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/126007
It's draft and slingshot time, as the lead wedge sorts itself out early in the National . Michigan madness svveeps Syracuse Mile By Gary Van Voorhis SYRACUSE, N.Y., SEPT. 7 Michigan madness engulfed the Syracuse victory circle with shouts of "Flint power" and "Team Flint" as spectators, riders and mecha nics ' crowde d around th e F li n t (Mi chigan) Flyers fro m Ma rk el v ill e U .S.A. _ . Cork y " Keen er, Rex Beau champ and J ay Springsteen - in th eir mo me nt o f glo ry . C or k y .. Mr. Dirt" Ke e ner, . resplendent in droopy mustach e an d ear to ear grin, had just picked up his tic ket to th e Race of Champ ions via a close victory over H-D t eam mates and fellow celebrants Rex Bea uc ham p an d J ay . . th S G ld Sp r i n gs t e e n In e yracuse 0 Cu p / A MAG r a n d N a t i on a I Ch am pionship /Cam el Pro Se ries mil e . c: oecon d finish er Beau ch am p al mos t tnt pulled off a last lap , las t gasp charge, after ch angi ng what appeared to be a safe and secure lea d by Keener in to a tenuous one. Tune ran out for Rex, but as he told an nounce r Ro xy Rockwood, "You can bet your ass I'm going to w in on e of th ese mi les. " Me r t Lawwill an d David Aldana fo llowed thi rd place fin isher J ay Sp ringsteen (once again ab oard inj ure d Gre g Sassam an ' s f ac to ry Ha rley ), leadin g a sweep o f the first 15 places by th e orange and black brand. Gary Scott, in hi s b attle to " Test th e Grand National Ch am pio nship from Kenny Rob er ts, picked up 44 poin ts (1157 to 889). Scott spe nt th e race battli ng to h old onto his seventh place fini shing whil e Ro bert s, afte r deciding that Syra cu se an d its slic k, narrow groove was no t ad van tageous to his wat er cooled TZ, cra shed his newly rebuilt Yamah a tw in in hi s h eat race. Kenny was sh a ken an d bruised, bu t appar.en ~y unhurt. Qualifying 6 R e x Bea ucha m p picked up hi s sec o nd consecu tive mil e track re cord in qu alifyi ng , dropping hi s own record of las t year fr om 38 :3 6 to 37:85. In all a to tal of six riders qu alified under the rec o rd with Kee n er an d Springsteen fo llo wing Rex for the top three spots on th e lis t. Ch uc k Palm gren co ntin ue d to have th e fastest Yan:aha by diali ng his Dan Gurney st eed . In at 38 : 18 , th en ano ther Harley brigade led by Gary S c ott and Billy Schaeffe r. Roberts slip pe d in at 14 fastest. Th e tw o stroke multis wh ich were so p re valen t a~ Indy d id no t shape uP . at Syracu~e WIth only Steve Baker making a sh o;-vmg for .Yam ah a (He h ad no spare m achine as di ? Ran~y Clee k, Ke~.nk R ob ,:r t s, S k i p A ksland an d lC Hocking). Scott ~rel s.ford, !Jon .Castro and Dan n y Hoc kie did th eir thing on Ka ki Thei (th all ' wasa s: el: tunes ey . were In th e last eight rid ers to quall rY for th e program ) to ld th e tale of a. slic k groove f, t?at a f! orded n o trac ti on or th e high-re vving tw o st rokes. Heats Gary Scott to o k the lead in heat one as the pack exited th e second turn and blas ted down th e b ac k straight w ith Beauchamp, David Aldana an d Do ug Seh l close behi n d. Beauc hamp wor ked in to the lead as the field starte d th e fo urth lap droppin g te am mate Scott to secon d. By the six th lap th e fron t four, who would t ransfer fro m each hea t, was set. In fifth , a fte r a slo w start, came Mike Kidd riding J ay Springsteen 's Vista Sheen Harley. Kidd had crashed in practice bending his bike somewhat and had accepted the o ffer of a ride from the team. Th e second heat was red flagged on the sixth lap after Kenny Roberts crashed in turn three. Roberts, in sixth place at the time, had taken evasive action when it appeared that a rider was going to fall in front of him . Th e rider didn't, but Kenny slid and cartwhe eled in to the hay bales and the concrete wall trashing his bike. Roberts refused a ride in the ambulance say ing , " I mi ght as well walk back to the pits, I've got nothing else to do. " . Corky Keener got th e win after taking over the lead from To m Berry (H. D ). Billy Schaeffer's privateer Harley topped the Warren H·D Harley of Scott Drake for the final two transfer spots. Th e third heat proved to be a real battle. Jay Springsteen took th e win while the next three spots we nt up for grabs by a group of six riders. Dave Sehl (H-D) eventually got hold of second while Steve Morehead (T ri ) an d Mark Williams on a Bart Markel Harley pl ayed swap and swap some more. Morehead finally go t the upper hand and Williams then had to hold off Paul Bostrom, Randy Cleek an d Billy Eves to the flag . Mert Lawwill go t by Chuck Palmgren o n the eighth lap of the fourth he at. Until then the duo had dueled with Palmgren holding off repeated charges. H an k S c 0 t t , on the Shell Racing Specialties Yamaha, h ad worked himself free of a pack fightin g for fo urth to garner a closing third. At th e flag it was Harley of Glendale teammates Terry