Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I Springsteen (Bul ) went b ack to the pits to prepare for the finals. • Two res tarts marred the th ird he at as per ennial favo r ite Mert Laww ill, was sent to 'th e bac k row an d was soon joined by John Gennai, Charlie Seale . and Pat McC au l. Gary Scott took his 11-0 Sprint di rec tly to th e fro n t fro m the pole to stay , PD V teamster James Rawls in second place pro be d but never found an opening, whil e , skele to n cd Dave Aldana made an o pening in the t um three hay bales, b u t was uninjured . The heat ended wit h Gary Scott (H-D), J a mes Raw ls (PD V) and bac k row star ter J oh n Genn ai (Bu l) sha ring the lea de rboard. In the th ird heat Housto nian and Astrodome National Sh ort Track victor, Darryl Hurst, was sen t to the back ro w for jumping t he flag. The crowd wanted to see H urs t win , b ut the bac k ro w looked pretty fa r ba ck un til a second restart sent Bob Ewell, David Sawhill. a nd R a n d y S kiver to keep Hurst company: Th innin g th e pac k o ut in fro n t o f Darryl was to n o avail as he hit a chuc k hole on th e bac k straigh t while running fif th to de tune his cha rge. Mike Caves (Bul] ha uled Rick Hocking in o n lap eigh t to lead Hocking and John Hate ley (Tri) into the main event. Gene Romer o, Chuc k Palmgren, an d Darryl Hu rst failed to tr an sfer an d m oved on to th e semi s. BoOdy cantilevers Jr. Nail By Jody Wiesel I RVING, TEX. , APR. 11 John Gennai (20) leads Mark Williams (behi nd Gennail and RanetY Skiver (35) t o th e flag. Semi finals Twelve ride rs t ransferred to each of. the two 10 lap semis but o nly o ne man would tr an sfer to th e m ain. The first semi wa s swep t cleanly by Guy McCl ure f o ll ow in g t he a lm o s t m andat o ry restarts. The sec on d semi play ed host to th e o nly acciden t of an y importance d uring the even ing when ba ck row sta rter Jimmy Lee (Ya m) worked his way up to secon d pl ace o n th e seventh lap o nly to fall in t urn one-two and be centerpunched by Pat McCaul (Hon) as he lay on t he trac k, The race was red flagged on t he nex t lap an d ,de clared official to the cha grin of the young Lee wh o had struggled wit h t he flagin en wh o hurr iedly hus tled him off th e trac k. Randy Skiver (Hon) trans ferred in to the main with McClure to se t t he fiel d for the fin al. ' The Trophy race The Trophy race pa id Natio n al points to the to p six finish ers and included su c h stars as Gen e Romero, Phil MacDonald, Ted Po ovey , Ro b Morrison, Danny Hoc kie, and Ken Springsteen. But it was Florida ro ad race sta r Billy Labrie (Yam) wh o overhaule d Chuck Palm gren on th e third lap to win the six National points ahead of Rob Morrison, D anny ' Cartwright, Chuck Palmgren, Ted Poovey , and Gene Romero Day tona 200 winne r. Romero p icked up one National p oin t for his efforts in Texas. Dave Hansen (23) qualified fastest then got lost in the pac k during the Nat ion al ma in. s idering th e b u mpy a n d rutted co ndit io n of the one-quarter mile track was th e ideal set-up . Texas St ate short track' ch am pion Terry Poo vey (Bul) led th e ear ly assault on the Michigan Montesa rider b ut a tan k slapper down the unbelievably rough back chute sent him bac k to third. Chuck Smith of Tuls a took up the chase for th e remainder of the 15 lap event, but a joyous Ted Boody mo tored on to his 'share o f the $3, 000 purse. Fast tim e and th e t ro phy race were taken by Neil Ke en protege Dan Kirkland (Yam) who came to th e tine in the final with a fri t zed bl ac k box en ding t he night's activit ies for him at its peak. The heats set the tone for the night's racing when a two foot by four fo o t so ft sp o t began to en gulf riders during th e t hird heat. Corresp ondingly a berm began to devel op at the exi t of turn tw o, and rid ers be gan dropping as tho ugh th ey were falling into mine shafts. The Harold Murrell prepared track had been rain soaked for three days prior to th e Friday night event and the dry cushion was less th an three inches deep. Seven of the eight heat winners had their luck hold through the sem is to make the main. Joe Powell (Yam) won the fastest six lap heat in 1 :29.2 2 followed by heat winners Dave Fish er, Bob Jandebeur , Te d Boody, -T e r ry Poo ,vey , Chu ck Smith, Dan Kir kland, an d Steve Toftdah l, Only Fish er (Yam) failed to carry his win streak from the h eat to the main. The semis The main Kenny Roberts (Yam ) turned in a flawless ride to lead arch nemesis Gary Scott and y oung Oklahoman Randy Cleek. Roberts att ac ked ea ch corner under the