Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• ~ on l-o Q,I ero w ns • n arlo roa ..0 o .... u o Ago-ny and E cs-TZ in the Champion Spark Plug Classic By Charles Clayto n ONTARIO, CAL., OCT. 6 Agostini came, but Gene Romero conquered the last 1974 AMA National road race before a crowd estim ated by the pro m oters at 20,000. What promised to be the best race of the season started sha ping up on Sa tu rday, with five-lap (15 mile) q u alifying h eats 24 for the Experts o n their up -to-ZfiOcc machines. Don Castro p ic ked the righ t tire compound a nd won the first qualifier , followed by Yamaha te ammate Kenny Roberts, with Jim Evans third and Australian Warren Willing fourth. The second qualifier starred Englishman Barry Sheene on the works Suzuki, leading Steve McLaughlin (Yam) and 14-time world champion Agostini of Italy across th e line, but Ago was obviously sandbagging, waiting for the big race on Sunday. Romero was fourth after being passed by Ago on the last lap of their heat. There had been three Ontario road races before this Champion Spark Plug Classic, and no American had ever won before. Fans waited eagerly for th e start of th e first of two 100·mile final s that would d etermine the 19 74 Ontario cham p io n and perhaps an sw er for the 1974 season th e qu estion , " Who is th e best road ra cer in the world ?" Twenty seconds af ter th e flag flew, it wa s clea r th at the quest ion would not be answered. fo r Gi acomo Ago stini skidded into infield turn six with his rear brake lo cked. straightened up and got ba ck o n the track. but clipped another rider and highsided, stuffing his red and white Yamaha TZ700 with di rt . Ago was o ut for the d ay . T he fans m Ig h t have been disappointed but for the riveting racing that then unreeled . Don Castro led the pa ck onto the front straight fr om the western-most turn. The course was run in the opposite direction fr om previous Ontario races, making the exits from the backfield towards the co nc re t e wall scary for the riders, but ex cit ing to see. From third place on lap two Phil McDonald, on the privateer K&N Yamaha, swooped second pl ace Kenny Roberts and Castro in Ago's tum a nd took the lead. Steve McLaughlin , running about 16th , started pouring smoke out of the Yam a ha and was never a threat. Castro took back the lead fro m McDonald o n la p four and the order was Castro, McDonald, Rober ts, J im Evans , Yvon DuHamel, Sheene , Romero, Ron Pierce and.. David Aldana, riding Gary Nixon 's factory Suzuki. The front seven were racing in a pack, looking like a 170 MPH freigh t train. Aldana dropped the unfamiliar Suzy in tum two on lap five and rejoined the chase about 15th. Now Evans moved up to seco nd to challenge Castro with Ro m ero rig ht- on h is stingers in third. Rober t s, wi th Ago o ut of the race, now had no thi ng to pro ve. Besides th e G rand National Champion's tires were n't sticking very wel l. Sheene passed Gene briefly on lap seven of the 34-lap race, but Ro mero got him back in short order and on lap eight passed Evans and Castro fo r the lead, making his final pass in Ago's fuzzy turn. Now it was Castro and Sheene 's tum to battle while Gene stret ch ed his lead, having switched to Castro 's tire choice after the heats. Some of th e fast est ra cers in Christendom were heeling around the super-raceway in the middle of the grape vineyards like yachts driven before a hurricane . Romero lapped in one mi nute , 50 seconds the fastest yet seen, stretching his advantage. McDonald passed Castro , Evans passed Sheene, Th e oth er im po rt ed sta rs, Greg Hansford (A ust ralia), Teuvo Lansivouri (Finland), H ansu eli Rotherm an (Swit ze rla nd) . John Boote (New Zeal and) an d a gan g o f Canad ian s were spaced back in the field. Lansivouri had cras hed o nce a nd worked his wa y up. Pit st o ps for gas began , in and o u t in a few seconds. Romero almost clipped George Miller 's Yamaha co m in g bac k onto the track to relieve Castro of hi s temporary lead . DuHamel and Sheene are duelling for fif th plaee and Sheene 's Suzuki see ms to have steam on the Canadian's Kaw. Sheene suffered through the day with a five-speed gearbox, whi ch put him at a disadvantage on the swoopy infield t urns. Once on the straigh t , however. th e lone fa ctory team Suzuki took advantage of a 20·mile·an·hour tailwind to sail p ast nearl y everything else on the track, only to lose it again in the swervery. On lap 31, with se cond place in the bag and going for first, Castro set up to lap "Teppi" Lansivouri. Romero zoomed around the Finn and Castro was committed to the pass when he realized that Teppis line took h im close, very close, to the wall entering the straigh taway. T here was nothing to be do ne but go wider to avoid co llid ing with