Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Local riders g~ at Cas: Ah. the sweet taste of victory . By Lane Campbell C ASTLE ROCK, WASH.,J ULY 12 Shouting, "We did it! We did it!" second place man Sonny Burres embraced winner Chuck Joyner like a Frenchman on the victory stan d , barely abl e to con tain him sel f with th e thrill of th e mom en t as Paci fic Northwest TT spec ialists went one-twa-three in the 250- lap 6 Castl e Ro ck TT Nationa l. Me r t La ww ill (H-D ) was th e first " furrin er" h ome at fo u rth, Gary Scott (H- D), a t fifth, managed to p ad h is Camel Pro p o in ts advantage as Ken Rober ts (Yam ) was o u t co ld a ft e r a fo ur t h -lap cras h th at put t h e Nation al Final in to a sing le-file res tar t . It was an im me nsely p opul ar victory in fro n t o f a sp illover crow d at a race th at is uniq ue w ithin the Natio n al ci rc u it . The last o f the go od 01' club promoted, d own-home Ma 'sickle Ra ces le ft on t h e circ u it, t he Castle Ro ck TT is a livin g an ac hronism not unlik e the Isle of Ma n, with it s ' d etractors w ho want it cu t out of the championsh ip a n d it s su p p o rte rs who want it preserved as th at last bit of livin g history . T h e race h as its roots d eep in mo torcyclin g's ro w dy y o uth . The c ro w d is a zoo - a barely con ta ined rio t that surges agai ns t th e wh it e retainin g wall s o f the Cowlitz County Fairgrounds tr ack, h eld at b ay n o t so m u ch by police (who m ai ntain a gen e ra lly low p ro file durin g th e " festivities " ), bu t b y legions of b u rly Mt , St. Helens l\I. C. m emb ers. It 's an uneasy tru ce a t b es t in whi ch th e o nly laws observed are the o nes t h at are n't w ri tten. Streakers st reaked, fights er u p ted a nd b roke a pa rt, the ni ght-before b on fire co ns u med 14 sp are tires an d a Ho n d a b efo re the d ynami te starte d goi ng o ff - all in all a fairly quie t year, according to clu b members. The p its are c ro w ded and can vas gro un ds hee ts a re dow n eve rywhe re to try to co n tr o l th e d ust under fo ot an d keep it o u t of the m otors. Th is year th e tr ack surface was ha rd an d very dry, bladed sm ooth wi th a ligh t granu lar powder cover ing it afte r dr aggin g. It turned out to b e a glassy , tric ky surface tha t only th e lo cal 'I"I' shoes, wh o race here durin g the: sho r t , inte n se su m mer season , kn ow really we ll. Bru ce Han lon, who go t down into th e 23 sec o n d b racket wi nning the Fri day n igh t p relim inary as a Juni o r last year , h ad th e tr ac k d ial ed in like a California n ight moto cr o sse r during p ractice. Jim Od om looked like a w ild m an , an d Mike Ge ra ld was bac k in it at last , say ing it all felt goo d again an d at least h is sho u lder didn't hu rt any more . He an d Darryl Hurst h ad truck ed up to gether from Texas just to d o t he Na t iona l h e re , but n either made the c u t. Sonny Bur res (24.26, top time). Ed He rr m ann , Darrell Hendrickson , Ch ar lie Brown, Mark Willi ams, Bruc e Hanlo n an d Randy . Sk iver , in o rde r, a ll lo cal rid ers, do mi nated t ime trials. J ohn Gennai w as th e fast est out -of-sta ter, riding wit h a re d, swolle n left e ye after being cl ip ped b y a sm all roc k d uri n g practice. Gary Sco tt barely made th e cut (47 th ) after c hanging shoc ks a n d gea ring . In the wes t , tu m (las t one be fo re th e straight ), h e was e n t ering it h ot, pr acticall y boun cing off the wa ll o p p os ite