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/126012
SCOTTare two variables that must work together to work righ t. If I'm right I 'll explain after the race." There was a moment o f mini drama as Bill an d Gary had a minor mix-up with ti res. Scott swallowed hard and turned a whiter shade of p ale as he real ized he would h ave to quali fy with a b rand new edge instead of a scuffed one. With only five minutes le ft in qualify ing there w as nothing to do. Kenny won h is he at while Gary took a sec o nd in h is, professing all the while that he would probably rac e for p osition rather than risk going all ou t . That stopped when the checkers fell as Scott sp lit for the front and got the cro w d on its feet from the first tum on. It -t oo k Kenny abou t three laps to figure that his gamble, " th e unfair advantage," someone had called it, was not going to work. A few violent laps later Roberts pulled into th e pits which, had Scott known, would have made him breathe a lo t eas ier . "Those damn little things just .keep eating awa y at us ," Gary would say later. Indeed, had it not been for the cracked exhaust pipe just a t th e junction to the head, Gary might have won; as it was the bike slowed dramatically in the closing lap s. It did not matter. San Jose Monday w as spent pl ay ing movie star , a t leas t for the riders anyway. The final special -effects filming for the Peter Starr film o n the Harley Wrecking Crew and Gary Scott's chase f o r Numb er On e dre w Gary , Beauchamp , K e en er, Lawwill and Springsteen t o th e n ow-empty San J ose Fairgrounds. The te nsi on was o ff and eve ryone enjoyed th emselves alth ou gh Keen er and L a w will w asted th eir engines lan d Springsteen took a long, long slide in tum four. It wasn' t until th ey decked ' Gary 's bike ou t w ith new number pl ates th at Scott reall y be gan to loosen up. Ga ry wanted a few p ractice laps and w as smiling as he put on hi s helme t. He spe d around th e track all alon e p icking u p the pac e wi th eac h lap and ju st grooving. Then, on th e fou rth lap he lofted the fron t wheel comi ng off turn four and wheelied down th e fr ont straight past the pits with the b iggest grin y ou've ever seen filling hi s sm all visor. When they put the cam era out to get It on film , stage fright set in and Gary couldn't manage any thi ng like his first show of exh ube rance. " 1 sure Am o ng th e gam e s of electro nic wiz ardry the re is one cal led Tank. It is rel at ively simp le to pl ay w ith two hand con t rols sim ilar to that o f a tan k, o ne carrying a bu tton to ac tiv ate the cann on . The object is to man euver t h rough the mine fiel d and obstacle co urse an d b last y o ur o pponent as many tim es as p ossible . The game c au ght o ur fancy b efore we go t to th e p ool ro om in th e local bowling alley in Granada Hills. Fo ur games later an d Gary, wi th the bl ac k tank, had be en b lown to b its every t im e. "Yo u pl ayed thi s before Terry ?" said G ary. "No. Hey, would I hustle y o u? " " O kay th en, change sid es ." G ary st ill go t blown to b its: I managed a couple o f games and ch alked them up to the lo ss , colum n. While we w ere sh o o t ing pool the advantage turned; Sco t t coul d do no wrong and T erry could n 't b uy a w in. Sco tt was so h ot he eve n sun k the eight b all off t he b re ak. We sp lit, Terry co nned G ary an d bl ew hi s tank up o ne m ore time . " Th at was th e b est ping' po ng I've played in a lo ng t ime." " Yea, I kn ow, " said T erry afte r absorb ing a co up le o f rou gh be a tings, but winning a few in th e process. Sc oll show ed a real killer inst in ct in pl aying by se tti ng up Dorsch time and again fo r slam shots. The m ore th ey pl ay ed th e m o re " Kille r" got in to th e program . The only reason for quitting was that it got too dark to see the ball an ymore . After a su pper of so me super Mexican f o od and a co u p le of th e best M argueri tas aro und it w as back to shooting p oo l and killing t he few h o ur s le ft before Scott w ould fly ba ck to Oh io for a helmet fi t ting at Re bcor. This time Dorsch and the Tank game go t blown to bi ts and Gary co n tinued his pool hall hustling strea k. The m oney won fro m Terry finance d the Tan k war. didn ' t want to tip ove r in fro nt of the camera." The reali zation that he was indeed the Grand Na tional Champ ion had finally tak en h old in th o se fre e moments o n th e track an d now Gary was ready to start thi nking and plann in g for nex t sea so n. HIt won't be easy . I' ve seen the proposed sched ule for ne xt year an d we ' re (Harley) rea lly goi ng to need a strong program , espe cia lly wi th th e number of ro ad races and short t rac ks the y proposed . If I'm go ing to keep Number On e we ' ll h ave to start wo rking right now o n a program." With no m ore "irs" to linger in the air we had a steak d inn er and ro lled so ut hward for Los An geles an d Ascot. A day fo r res t, rel axat io n (doi ng th e laund ry) and as mu ch m o re as we could cram in was pl anned. Terry Do rsch is o ne of G ary ' s best frien ds and one who shares h is taste fo r comp e ti tio n both o n the tra ck o r off. Ascot did n' t tu m out t he way Gary h ad p lanned it. He wa nted to d o well there and close o ut the dirt portio n of th e season o n an up note. It didn ' t wo rk that way. Another o ne o f those " damn lit tle things" which h ave stop pe d h is ch arge s wh en th e going looked good again w as the culprit. This time it was a sticky re ar b ra ke that woul d n' t fully rel ease . It d ropped G ary t o te n th by th e finish a fte r bei ng th e fro n tru n ner in the op ening lap s. Even th ou gh th e poin ts and fin ishing p ositio n at Ascot d idn't affect th e title chase sin ce h e already had clinched th e championsh ip , it w as a th o r o u ghl y d iscou raged Sco ll who . p acked up hi s equi pm ent. P erh ap s Gary 's tuner Bill Werner s u m me d up th e ch ampionship be st wh en h e - said, " Win n ing th e (AMA Grand National) Champion ship is like a child h ood d ream co m e true . Yo u see my be lt b u ckle ? It 's a special o ne I've been wea ring since we began to pl an fo r this season. It says 'Success co mes to thos e ' who hu stle - wiselv' . That's the • p lan we followed and it wo rked." 39