Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.. t'-- $-0 QJ ..0 o ..... u o The pass that did it. Ken got underneath Hank Scott and led protege Skip Aksland (not shown) to a 1-2 sweep . I ASCOT NAT'L. HALF-MILE By Lane Campbell GARDENA, CAL. , SEPT. 27 As if t o p rove th ere 's no su ch th ing as a lame duck champ ion, Ken ny Roberts rewrote the record b oo ks again , beco m ing the first man In AMA Grand Natio nal histo ry to score the coveted "grand slam" in a single season and set. •_ k d . t mg a new Ascot trac recor In the process. 6 It was a ni ght for records to fall and fo r upset hea t vic to ries by rookie E xp er ts, as damp track cond it ions placed the groove higher than nonnal. St a nd in g w ater from earlier tr ack watering had softened the surface near the pole in each of the turns, fo rci ng th e riders to establish a groove well to the outside, both during time trials and during the heats. It had the effect of making everybody deceptively faster and pushing qualifying times well down i n to the 2 2 se cond br acke t. (Twenty-seven riders were under 23 seconds, another Ascot record.) AI Jorgensen started the string of rookie successes by sco ring fast t ime of 22 .18 sec onds o n a Ron Woods Norton (one of a p air - the other bei ng ridden by Pat McCaul). Rick Hocking (Yam 22.26) , Ken Roberts (Yam 22.2 7) , Hank Scott (Yam 22 .29) and Dave Aldana (H-D 22 .31) rounded out the fastest five while Gary Scott, his fac tory Harley stuttering a bit going into time trials, _ tied with Rex Beauchamp and Sup er Roo kie J ay Sp rin gsteen (wh o quali~ed on a .~oodyear Grassh opper rear trre , of all things ] fo r 10th fastest at 22 .46 seconds. The fact that 22 .50, a good fast Ascot tim e, co uld n't eve n get a rider into th e top dozen th is eve ning sp arked a lo t of head-shaking amo ng t he tr ack re gul ars . Dian e Co x, who we nt t he faste st she 's ever go ne at Ascot, 23 .43 , said, " Well, at least I be at seven of th em ." Among the riders, the whole thing took on a kind of "TGI F" a tm osphere, a general relief that the pressure was off and another year almost · over . Kenny Roberts and Gary Scott talked and laughed easily as they walked ou t for t~ e . pr e -ra c e introductions. Ke?~y, kicking at the track surface and notrcmg the bits of scrap embedded in it : "Boy, there's sure a garbage of stuff you could pick up off this track." Scott : "Yeah, most of it Harley parts ... " Heats AI Jorgensen (No r ) led from an outside pole to win a record-setting first heat. Dave Aldana tucked in low behind him through the first tum bu twas distanced quickly. Mert Lawwill's third quickly faded under the onslaught of I I Skip Aksland (Yam) wi th intermittent pressure from Mike !\Iyer s (H-D) and Danny Hockie (Tri). Just p ast h alf way, Art Fre de nb urg we n t wide in to th e hayba les an d sh oo k himself up . Yellow fI ag n ot wi th standing, Akslan d an d Aldan a went hard at it arg uing secon d for abo u t two more lap s. with Lawwill for a shadow. White flag, and suddenly Alda na's bike quit in the middle of the so u th tum, leavin g Dave to coast in to ' th e backside of th e p its, p ounding o n th e bars in fru strated rage . Seco n d he at , with a finn b ut tac ky groove begi nning to set up, Rex Beauchamp an d Rick Hocking raced eac h o t her in to the first tum and up t he backstre tch. But in the n orth tum, Rex slo wed ab ru ptly an d dropped st raigh t to th e sidelines. He 'd appa ren tly dragged o r cau ght his leg, the sam e leg he'd wrenched painfull y in winning San Jose, and th is ti me the damage was severely tom te ndo ns. Hoc kin g st retche d o ut to win ah ead of J ohn HateJey (Yam), while Steve Morehead (Yam) scissored in. out an d aro und Mike Kidd (H-D), Rob Morrison (H-D) and John Gen nai (Tri) for the last direct transfer . Third he a t sh ap ed u p a s a Scott-Rober ts f aceoff, bu t rookie Expert Tom Berry (H-D ) stole the show. Steve Droste (H-D) an d Gary Scott holeshot the field with Roberts entering th e first tum high and Berry tucked down low, planning to "ride a smart race, this time." North tum, it was Droste, Scott, Roberts down low looking for a hole, and Berry watching. End of first lap. South turn, Scott tucks under Droste, tries for a drive. Roberts enters high , Berry low. Scott and Droste get sideways together, lose drive , and Berry is in the right spot, shooting into the lead as Roberts is blocked. Next couple of laps, Pat McCaul briefly pressured Roberts as Ken 's clutch began to slip. Ken finally bu ilt up momentum and duc ked un de r Droste in th e so uth tum for th e last direct transfer. Scott held him off at the fin ish for secon d . Berry was so blown away by his surprise victory he had to walk o ff by h im self for awhile to co n te mp late . Fourth he at starte d five Natio nal dirt tr ac k winners and on e Nat ion al ro ad race win ner. Han k Sco tt used the o u tside pole to ad vantage to shu t th e ga te on du elling Corky Keen er and Jay Springste en o ff th e star t. J ay, still running th at Gr assh opper o n his Vista Sh een Har ley (ear lier he 'd co m me nted , " I don't kn ow what 111 do. If th e groove gets to o 'brushed off' I m ay h ave to change"), was hanging th e ou tside wh ere he cou ld ge t it working, Corky to th e in side. Corky would mak e h is way past inside tum two , th en get blown off down the back ch u te. Finally he hit tum on e wide , crossed in front of J ay to exit tu m two lo w, an d made the passing st ic k. Eddie Wirth m oved up to try bum ping J ay ou t of th at last direct transfer , but nearl y lost it in th e south tum, settling for a Semi berth ahead of Gene Romero. Semis Onl y the winner of ea ch Semi-final race wo uld go to th e National. Mike Kidd settled his fai rly easil y ; the action was all behind him, as Mike Myers, John Genn ai, Rob Morrison and Danny Hockie struggled to break clear of each other. Diane Cox, using every inch of trac k to make up for fading horsepower, was well down in the order. After sever al laps of high speed bump-and-shuffle, Morrison and Hockie wen t down h ard together. Hockie, moving up fast outside, tapped Morr ison's rear wheel as Rob started to g et sideways and drift out. Danny endoed several times while Rob did some violent tank-slappers before goi ng down. Rob managed to walk away,

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