca, Ca ., after winning his qualifying heat, lapped over half the field, winning the Novice Final at an ave rage of 84.06 MPH. The 19 74 Daytona runner-up too k ove r on the third lap after Murray Hoffman's holeshot lea d faded. First h eat winner Dale Singleton (Yam) from Dalto n, Ga . led t w o laps, before he , too, faded. Hoffman (Yam) man aged to hang in a dis ta nt second as Aksland just ran o ff and hid. Ted Davidson (who also. ca rries a heavy rep for Dis trict 36 sho rt track ) o utlasted a race-lo ng nose-to-tail dice with Richard Fuller, w hile Wh it n ey Blakeslee , who had run as high as t hird in the early laps. slipped to eigh th by the finis h. Dave Garoutte stuffed his Honda (the o nly four st roke entered) into the Turn Nine wall hard enough to waste the front end, during practice. Dave got up shaken but virtually unhurt. Several times during the Novice Final, the track J: ::! c: .J :J Z J: a -. Sco tt leads Roberts an d everyone else ' on t he first lap of the Co mbined ra ce, turn eight. 0. .J :J o :;; a .....:...._...J ... How to avo id getting hassled by t urn marshals while taking pictures: lo o k like her. ambulance was called out onto the co ur se (causing some flap among t he rac ers) but no hospi tal runs were ' needed. Jun ior race Pat Hennen (Yam) can put another notch in his belt with the 1974 running of Laguna Seca. He and Larry Bleil pulled everybody else off the line, and fro m then on, Hennen just c ontinued to stretch it o u t. tur ni ng consistent 1: 1 8 5 lap after lap. Bleil had a more difficult time hanging in for sec ond, spending the firs t half of the Junior Final c hasing heat winner Walt Foster . He briefly pulled Foster on laps four and five. got passed the next lap . had Foster nobble him in Turn Nine . blew him awa v on the front st raigh t , then cam e ar ouz{d trailing an d continued the grim ch ase. Larry's patience paid o ff , as Foster apparently seized and crashed at the top of the Corkscrew. Alan Barbie got aro und o n the first lap in thi rd position, o nly to lose it to Ph il Fra nk, goi ng over th e hill. Barb ie circulated in that spot until d ro pping off th e pace shortly after mid race. Ed Eaton passed Wade Killen on lap five and hung in fo r fo ur th . Killen , in turn , ha d to un tan gle Wes Cooley from his bodywork before he coul d co ntinue on . Coming in to T urn Nine, Cooley (who was wo r king his way t hro ugh the pac k after a ro tt en start) lo cked up both wheels, lost it , let off th e brakes to straigh ten out, and got h ighsided in to Killen , dr agging Killen off with him as he hooked his leg on Killen's bike. Wad e spent precious se£Onds disengaging Cooley. restarted . fini shed eigh tho Frank Juhan put o n the show for th efro n t st raight troops, alternately wheelie-ing down the chute and /or almost losing it in Tum Nine. Some of his antics lost him some t im e. He d iced briefly w it h John Ta larico and Dennis Pegelow after be ing passed by Richard Seifried. then settled down, pull ed clear, and finis he d seventh. ' Hennen must have been watching J uhan 's antics while lapping him, as he to o k bot h the w hite flag an d the checker on the rear wheel. Bleil finished in a manner befitting his advancing age (he 's over 21, an d got a moustache, already) . Larry and Papa Charlie we re arm-in-arm in the winner's circle, figuring the Delray Flash had m aybe put Florida on the map (finally) by putting away all the California boys except Hennen . Lightweight Production We s Coo ley ( Yam) won th e Lightweight Producti on race after a co ns ta nt back-and-forth batt le with Robert T iger t (Ya m) . It loo ked as if Tigert had it won until he fell do wn in turn nine heading for the white flag sign ify ing the last lap. Cooley scoo ted by (along with the pack) an d the win was his. Tigert got a DNF. Open Producti on Novice Fina l: 1. Ski p Aksla nd (Y am ) ; 