tw o and one-half acre hole diffe rently as he pulled away from a quickly fading Scott, who cam e to Tex as wit h , three different short track weapons ; a H-D Sprint, a watercooled RR-2 50 road race twin tracker, and an SX-250 en gin ed 'm ach ine. Practice at a local sh ort track on Friday sh owed the Sprint to be the fas test , b ut not fast enough. By the mid-way poin t it was Roberts 100 feet ahead of Randy Cleek (Yam ) an d Hank Scott o n a Shell ' Racing Yamaha. For the first 15 laps of ' the Cowboy National the crowd oo hed and aah ed at the radical ang les of Roberts ' attack. Then Cleek began to clos e quickly on Kenny, wh ile bac k row starter Guy McClure (Bul) worked his way p ast nine riders to cha lle nge t he you ngest Scott fo r th ird. Cleek and McClure closed on their respective prey , bu t it was too late as the checkers fell and Roberts thr ew in o ne final power slide for go od me asure. John Hateley was fifth on his sanitary Trium ph , followed by Dave Hans en and the hottest short trac ker of the yo ung seasonjames Rawls (PDV ). When it was all ove r Kenny Roberts, who ha s only be en at home for 10 hours in the past three we e ks, said he wa s glad to h av e even made th e p rogram since he didn ' t fee l w e ll. "I t hin k I go t someth ing in Ital y ," he said sm iling. Ted Boody took his transformed V R Montesa to the start ing line of the main event of the Cowboy Junior Short Trac k Championship as the odds on favorite, Boody's 310cc engine was housed in a Montesa motocross frame sporting ' can tilever gas sho cks , which con- The semi-finals provided th e most ex ci tement of t he evening as hometown f avo rite , Ter r y P o ovey , held off determined ch arges by David Pickett (Bul) and Steve To ftdahl (Yam) to win his semi. Ted Boody and John Johnson (BuI ) took the checkers in the other two semis by showing nothing but their r apidl y disappearing backs to the competition. ' The Consolation race saw John Ewell of Carter's Yamah a o verc o m e a bad start to work h is way past Bill Myers (Yam ) and John Yurejefcic (Yam). The Main Teddy Poovey (94) and Bruce Hanl on (78) try to stay uprig ht on the choppy semi-indoor surface. Nine teen-y ear- old Randy Cleek lo o ked happ y enough to be the winner as his s ec o nd plac e f i nish was his best performance to date and moves him to seco nd overall in the Camel Pro Series • st andin gs. Results SE M I 1 :.... 1. Gu y McClure (Bul) . 2. B ill y Labrie (Yam). 3. Danny Cartw r igh t (SUII' 4. Rob . Morrison ("fri) . S. Ted Poovey (PDV .6." ~ ike Eades (Yam) . T im e : 2:21 .3 3 . SE M I 2: 1. Randy S k iver (H a n) . 2 . D a n n y H a ckie (Kaw). 3 . Chuck Palm gr e n ( Yam) . 4. Gene Romero (Yam) . 5 . K en Spri n gst een (Bul). 6. Ph i l McDon ald (Bel -Ra y). ~ x~g~l TR P~H V : 1. Billy .4 b r ie (Yar:n ) . 2. R ob Morrison (T r l). 3 . Danny Cartwright (Bu l). 4 . · Chuck Palmgren (Yam). 5 . Ted Poovey (PDV). 6 . G ene Romero (Yam). Ti m e : 2 :49.6S. MAIN : 1. Kenny Robe rts (Yam). 2. Randy Cleek (Yam) . 3. Han k Scot t ( Y am). 4 . Guy M c C l u re (Bul). 5 •. John Hateley (Trl). 6 . Dave H an sen {HOn!. 7 . James Rawls (PDV). 8. John Gennal {Su i . 9 . Mark W i lli ams (Trl). 10. Randy S k ive r (Hon) . 1 1. M ike caves ( S u I ). 12. Ja y Springsteen (B ul). 1 3 . Gary .scott (H ·D). 14. Ric k H ock ing (Ya m). Time : 4 :46. 06. CAME L ' P R O SER IES POINT ST AN DING S (a fter 4 r ac es) : 1. Ken R oberts, 3 2 2. 2. Randy Cleek, 24 0. 3. Mark W ill iams, 21 8 . 4 . Gene Romero, 1 9 6. 5 . Dave Hansen , 182. 6 . D ar r yl H urst, 1 65. . 7 . Steve Ba ker . 156 .8. Ga ry Scot t , 1 4 0 .9. H ank Sc ott, 130. 10. J ohn G e n n ai , 9 6 . From the inside of the front row Ted Boody , fresh from his Detroit Indoor Series wins, powered past the nearly vertical Terry Poovey to carve through the shell-h oled fITSt tum. The AMA had re-aligned the first co rn er by placing tires over the worst of the rough stuff and had shortened the main event to 15 laps. Poovey ran the high line behind Boody as the Bultaco and Montesa pulled a small lead on the 10 men pack. Four four laps Poovey probed at the tail o f t he motocross . style machine until invisib le . hands fro m th e rough Texas Stadium track shook the y o ung Texan almost o ff t he machine. Before Terry P oovey co uld regain his composure Boody was ou t of rea ch followed by T ul sa n C hu ck Smith (Yam). The partisan crowd sighed , Boody had it wrapped, all th at remained was a kiss, champagn e, money and a happy journey back to DeWitt, Michigan. • 7

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