Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Golden Gate Mile Continued fr om page 25 his engine wai ting fo r the flag , hi s Discojet ejected. He would h ave been disqual ified even if he had made the Main with out o ne /m uffler, so he too k off his helme t and wa lked away. "They (Discojet) gave me t wo and I used up three. " . The second semi's firs t lap fo und a two-stro ke leading (Brelsford on the Kaw asak i] and /a two-stro ke last 0 ohn Sperry o n a SUzuki 500). Wa tch ing the wailin g strok'er leaving t he pac k of four-strokes ,tI o wn th e st raight in fro n t of ~h e grandstand with a wide marg in dunng earl y s tages of th e race was a t reat, with Sp erry 's Su zu ki pl ay ing caboose. It didn 't last, t ho ugh, as J oh n Gennai (H. D) got by . Both Gennai an d Brelsfo rd mad e the Main. The Trop hy Final for riders wh o failed to q ualify for the Main ha d to be rest ar ted when, o n t he second lap, Tom Cummings got off gen tly in a lo ng , long slide on the n o rth turns . Ron Davi es (T ri) was behind, an d had to pi ck be twee n riski ng hittingCummings or his bi ke, li e chose th e bike, with disast rous results, no t as bad as perhaps the o ther ch oice woul d h ave produced, b ut bad. Rob San de rs threw hi s down to avoi d th e tr o ub le, but made the res ta rt. T o m White (H-D) led th e re start wir e-to-wire , holding ba ck Keeter 's charges wh ile Paul Bos tru m (H-D) . battled his way into third . Final ly, after an extra long sessio n of the van boys driving aro und in an erra tic parade dodgin g each o th er an d th e drag truc ks , it was t ime for the Na tio nal , sho rtened at the very last minute to 15 laps, fr om 25 . Hocking was a lit tle disturbed at th e tim e. " It reall y surprised me when th ey did sh orten th e race ... when I go t o n the starting line is when I found ou t. I was looking for the 25 lap s so if I was ba c k a ways it would give me time to work up . " On the grid every ear ned spot excep t one, (Lawwill's) was occup ied . Into th e first tu m , th e second tum , the thi rd turn, and th e fourth turn with a muted ro ar t he pack slid, but the leader d idn 't wear yello w and his bike didn't bear Number One. John Hateley put his Yamaha in front right at th e first wave of th e green flag and hung on ahead of Roberts, Hocking, and Palmgren, masking his flight with a shower of sand. Tear-offs floated above the dirt and dust haze marking the center of th e group as riders desperately tried to se e where th e hell th ey were go ing. Clear plastic glistening in the slowly setting ... ~ ...0 o .... u Dave Aldana (Tri 13) and Rob Morrison (Nor 10) got into a wheel-to-wheel number in the first semi, with Aldana still recovering from a broken pelvis, winning going away. Rick Hocking was all smiles after his first National win . He won the Fr iday before at Ascot, too. sun gen tly sailed to earth at the north end o f th e fr on t straight as th e bikes wer e already crossing the star t line. Lap t wo b elo nged to Rick Hocking. Ha teley was all by hi mself coas ting do wn th e bac k s tra igh t wh en Hocking slid onto th e fron t with the pack of muffl ed hounds bay ing at his h eels. Hat d ey 's co ndenser bracket cracked. then bloke in rapid seq ue nce, en.di ng th e co ndense r gro und and th e engine 's spa rking abili ties at the same instant. Rober ts was in seco nd . He kept ripping at tear offs an d the sma ll wind scre en fitt ed o n his handlebars. "I tried to rip that damn thi ng o ff ... th ey kept blastin 'me. I coul d n't see n o th in', out of th e far tu m . All , co uld see was no thin " . y ou kn ow, and I kep t it sideways , kep t thinking 'S-t, I'm gonna hit the wall'.. . When that wet sa nd hits yo u , y o u can' t see a thing. Slows yo u down te n mil es an hour, soon as it hits yo u:' L ap three Roberts took over, Hocking second, Corky Keener third, Palmgren fourth, and Gary Scott fif th in a wad of racers. The same lap , Brelsford came silently out of the north turns with a dead engine. One of three throttle slides h ad stuck WFO in turns three and four. '" almost took out everyb~~y down there it unstuck, but ... Roberts st ill ca m e around in fr ont o n th e fourt h lap, but Keener had second Ken Roberts said he wasn't going to go 100"10 on the rough track, then went out and won his heat. no w, and Hocking was sandwic he d in between Keen er and Palmgren in a very tigh t slide by slid e d ice for secon d through fourth. Keen er pushed p ast Roberts in to the front spo t on lap five as Re x Beau ch amp, up from a poor sta r t, a n d J ohn Gennai zapped Palmgren. Then it was Hocking 's tum to put it to th e cha m p . "On the north tum , co uld n't see at all - I don 't think anybody co uld