Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

i Roberts leads Yanks i to victory in §Match Race l!) J C'l iupset By Chris Carter OULTON PARK, EN GLAJl:D, MA RCH 31 Kenny Roberts, with three brilliant WIns In four races, led an American team to victory over its British counterparts in the fifth annua l running of the J ohn Player Tr ansatl antic Tr oph y Mat ch Races. The Ameri cans , afte r losin g efforts in the past four years, turned in superb effort s th at acco unted for a 35 point margin of victory in th ~ shortened two me eting co n te st of this and o nly pure luck preven ted a king-size disaster. Britisher St an Wo ods, eager to do w ell . overdid things on t he exit and the front wheel slid away wh ile Stan was catapulted over the straw b ale s an d Armco. His bik e ricocheted back onto th e track but failed to unseat any of the pack. The margin (U.S .A. 2 78 ; G.B . 24 3) migh t have been even larger had no t Kenny Roberts fallen o ff on t he fin al leg at Oulton Park with a 13 second lea d in h and . Gene Romero and Dave Alda na also had falls from wh ich t hey d id n o t restart and had th e trio fin ished th e American sco re would have been much higher. Brands Hatch Sn ow an d ice gree te d t he ride rs o n Go od Friday and although every effort was made t o keep the trac k in rid ab le sha pe, we a ther c onditions forced canc elatio n. Th is was to have b een the first use of the longer Grand Prix circ ui t by t h e riders. The canc elation o f th e initial two legs of the six leg, three ven ue series crea ted a more: do -or-die situation since: a poor showing could no t be easily mad e up in th e remaining races. Mallory Park 10 Despite severa l false alarms as clo uds s curried o ve r the 1. 3 5 m ile Leiceste rshir e circuit , the first 20 lap tea m r ac e started in d ry if co ld co nd itions and Brit ish hop es so ared wh en Stan Woods, the Brit ish Champion swept p ast Rob erts and Rom ero go ing into th e esses o n the fir st lap. There was more d rama at th is po int too, when Ame rican tea mster Steve Bak er slid o ff at the same. spot on th e co urse. Though he wa s un h urt it too k swift action fro m the fireman to extinguish the fire on his m ach ine. The pa ck swept into view at the end of th e first full lap ro und Devi l's Elbow Randy Cleek fought the snow at Malory Park for a tenth. Pat Hennen scored a valuable third placing in the f inal race. This final race fa ll prevented Roberts f ro m sweeping the ser ies. Gene Romero was th en in co m m and , but he was passed b y Roberts at th e esses mid way ro und th e second lap. Gene regained th e lead to head the field , pursued by Roberts and Englishma n Mick Gran t o n t he wo r ks Kawas a ki at the end of the second full lap . But from then o n , it wa s all Rob erts. Kenny took th e lead down the back st raig ht and never looked like b ein g caugh t. R om ero ap peared se t to fin ish a co mfo rtable second. wi th Mick Gr ant , Pat Mah oney and Dave Aldana b attlin g fo r th ird , fo urt h and fift h places so me way beh ind. How ever , Rom ero hit an oil slick at t he esses on the seve nth lap and t ho ugh he was quickly on his feet , pushing the silent machine into life, h e drop pe d f~o m seco nd to ten th pl ace. Robert s was in invincible fo rm and Grant and Mah oney seemed co nten t to run t he race through without over exe rtion . The scores a t th at st age were 71 points to th e St at es and 55 points to Brit ain , but w ith co n d it i o n s deteriorating optimi sm among the home fan s and riders grew . How misplaced that o ptimism was to be. wa s so on to show . Mor e snow. sleet and rain showers forc ed the second ra ce to b e cut fro m the sc hed uled 20 lap s to 15 and wit h Then it started to snow ! Grant , riding o n slicks , h ad a frigh te ning slide at Gerrards and , de ciding that di screti on was th e better part o f valo ur, pulled into th e pits. The r~ ' t o f th e en try treating th e circui t with a co nsiderbale am o un t of respec t , kept go ing. At th e flag, Rob erts was almos t hal f a lap ahe ad of Mah oney with Aldana less th an t h ree second s in fro n t of his America n tea m mate Cast ro wi th only Dav e Cro xfo rd an d Per cy Tait in fif th and sixth pl aces man agin g to co mple te the full d ist:<,: ce. mo st rider s on wet w eath e r tires, the warm -up was inc rea sed fro m two lap duration to five . Fo r Britain, St an Wood s was o ut 0 actio n, and in his place came reserve Charlie William s. America too , was fo rde d to m ake change . Ste ve Ba ker was uninjured in hi crash but foam had penetrated th

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