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/126011
Beat ing a scrappy crew like this isn't easy . Roberts shoots the final cork By Lane Campbell :>NTARlO, CAL., OCT. 4-5 Kenny Roberts kissed the Number One p late goodbye in 'style , winn ing both heats o f this Camel Pro Series fin ale , his last start as de fendin g AMA Gran d Nati onal Champion, Rob er ts' victor y here salvaged th e AMA man ufacture rs' champ ionshi p for Yam ah a, even as the num ber o ne pl at e p asses to Gary S c o tt ( H - D ) . S e c o n d i n th e Olympic-sco red tabulatio n wa s J ap an ese f actory rider Takazumi Kata yam a (Yam) wi th a fourth an d a th ird, even t h o u g h K a t a y am a tr ailed Yvon Du Ham el in the seco nd 100-mile "mo t a ." Oi l sp raying onto the re ar ti re from a leaking tra nsmi ssio n had cut Yvon bac k to seventh in th e earlier heat : Ro berts "just wat ched th e sec o nds . p ile up " o n h is p it board as he won bot h heats by better th an 20 seco nd s m argin . The tire we ar bugaboo of last y ear was all but fo rgo t te n aft er he turned 1: 4 6 early in the second he at , lop pi ng t wo seconds o ff the o ld re cord for th e 2.9 mile " re versed" ro ad ci rc ui t . Ke n confirmed th at th e tr ack it self fe lt faste r during th at time (m uch to h is surprise , what with th e h igh surface heat and a num be r of crashes sp illing o il near the we st bankin g). T ires, foe-bars and wate r bottles 6 Sinc e Gene Romer o 's fo rt uitous choice o f tire com p o un d snatch ed th e race last y ear , tire strategy wa s (t o sa y the least ) guarded in t he Ya ma ha ca mp, even to th e p oint of having wire-b ru shed the " A num ber" co m po un d d esignatio n o ff Robert s' rear G o o dycar . Tho ugh t he Go odyear slicks wer e of the sam e nomi n al " A-II " fr o nt, " A- I " c o m p o sitio n rear as eve r . the p re sent tir e s rep resen ted co ns i d e r a b l e dev elopment. In the other m aj or factory garages . th e choice of ti res w as mo re wide open . Su zu ki riders held mixed pr efer ences: Ni x on an d Ald a n a go ing wit h G o o dy e a r s , Pat He n n en ru n n in g Dunl ops wit h a c ho ice of two tr e ad co m po u nd s and three casing p ro files, an d Tepi Lan sivouri o n a set of Mich el in s, sporti ng the o n ly tread ed fron t tire o n th e grid. A t Kawasaki, Du n lo ps we re fi tted t o all but Au str al ian Murra y Sayl e 's (Go od year ) KR 75 0. Team experience indi cated that th ough t he Goodyears wo uld st ick better initially , the Dunlops wo uld be m or e co nsiste n t th rough out t he race. Ti re en gineers with t he Suzuki cre w we r e pre di ctin g tr a c k sur f a c e te m pe ra tu res as hi gh as 140 degrees, expecting tread tempe rature s to hit 200 d egr ees af te r two laps and (h opefully) stabilizin g. With this kin d of heat b uild up on the trac k an d the air heavy with afte rn oo n hea t a nd th e eve r-present p ollution haze. t here w as n o small worry a mo ng th e rid ers themselves abou t po ssibl e heat co llapse. Ro bert s, DuH amel and man y of the others cam e to the grid Su nday wit h wat er bottles a nd drin kin g t ubes tape d handi ly beh ind -t heir wi n dscree n s. Makin g its national road race debu t th e pr ot ot y p e "foo -ba r " w as para llelogram rear su spe nsio n fitted to the facto ry KR7 50s o f DuHamel and T a ka o Abe. As Yvon d escribed it, th e sy ste m m akes th e hike seem to sink in th e gro un d when the gas is rolled on. Ne t effec t o f this reaction th at tends to co unte ra ct weight tr an sfer is better d rive o u t o f co m e rs. "It's al mo st imposs ib le to wh eel ie ," Yvo n added. Saturday. October 4 Practice and heats By m id -m ornin g the Suzuki camp was a ros ter of wal k in g wound ed. Lansivouri was already rid in g wi th four bro ken bones in his foo t fro m a European cras h, and Gary N ixon had cr ashed due to a n oiled rear tire during practice Thursd a y, crac king a shoulde r bone. With his arm still pla ted up as well, it must have taken a d e term ined stance b y Nixon to ge t certified to ride. He crashed again o n Saturd ay morning withou t furth er injury. Gary m aintained he was feeling fine t o al l wh o asked, but by Sunday t he se t of h is face wa s pretty grim . Ald ana road-rash ed his palms a nd kn uc kles in a practice ge t-off of "h is o wn . It ad d ed u p to a lo t of scra pe d an d d in ged m ach ine ry t o get so rted o u t o ve rn igh t: Yam aha wa s sitt in g p at w ith a m onosh ock T Z for Kenny and Gen e (Burri tt o ) Romer o tr ying o u t a new, wider re ar rim. Canadian Steve Bak er an d New Zealander J ohn Bo ote had been give n th e oth er ยท two wo rks mo no-TZ s. The first Expert h ea t for grid position was a Ro be rts ro mp , with Steve Baker second in a lead group of fo ur . Ga ry Nix on passed teammat e Lan sivouri for third u nder th e wh it e flag. Surprise o f the a fte rn o on was former privateer Pat Henne n's runaw a y in th e . second and fast est o f the two Expert q ualifiers t o grab th e po le fo r Sunday 's firs t I OO-m iler. In te resting ly, Hennen wo uld start the Natio nal with only a sh orty fairing fitted, sugge st ing a coolin g problem wi th either the bike o r the bod. May be both. Sunday , October 5 First 100 miles Having th e physical sta mi na to last in the he at seem ed eve ryone 's foremost worry, as t he tire fears ge nerally went a way. T he " ho t set-up" wa s d e fin itely a baby bottle full o f Gato rad e an d a long tube. . It was a mixed grid : He nne n (Suz) at th e pol e , t he n Ro berts (Yam ), Pat Evan s (Yam), Ste ve Bak er (Yam) and Greg Hansford (Ka w) to co m p le te the front row. Ni xo n was spo tt ed beh ind Hennen, Lansivouri w as mi d-second row with Fre n chman Pat rick Pons di re ctly be hind him. Ald an a was in sid e fourth row with Burritto t o h is rear. Gary Scott wa s start in g mi d -sixth row on th e lone Harley V-twi n in a vain hope of sa ly agin g t he m anu f a c t u r er s' championship . He wo uld have t o finis h six th or be tter to do so . Hennen, Roberts and Bak er ca me right off th e fro nt row to lead the bi ker sn a ke in t o t he infield. Self- sp onsored Evans scr am bl ed in to secon d j us t ah ead o f Ba ker wh o in turn nudged Roberts t o fo u rt h . End of firs t lap, it was those four follo wed b y Katay am a , Castro , Nixon and Steve McLaughlin. Aldana shot from last to first in the second wave during th e first lap. Next time ro und, Roberts was pressing Baker and tucked The fo o-bar su spension h a rd at wo rk, th an ks to one fast Canadi an.