the Finn. Cast ro got off in the fuzz, kissed the wall and slid on his back for a long time. He was not hurt. Riders were tired from the hundred mile cro uch. Hurley Wilvert was stretching his rig ht leg past the grandstands. When Romero received the checkered flag he stopped at the Yamah a pit s a nd st iffl y ro se fro m hi s mach in e. Evan s had inherited a nd held on to second pl ace. Roberts was third and Ph il McD onald, in a n as to nish ing roo kie rid e, was fourth. There was o ne more hundred m ile stre tc h to go . Second Expe rt heat After changi ng t ir es a nd c hec king th e motorcycles, they lined up for the last leg. Romero threw away h is cigare tte , reconsidered and picked it up again and to ok o ne last dr ag on the butt. Robe rts had hi s ra ce fa ce on and Gene knew that his te ammat e was ready to give him co m petitio n . Bombs burst in the air a nd they were o ff o n the last leg of the most ex citing road race see n in m an y a year ! Roberts spun to the front, stretch ing a hum ongous lead in the first lap , setting a new re cord of one minute. 48 seconds - nearly 100 MPH. McDonald and Romero were racing for second, but Phil clipped a marker co ne and went end over end into tu rn two of lap two. Australia 's Hansford was thi rd. Lansivouri fourth, Evans fifth then a lo ng gap and Barry Sh eene was six th, ano ther gap, then Du Ha mel, space, the n Wilvert (without half a fairi ng after clipping a hay bale), John Hateley and Do ug Libby, another ga p, then Dale Wylie, Jim Dunn and Mike Clarke. On lap five Sheene charged up to fourth. Hateley rode into the p it s slowly. Kenny Roberts kept coming around so fast that we thought there must b e two number ones in the race. A change of tires helped Kenny regain hi s kn ee -and-shin dragging style. Sheene was closin g on second pl ace Romero. If Roberts held his pace, Romero knew he had to finish second to win overall. The Englishman was determined to spoil th at plan for Gene. Averaging 98 MPH, th e Suzuki slipped past the second place Yamaha, but Gene hung close behind, less t han a bike length, through the infield - pass and repass - th e battl e for second was in fact the fight fo r first o veral l on Romero's p ar t. Lappin g so m e back markers, Gene took adva n tage o f th e Yamah a's extra gear in th e in fi eld t o get ahead o f Sheene and stretched it o u t on the 'ba n king, through Castro's co rner a nd wea ved through -traffi c to try and lose Sh eene. But Barry kept it on and slingshotted Romero on the st raight. They bracketed Dale Wylie heading for the infield esses. On lap 22 Sheene pits for gas seven seconds. He whines back in to the hunt in third place , just ahead of Evans. Romero's pit stop will be critical. Kel Carruthers waves a nother Ya maha away from the pits to keep it clear for Gene. Romero races the number three Yamaha into the pit, stops perfectly and is away in three seco nds . to the ch ee rs of the crowd! Evans, meanwhile. has passed Sheene and is gaining slightly on Gene. Rob erts is over 20 seconds ahead of second place Romero. Ro mero has five seconds on Evans . Roberts' lead shrinks to 12 seconds in the closing laps as Romero makes his overall win secure. The checkered flag comes out. It is the first ti me an American has wo n the Ontario classic since it began. By virtue of hi s fi rst leg win and this second place. Ro me ro has won overall. He co llec ts 58 ,000 for first, plus 51,000 contingency from Champion Spark Plug Company, 5500 from Bell Helm ets and ABC Leathers contingency money as well. In addition, the sportswriters in the press gallery vote Gene the most Two do zen men with a single purpose. First Race faces. Romero's (left ) and Sheene's (ri outstanding racer of the day, worth S1,000 from L&M cigarettes. As luck would have it , Cycle News' John Ulrich was assig ned to "hang ou t " with Gene Romero the week pri o r to Ontario, and next week this newspaper will present an in-depth repo rt on how the new c ham p io n got himself tuned up for this h istoric victory . Junior Race A t the wave-off it was Gary Blackman of Pennsylvania leading the Junior pack, but he was soon taken by Pat Hennen of California, and Oklahoma's Randy Cleek. A close infield battle for first place was soon joined by redheaded Walt Foster and the three fas test, Clee k, Hen nen and Foster, soon o ut dista nced all b ut fo urth place Scott Erickso n of Mon tana. T he early laps were full of hard raci ng. Do ug Killen was passin g righ t and left through the pack. The front th ree passed the lead back and forth at 93 MPH average - almost fast enough for Experts. By halfway through the 50-miler Cleek had the clear advantage. Hennen hung in there in second and Foster,

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