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/126000
:I: o a: .J :l Z :I: -==;....IQ Pat Hennen and David Aldana w ill be the - Suzuki team at Laguna. David Aldana will have a busY weekend the first week in August w ith rides in the Heavyweight Product ion and National races. :I: u a: .J :l Z :I: Q ". (Above) The battle for road racing supremacy between two time Grand Na tional Champ ion Kenny Roberts and Kawasaki's Canadian road ace, Yvon Du Hamel, w ill continue at the Mont erey Superbike In ternat ional. Roberts w on Laguna Seea last year and Du Hame l finished second w ith a throttle hand shot full of pain killing novocaine . (Right) The man himself. Kenny Roberts. who many con sider to be the best road racer since the late Cal Rayborn . ( Left) Gene " Burritto" Romero . having won the last two road race Natio nals. last ye ar ' s On t ario Champion Spark Plug Classic and this year's Daytona 200. can not be coun ted out of conten tion . (Below right) Don Cast ro The sidecars will provide action for the CBS Wide World of Sports cameras on Sunday. 26 comp lete s the Yamaha team. Road return Lagun With o nly three ro ad races on the A m e r i c an Mo torcycl e Associa tio n's Grand Na t ional Championship tr ail, th e Monterey Superbike In tern at ional at Laguna Seca Racew ay , August 2nd and 3rd represen ts one o f the few ch anc es for California fan s to wat ch th e st rea mlined su pe rbi kes in action . Th e road racers go t th eir first Ch amp ion ship ac tio n at Day ton a, Florid a bac k in Marc h with Gen e Romero o f San Lu is Obispo ta king th e big-money win o n his fac to ry Yam ah a. Since then they have either had to race in Euro pe or park their mach in es in th e wo rkshop to await Lagun a 's Monter ey Superbike Classic. Naturally, Romero is hoping to make this two in a ro w ... particularly as he is almost a "local boy", with San Luis Obispo only some 100 miles down coast from the beautiful Mon terey peninsula. So me of his strongest opposition will co me fro m his o wn Yamaha te am, primarily in the fo rm of double Grand Natio nal Cham p io n (1973/4), Ken ny Ro b erts. Kenn y, who hai ls fro m Mo desto in the San J oaquin Valley , but has since mo ved to Villa Par k in Southern California, wo n last year 's M o n t er e y race wi t h a l most co n te mptuous ease . Com pleting th e Yam ah a sq ua d and also a p rime co n ten der for th e win is an other local, Don Castro from Hollister , Calif. , who h as proved his ro ad racin g prowess with a Dayton a Lightweight class win and numerous other up-front effo rts . Each of th e Yam ah a team rid ers were str ong runners fo r th e vic torious Un i ted St at es team in Eng lan d 's T ransAt lan tic Trophy Match Race Series at Easte r. Ro berts, Rom ero and Castro took sec o n d, third and fourth individual p lacings respectively in the 16-m an series and at Lagu na they'll all n o do ub t be eager to beat the one guy th at topped the m in Eu ro pe . Tha t rider was anothe r Ame rican ace, fire y Mex ic an David Aldana, fro m Santa Ana, Calif., wh o lead s th e Suz u ki team. He 'll be p aired wi th San Francisco's Pat Hennen and th ey 11 be p itting their th ree -cy lin de r liq uid-coo led Su zuki's agai nst Yamaha's water-p umpe r fours. All of t he big facto ry te ams h ave switche d t o th e more efficient water-cooling for th eir big, hot-running two-strokes an d a rider real ly aiming for great things at Laguna Seca is Yvon Du Ham el, leader of the Kaw asaki squ ad. Th e 1975 Kawasaki triples have demonstrated race-winning spe eds in recent European events and Du Hamel, a tough-riding French Canadian is desperate to overcome hi s Laguna Seca jinx. Th e first Superbi ke In te rnatio na l