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/125873
On the line: Ken Roberts. Gary Scan, Mike Kidd ham it up to relieve some of the tension . - Santa Fe Short Track National: Roberts' horsepower beats the Cajun Shuffle By Gary Van Voo rh is HINSDALE, ILL., AUG. 9 The Santa Fe Short Track National and second round of the Camel Pro Series fell to the' yellow and black Yamaha factory 'bike of Kenny Roberts. In winning, Roberts notched his ei~th National victory, his third of this season and assumed a commanding lead in both the Grand National and Camel Pro Se!i~ point ~!a.~dings. Mike Gerald did the Cajun Shuffle as best he co uld but was in second on the short end of a 15 bike len gt h gap when the checkers fell. Gerald t ried hard to make it three in a row at Santa Fe but noted. "There's a lot of people here who have really learned ho w to build a short trac ke r . " 10 The ra ce for third p lace went right down to the wire with John Hateley using a last lap, last turn c harge to steal the position away from Gary Scott by a matter of feet at the checkers. Scott, riding the wheels off his Harley, knew it was corning and t he re was n ' t really anythi ng he could do abou t it except pray I •..._ for a little extra oomph off the las t L U..I I I . T he National was marred by accidents which necessitated three restarts with one of the crashes involving ~E!;.E Kidd and the Tum Three wal l. Kidd received a double break of the left upper leg and will be in traction and .ou t of action for the remainder of the season. There are some who will argue that had the National run its normal course witho ut the lengthy delays of the restarts that Kenny wo uldn't have won. In the closing laps of th e race the normal ring-a-ding-di ng of his Yamaha changed to the ping-a-ding-ding of detonation and got progressively louder. Mike Gera ld could hear it and was pra ying, but the cushion that was bui lt in the earlier laps he ld for Kenny. More on that late r. It see med that just about everybody had been doing their ho mewor k prior to Santa Fe b ut the bestes t and mostest had been done by Yamaha, although only Kenny benefited by it . Outwardly the only evidence was a new exhaust system which matched th e power band to the track. Inside there were a few things that had been to uched also and it became evident to all during his heat that Roberts had a few ponies o n everybody. Mike Kidds" Bu ltaco was running a new improved version of "t he sta nda rd engine and was no slouch at gelling around either. Chuck Palmgren showed up with his Gurney /Steed bike and le t everyone wonder what h e had up his sleeve while Mike Gerald, the pre race favorite, set himself up to give it 100 percent and win his third straight Santa Fe title. Roberts dialed it on in time trials with a little help from so me added pressure: in his ti res to trip the clocks a full three tenths of a second faster th an Darryl H urst. From there it was a b lanket cove ring John lI a te le y , Mike Kidd and Mike Gerald with, surprise, surprise, Gary Scott right behind. Mert Lawwill , nint h fastest, made it two Harleys in a den of two strokes in t he top ten. The first heat set the pattern for the night ' in two ways. First it was the confron tation of Robe rts and Gerald and secondly it started with a rash of accidents that would continue throughout the night. No sooner had the flag dropped and the riders stormed off the line than Rod Bailey, Ed Salley and Pat McCaul went tumbl ing. The first restart lasted t wo laps with Mert Lawwill and Steve Morehead being the victims this time. Lawwill, being passed on the ins ide, got his handlebars clipped whic h put him into the front straight wall and then off his bike . The t ire tracks on his lea thers aggravated his San Jose shoulder injury and left him bruised , shaken a nd "sore as hell." Finally Gerald and Roberts got down to business with Mike leading fo r the first half of the heat and Ken n y taking over for t he final lap s. Roberts gobbled Gerald in the straights but gave up gro und in the corners a nd on that basis Mike thought he had a p retty good chance when the 25 la p National ro lled around. Roberts had other plans . The Ha rley fans became un glu ed in the second heat as Gary Scott ran away with the wi n using th e mos t o u trageo us lines thro ugh the t urns to keep on