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/125877
- Rex Beauchamp: Phooey! Sloppy seconds on this stuff is bad. Han k Scott, center, is still trying to believe he won. Scott scoots to victory (Hank, that is) By Gary Van Voorhis SYRACUSE, N.Y., SEPT. 8 "Whooie, I just can't believe it. I mean my luck's just too good lately." Now rookie Expert Hank Scott m ay n ot believe that he won the Syracuse Mile National but there were 19 other riders out on the track as weU as an almost packed grandstand that do . 12 Scott, aboard his Drew Pate/NASCO sponsored semi-factory Harley-Davidson, nailed a solid victory over fellow Harley riders Rex Beauchamp and Doug Sehl to the cheers of the grandstand. "A good day" was the understated comment by Harley's racing manager Dick O'Brien after the sweep of the top spots. Yamaha filled out the top five with Kenny Roberts, aboard his works bike, in fourth and All American Racers rider Chuck Palmgren in fifth . Hustle up was the word for the program although, thankfully, the threatening weather did only that, Syracuse did not co ntain the electrifying feeling of Indy but was one helluva show and it a ppears that it will be returning ne xt year to the upper New York state site. Hank Scott led off the first heat and put in his bid to win his second race at the Syracuse track in as many weeks (Scott won a last lap, last turn victory over Chuck Palmgren in last week's warm-up race). Fast .q ualifier Rex Beauchamp was having no thoughts of second though and nipped Scott with a hard drive on lap four out of the fourth turn to take the lead. Third place was a swap fest with Denny Palmgren finally emerging from the four rider pack on lap seven after BiUy Eves, Corky Keener and John Gennai had held the position. Keener hung in for fourth with Eves and Gennai a short distance off the pace. Gene Romero. a "half fast" rider after his crash at Talladega last week, didn't let posterior problems bother him as he managed to pull away from an early Mark Williams/Jim Zeigler duel and win easily. Ziggy finally held off Williams for third with Dave Atherton fourth . Atherton unknowingly clouded the opposition's view with an oil leak thateffectively stopped challenges from both Keith Ulicki and Joh n Hateley. Mert Lawwill, recovering ,from San Jose injuries which he aggravated at Santa Fe, now has Syracuse injuries to mend. Lawwill injured his ankle avoiding the fa llen bike of Mike Johnson with Denny Varnes incurring probable back and rib injuries in the three ride r crash. Johnson wasn't hurt but trashed his bike. "I haven't even paid for the front end yet," The restart of Heat Three featured 20 lead changes with Doug Sehlleading the turn two to three dash and Roberts taking a high line to emerge in the lead through turn four and hold it until turn one. That was fine except on the last lap when Sehl got a good drive and Kenny found himself in second at the flag with Don Castro and Ron Moore following. Chuck Palmgren made short work of Dave Sehl's lead in the fourth heat but found the solution of shaking off both Terry Dorsch and Billy Schaeffer a little .h ar d e r , Chuck's problems solved themselves as Dorsch and Schaffer went at it wheel to wheel with Bill finally nipping Terry in the third turn of the last lap and then ma king a last co rn er charge for Chuck that rolled in just a ' litt le short, Dave Sehl mo to red around in fourth waiting for a mistake that never came. The Syracuse track is basically an oval but one that is slightly more egg shaped than round. The line through turn one was fast but, according to some riders, the wall closed in on you in turn two. The groove that developed on the backstraight was a two or three bike wide strip but the exit from the second turn did not provide a wide enough line for the five abreast riding of some other mile tracks. Turns three and four were tight and needed a different line from the opposite end of the track leaving the riders with two separate plans of attack for each lap. The front straight had a slight hump in it that caused more than a few churns in the stomach of the riders but if you were straigh t up when you hit it you only wobbled a little. John Gennai and Steve Droste picked up the transfer spots in the first semi. Keith Ulicki moved from sixth to a fast closing third but time ran out . Semi Two was decided by inches at the line with three riders crossing almost in a dead heat. T he nod wen t to Rod Bailey by an inch over Frank Gillespie wi th Steve Morehead only a wheel behind. The toll of the mile was eviden t as only nine riders made it to the line and no alternates were to be found - at least with bikes that would run. The impending weather situation brought another hustle in the program and the final was quickly called to the line to run ahead of the Trophy race. The track itself was staying relatively dust free, but the early heat race cushion was now a lot of dry marbles much to Rex Beauchamp's dismay. "With the track drying like this I'll have to lower my line (d o wn onto the groove) and that's how I lost last week. I'll probably start out around fourth and sec what's going on." Beauchamp's philosophy of waiting lasted until the pack emerged from the second turn and onto the backstraight. Rex dialed the power on and gobbled up the advantage that Kenny Roberts had off the starting line. Doug Sehl then took the opportunity to drop Roberts a spot further and when the pack ended the first lap it was Beauchamp, Doug Sehl, Roberts, Hank Scott and Denny Pal mgren followed closely by a 3D-wheeled snake. Hank Scott waited two laps before he bumped Roberts to fourth with Keener and Romero moving up to challenge Palmgren for fifth. Chuck Palmgren and Ron Moore were on the move and closing. Scott put the bump on Doug Sehl seven laps into the program and then set out to reel in Beauchamp. It took him four laps, and from there on it was the Hank Scott show as he held off repeated challenges by Beauchamp. Sehl slipped back a bit during the middle laps but then returned to put in his charge in a see-sawing battle for second. Roberts. fourth from the third lap, remained in a challenging position should anyone of the riders break or make a mistake. It was probably a frustrating ride . "I had the throttle wide Scott moved from a fifth place start to bump Doug Sehl (45). Then it was Beauchamp's turn.