Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

CYCLE _EWS GOES Earlier th is year Ken ny placed his na m e in th e bo o ks whe n he won th e Peoria ·L T . He had nev er before won a Nati on al T .T . an d by doing so he beca me o n ly th e seco nd rider to ever win all five t ypes o f A~ I A Natio nals a t leas t o nc e (Hal f-m ile, Mile , TT, Sh o rt Track. Road Race). It took h im three-and-a-hal f seasons to do it. But as th e season went from race to rac e an even m ore important fact or came to ligh t. Along th e line, Kenny has won six Nat ion al race s this season and within th e six , four are different types. (Sho rt Trac k, TT, Mile, Ro ad Race ). This leaves only a half-mile victory and Kenny will have scored a "Grand Slam" in a single seas on. Nobody has ever co m e close to doing it in the past. When National race an nouncer Roxy Ro ckwood dug out th is fact, there were three half-mi les left on the schedule: Toledo, Terre Haute and Ascot. Now there is only one - Ascot. Roberts gave it all he had at T oledo but had to win the semi to be come the last man to qualify for the final. In doing so he had to be at his two teammates, Gene Romero and Don Castro. For all but the final two laps of th e Toledo final Roberts was running tenth , or farther ba ck. A last lap surge gained him a seventh, his second worst finish this year when he didn't crash or have engine failure. The next da y he tried again to sta nd alone in the record books. It was at Terre Haute . But he ran up against one who many consider the best all around half-rniler in the nation this y ear, Mi chi gan's Corky ' Ke en er. Kee ner finished sec o nd. This brings it all ba ck home - Ascot - the tr ack wh er e Kenny learned profession al dirt tr ack racing. It 's the same track where he won the Nati on al last year . afte r he ha d won the Gr and National title. The title h as been won again but Roberts, due to c on trac t agreement, has not ridden the Ascot half-mil e a sin gle time this year. His last time w as a y ea r ' ago . Ascot has produced no less than 10 diffe rent Exp ert ma in event winners this season. Ald an a, Rockwood, Lawwill, · Hocking, Gennai , Hateley , Romero, Morrison, Hockie, Keet er . Gary Scott tried many times ear ly this ye ar and co u ld n ' t win, Cork y Keener tried o nc e in mid-season and co u ld n ' t win. In fact , it was the only time this year th at Keener was shu t out. Robert F. Read SALES . SERV1CE ~. AND MAIL S PECIALISTS (213) 542-1695 The Finest Selection of Parts and Accessories For Bike and Rider We Offer Expert Repairs Porting and Competition Tuning \\'ea re sob usywejus tdo no tha ve tim etogoi n toa llthew hvsand whe re fo res b u I t h ef act is Cycle Ne ws lsse Ilingso f us t i t isse Jlingo u t atman vnewsstand sandso me dec ler surejust no t o rd eri ngen oug h co piesro me et theenthusias t ic demandsan dso weho peourdca lers wi llge t wit h ita ndo rde r p lem yof issues beca use we haven 'tgo l ime to ke epr~ m i nd i ng t he ma n d i fyo u want tob e aCycleNewsdealcrpi c k uplhephon eandwewi llsh owyou howinahurr y. Mark down the date, Saturday night, October 12th . It's the night that Kenny 'Roberts can reach the ranks of the immortal. It 's the All bu t Rockwood, th e '71 Na tio nal winner, will be o n hand on Oct ober 12th to try an d keep Rob erts fro m becoming immortal. Half-m iles have n o t been Kenny's strong point this year. He was caugh t and passed o n the last lap at Colum bu s by Mike Kidd for th e win . Kidd, wh o was th e nation's lead ing Nati on al hal f-mil er with a win and tw o th irds, is also o u t with inju ry fo r Asc ot. By Asco t t ime Kenn y will also be try ing fo r another record, to tie . th e singl e sea son m ark of eigh t Nat ional wins by J oe Leonard, set 20 years ago in 19 54. T he tr ack th at star te d Kenny on his . way to fame and m oney (h e will make over $160,000 this y ear) , m ay be just , the track th at will keep him from the chanc e to score the " Gran d Slam" in a single seaso n. An added at tr ac tion for the Ascot Nationa l weekend th is year is twofold. For the first time t here will be a specia l J unior Invitational half-mil e on Friday night, the 11th o The first o f these was tried a few weeks ago at the Toledo National. They tim e tri aled down to a dozen riders and the o nly western rider on the line was Ascot's top Junior, Skip Aksland. At th e drop of th e flag he was run into, at th e first tum he was kn ocked down. The race was not sto pped a nd re-st arted. It went on to be come a four-ra cer duel to the fini sh b etween rid ers fr om Georgia, Texas, Ohio and Michigan. Those fo ur Juniors will be at Ascot on the 11 tho Aks la nd and a lot o f o th ers feel th at Skip was "had" at T oled o ~an d the race sho uld ha ve been rest arted du e to the fact it was a fir st time sp ecial invitati onal. No w he gets one more cha nc e, o n hom e turf. Th e Junior race is in addition to a Novice inv ita tio na l and Expert TT, all o n the Friday night before Roberts challenge s th e rest o f the ra cin g world for the last tim e thi s season. It should al one be worth the price of a d m is s io n t o s e e the last Roberts-Keener race of the year. Keener would lik e to become the first rider in 15 ye ars to ever win the Ascot Nati on al and no t call Cal ifornia home . lIis tuner, Bart Markel, tried for yea rs and fail ed . Bart wiII be in th e pits o n the 12th with that old gleam, in his eye. ' It is also reported th at the O ctober 12th National wiII be the las t AMA hal f-mil e of th e seaso n at the Gardena spe ed path th at has bred so many ace s since it first o p en ed its doors back in 19 5 7. For tick et info ca ll (2 13) 32 1· 16 10 o r 32 3-9710. , HUSQVARNA PENTON LAVERDA FASW. NATIONAL night wh en if he can win t he 15 th running of th e Asco t half-m ile National he may set a reco rd- th at can never again be br oken. SCUDERIA ~ 00 l-. U ...0 o ...... u o R ec eive $50 Worth of Parts and Accesso ries FREE When YQu Buy a N ew Husky or Penton . 2419 Arte sia Blvd. Redondo Beach , California 90 278, (2 13) 42 7-7433 or wr-ite P,O. Box 498. Lon g Beach. CA 9080 I ,..-----------, i!!~~!:!:, I III with this ad ! SUNSHINE i I YAMAHA ~\es~~ ~c,c,e SSO e»: ~ New Ama! 'Viton' Rubber·tipped Float Needle This super quality float needle helps overcome carburetor flooding problems of all kinds. For all A al C m oncentrics, I I 10lO W. Chapman, Orange, CA I I 7 14 -633 -0064 Open Sunday s ..... I L. • van PIIl.lys CA • 1:<' 1) ) 780 · 1168 Make NOISE - write your legislator You make your own future - get out and do something about it ~R. E :c R (213-320·9260) HELMETS Filtron Fi lt ers ...I. L. met ric hard ware ~ 3038 , Fullerto n, CA~ §ale!i P.O. Box 92634 714-870-62 44 213-697-9674 19

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