se e - the sun was righ t in our eyes. , kept veering t o the left, an d kep t hoping' didn 't run in to the fen ce, un til , cou ld wipe my shie ld . " Roberts again. It was Keener's tum to dice with Hockin g again, only this time on lap seven , an d fo r firs t inst ea d of second. Gary Scott, running seven th , clipped a pol e in the cloud of dir t o n th e ou tside of turn t wo going o nto th e bac k straigh t, kn ock in g o ff an air cleaner and brea kin g ankle and fo o t bon es. He g rippe d th e b ars w ith s h e e r de te rmina tion to coast arou nd to the servi ce ap ro n bordering the last turn, sto pped, slumpe d o ver the bike in pain, an d collap sed on to t he ground when someone took the moto rcycle. It really wasn't his type of racetrac k . . . Hocking me anwhile, not following an y stra tegy (h e la ter to ld th e p ress), rode high, rode lo w , rode wherever he John Hateley (Yam 98) and Hank Scott (H·D 20 ) did the race-long battle number in their heat. The new problem of staying under the maximum dbA limit was dealt with in a variety of ways. Most used Discojet units (upper left ), but others sough t other solutions. Team H·D bu ilt their own massive mufflers (upper right), Scott Brelsford's Kawasaki entered with the only Trapp mufflers - which Discojet also makes - (lower left), and some used small mufflers built into the header pipes (lower rightl. These weren't the only ones seen. o co uld , trying to play it cool and trying to pass at the same time. He passed. The lead was Hocking's from th en on, and Keener fade d to wards fourth. Roberts was havin g problems with ignition misfire becaus e th e bik e 's battery was shakin g apart from the c o n s t a n t pounding. When Keener slowed, Roberts nabbed second in to Hock ing's dirt spray, and Beau champ slid into third. Roberts lost o ne more pl ace before the finish . The track didn 't look to o swell a fter it was over, bu t Roberts ventured the op inio n that i t wouldn't have gotten any worse, so they just as well co uld have run the rac e 100 lap s for all the differ en ce it would have mad e. But Hocking's op ini on ? "It worked o ut just righ t . They could have ta ken a co uple more laps o ff a nd it wo uld have been alri ght." • Results Hea t One : 1. R e x B eau ch a mp (H- C); 2 . D oug Seh l ( H-D) ; 3 . Frank Gilles pie (Y am ); 4 . Mert La w w l ll (H -O ) ; 5 . D e Wa y n e Kee t er (V am); 6. Tom C u mm in g (HoC) ; 7 . Rob Morr ison (No r ) ; 8 . Ch arl es Th Ielke (Trl): 9. Gil R eed (ir l); 10 . Terry D o rsc h (v am) , H ea t T w o : 1. Ken Robe rts (Va m); 2 . C h uck Palm gren (Vam) ; 3. R an d y Sc o tt (Yam); 4. Gene R omero (Va m); 5 . Da ve Ald an a (T rl) ; 6. Paul B os t r o m (H -D); 7 . M i k e Renstow (H oD); 8 . Don Castro (Vam); 9 . Lawrence G ino ( Ho D ); 10. Terrance Sage (T'i ) . Heat Three : 1. John Hatetey (H·D) ; 2. Hank Scott (H-D) i 3 . J im Rice (H ·b); 4 . Ed Wirth (H-D) ; 5 . Scott Brel sford (Kaw) ; 6. B ob Sanders (Vam}; 7 . Ron Moore (Tr l); 8 . Jon Ogi lvie (H ·D) ; 9. John S perry (SUZ) . Heat Fou r : 1. Ga ry Sc o tt (H oO); 2 . R ick H OCk ing (Vam) ; 3. Danny Hockie (Yam) ; 4 . COrk y Keener (H -D) ; 5 . Dave Hansen (Yam); 6 . T o m Wh ite (H ·D) ; 7 . Ron Davies rt rl): 8. Br ian LaPlante (Yam): 9 . J ohn G ennai (H -D) i 10. Ron Powell (T rl ) . Semi O ne: 1 . Dave Aldan a (Tr l): 2. ~ O b M o rr ison (N or ) ; 3. Tom Cumm i ngs (H ·D); 4 . Pau l Bostrom (H ·D) ; 5 . DeWay ne Keeter (Y am) : 6 . M i ke Renstow (H -D) : 7 . I k e R eed (Trl ) ; 8. Charles Th iel ke (Tr l) . Semi Two : 1. John Genna l (H· D ) ; 2 . Scott Brelsford (Kaw) : 3. Tom White (H- D); 4 . Da ve H a n sen (V'am); 5. Bob Sanders (Yam): 6 . Ron M oore (T ri ); 7 . Jon Ogilvie {H-D); 8 . Ron Da vie s (Tri): 9 . Joh n Sperry (SU Z) . 'r rocnv Fina l : 1. T om White (H·D): 2 . DeWayn e Keeter (Yam) : 3'. M ike Renslow (H -D) : 4 . Terry Sa ge (Tr i); 5. Bo b Sanders (Ya m): 6. Jo n O g i l v ie (H -D); 7 . I k e R ee d (Trl) ; 8. Char le s Thiel k e (Trl) ; 9 . Pa ul Bost rom (H · D ): 10. Ron Moore (T r l); Joh n S perry (SU Z) . . Na tio na l : 1. R ick H ocking (Ya m) : 2 . Re x Bea uchamp ( H - D ) : 3 . K en Rce erts (Y am): 4 . Co rky Keener (H ·D ): 5. Chuck Pa lmgre n (Yam); 6 . JOh n Genna i (H·D ): 7. Rob Morrison (Nor); 8 . Da nny H o c k te (Yam): 9 . Doug Se hl (H -D): 10 . J im R ice (H-D); 11. Gene Ro mero (Yam) : 1 2 . Dave A ldana (Trj ): 13 . Ran dy Sco tt (Y am ) DNF: 14 . Gary Scott (H-D) DNF: 15 . Fran k Gillespie (Ya m ) D N F : lb . c.Q Wirth ( H -D) D N F ; 1 7 . Sc ott Brels fo r d (Kaw) D N F: 18. JOh n Hat.ley ( H - D ) DN F ; 19. Hank Sc o t t (H -D ) D N F ; 2 0 . Mert Laww l ll (H- D ) DNS . 37

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