Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.-1-0 ~ Eddie (77) Wirth won a transfer from the semi, starting here. befo re the red flag ca m e out, sto p ping the race. A ri der was reported in th e hay, an d in the fm ishing sc he d ule which d ropped the re sults back to the previo us lap . Hatele y 's efforts we nt mostly unnotice d an d he was credi te d f o u rth beh ind Sanders, Joyne r and Wirt h . _ After inte rmission it was the Novices tu rn for t heir m ain . At the flag Dave Rees (Ya m) and Ted Davi dson (Yam) made it th rough t u rn o ne firs t , with Davidson gaining the edge and then pulling away. Rces slowly dropped back as John Prot o an d Eddie Lawson , bo th on Yamahas, st arted m ovin g up . La wson tr ied to get around Proto fo r th ird pl ace and fi ally di d it , go in g down low in the n esses, and then grabbed off se co nd pl ace o n th e left tu rn before the back straight. There was j ust no catching Davidson who ....'as flat flying. On a Champio n-framed 35 0 cc Hon da single. San J o se 's Steve Eklund was the Junio r to beat fr om the beginning. Earl Rol off, o n o ne o f those 50 0 single Ya mahas fo lks say do n' t run (ha!). got in t o turn o ne first but Ek lund to ok o ver and was off an d away , the bigger m a c h i n e r y u n abl e to ca tc h the th u mping Honda, for a while an yway. Charlie Soderstro m (Yam ) was m aking Rolo ff nervous while Pa t Gu th rie (BS A) and Bu d Smith (T ri) we re ca tc hing up . Guthrie was re ally trying to ge t his Beezer p as t Sm ith , b u t it was no go . The unexpected happened as the l ast -l ap fl a g ca m e ou t. Ch arl ie :>od e r s t r o m pull e d off, en ding a super-fast ride, and th en un bel ievab ly , Steve Eklund fell off. Scrambling up, he an d th e little Honda m ade it in fo r a fou r th beh ind win ner Roloff, Bud Smi th an d Pa t Guthri e . The fans need ed so m e breathin g time afte r that o ne, b ut th ey didn't get it as th e Expert cham pions hip lined up. Eddie Mulder opted fo r th e wa ll inst ead of the pole and b reezed in to th e lead fo llowed by Ric k Hocking an d John Ge nnai. As they sk idded into so me semblance o f o rd er ap p roac hing th e ju mp, it was Muld e r, Hoc king, Ge n nai, Bost rom, Te rry Dorsch an d Gen e Ro mero . Dorsch (T ri ) got up to fourth , b ut went to o h igh and they got h im back. Now it was Gennai thi rd. Rom ero, Bostrom a nd Do rsch. Gene Romero was trying very hard to get Gennai, pulling up alo ngside o n the half-m ile but n ot quite making a pass. The ra ce was for third as Ro n Powell (T ri ) go t into it . There were cheers an d ye lls from the gran dstands; positions changed again. Romero grabbed t he t hi rd an d Gennai dropped bac k in a sh u ffle th at had Dorsch going o u t of sha pe a n d Powell sq uirtin g by h im on the inside. Dave Bostrom , wh o had on e o f t he top spot s in han d , su ffere d m echanical woes and had t o retire. Run ni ng like a San ta Fe freight, Mu ld er took the chec kere d flag to a p p la use, t h en Ho cking, Rome ro , Powell, Do rsch, Gennai an d Eddie Wirth who had alwa ys been there in case so meo ne should m ak e a m ist a ke. Ed die Mu ld er has seve ra l nicknam es. On e is "Squir re l" an d one is "Steady Eddie, " He live d up to the latter o ne whi l e wi n ni ng t h e R e g i o n al Novice champ Ted Davidson won Cycle News contingency pay. C ha mpions h ip . He was beau tiful to wat ch. very smooth an d co n tr o lle d on a slic k tr ac k whe re t he sligh test ex cess o f thro ttle wo uld ma ke a ski d. As o n e race r kidding ly said a ft e r it was all ov er. "Dam n , Squirrel 's getting o ld n ow an d he 's eve n go t a beer belly. I didn 't thin k he ' d go th at fast. " An y Su nday Ed die Mulder is cap ab le o f winning, as he p ro ved again this weekend. Vid eota p e s of the TT will be b roa dcast th is Saturday at 10 a.m , on Ch annel 13 in the Lo s An geles area. • Results NOV MA IN ~ 1. T ed David son (Y am ) . 2. Eddi e Lawson (Vam). 3. John Proto (V am ). 4. Dav id Rees (Ya m). 5. Gary Dav is (Hon ). 6 . John Tav is (Han). T ime, 7 :02.37 JR M A IN : 1. Ea rl Ro lo ff (Vam) . 2 . Bud Sm ith (T,I ). 3. Pat G u thrie 19SA). 4 . Steve Eklund (Hon ). 5. D on F rauen berger (Yam). 6. Ro n T Obe y (ar l). T ime : 8 :48.48. E X M AI N, 1. Ed die M u l de, (T'li ' 2 . R ick H ock ing ( Yam). 3. Gene Romero Yam ). 4. Ron Powell rr-n, 5 . T e rry Dorsch (Trl ) . 6. John G enna l (H-D ). 7 . Ed die W irth (H-D ) . 8. Ch UCk Joyne r I Trl ). 9 . To m Wh i t e (H-D) . 1 0. Joh n H at ele y ( N or) . T ime: 12: 5 3 .00. 15

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