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/125875
• omero ray s es .il 'F 'l%'~,,1 . ~~ll"m;""""-", "'.~~ . > - -- ,.., ..- ,/ *~ $~J<~ . i''' > «<'0/'-' I:l:'! --- Indianap olis winner nips past his teammate Don Castro in t he ir heat. Castro passed Gene back, but in the final, whe re it cou nts , Romero was the first . By Gary Van Voorh is INDI ANAPOLIS, III:D., AUG . 24 "I tried, damn, -I tried. I wanted to win so bad but in the last turn the one time I didn't want to break t h e rear t ir e loose it broke. Gene got a goo d dr ive; I didn't ." Do ug Sehl was talking in th e hu stle of the pi ts afte r th e trophy 8 presentat ions. "Finishi ng second in a race like th at is wo rse than fini shi ng last, " he said . T he result s will show th at Gene R om er o, on his wo rks Y am ah a, defeat ed Har ley-D avi d son riders Do ug Seh l an d Corky Keener, for th e win o n the Indian apolis mile. What th ey ca n ' t sh ow is t he dr ama an d excitemen t th at on ly a mi le dirt trac k can provide , The even in g started o ut o n a surprise note fo r those who' try to p ick th e f a st e st qu alifier. Jim Ze ig ler, resplend ent in new leathers, cl ocked h is ex- Ronnie Ra il Harl ey to a top time of 39:609. It was no t a new reco rd and ac tually wen t against t he od ds as Ziggy was th e first rider o ut o n th e trac k. Others waited until it began to coo l, hoping the track wo uld get faster: it didn't. Chuck Palmgren an d Do ug Sehl turned in the next fastest ti mes . Racing on the mil e extract s a te rrific pri ce for the mach inery and with pr act ice an d time t rials out of t he way, the pits looked like a massive rebuilding lot. G e a rin g w as the first order of business for most of the riders. Those wh o had bl own or seve rely detuned their race engine had the o p tion of switc hing or a rebuild. Prior to timi ng, - R an d y S co tt was ted his bike and jumped o n So nny Burres ' bike. Rex Beauc ha m p's race bike was humming, but it wasn 't getting the traction needed so he wen t to his spare. "My sp are always worked ou t to be my best bike any way .' Ba r t Ma r k el was busy reb uildi ng Corky Keen er 's gear box. T he h e a ts pr o ved eve ry o n e' s an t iciap tio n o f a top n igh t with a double dose of excitement th at kept on b uild ing until t he last chec kere d flag. Don Cas tro, rap idl y recov ering fro m his acciden t earlier th is year, led th e first heat off th e lin e, foll owed closel y by teamma te Gene Romero, Ricky Cam pb ell an d J im Zeigl er. Cas tro held off Ge ne in a side-to-side d uel th at ranged the en tire length of th e tr ac k, Cast ro , using a very t ight ins ide line to con serve his strength (his usual style is high o n the edge of the cushion) , was nailed by his teammate on lap three, but then regained the lead to th e finis h wh en Romero 's saddle cam e loose. Ed Wirth char ged from fifth to third in three laps and th en pro ceed e d to put a drive on Ro mero t hat almost nail ed Gene at the fin ish line, Zeigler finis he d fourth. The crowd roared with eve ry pass, loving every minute of it an d this was only the beginning. Ch uck Palmgren wan ted none of that hero ic das h-to-the -flag , so he lit out fr om t he co mpetition fo r a wire -t o -wire win in he at tw o . It took Gary Scott five lap s to get wi th in a challenging position of Palmgr en , but to n o avail. In t he hac k of the p ack Jo hn Gennai and Mert Law will were making t heir moves, with Lawwill easing in to fourth by the halfwa y mark and Ge nnai slipping into fi fth a lap lat er. T he race then found Mert fifth , as bo t h Gennai Eves an d Yamaha-mounted Bill slipped by. Lawwi ll disposed of Eves a lap later , to hold fourt h while Gennai rod e a secure thi rd . Rex Beaucha m p's spare was h is best b ike and he set o ut t o prove it , and cause a li ttle pre-Natio nal sp ecu lat io n . by t u r n i n g in t he fa stest hea t. Beaucha mp d isposed of Keen er for the lead th ree laps into the race, lea ving Corky and Hank Scott fighting for sec o n d as were Dave an d Doug Sehl for the fourt h an d final tran sf er spot. Keen er and Scott swapped back and fourth until th e eighth lap when Scott t oo k over for good. Do ug za p pe d brot he r Dave on lap 7 an d established a lit tl e breathing room. Kenny Roberts put on the b iggest drive o f any of the he at rac es as he pulled from almost las t place on the first lap of heat four to fo urth on the seco nd go-a ro un d and t he n seco nd o n th e next. J ohn Hateley gra bbe d the lea d at the start but Roberts was hauling him in rapidly (cro wd react ion was the main indication of j ust how rapidl y , as a roar would go up every t ime Ro berts closed up t he gap) . On t he eight h lap Rober ts nailed Hateley down th e back straigh t, ho lding o n th ro ugh the ni nth u ntil t he last turn of th e fina l lap. Roberts an d Hatel ey emerged from tu rn fo ur side by side with Hateley taki ng th e flag b y a narrow half-bi ke mar gin. Back in the pits Hatelev's mechanics disc o vered a missing rear axle n ut ; it was the ca use of John bac king off on lap eight. He t houg ht t he tire was go ing flat. Ro b ert s h ad also had a pro blem , noticin g a power loss in t he closing lap s. It was to be his do wn fall in the National. . Lar ry Darr and J im my_Man ess ma d e quick work of th e firs t sem i to take th e transfer spo ts. T h e s e c o nd sem i saw t he only acciden t o f the nigh t as Dave Aldana cr ashed and Steve Morehead . tryi ng to avoid Aldana, hit his bike. T his t im e Aldan a go t hurt. He s uff ere d a fractured pe lvis. On t he restar t Dave Se hl again took the lead with t he last transfer spot up for gra bs until the last lap, when a d e t erm ined Mark William s emerged