the ap ex, exp lo d in g the loose powder ther e with hi s re a r wh eel as h e squared the co mer and d ro ve alm o st straigh t for th e front c hu te 's outs id e . wa ll. This was an e xagge rat io n of a line th at m o st were taking after Dave Han sen , Walt Fo st er, an d a fe w o the rs slid down fro m cro ssin g a glassy sp o t th at d evel oped near th e ap ex a n d go t worse afte r wate rin g. R ob ert s expl a in e d th at th e sq uared-off line is the fastest on this trac k w hen it 's tacky, but whe n it's loose an d slip pe ry he 'll c hoose to hold th e p o le. During the races, h e used bot h lin es in terc ha n gea b ly for passing an d to block p as sin g un til h is fa m o us six th sen se fo r traffic ap p are n tl y fail ed h im in th e Fin al. A fte r p ract ice an d t im e trials, Ro berts ca me in w ith h is factory Y amaha lite rally smoking, as the n ewl y - fi tt e d B as sa n i T T p i p es (h igh -mo un ted ) were burn ing holes in hi s side num be r p lates. Sh oeman Ken Mae ly w as p ressed in to se rvice w it h a poc ke t k n ife, rn a ki ng l a st-m inu te " mod ifica t ions" on th e p las t ic pl at es. Othe rwise, Ken 's bike was p retty m u ch the same se tup tha t h e use d t o w in th e TT a t Houston. Gar y Scott al most h ad t o c h oo se b etween n ailing th e n at ion 's o n ly lad y Exp er t an d laying it d o wn w he n Dian e Cox saw a p iece o f de b ris (appa ren tly so me bo dy 's ex haust p ipe) lyi n g in the trac k an d swe rve d to avo id it . Ga ry got it o ff in the mab les an d had h is moments reg-dini ng co n t ro l - yo u can ' t say he 's n ot a gen tle m an. Heats and sem is About three fights a n d o ne to pl es s female af te r tim e trials closed (t hey rec ko n t im e kinda fu n ny at Ca stl e Ro ck ) Bo b Malle y snap pe d t he flag o n the firs t heat and Me rt Law w ill jumped in to th e lead , w ith h is rear w h eel brac ke ted b y Mark Willia m s and J o h n Ha te ley o n two fac to ry Nortons. Ken Roberts trail ed Kirkland , Wash ington 's J im J ones durin g the firs t lap . In th e secon d pass th ro ugh th e infield , Robert s se t u p a un iq ue es s-c u rve of hi s o wn, scisso r ing o utsid e J ones an d in side Hateley to mo ve into t h ird b ehind Mark Willia m s. Ma rk h eld h im a co u p le lap s, bare inc hes between Ro b erts ' fr o nt wh eel a nd Will iams' re ar a s they came o u t of the wes t tu rn with Willi am s keepin g the lin e b loc ked a t the en d o f th e front stra ight. TIle p re ssure w as Chuck Joyner (60) cub under Charlie Brown (78) during the closing laps of the National. m ind-blowing un ti l Ro be r ts got a wh eel by in th e d ogleg, ke pt fo rci n g h is ad va n tage th ro ugh the co m pound-left west tu m, a n d nicked it in to turn one ah ea d o f Williams to co p seco n d. Mert Lawwill's lead last ed un ti l j ust before th e w hite flag ca me out. Hateley closed up on Williams and go t by und er th e white flag. Roberts set a ne w l O-lap trac k record to win it an d grab the p ole for the Final. Dian e Co x h ad qua lified we ll enough to dr aw a fron t ro w start fo r the sec o n d hea t, ge tting o ff the lin e ab ou t fifth in heavy traffic as Bru ce Han Io n an d Ed Herrmann su rged to the p o int. On e lap a nd Han lon loo ked ab ou t to b low eve ry body a way in record t ime . Th en his b ike went "Blapah! " in the in field an d d eat h -rattled off th e tr ack. Chuck J oyner slipped aro und Herrmann , then c a m e C alif o rn i a n