Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Willing, Evans, McLaughlin chase each other through the infield. in behind him down th e fr on t st raigh t tr ying for a draft ing p ass. Lan sivo uri cruised de ad-engine in to th e p it s with a bro ken crank. Crew mem bers describ ed him as luc ky to avo id being sp it o ff wh en it let go. Third lap , t he leaders split in to a two-two gro u pi ng coming o ff the w est b a nkin g: Ba ker to slingshot p ast H e n ne n, a nd R o b ert s dr afting third-pl ace Evans. Warren Willin g pitted with th e fir st of a series of minor aggr avations; Aldana had co me up t o 2 1st; and Nix on-Castro we re abo u t ins eparable d own th e fron t straight. Roberts swoo ped o u tside Hen nen nex t lap as Ba ker pulle d out a sh ort-lived five second lead . T wo laps later it wo uld be Ro be rts by four seco nds and that's all she wro t e fo r th e fro n t positio n. Baker lap sed in to a slipst ream ing duel with Hen nen th at wo uld last un til St eve (ac co rding to co mer ob servers ) gra bbed a little t oo m uch fro n t brak e in the infield and lost it. Hennen wasn't o ut o f th e woo ds as t eammate Gary N ix o n m ove d up to dr af t h im for seve ral laps before passing at abou t lap 15. Long-gon e Ro be rts was 15 seconds ahead. He n ne n co n tin ue d to draft Nixo n, getti ng a brief slingshot pass, b u t t hen slip ping to a fo ur second deficit . Meanwhil e Pons had slipped p ast Evan s an d would hold do wn fourth from t he time of Bak er 's fal l until Katayam a steamed by , riding, as he put it " all race , same. " Gar y Sc ott pitted fo r go od o n th e ou t-powered Harley. By lap 17, the sch edu led gas sto p s began co ming up : first Romero -Sayle, th en next lap H en n en- Pon s-DuHamel-Romero, then N i x o n-K a t a y ama-Ev a n s-H an s f ord . Ro berts was th e last of the lead ers to refuel , emergin g with a 25'second margin. The pit sh u ffle put Nixon and He n nen right to gether again , bu t Gary so on pulled out a nine sec ond advan tage (better aerodynamics?) Ro berts began t o cool it while Steve Mc l. au ghlin o utlas ted Pat Evans in a b ac k- and -f orth t er r i f ic d r a f t ing! s l in gsh ot tin g d u el f or fifth -six t h. Pons' clu tc h had p acked up , an d Yvon was circu lati ng in seven th place wit h oi l all over his rear ti re fro m a lea kin g gea rbox, th in king his Kaw wa s abou t to seize . (It tu rned out th at the rear br ake had been draggin g heavily the latter half of th e heat. ) Second 100 miles During the in termission for the Lig htweight Production race and assort ed tomfoolery with dragsters an d vintage racing bikes, the rules allowed everything but a n o u t -a n d-o u t frame ch an ge . Mick Grant got a co m ple te new engine , Yvon's le aks and drags go t sorte d out, Roberts got " n ew tires and m y water bottle filled. " Dave Aldan a 's crew replaced the crac ke d expan sio n ch am ber th at h ad severely detuned his en gine late in the first he at . Overall , the tires were holding up we ll so well th at Aldana cho se to run th e same tires unchanged in his sec o n d he at. Off th e st art (gridded in order o f finish fro m th e fir st heat) it was Roberts, Nixon, Hennen , McLau ghlin, DuHam el in to the first tum with Yvon forcing his way into fo urth in the in field . Aga in , Kenny Ro berts began to motor calmly away from the drafting, sh u ffli ng wedge o f DuHamel , He nnen, Nixo n as McL au ghlin fo und h imsel f sh un ted to fifth . Kata yam a hit tum o ne with too m uc h ste am th e third lap and bo unced o u t o n to th e gra ss in a giant U-tu rn th at carried h im almost to th e far banking b efore he go t thi ngs co n trolled. M cL aughl in do ve hi s Armor-All Special un der Nixon in tum o ne as Kat ay am a began t o ex tric ate himself fr om mid-pa ck. Up front it was alre ady Roberts with seve ral seconds margin , th en Nixon -D uH am el n o se - t ail , sid e-b y -side o r alm os t over-an d -unde r until an u n pl anned pit st op by Gary . It cost Ni xon near ly a full lap as the cr ew at t em p ted to adju st his clutch , finall y d iagnosed a seized throwout