Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Vince (150 ) Mead about to whip around Ted (156) Davidson to win the Novice race. Steve Fortune (background) looks unsuccessfully for an open ing. Gardena Gold Cup: A Corker By Bob F. Read GARDENA, CAL.,JULY 25 It will be a long time before the Ascot officials "Forget" Corky Keener. On the other hand, the many California half-mile Experts would probably like to forget the .nan from Michigan right now. The annual Gardena Gold Cup half-mile found Keener being over- 8 looked by the timing crew in time trials. Corky convinced Referee Chub Kellam that he had in fact taken the checkers earlier. Kellam relented and Corky went back out to clock second fastest time of the night, and much faster than his first time, according to the many railbirds that carry stopwatches. It was to be the last time that evening Corky would run second to anybody. Ascot's hottest rookie, Alex Jorgensen, took top time honors over Keener and then opened the show by winning the fastest heat race in a close o ne over Hank Scott, Jay Springsteen and Steve Droste. Frank Gillesp ie took the last transfer t o the Semi. _. Kee ner, stili apparen tly ho t from his ti me trial ep isode, o r still remembering his flo p in the ' 74 Ascot National hal f-mil e, p assed and re passed o n the first lap o f the second heat t o go o n for h is first win of the ni ght. Eddie Wirth was a close second with J o hn Allison, another slow q ualifier, coming from the back line with another high groove ride to take third. In the final heat, the pole belonged to Rick Hocking, the '74 Gold Cup winner. Hocking was on a Yamaha, as usual, but most unusual was the fact that the frame housed a four cylinder TZ750 road race engine! It was the first time this powerplant had ever been en tered into Expert competition on a half-mile and here it was with the third fastest qualifying time in a talent loaded field of riders and equipment. But Hocking had picked the wrong ni~ht, the wrong track and the wrong lineup of riders to go experimenting. Mert Lawwil1 got a perfect start and let the field chase him the entire five laps. John Hateley closed late in the race, the same for Walt Foster. It took a stroke of luck and a stroke of fate for Hocking to make the cut and finish in the first five . Tom Berry had Rick beat only to have his engine sour on the next to last lap. Th en Hocking got by Art Fredenberg on the last lap to gain fourth and a transfer to the semi. Springsteen got a front row start in the Semi and battled back and forth with Aldana in the early la ps before p ulling away t o fin ally win so mething at Ascot. Aldana then had to hold off die charges of Walt Foster an d Michigan's Droste to retain sec on d pl ace. The T ro phy Dash waSt h-e nex t test in the California vs. Michigan nigh t. : J o rgensen lo oked like he had it made until engine troubles to ok hi m o u t o f the race - but Keener was right on him when it happened. Corky then scored an easy win and joined fellow Michigan riders Bart Markel and Rex Beauchamp as the only out-of-staters to ever win the three-lap zipper. Four non-Californians were in the feature. Keener and Springsteen fro m Michigan, Droste trying to decide whether he is from Iowa or Michigan and Han k Sco tt still on a day-t o-day basis between California and Oh io . For th e second time of the night Lawwill was off to a perfec t start an d au t in fr a n t o f Keener an d Jo rgensen at th e end o f the first and second lap . Kee ner squeezed into the lead on lap three th en both J orgy and Sp ringst een zip ped by Mert on lap fo ur. Up fr o n t it was a two-rider race between Corky an d Jorgy. Sp ring steen wa s alone in th ird at the Keener - rather tum left than right anyway . seventh lap whe n both Wirt h and Scott picked o ff Lawwill at the same tim e on th e same tum. ' Then on lap eigh t J orgen sen dropp ed out with mechanical troubles for the second time. The road was clear for Keener with no immediate challengers. The final five laps saw Wirth close to the back wheel of Springsteen with Scott, in ches back and pressuring all the way. Twice in the fmal four laps Scott nearly bumped big Eddie righ t off the race track and over the wall. The plan warked as the younger half of the Scott team took over th ird and allowed Springsteen to widen the gap. One of the bumps by Scott opened the door for Hateley, also noted for his late lap ability, to get by Wirth and charge on Scott on the last lap. Ou t of the final tum the' Scott/Hateley duel was a sigh t to behold. Hateley was going in every di rection with hi s front wh eel o ff the ground. It worked an d he grabbed third just before th e finish . The expected d uel in th e J un io r . Final between Steve Eklund an d Dan McWhorter never came o ff. Each won their heat race but Eklund was in no m ood t o pl ay games this trip after losing at Sacramento a week ago . Mark Sm ith tried to p lay sp o ile r bu t ended up a di stant seco n d with little Mac bac k in third. This brings the two t op Juniors in to a dead even tie for the point lead heading into the Au gust 15th re gular seas o n even t. Vince Mead and Steve Fortune bo th had to co me from the back row in th eir heat r aces to win an d earn spots in the Lightweight Final alo ng with Te d Davidson. Mead wa s again near-perfect, co mi ng from the sec ond line to take o ver second behind Davidson in less than a lap - the first lap . Mea d gr abbed the lead away on the third roun d with D a vi d s o n slowing and eventually dropping out with engine pro bl em s on lap five . Fortune made a great try but again was denied the win as Mead stretched his pain t lead over Davidson . Craig Armstrong got by Sam Mathews late in the race for third, Vern Maxwell ran fifth. Both Ricky Graham an d Go rd y Kidd were forced out with engine trouble earlier in the heat races. Results E XPERT FIN A L ' 1. Cor k y Kee ner ( H · D ). 2 . J ay Sp r i ng st een ( H·O). 3 . Jo nn H ate ley T r, ) . 4. Han k Scott ( Y am). S. Edd ie W i rth H-O). 6. Dav e Aldan a (H--O). 7 . Wal t Foster T rl) . 8 . Mert La w w ll l (H· D). 9. St eve D roste HaD) . 10. A l ex Jo rgensen (No r) . J U N I O R FINAL, 1. Ste.e E klund IVam). 2 . M ar k Sm ith ( Ya m . 3. Dan McWhort er (Yam). 4. Ji m WrlQht (Yam. S. F rankie Adamo Ivam l . NOV CE F'INAL, 1. V ince Mead ( V am). 2. Steve Fortune (Yam). 3. Cra ig Armstrong (Yam). 4. Sam Ma thews (Ya m). S. Vern Ma xwell (Yam ) . I

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