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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125998
The man in the middle , Gordon Kidd (103) , was never headed once he fought h is way to the front in the Novice Main. Gene Romero (3) leads Chuck Palmgren (38) and Don Castro (11) during the thi rd heat. Brelsford makes history at Stockton Mile By Richard Creed STOC KTON, CA Ll F., JUL Y 6 History was made today as Scott B re lsford piloted his Irv Kanemoto prepared Kawasaki triple to a dusty victory at the A I\IA R e gion al Ch amp io nsh ip St ockton Mile. It was the first win for a two st ro ke in Al\IA Expert class mile track co mpe ti tion. It 10 was also a lo n g overdue victory fo r Brelsfo rd. " I've been wai ting fo r two years for these mil es." Brel sford stated af ter the race t hat he led fro m th e first lap to the checkers. Following Bre lsford home was Stockton 's own, Alex Jorgensen ab o ard a Nor to n. Jorgensen , wh o stated later that all he needed was " more laps " , took the lead go ing into the firs t turn of ' the 12 lap Main and hel d it until Brelsfo rd ro cke ted out o f a m id -pack position in the second t u m an d blitzed J or gensen o n th e back straigh t. The ease wit h wh ich Bre lsford accompl ished t hi s feat was incre dib le. By tum th ree Brels fo rd was in t he lead and co m ing out of t u m fo ur on th e first lap. Brelsford began to pull away . Behind th e two leaders, Tom Whi te (11. 0) , J ohn Gennai (Tri), and Fra n k Gillespie (H-D) rounded o u t th e top five . Ge ne Romero (Ya m) wh o h ad ru n fo u rt h in t he fas test Expert heat , pu lled into the pits b efo re . t he firs t lap wa s finished co m p lain in g o f bl inding d us t. " I co uld n 't see , so I p ulled in. It 's not wo rth it to m e ." th e former Natio nal Champion sta te d a fter the race . On lap tw o Jorgensen , wh o won t he J un io r Mai n at the first Sto ckton Mile, seemed to ca tch h is breath an d m o ved u p on Bre lsfo rd , b ut the 10 5 hor sepo wer th at Brelsford he ld in his right hand we re unbeat abl e . Kan em o to had chan ged geari ng fo r m or e to p speed fo llo wing t he heat race in which J o hn Gen nai (T ri ) handily defeated all co m ers with a bouncing cha rge , th ro ugh th e ch uc k holes and dust , to th e flag. Brelsford was observed during his heat leaning ove r th e bars on the ba ck straight in an effort to keep the fro nt wheel o n t he ground. From lap three to lap eight there was no ch ange in th e first five positions although a fight was in the m ak ing for third p lace betwee n Tom White (II- D), Joh n Gennai (Tri) , Frank Gillespie (H.D ) a nd Ric k Ho cking (Ya m ). The four way d irt c hase between th e three heat wi nners a nd yo un g Ho cking lasted bu t a lap , however. J o hn Gen nai be gan fading o n th e ba ck stretch and as t he nin th lap unreeled , Gennai ca m e by in seve n t h p lace. Gennai co n t in ue d to d rop back , eve n t ually finish in g eleven th. A split battery was the ca use o f Gen nai's p ro blems . " It spl it a part. I' ll hav e to m ount it di ffe re ntly next tim e . " Genn ai state d as he lo ad ed h is van. Gennai 's loss wa s -Fran k G illespi e 's gain, a t lea st fo r a lap, th en Rick Ho ckin g passed t he Harl ey m o u n ted rider and moved in to fo urth place behind T o m \\~l ite . But Ho ck in g's po siti on wasn 't secure and Pa ul Bo strom (H-D), who had be e n hounding Ho ck in g fro m lap fo ur , passed the Ro ck y Cycl e Supply Special on th e ele venth lap and held on to th e finish . Ho cking had qu ali fied fift h fastest durin g time trials an d finis he d fifth in th e race. O f th e ten fastest qu alifier s, Ho c kin g's fi ft h p lace was the highest. Fastest qualifier for th e seco nd year in a ro w . Rex Beau ch amp did n ' t m ak e it o u t of h is heat. Neith er did second fast est qualifi er, Mert Lawwill. 11,e two Harley riders were th e od d s on favorit es go ing in t o the hea t races as th e y we re th e o n ly rid ers to crac k t he 4 1 sec o nd m ar k on the cobby tr ack . With on ly th e first four rid e rs t ransferring d irectly t o th e Main, because th e pro m oters cu t the Semis fro m the pro gram, Beau ch amp a nd Lawwill we re o u t in th e cold almost be fo re th ey began . Finishing beh ind Fra nk Gillesp ie in seve nt h p lace was har d charg in g J im adorn who p ulled off an amazing save o n his way to a seco nd place fin ish be hi nd Gillespie in the second heat. Wh en as ked about hi s tu rn two handle bar pi vo t , adorn gestured to wa rd th e turn and sa id, " I fe ll m o re in that t urn to d ay th an I ca re to th in k a bo u t." When asked fo r hi s co m me n ts af te r th e race, Brelsford re plie d that , "I was alm ost worn o u t aft e r five lap s. Fro m th ere o n it was just acting . .. I th ought J o rgy had a whole p ac k righ t beh ind him and h e see med to be j ust be h ind m e . .. th e e ng ine was run n ing rich , a nd I could n't re ally tu m it on whe n I wan ted t o , b ut when it cam e on up st airs. whew !" I r v K anemo to , who has been d eveloping th e Kawasaki tri p le fo r mil e d irt t rack ra cin g fo r three years, was all sm iles as he load ed his green an d wh ite h ist o ry maker. Aft er sh a king everyone up at San Jose un ti l a c rac ked ex haust pipe a nd a snapped rod ended Brelsford's ride in the National , the promise th e Ka nemoto Kaw asaki has show n is finally being reali zed. Kan emoto a nd Brelsford will be at Sacramento for the $ 17,50 0 Cl\IC race, but th eir main goa l is a winning retu rn to San J ose. Besides t he history making Expert ra ces, a full regio nal co mpetition p ro gram was run off co m p le te with six Novice h ea t s. fou r Junior h e at s, a nd four Expert h ea ts. Co ntin ued groom ing of t he less th an id eal track surface, and t he near 3 00 rid er entry, wh ic h p ut th e su rface to a co n tin u o u s test , ca used d el ay s fro m th e start. T he firs t J uni o r heat s d id n ' t ge t underway u ntil fo u r in the afte rnoo n and the Ex pe rt s hit the first turn ro ugh ly o ne ho u r later. In No vice act io n, th e tw elve m an , six la p Main turned into a ca ke wa lk fo r Gordon Kidd aboard a, wh at el se, Yamah a. Kidd led from the second lap , w he n h e passed Te d David son, to t he fini sh . David son, who alo ng wi t h Vin ce Mead a re Asco t regulars , bowe d to th e p ressure o f Rick y Gr aham (Bul) a nd wound u p in t h ird p lace on t he thi rd lap a nd th at is where the Pacifi c Coast Regio nal Novi ce po ints leade r fin ished. Grah am's p ursuit of Kid d proved frui tless and he cro ssed the lin e in Scott Brelsford on his way to making AMA dirt t rack h istory .