Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Pat Evans, ri ding "in the middle of a sc ra m bling covey con taining Dale Singleto n, Mike Clar ke . and AFM (Califo rni a) champ io n Ru dy Galin d o. Cooley sagged bac k into this group ear ly, th en dropped furthe r after Galindo p asse d hi m on lap four. Things stayed ho t in this group as Evans ran as far back as 10th before making a co me ba ck, foll ow ed by Cooley . Between t he m . they finally put Galindo and Sin gleton be hind, but it was a scra mble, especially in th e slippy-slidy spots near th e to p o f the co rkscre w and down at tu m nine wh ere everyo ne got way o ut of shape at least o nce durin g th e ru sh . Ro berts go t. t he lead o n lap 10 an d coole d it. Bak er go t side wa ys a couple times trying to ca tch Ken and th en coo led it. to o . DuHam el likewise . an d Ron Pierce was fo urth all by hi s lonesome. Don Castro and Gary Scott h ad stayed n ose-tail the re st o f the race. an d fin ished mo re or less in formation. Dale Sin gle ton, who wa s havin g a busy da y. was firs t Junior. Jim Dunn, o f Eve re tt, Wash ingt on , crashed hard in tum four and was -taken o u t in the am bu lance d uri ng the closing laps, shaken up pretty thoro ughly. He was ad mitted to the ne arby ho sp it al fo r o bservation, th o ugh not hi ng seemed to be bro ke n . Results .J .J w a. '" :. « u w z « .J C Z 1. K enn y Roberts (Vam) . 2 . Ste ve Ba k er { V arn I . 3 . V v o n Du H amel ( K a w ). 4. R o n P ier ce ( Ka w ). 6 . Ga ry SCott (H · 0 ) . 7. Pa t Evan s (Vam) . 8. We s Co o le y (Vam) . 9. D ale S in g le t on (Yam). 10. M i ke C larke (Vam) . I!. RUd y Galin do {Yarn) , 12. B ob En d ic ott (Vam ). 13 . Sk ip Aksla n d (Yam ). 14 . B art Myers (Vam) . 1 5. M ike De vli n ( Va m). 16. John Cl ar k ( Yam ) . 17. K en eotna m (Yam ). 1 8. A ll an I::n gel (Yarn ), 19 . B ruce L i nd ( Yam) . 20. G reg Sassam an (H -C). WINNER'S TIME, (2 0 Laps, 3 8 Miles), WINNER'S SPEED, 8 9 .93 2 mph. 25m 2 1. 15 15. « x u w a. U. U. -, "' > 'C " '" f- ;,;,;.:~;,;,;.:;,;,;.:~ Roberts and Du hamel started their battle in the heat races and kept it going until Duhamel crashed in the Expert Final. John Boote made a worthwhile trip from New Zealand to take second. :ores I With victory co nc ede d to Roberts . who put Scott tw o lap s be hind hi m on the foll owing lap. all eyes focused on the race for second. Ba ker and Pierce too k turns ho lding down the runnerup sp o t. b u t it was an unheral de d J o hn Boo te whos lipp ed by at the ch ec " d ere fla g. When Ro be rt s too k th e checkers he had lap p ed all but the sec ond-th ro ugh s i x t h -p laced riders. Th e National victory, wh ich followed his earlier 25 0c c Co m b in ed race win, was accep te d by the reserved ace in m uch the same way no rmal mortal s accept paychecks. When asked d urin g winner's cir cle cere m onies wha t he planned to do in th e imm edi a t e fut ur e. R oberts answered, "Go get something co ld to drink," Now it's back to dirt an d it's Gary Scott and Harl ey -David son with th e ho rsepower ad van ta ge . It 's go n na be in teres ting. Stay tuned. 17 . Reg Pr idmore (BMW) . 18. Geo rge Mille r (Vam ). 19. Bob Wa kef ie l d (Vam ). 2 0. J oh n C la rk ( Yam). WINNER'S TIME, (4 0 Laps, WINNER'S SPEED, 92.822 49m 0 6 . 5 6 7 s. 7 6. 0 0 mph rec o r d) . Old r eco r d was 9 2. 6 8 mph . " CAME L STANDINGS, miles), (new P RO SERI ES" POIN T Gary Scott (H-D) 8 72 1. p oi nts. 2 . K enny Roberts (Yam ) 65 1. 3. J ay Sp r i n gst een (H· C) 4 6 4 . 4. Re x Beauchamp (H-C) Greg Sassaman (H-D) 8 . Hank Scott (Vam) 349. 5. 328 . 6. Corky Keen er (H4D ) 31 3. 7 . Ge ne Rome ro (Y arn) 2 9 6 . Randy C leek ( V am) 2 8 2. 2 86 . 9 . 10. St ev e Bake r (Y arn) 2 66 . Results PR OV IS IO N A L : 1. K en n y Roberts ( V am ). 