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/125876
When t he green flag d ropped Hennen im m edia t el y assumed the lead foll owed by Foster, Gl ea son, Cooley an d Byars. Gleason pi cked off Foster on the thi rd lap and began to close the ga p on Hennen by gaining ground in the infiel d although losing a bit t o Hennen's more powerful bike on th e ban king. Three lap s later Gl eason had c ut th e distance to abo ut 20 ya rds and was scra tc hing for e very fo ot he could get. Meanwh ile, Gary Blac kman was putting in a spiri ted cha rge th ro ugh the pack fro m h is last row gri d po si tion. It carried hi m to sixt h by the checkers . The crowd ro a red as Gleason . using an extremely late braking p oint. blew b y Hennen as the pair entered th e infield. Hennen regained the lea d on the banking and , by weavin g t o break dr aft , effe ctivel y sto pp ed Gleas on fr om sling-shorting b y. Hen ne n kept his sm all lead to t he flag with Gleason cl os ed behind. T om Byars nipped Foster for third o n lap eight an d mad e his m ove stic k. Results 1. Pat H en n en (Yam); 2. Pee Wee Gleason (Yam); 3 . Tommy Byars (Yam); 4. Walter Fo ster (Yam): 5. Wes Co o le y (Yam); 6. Gary Bla ckman ( Yam); 7. Leslie Johnson (Yam) : 8 . Randy Cleek (Yam): 9. Wade Kil le n (Ya m ): 1 0 . Ed Eaton ( Y a m ) . '- - -- - - - - - - - - - - Methodical Roberts sweeps another It took Kenny Roberts two laps in the 50 mile Co mbined event to heat his Goodyear slicks to where he felt they were sti cking to h is sa t isfact io n. From there on it was bye-bye Kenn y as Roberts, in methodical fashion, proceeded to leave th e rest of th e field behind : 22 se conds worth by the checkers . Floridian Ted Herner, in a duel to the flag that was de cided in the last few feet , barely nipped Ron Pierce for second with fourth place Pat Evan s very closed behind. Gary Scott a nd his new Harley RR 250 suffered two seizures in practice (b o t h in the fast entrance to the infield) with the second one costing Scott a broken collarbone and effectively etuning him fo r at least three weeks. It was left to the private Harley ntries to take up the slac k with Scott ut of a ct ion but only one, Conrad Urbanowski, on th e Harley-Davidson of Pa lm Beach entry, co uld break t he Yam ah a hol d on the top 25 places. lie m ish ed thir teenth . Hea t win ners Roberts a nd Pierce . uared o ff side by side on the grid , b u t t was Pat Evans and Gary Fisher who ro t t he j u m p off t he line with Jim 'vans, T ed Hen ter and Robe rt s all lowing by in a group . Henter sn apped up the lead on th e econd lap holding it until the fast nfield swi tchback where Roberts .x er t ed his horsepower and be gan to ull a way. With Roberts pulling a way, the icti o n cen te red o n the Benter, Pa t .va ns, Pierce , Fisher, Romero pack until Romero too k a n o ff co u rse xcursion o n lap six) . By lap eigh t , Roberts had ten e conds breathing room an d was ontin uing t o open space o n the second la ce tri o , as both Fis her and Romero opped b ac k. Pier ce heId second on lap en with Evans taking over o n th e ne xt lp only to ha ve Pierce regai n h is hold -ith one lap to go. It ap peare d to be a t hree way d<;ad eat as the tri o came off th e ban king nd onto the front strai ght with a o we r rider, to be lapped, thrown in for dded ex ci te ment. !Ienter went low a nd around the der, forcing Pierce into a h igh (an d mger) line: Evans was balked. A sho rt distance behi nd the front nners, Jim Evans took fifth with Gene o rne ro working his way back for a ose sixth. T h e w in was Roberts' four th o mbi ncd