Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Race of Champions to By Gary Van Voorhis LOUISVILLE, KY., OCT. 12 Mike Kidd became a Champion of Champions as he. took the checkered flag to WIn the ABC Race of Champions on the limestone surface of Lo uisville Downs.' Kidd brakeless fro m the second lap on - took over the lead on lap five of the twenty lap event and, after a lot of switching and swapping, led Hank Scott and Jay Springsteen into Winner's Circle. The eve nt was filmed by ABC's Wide World of Sports for broadcast at a later date. "I didn't really mean to bump Hank in tum three (on t he fourth lap) . It just happened; there was nothing I co uld do." Mike was apologetic afterwards for the bump that cost Hank the lead early in the race. "It was a case of not making any mistakes from there on if I wanted to win. " The Race of Champions format is simple: You bring toge ther all the A.'\1A Grand National Cham p io nsh ip dirt track winners and run them heads up for 20 lap s to see who co mes out on top. That 's basically the way it worked although Kenny Roberts declined to show for monetary reasons and Gene Romero, the Daytona 200 winner, was added to the roster. Mel Parkhurst, the AMA's manager of p ro fessio nal competition, told the riders that in the eve nt of a bike breakage before th e RoC t hey should beg, borrow o r steal a m oun t for t he race. That led to so me in t erestin g swaps going o n. To start things off Rookie Expert Dave Singleton claimed Corky Keener's bike in the winner's circle of the normal program's Expert portion leaving a thoroughly angry Keener without his best bike. In quick succession Keener hopped on his spare which had been ridden by Steve Morehead in the day's events ; Gary Scott t o o k h is spare fro m bro ther Hank, wh o had ridden it all da y also, leavin g Hank to jump on Doug Sehl 's bike. While al l this was going on Gene Romero sat aboard J ay Springsteen's spare while Sonny Burres and Ch uck Joyner ("The first ti m e I saw the bike was when the" wheeled it to the line.") rode a pat. of Tex Peel Harleys, The eleven strong entries were all Harley-mo unted, Hank Scott wasted no time in taking the lead with Kidd, Gary Scott, Beauchamp and Springsteen righ t behind as Keen er , Sassaman, Ro mero, Burres (with an engine that was ab out to stop hum ming), Joyner and Hur st filled out the field. The front trio stayed locked tight . un til the fourth lap with co nstant charges by Springsteen to break up the battle. The action that set the finish ' took place in tum three on the fourth lap with Kidd bumping Hank off the narrow groove momentarily let t in g both he a nd Gary u n dern eath . In the same instant Springsteen overcooked it and slid hig h letting Beauchamp and Kee ner by. In quick succession Hank regained second with Springsteen starting a slow, careful move towards third. Burres was out by la p seven ; Romero and Sassaman began a duel for seventh that lasted until lap 17; Rex, Corky and Jay played rubberband with Jay twanging by in tum three on the 14th lap and then slipping by Gary for th ird on the 17th to ur. Kidd hel d off all charges including a last la p o ne by Han k that closed th e gap a good distance. "Hey." said Mike after the race, "make sure you say one thing for me . I don't care how the hell they do it in California. . . or Michigan." Then he walked away with a Texas-sized grin. Results RAC E O F C HAMPIONS, 2 0 LAPS : 1. Mike Kl d d (H ·D) , 2. Hank Sco tt (H ·D) , 3 . J ay Sp ri n gsteen (H -D). 4. Gary Sco tt (H·D) . 5 . Co r ky Kee ner (H -D ) . 6 . Rex Beau champ (H ·D) . 7. Ge ne Romero (H -D). 8. Greg Sassama n (H -O ) . 9. D ar r y l H u rst (H · C ) . 10. Chuc k Joyner (H · D ) . 11. So nn y Burres ((H·D). TIME: 8 :33.9 03 Beauchamp, Keener , Springsteen on a narroW groove . 6 Race of Champions Champion Mike Kidd. Getting 'em primed for next year?

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