bearing, and sen t him out to finish as be st he could. Mick Grant blew a rear tire co m ing o ff t he west banking an d clobbered th e wall, but walked gamely t o the tr ackside ambu lance for a medical looksee before he returned to the pits. Fo r an es tim at ed 150 mph at point o f ge to ff , Mick gets th e rubber ball awa rd for the weekend. J ean . Lysi ght (Ya m) got o ff just a little further b ac k up th e tr ack, spilling m ore o il. He was transp orted for o bse r v at i on but was pronounced gen erally O K. What with all the o il-so ak at this end o f th e tr ack, an yone ta king the low lin e onto th e fro n t straight crea t ed a dust clo u d for th ose fo llowing. McL au ghl in came steami ng in to his pit too hot, slammed his p it board with a heavy " Wh um p! " , kn ocking o ne pit • .. but he did it. in classic kn ee-dr agging sty le . m an sp ra wling and shattering his windscreen. Near-crash n otwithst and ing, t he res t of t he crew go t Steve away again with only a tr ifle o f m o mentum 10sL Roberts go t in and o u t in 3 .75 seco n ds , Ro mero's stop was ab o u t three-and-a-h alf. Hardly time t o blo w one 's nose . After th e mass refueling, the order settled down to Roberts, DuHam el , Willing, Kat ayam a , Evans , McLaughli n (san s bu b ble), Aldana - and Sayl e . Nixo n 's pit board said 12th at lap 25 , later h e moved up t o I I th , st ic kin g his legs o u t occasio nal ly for ven til ation. Kat ay am a, st ill riding " All race same,too mu ch speed - Boo m !" picked up on Willing' s tail and chewed aw ay th rough the infield until he m ade th e p assing st ic k in spite of th e Au str alian 's drafting attem p ts. Roberts fin ish ed with a 27-second lead ove r DuHamel , w ho sti rre d up th e ac tion the las t three laps afte r his pi t crew warned him of Katayama 's charge . Afte r Willin g ca me Mc Laugh lin an d Evan s ab out tw o sec on ds apart after ano th er late -race drafting duel. Yvo n fi nished very rel a xed, ca lling th e foe-bar Kaw " almos t perfec t," say ing that with the o il leak st opped , he wa s a lot less ti red afte r the seco nd race. Ka tayama, wh o se most articula te Eng lish was an ear -to-ear grin and sp ar kling eyes, ap p ear ed quite pleased . with his strong Ontario de but. Kenny Roberts, in a q uie t, re flective mood, to ld reporters he 's t ho ugh t m ostly of pi lin g up t he seconds d uring th e race an d of keepin g h is mo uth we t from the dri n king tu be to avo id loss o f co nce n trat io n. Every li ttle facet of his b od y prep ar ati on , as we ll as that o f his machine , goes in t o h is thinking before and d uring a ra ce . Ask ed abou t Europe next year , he s aid "I ' d li ke to . .. 1 like th e exc i te men t , th e enth u siasm over th er e . . . (HBut not the m on ey, " put in Yvon], No w it lo o ks lik e we'll j us t do one Eu ro pean race . . . th e em phasis over at Yamaha will be o n ge t ti ng back Number On e." Who said the British wer e th e masters of understatement ? • Official Results F I RST 1 0 0 -M I LE E XPE RT RACE , 1 . K enn y R obert s (Y am) . 2 . G ary N i x on (Su z) . 3. Pat Hen n en (Su z ) . 4 . Ta k azuml T a t ay am a (Yam ) . 5. Steve M cLa ug h li n (Y am) . 6 . Pat Evans (Yam) . 7 . Y v o n D uH amel (Kaw ) . 8. M u rr ay Say le ( Ka w ) . 9 . Dave A ldana (Suz). 1 0 . Randy Cleek (Y am ) . Time : 1 hr ., 4 mln. ; 4 3. 54 2 sec. Speed : 94.08 9 mph SE COND HE AT : 1. Kenn y Robe rts (Yam ). 2 . Y von DuHa m el ( K aw ) . 3 . T ak azum l Ka t ayam a ( Yam ). 4 . War ren W i lli n g (Ya m ) . 5. Ste ve M c L au ghlin (Y am). 6 . Pat E van s ( Ya m) . 7 . M u rr ay Say le O.(aw ) . 8 . D ave A ldana (Suz) . 9. Ge n e Rom ero (Yam ) . 1 0 . Mi ke Clar ke (Y am ) . T ime: 1 h r. 5 m in . 03 .83 3 sec. Spee d : 9 3 .5 76 mp h OV E R A L L E X PERT : 1. Ke n ny Ro berts (1 -1) . 2 . Takaz umi Ka t aya m a (4 · 3) . 3 . Y vo n D u H am el (7 ·2) . 4 . St ev e M c Laug hli n (5-5 ). 5• . Pa t E v an s (6 -6). 6 . M u r ray Sayl e (8 ·7.). 7 . Dave A lad ana (9 -8) . 8 . G ary Ni x on (12·9) . 1 0 . Rand y Cl eek (1 0·1 1) . 7

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