R on P o w ell, tran sp lanted Io wan , S te ve Dr o st e , and Diane Co x be ing push ed b y Ge ne Rome ro . The pressure from Burritto bro ug h t Diane rig h t up to Drost e a n d Powell, th en Powe ll' s c hai n p arte d a t th e e n d of th e st ra igh t an d he vanished into t h e t u rn o ne h a y b ales in a p uff of d ust. The race was red -flagge d at five la ps comp le te d t o un tan gle Powell , a n d w hen Rox y Ro ckwood an no unced that Cox had fini shed a head of Romero , the h ometown cro wd fre aked. en masse. Rand y Sk iver ran a way w ith th e th ird h eat, as J ay Sp ringst een practica lly bounced off t h e west wall p ass in g J oh n Hartman an d Eddie Wirth to co p thi rd be h i n d lo c a l r e gul ar D ar r ell He n d ric kso n. T wo Scotts, Gar y a n d Randy , w orked p ast Har tm an an d Wirth wit h cons id era b le effort , and at ti mes th e m id-pack sh u ffli ng became a n a n a rc h y of kn e e s , e lb ows an d handlebars th at all su rv ived b y so me ar ca n e magic. The fourth h ea t ro st er read lik e a b ad -ass es' co n ve n tio n o f y o ung Turks an d National wi nners. Ch arlie Bro w n . J oh n Gennai , Kee ner , Gillesp ie . Aldana, H an sen, Od om, Ho c k ing, Gen nai go t a brie f holeshot, o nly to be bracketed by Terry Dorsch an d Corky Keener. Keener b u mped Dorsch in the dogleg bottleneck, lo st so me m o m e n tum , an d Ge n nai p us he d by ins id e t he n e x t le ft-h an der trai ling an an x ious Brown. Dorsc h hung o n w it h out lo o king back as Keene r o u t-dragged Gennai, then h ad to con te n d w ith Brown, who so m eh o w wobbled by Ge n nai in th e transition b efore the dogleg righ t . Af ter a two-lap seesaw cl if fhanger, Bro wn led Gennai pa st Ke en er in t h e in fiel d , an d thes e tw o pr ess ured Dorsc h fro m both sides until T erry got 'w ay wid e entering th e west turn an d Brown sh o t th ro ug h . Ne xt lap Do rsch had a h an d up o n th e st ra ight as h is bike we nt so ur. Ge n n a i go t b y to dice h o t a n d heavy wi th Brown un t il h is b ike . to o , inhaled so me di r t a n d went off it s feed. Brown ke p t sq uaring co rn ers ad sh u tting th e ga te until t he ch ec ker . Corky Keene r, a fad in g Dorsch an d a c ha rgi ng Fra nk Gille spi e fin ished in a fly in g wedge to gether. Odom an d Al da na m issed the cu t as b oth th e ir Harl e y s de ve lo pe d a case o f the top-end b lah s. First sem i saw p lu cky Jim Jo n es go w ire-t o -wire as Sonny Bu rres j us t m ade the Na t io na l, bumping Mark Williams in to th e Tro p hy Ra ce. Romero faded afte r b ein g third for a wh ile , a n d Dian e' Cox just m issed th e last tr a n sfer aft er Rick Wachser crashed in th e do gle g tr y ing to go a ro u n d her. Gary Scott a n d Frank Gill esp ie go t the last two ava ilab le slo ts in th e Na tional , wh ile Randy Scott and Pa t :\lcCau l a rg ued back an d fo rth o ve r die next tw o posi tions. Randy , rid ing with h is ri gh t foo t a nd ankle tap ed u p fro m an ea rli er inj u ry, st uck his foo t in a h o le twi ce durin g th e semi, fini shing in co n side rab le p ain an d only bare ly ab le to ride th e Tro p hy Race. Trophy Race Afte r th e ni ght 's o n ly fa lse st art (t ha t sen t Beauc h amp, MeCau l, Ran dy Sco t t, a nd Ha n k Sco tt to th e penalty lin e), Ro b M orrison holesho t team m at e Willi am s, wit h Gene Ro m e ro a ttem p t ing to go a round the o u tsid e in tu m o ne.

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