victory of the seaso n and set ie st age for his thi rd road race sweep f the yea r. esults 1. Kenny Robe rt s (Yam): 2. Ted Henter am); 3 . Ron Pierc e (Yam); 4 . Pat Evans am); 5. J im Evans (Yam) : 6 . Gene Romero am) ; 7 . Bi lly Labrie (Yam) ; 8. Doug Teague am) ; 9 . Pat Hen nen (Yam) ; 1 0 . Steve Baker am) ; 11. Pee Wee Gleason (Yam); 12. Bo~ c i co t t (Yam); 13. Conrad Urbanowskl -0 - ; 14. Michael Clar ke (Yam): 15. John Long (Yam) ; 16. Tommy Byar s (Y am); 17. Bart Myers (Yam) ; 18. Gary Blackman (Yam); 19. Fernando Cammaert (Yam); 20 . Gary Fisher (Yam) . Roberts blitzes Talladega Gr a nd Nat ional Champion Kenny Roberts m ov ed a not her st e p c los er to his second consec u tive title b y bli tzi ng the Talladega 75 m ile Ar-IA Na tiona l Cha m pio ns h ip ro ad race . The 2 2 year o ld Yamaha factory rider left the field beh ind as he cove re d th e di stan ce at a ne w record spe e d o f 111.9 5 7 1\IPH. Robert s' performan ce in th e 19 lap Nati onal coupled with hi s - victory in th e previous day's Co mbi.ned race gave hi m h is th ird double a nd Sixt h Na tio na l win of the season. Perennial runner-up in th e chase fo r the Number One pl at e , Gary Scott. suffered a b ro ken co llarbone during pr actice fo r the Combined race and is expected t o be o ut o f ac tion for th e next three we e ks. Practi ce sessions for the Na tiona l had many insiders predicting a close race between Team Yamaha, Team Su zuki and Team Kawasaki. Su zuki's Barry Sheene unofficially "won" the pr actice sessions a nd the fact tha t Sheene an d his b rothe r -i n - Iaw , Pa ul Smart, were mounted on new tri ck Dunlops, as were Kawasaki's Yvo n Dullamel and Suzuki's Cliff Carr. gave hopes of a non-Ya maha runaway to fans of Britishers Sheene, Smart an d Carr an d Canadian DuHamel. Some of those hopes disappeared during the first heat as the Goody,;"r equipped TZ 700 o f Roberts handily won the five lap even t af t er a two lap di ce with te ammate Don Castro and DuHamel . Paul Smart pulled out after a lap with a clut ch p roblem that Suzuki me chanics couldn't quite pu t their finger o n . Bellingham, Washington's Steve Baker suffered a broken arm in a he avy get-off in turn one on the first lap of the heat. Heat number two featured a race long duel betwe,:n Cliff Carr. and Kawasaki fa ctory rider Hu rley Wilvert. Carr took the win with Wilvert a close second and Barry Sheene third. Bosto? Cycle sponsored Ji m Evans an d his T Z70 0 took the fourth sp ot. Gene Romero failed to finish the heat as he reportedly joined Pa ul Smart in the clutch problem category. . The starting grid for the National was as slim as the crowd that had gathered in the m iddle of Alabama at Bill France's speedway. O nly 32 rid ers posted for the 19 lap eve nt wi th a front row of Roberts, Carr, Castro, a nd DuHamel headi ng t he pac k, . Roberts was led off t he grid by Castro, but by t he ti me they a rr ived at turn three Roberts was in th e lead for good . Lap one provided th e o nly conc en t rat ed action of the race a nd misfortune struck Yvon DuHamel and Mike Clarke as both riders unloaded. Yvorr's ge t-o ff occ ur ed as he exi t~ d the in fiel d and st arted up on the ba n king. In a move similar to Gary Nixon's Daytona crash, Yvon seem ing ly go t o n th e ga.