2. J ohn B oote ( Y am). 3 . St eve B a k e r (Yam) . 4 . Ron Pierce (Varn) . 5. Pat Hennen (Su z). 6 . Steve McLaugh li n (Y am ). 7 . Hurley Wil v ert ( Vam\. 8. R andY Clee k (Yam). 9. Pat Evans (Yam . 10. D o n castro ( Y am ). 11 . M ike Dev lin (Vam ). 12. Ph il McDona l d ( Y am ). 13. Gary Scott (H· C). 14 . Len Fitch (Vam). 15. Doug Libby (Yam ). 16. Ba r t Myers ( V am ). " Don't call me Stevie" Baker's boogie, KR 2505 show class Steve Bak er (Yam) from Bellingham, Washington led the first half of th e o __...............~ il: Third Annual Kenny Roberts Ben efi t 25 0 race, and the KR 25 0 Ka wasakis (wi th Yvon DuHam el and Ro n - Pierce up ) showed co m peti tive form fo r t he firs t time th is AMA Na tio nal season. The Yvon-Ron te am actual ly held Ro bert s bracketed in th ird for th e firs t five lap s af ter Ro berts had passed a slo wing Gary Sco tt. The holeshot lead had go ne t o Baker and DuHam el , wit h Scott. Roberts. Pier ce, Don Castro , Wes Co oley an d th e whole gang fo llo wing up th e hill . On th e th ird la p Roberts cut unde r Scott. and Du Ham el co uld only hold Ke n off to lap six . Pierce and Cas tro wen t by Scott n ose-tail as Gary visibly slacked o ff. Even so , there was a consi derab le gap be tween Scott and seventh place man East Coast Juniors shine Two easterners and one venerable Harl ey reeking with hist or y sho ne o uts tanding in the 20 ·!ap Junior Final . Gre g Sassaman. st ill so re from a practice cr ash on the H-D 250. was mounted on Cal Rayborn 's old XR-7 50 V-twin, the ver y ch assis th at Calvin rode to win the fir st Superbik e Na tion al at Lagu na Seca in 19 72. When Dale Singleton and Ski p Aksland drag-raced off the line and d isappeared aro und the hill , all eyes tu rn ed to t he second wave, where Sassa m an , co mi ng from abou t a six th place star t, picked o ff t wo opponents be tween turn s two and three. Single to n, af te r tuckin g 10 ahead of Aksl and, pulled away an d ro de ou t of sight of the Junior fiel d. Behi nd. Akslan d cleared away fr om a scrambling gro up led by Fran kie J uhan and Richard Ch ambers, with Ph il Fran k and Fred Wal ti bottled up behind. By the second lap, Sassaman , goi ng fas te r all th e time as he and th e old Harley settled in to gether. had cleared away fro m th e second wave an d was nibbling at Rich ard Fuller and o t her s in th e first gro up . Lap five, Single to n had a seven second lead, circula ting in t he low I : I 5s. the n Aksland, while Walti and Frank both got by Juhan and Chambers. The latter two c on tinued to swap abo ut as they lapp ed o ther traffic the res t of the race. Walt i started moving a few laps later. passing Franks and ha uling in Aksland abo ut the time Kevin Stafford went o ff o n t um fou r. Walti surp rised Ak slan d as the two w e re lapp ing a wh o le gaggle of back-markers, as Ski p was lu lled in to bel ieving (for a while) th at t he y we ren 't o n the sam e lap. Skip retoo k th e posit io n bri efl y a cou p le laps fro m t he end. bu t Walti passed agai n in traffic t o ho ld do wn second at th c checker. Frank finished fo urth, many seconds do wn , and Cham bers led a scr app y J uhan across next. Greg Sassaman, wh o had been reeling people in one by o ne all race (and still on th e sam e lap wi th Sin gleton) p assed Ric k Ho cking in th e closing lap s to nail 12th beh ind Kur t Le n z (Kaw) who was the first non- Yamaha rider to fini sh. Results 1. Da le Si n gle t on (Yam}, 2. Fr ed W al t! (vamj ' 3. Sk ip A k sl an d ( Yam ). 4 . Ph i l F ran k ( Yam. 5. Ric h ard Chambe rs (Yam). 6 . F='rank ie Juh an (Ya m ). 7. Ed Eat on (Yam ) .8. Steve Ma ll o nee \ Ya m ). 9 . Alan Bar bi e (Yam) . 10 . J ohn Tal ar co ( Vam ). 1 1. Kurt Le ntz 7

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