Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125985
..... - 0.. -< Roberts left Gary Scott (64) and Randy Cleek (29) behind at the start bu t Cleek gassed it and challenged Roberts du ring the last two laps as Scott faded to th irteenth. Kenny bulldogs Cowboy Nat'l. By Jody Wiesel , IRVING, T EX, APR. 12 Kenn y Ro be r t s regained Camel Pro Series point lead t h e $ 2 ,7 4 0 winn er's pu rse seven minutes work under wide open skies of Texas. It was a disappointing night for the partisan Southwest short track fan s as lo cal heroes fell victi m to the 6 tr emendous Ro berts. Mike Geral d , the 197 4 Astrodo me vict o r failed to ma ke the program and t his year's Astrodome winner Darryl Hu rst ne ver got into the hunt. Th e surp rise o f the evening ca me in th e form of Sh awnee, Oklahoma's Randy Clee k wh o emerged fro m t he pack to do battle wi th th e Nat ional Champion on th e las t two lap s. Cleek said, " I th o ught I co uld cat ch him , but I wai ted to o long. .. Ro berts rode the same mach ine that he ha d used at th e Astrodome Nat ional in Februa ry , but with more success. Te xas St adium is the Ford Sunliner the and for the of Domed st adiums, because of th e two and one- ha lf ac re hole carved in th e roof. Th e opening allows fr esh air to c i rc u la t e d uring t he hot su m me r mo nth s, but d uring Na tio nal week all tha t ca me through was t hree conti nuo us da ys of rain . $56,000 worth o f dirt, o rginally hauled into t he stadium fo r the Yamaha Super Ser ies of Motocross, lay ex posed to th is d renchin g. Trac k ma gician Harold Murrell performed the impossib le by making the foo tball field mu d bath in to a rideable on e-q uarter mile sho rt track. 5 I ,000 pounds of d ry cement, 2 I loads o f dry sand, and $6,5 00 wo rt h o f money was laid o n the damp surface to dry it up. The riders walked t he t rack looking down at t he rough surface an d th en looked up at the threaten ing clo uds and mum bled to themselves. On his second attempt at a Texas short track Nat io nal t h is season , National Champion Kenny Roberts pu t h is ho rsepowe r t o work an d powered into the Camel Pro Series and Nat io nal Cham pionship points lead . Heats Fast time was set by Dave Hansen on his Schwerrna Honda as he dominated th e first heat by taking th e hold shot on th e restart after Ste ve Dro ste (Ho n ) was sent to the back row by starter Phil Dyson. Fifty per cent of the evening's eve nts were restarted as Dyson bridged no infrac t io ns of th e stationary rule. Han sen , Hank Scott, an d Mark Williams tr an sferred directly to the National fin al whil e places four-nine m oved on to one o f t he two semi- finals. Th e sec o n d heat started with Kenny Roberts sitting on the third row after qu alifying in 13th posit io n. Randy Cleek (Yam) was the leader out of the first tum , bu t Ft . Worth Bultaco jockey, Guy McClure, charged under the Team K&N rider in tum three to lead Cleek, Rick Draft, and Kenny Roberts. On the nex t lap Clee k cap t ialized on a McClure bobble to regain the lead as the crowd ro ared for hard charg ing Kenny. It was Cleek and Roberts by the mid-way point of heat two with Roberts bearing in on every lap . Exiting tum four on the fin al lap Roberts reached into his Kel Carruthers' horsepower bag and nipped Randy Cleek by two feet at the line. Roberts stated later that his bike ha d a little too much h orsepower, but that the rough trac k gave him more traction th an he expected. Roberts, Cleek and J ay