< too hard a nd his Kawasaki twi tched o ne way a nd then the o the r be fore d ispo sing of DuHamel. Clar ke 's ge t-off o ccurred in tu m three. It was ap pa ren t b y th e middl e of th e second lap th at T eam Yamah a would wal k a way wi th the rac e . Roberts a nd Castro had pulled a six second lead ove r third pl ace m an. teammat e Gen e Romero. Romero was being pressured by Carr an d on th e six t h lap Burri tt o got off in turn t wo. lie suffered heavy asp halt ras h, but o ther tha n saying "it 'll be a rough plane ride home" he di smissed the incident with " . .. the crash ing is o u t of th e wa y now a nd ('II ge t 'ern at On tario ." Roberts pulled a wa y from Castro at the rate of a 'sec ond a lap an d Castro, in a vain attempt to keep his team rna te in sight, was pulling away from the rest o f t he field at ar- even more rapid clip. Lap 20 saw Roberts nine se conds ahead of Cas tro with Don nie a full 20 second s over a Jim Evans/Cliff Carr battle for t h ird an d a Hurl ey Wilvert/Steve Mc La ugh lin / Rar ry Sheene battl e for fifth. Evan s won the ba tt le fo r third 3.< he bcgan t o pull a wa y from Carr o n the 14 th lap and Barry Sheene wo n th e battle fo r fifth and finally the battle for Mike Clark e's rid e rless TZ-700, afte r deciding to co ntinue wi t ho ut hi m, does a spectacular e nd o, sheds its tank, a nd ex it s stage right, to be fo llowed at a discr eet d ist an ce b y Mik e. Cliff Carr a nd Jim Evans are a study in matched concentration as t hey h it the gas streak left beh ind by Mike Clarke's c ras h at f ull chat. c Barry Sheene unofficially " w o n" the, time trials on trick new Dunlops, J im Eva ns , of San Bernardino, Ca lifornia, seemed to come from nowhere to take th ird in the Nat ional. fou rt h as he pa ssed Carr on th e chec kered flag lap. Sheene had charged thro ug h th e pac k during th e ea rl r sta ges o f th e race , b ut bl amed heat faugue .o n not being a ble to close on Carr ea rlier , Beh ind t he fro n t runners several ind ivid ua l performan ce s hi ghlighted t ~e even t. Consistent r id es by roo kie Expe rts Ted lIenter a nd Billy Lab.'i e en abled th e Flor ida d uo t o san d wic h ninth pl ace fi nish er John Lysight o f Can ad a. Art Baumann turned in a top te n perform an ce before his Kawasaki sto p pe d. Kawa saki's team man ager, R and 1Iall, described Baumann 's me chanica l p roblem as "someth ing broke I d on 't kn o w what, but so m e th ing went. ,. T he checker ed flag sa w Roberts finish 18 secon ds a hea d o f Castro, who was e ve n further ahead of third pl ace ma n Evan s a nd th en Sheene , Carr an d Wilvert. Whil e Roberts. Castro an d Evan s head ed a ro un d o n their coo l-off lap, Wilvert to ok the chec kere d flag and pr omptl y ste pped o ff in turn one, providing Kawasaki wi th two des tro yed fairi ngs fo r s o u ve n ir s of the weekend his a nd Yvo n 's. Roberts too k $3 .685 in purse m oney alone hom e to Ca lifornia, b ut m ore im por ta n tly he ad d ed 16 5 N~ tion:" po ints t o his growing total. Ills "wm co u pled wi th Scott's no t be ing a ble to co m pe te gives him a total o f 1, 754 po ints - a c us hio n o f 4 10 poin ts o ve r Scott. Don Castro and Jim Evan s took home a ni ce hunk o f the p urse as well and the pair thanked their m echanics, with Eva ns mentio ning Kevin Cameron's as s is tan ce in pr epa ring th e John J acobsen/Bo ston Cycle Yamaha. • Results 1. Ken Roberts (Yam) ; 2. Don Castro Y am ) ; 3. J im E vans ( Yam) ; 4 . Barry Sh ee ne Suz); 5 . Cliff Carr (Suz) ; 6. Hurley Wll vert Kaw); 7 . Steve McLaughlin (Yam); 8. Teet Henter (Yam ); 9 . J ean LYSight (Yam); 10. Billy Labrie (Yam) ; 11. Len .F it c h .t Y a m ); 12. l Den nis Purdie ( Y am ) ; 13 . M ike Nmel (Yam): 1 4 . Bart Myers (Yam) ; 15. Gary Fisher (Yam) ; 16. Bob Wakefiel d (Yam) ; 17. Olive Smith (Yam) ; 1 8. Art Baumann ( Kaw): 19. Peter Chancey ( Yam) ; 20. Doug Lib by ("(am). 9