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/125879
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Clnc es tit e
Steve Droste, Kenn y Rob erts and - Rex
Beauc ha m p fo llo wing.
By the second go-ro und Roberts had
mo ved to third and Beau ch amp to fi fth ,
dropping Dro ste to six th . Two laps later
Palmgr en an d Roberts enga ged in a duel
for second wh ich lasted three lap s
before Rober ts go t under Chuck in turn
one. All the while Corky was opening
real estate betwee n h im an d the rest o f
the fighters, making the best of a gol den
opport unity to p ut . as much room as
possible between himself and second
place.
Back in th e pack, Dave Aldana, afte r
a lo usy start , 'was on th e mov e p icking
off one or two sp ots per lap by some
tricky riding through traffic , weaving
like a sna ke to take full adva ntage of all
th e lines available. If you th ought you
had the line thro ugh turns one and two
wired just wait until you go t to three
and four. No one rider seemed to have
the whole track wired ; o nly Corky , with
his front running positi on, co uld af fo rd
th e extra instant to de cide ex actly
....
Q)
..0
o
....
u
o
where to rid e.
By lap 10 Beau ch amp h ad squeezed
his way in to third, a good distance
beh ind Rober ts and a breath ah ead of
Palm gren. Droste was fifth and Aldana
was a closing sixth with Dave Sehl ,
Ro m e ro a n d H a t e l e v beh ind.
Beauc ham p and Palmgren kept up their
little battle for four more lap s until Rex
broke fre e leaving Chuck to fight off
Ald ana while Hank Scott moved in to
the battle for seve nth as Hateley broke a
plug lead.
Aldan a found a good line on "lap 17
and kept working it past Palmgren and
then Beau champ at the flag .. You could
say David snuck into the winner's circle
since Rex looked back (lo w) and didn't
see Dave (h igh) until he had gotten the
drive an d the line for third place. Rex
was frustrated.
Keener too k the flag a goo d distance
(uno ffi cially six sec o nds ) ahead of
Roberts who had a strong hold on
second. Aldana was third. Roberts '
placing, combined with Gary Scott's
tenth, pu ts the AMA Gr and National
title right ba ck in his hands .
Kenny Roberts may have only finished second in the postp oned India na Nationa l. but it was good enough
to lock up the AMA nu mber one plate fo r ano t her year. and win t he Camel cigarette mo ney to boot.
.. Fantastic ! I th o ugh t 1 had a good
ch ance but I didn ' t kn ow 1 was th at far
ah ead. Everything 's been reall y great
thi s weekend. " If you didn't get th e
ide a that Keener was bubbling o ver, all
you needed to see was his smile.
\
Kenny Roberts wasn't ex actly
Gary Scott lost his chance at the Grand Nat ional Championship t itle for good
th is season wh en h e took th e wrong line at t he start of the final.
so mb er. Th e clin ch ing o f th e title takes
the pressure o ff and t he $5000 Camel
Pro Serie s bu c ks sweetened the pot.
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Results
National : 1. Corky Keener (H·C) ; 2.
Kenny Roberts (Yam); 3. Dave A lda na ~Trl);
4 . Re x Beauchamp (H ~D); S. Chuck Palm gren
(Y am ):
6.
Steve
Romero (Yam) ;
5ehl (H ·D ) ; 10.
Mo rehead (Tr i);
Bill Schaeffer
(Yam).
Drost e
(H -C) ; 7.
Gene
8 . Ha nk Scott (H·O) . 9 . D ave
Gary Scott (H -D) ; 11 . Steve
12. Joh n Gennai (H-D) ; 13.
(Yam); 14. Jonn Hateley
T rOPhy Fina l : 1. R ic k HOCk ing (Yam) ; 2.
Tom Cummings (H ·C); 3. Mike caves (H-D) ;
4. Ra ndy Scott gHoO) ; 5. Don C astro