2. Murray Hoff man (Yam) ; 3 . T ed D a v id son ( Y am ) ; 4. Richard Fuller (Yam); 5. D arre ll Lee (Yam) ; 6 . Gerald Pels (Yam); 7. Eric Paloheimo (Yam) ; 8. Whit ney Blakes lee (Yam): 9. Kent Rockwell (Yam); 10. St e ve Souter (Yam) . Steve McLa ughlin (Kaw) blasted his way into the lead at the start of the Open Production race, hotly persued by Reg Pridmore (BMW) and Yvon DuHamel (Ka w) . DuHamel o u t-bra ved Pridmore and McLaughlin to take o ver the lead o n lap two, j us t holding it on longer in a downhill section as the group of three quickly moved away from fourth pl ace Marty Lunde (BMW) an d everyon e else . Then McLaughlin go t by DuHamel to regai n the lead . foll owed by Pridm ore moving p ast Yvon one half lap later. Suddenly McI..augt1lin dropped ba c k into th ird , Pridmore an d DuHamel sped a way. and Steve pulled , into th e pits. A fe w lap s la te r Prid more 's hi ke q uit. He later hypo thesized t hat a coil had cracked un-notic ed wh en he crashed in pr actice, la ter to fai l under vibrati on d uri ng the race. Du Hamel found himsel f th e leader, made no mis takes, an d cru ised in, h is Yo sh i mur a K a w a sa k i s mo k ing vigoro usly, abo ut 15 seconds ahead of seco nd p lace :'I ar ty Lunde. T he BMW Lunde rode was a shor t st roke vers ion o f th e R9 0s. T he bore was incre ased and th e stro ke sho rtened to allow shorte r 'cy lin ders to be used . T h e result was improved ground cle ar ance. Fred Walti mo ved hi. flam e-ad orned Kaw asaki ' thro ugh th e pack to take third . Ju n io r winner Pat He nnen wheelies his cares away . Winning feel s so good. 9 Results .J ----.....j ~ '" :;; 0. c( u UJ L- £ xper t/Jun l or Combined F ina l : 1. Kenny R obert s ( Y am): 2 . Gary Scott ( H -D ) : 3 . Don Castro ( Y a m ): 4 . Pat E va n s ( Y a m) : 5. Pat Hennen ( Y am) ; 6 . D av e S mi t h (Y am) ; 7. JOdy NiChOla s; 8 . Steve Baker ( Y am): 9 . Ron Pierce ( H -D ) : 10 . W a lt Foster (Ya m). Junior Fi nal: 1. Pat H ennen ( Y a m ) ; 2. Llr r y Bleil ( Ya m ): 3. Ph il Fra nk (Yam ); 4. Ed Ea t on ( Y a m/ ; 5. Steve Ma ll o n ee ( Yam) ; 6. R ichard s et rt ed ( Yam ) ; 7. Frank Juha n ( Ya m); 8 . Wad e K i ll e n ( Ya m ); 9 . John Tala rico (Yam ) ; 1 0 . L eslie Johnson (Yam) ; 11. J aCk Nash ( Y am ) : 1 2 . Denni s Pegel o w (Y am); 1 3 . ' M ike Wenzel ( Ya m ); 14. A la n Barbie (Yam); 15 . Larry Lee (Yam): 16. Mark Leslie (Yam) ; 17. W es Cooley ( Y am ); 18. Walt Foster ( Y a m ) : 19 . Dean Cleeton (Yam); 20 • William Forrest (Yam ). Pat , he ju st sm iled and than ked his sponsor. Z c( ---I .J Lightweight Production : r.wes Cooley (Yam); 2 .Alan Barb ie (Yam); 3,Frod Waltl (Yam); 4,T ip M cPar t la n d (Kaw); 5. L ore n Mc C reary (Yam); 6 , Quent in Hoga n ( K aW I ' 7 ,G e n e .-.arnot (Yam);8,5teve Soute r (Ka w : 9 .Ralph Grossman ( Y a m ) . 1. Yvon DuHame l • Open Ptoducttoru K aW ) ; 2. Marty L unde (BMW); 3. Fred W ai tt Kaw) : 4 . Justi us Tayl or ( B M W ) ; 5. Cook Neilson ( D u e ) ; 6 . Bob Crossman ( K a w ) : 7 . Eugene Brown ( K aw ); 8 . Edward U n l" 1 (Hon ) ; 9 . Ph i l Frank ( Y a m ) ; 10. St ep hen Lan ge ( ~a w ). l No vice Skip Aksland d own the oorkscrew. No co ntest , this ti me. ,- E x p er t F ina l: 1. Kenny Roberts (Yam) : 2 -, Y vo n DuHamel (Kaw) ; 3. Gene Romero (SUZ) ; 4 . Pau l S m a r t (S UZ); 5 . Pat Evans ( Yam): 6. Da ve Aldana (Yam) ; 7 . Greg H ansf ord ( K aw ): 8. G ar y Scott (H ·D) : 9. W arren W ill ing (Yam): 10. Phil McDonald (Yam) : 1 1. Mike Clarke (Yam): 1 2 . Cliff Carr (Suz): 13. Reg Pridr-.ore (BMW): 14. Harry Cone (Yzm); 15 . Eugene Brown (Yam): 16. Denn is Purd ie ( Y am): 17. John Green ( K aw ) ; 18 . George M i ller ( Y am ) ; 19. OOU9 LibbY (Yam) ; 20 . M ike Devlin (Y am ); 2 1. Bob Endicott (Kaw) ; 2 2 . Jim Dunn (Yam) . .J .J UJ '" a. :;; c( o UJ Z c( .J L ... 7

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