Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

A very special rooting section at the Housto n Short Track. After a good luck hug from his two boys (flanking him) Darryl went. Eyes of Texas shine proudly ny Hackie about to get "shaken during one of the many d starts. By Jack Mangus HO UST ON, TEX., FE B. I Ran dy Cleek too k the win as J ames Rawls an d Paul Bostrom (Tri) had a cut-throat clash for second that was fan tastic . Bostrom had the edge in the tight infield . tu rns, but Rawls would regain lost ground on th e fast sweepers and fro nt straight. Skip Aks land made a valiant attempt to get in the h unt but fell rounding an infield tum on two different occasions. For lap af ter lap the Rawls-Bostrom dice continued un t il the final ro und w hen Bostrom finally iced Rawls by a thin margin. Trophy Main J ames Rawls lo st a he artb reaker in the trophy race when he slid out and fell in the same infield tum that had cost Roberts the win t wo years ago . All that Rawls co uld do was hug t he ground and wai t for the tra ffic to go by. He rejoined the race but in las t place. Before Ra wls fell out the question w as open to who would win. Raw ls p ush ed his Harley to the limit in a leather ru bb ing ta ngle with Bostrom who hel d a co mman ding lead over Tom White (H-D) and Eddie Wirt h (H-D) fo llowing Rawls' fall. • Results HOUSTO N TT N AT I O NA L (25 LA PS ) , l. Ken n y R obe rts ( V am ). 2. Gary Sco tt (H-D) . 3 . Mark Wi lliams (N or). 4. D ennis Briggs (kaw ). 5 . Joh n G e n na ! ( H -D ). 6. Ron Po w e ll (TR i) . 7 . M ert La w will (H- D ), 8 . Jim Od o m (T rl) . 9. Rick HOCking (Y am ). 10. Dav e Aldan a ( 1"1- 0). 11. Randy .S k iv er (T rl) . 12. Ra ndy Cle ek (Ya m). 1 3. John Ha t e tey ( N o r) . l~. Jay Sp rin gst een (H -D ). Time : 12 :1 3 .10 TRO PHY D A S H (12 LAPS) , 1. Pa u l Bostrom (T rl ). 2 . T om White (H ·D ). 3 . Eddie Wi rt h ( H - D ). 4 . R obe rt E . L ee (Bu fI , 5 . G reg Sas sa man (H·D ). 6 . De Wayne Keeter (Y am) . 7 . Ch uc k Jo rd an (Va m ). 8 . Ji m Rawls (H -D) . 9 ~ Te rr y D o rsch T Ime : 5 :5 7. 07 . rr -n, The eyes of Texas, 40,012 pair of them, were upon Darryl Hurst tonight and the Houston resident opened them. all by 's corin g a big win for th e Lone St ar St ate in the second ro und of the AMA Grand National Ch ampionship $ 75,000 Cam el Pro Series. A total of 136 riders attem p te d to qualify for the short track program an d amo ng t he m was Ms. Diane Co x of Salem, Oregon . Dian e m ade hist ory by snaring the 48 t h an d fin al q ualifying slot to be co me the fir st fema le to for a Grand National qualify progr am . Californian Championsh ip Dave Hansen, the se cond place finisher at last y ear' s short track, turned in the fastest lap ever registered in th e eight ye ars of Dome motorcycle rac ing. Han sen , ab oar d the sam e Doug Sch we rma-b uilt /C h am pion Honda th at he rode last year, stopped the clo cks at 15. 137 seconds . Cut-o ff ti m e, set b y Ms. Cox, was 15.69. Kenny Robertsturned in a below p ar 21s t fas test ti me, wh ile last year's winn er Mike Ger al d was listed in 28th slo t. Ger ald was nursing a recently injured shoulder and Roberts was rep ortedly slowed by a fat wallet provided by the p revio us ni ght 's 'IT victory . The first h eat saw th e uns un g hero o f the week end, Chuck Palmgren, sco re a runaway win with his Dan Gurn ey Yamaha. Palmgren had undergon e ba ck surgery less than . 60 days before and ama zed those who were aware o f that fact by qualifyin g third fastes t for th e grueling IT an d fift h fastest for th e short track. While Chuck was doing his th ing up fro nt , the large cro wd was wat ching Ric k Hockin g charge fro m a pen alty start to a th ird place finis h be hi nd Dave Han sen. Hoc kin g passed and th en held off Roberts to ta ke t he third and final direct tr an sfer to t he National. Fo llowing Palmgren; Hansen, Hocking and Ro berts acro ss the lin e we re " Little J o hn" Hateley (nursing an injured foot fro m pract ic e ), and Gene Romero . Ha te ley was a last minute rep lacemen t for Mike Kidd on t he team after Kidd Norton/Triumph rebro ke his left leg practicing .a t Texas ' Ross Downs the previo us week. Darryl Hurs t and Han k Scott bat tled th roughout t he seco nd he at and finished in t ha t order. Chasin g the Yamaha-mounted pair t hro ugh ou t th e 10 -lap race were Do n Palm gren , Billy Sch aeffer, J ay Ridgeway , and Guy McClure. Palmgren held the show position up to the last lap when both Schaeffe r an d Ridgeway slipped by. David Aldana shed num ber 13 fo r 1975, too k ove r Neil Keen 's nu mber 10 and b lew everyone 's mind by posting for the Do me events clad in bla ck leathers with a white skeleton form on the fron t. Th e cha r ter m ember of Te.a. . Mexican h eld off Mark Williams' factory Triumph with his sel f-spo nsored Yam ah a during the early lap s of the third heat and t hen proceeded to stretch o ut a winning margin in his typical o utside lin e sty le, Corky Keener mad e it a two-t hree for fo ur stro kes by slipp ing the former Cal Rayborn Sprint in to th ird ah ea d o f Ch arli e Chapple on th e final tum of the last lap. Keener 's Sprint was P' :pared by Powell Hassell 's H-D of Atlanta, and bo th wer e proud of the fact t h at they had pared p oundage off th e "an t ique" to scale it in at 224 pounds. Chapple ha d inj ur ed his foo t in a "street accident" prior to the eve nt. The 1971 Do me short tr ac k w inner, J im my Od orn , eliminated h im self w it h a get-off on the followin g lap. The fo ur t h an d fin al heat required a restart fo llo wing a massive pileup in tum one. Eventual win ner Randy Ski ver, Randy Scott, Allen Mund t an d Ms. Diane Cox were involved , but all were ab le t o m ak e t he re st art, Skiver turned in ..... hole sh ot and led all the way , but behin d him all he ll was breaking loose. Mike Ger ald was do ing h is t h ing fro m a back ro w start as the Cajun Fan Clu b did their t hing fro m their lar ge share of ' the Do me seats. Gerald wo rked hi s way up t o fifth, an d then briefly led Alex J orgensen only to see Alex n ail the fifth spot down fo r keeps with a p ho to finish lunge at the ch ec kered flag . The nation's second ran ked rider, Gary Scott, started the heat fro m t h e p ole positi on, but was unable t o do b usi ness wi th his H-D factory Sprint and en de d up seven th . Taking the two-three slo ts we re Okl ahoma's Mr. Nice, Randy Clee k, and Texas ' little Lee, J immy . Ms. Co x ran dead last , bu t finis hed 10th after Mund t stepped off and Pat McCaul DNF'ed. A Junio r invitational p ro gram had filled in in termissio n time both nights fo llowing t he fo ur short track heats. Ms. Peggy Ful ler was embarrass ing the h ell out of seve ral riders until h er Bul tied up o n t he fina l lap . Peggy m an aged to push it across to finish seve nth, one

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