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/126034
gone on three cylinders and ran an extra lap to see if th e engine would clear. It didn't and he pitted for some frantic wo rk by Yamaha Motor Can ad a team man ager Bob Work an d Yamaha' International 's Kel Carruthe rs who offered help as if it were his own ri der involved . The work was for nothing as the engine died only a few feet from th e pit and Baker be came an un willing spe ctator. Skip Aks lan d crashed two laps later, uninjured. Gary Nixon moved in to fifth on lap 14 just as Bos to n Cycles Kawasaki rider Ron Pier ce pitted fo r ga. with . Nixon co min g in a lap later. The 'gas stops were starting and with them a shuffling of positions. In one inciden t that almost caused Roberts an d Cecotlo to cra sh, the pair pitied for gas on lap 16 at the same time. Th e problem was that the pits are side by side and th e in an d out movement of th e riders was hec tic. Cec o t to to ok over the lead on the stop. It was learned la ter that bot h Roberts and Kan ay a were advised of th e tire wear tha t each was incurring. Romero and Nixon shuffled po sitions wi t h Shee ne , McLaughlin an d Hennen running in clos e formation. Cecotto, meanwhile, had th e lead with Roberts clo se enough behind to read the stickers on the back of the Venezuelan 's bike. By lap 20 th e two leaders had lapp ed every one b u t the top 12 riders while cruis ing at' an ave rage of 10 8.88 7 mph in th eir fairin g-to-fairing d uel. Kanaya an d Hansford held third and fourth with Nixo n an d Sheen e in close formation as McLaughlin led Romero . One lap later it was Nix o n in to fou rth as Hans ford parked his Kawasaki in th e infield. Sheen e also mov ed into the top five approxim atel y 10 seconds behin d Nixon while th e rest of th e field shuffled spo ts. Kan aya was some 4 0 seconds ahead of Nixon and abo ut the sam e dis tance behind the Ro berts /Cecotto duel. By the halfwa y flags on lap 26 there were only seven riders - Rob erts, CeCOtlO, Kanaya, Nixon , Sheen e, McLaughlin and Romero - stil l on the same lap . Rober ts had an approxim ate seven second advantage o n Ceco t to who had slowed wi th a ho le in his expansion ch amber and a twisted ank le. With gas stops rap idly app roach ing , Cecotto swiftly cut Rober ts ' advan tage an d too k ove r the lead on lap 3 2 only to qu ickl y pit two laps lat er . Roberts began to frantically wave at his pit board man t wo laps before pitting. In quick su ccession it was learned t hat his tires were we aring very badly and th at Go odyear tire co mpo un d technician John Smith had advised th e Yamaha crew to replace th e rear tire wi th the same advice going for Kanaya, Cecotto regained the lead after his gas stop with Roberts falling off th e pace. On e lap be fo re Kenny pitted, . t wo fully assembled wheel and tire assem blies appeared on the pit well as a signal of what might be coming. Roberts took on gas on lap 34 and had his tire checked for wear, getting underway quickl y to keep Cecotto's advantage to a minimum . Roberts began to slow his lap times, dropping fo ur seconds a lap for the next two and bringing Kel Carruthers out of the pits at a full run to th e pit board position. Meanwhile Nixon and Sheene were in th e midst of a fight for fourth with Nixon pulling away in th e infield and Sheene closing the gap on th e banking. Suzuki GB flagship Sheene - circulating in third with no hint that race's end would find the whole fleet sunk. Kanaya came in fo r his tire change on lap 40 with , reportedly , his special compo un d Go o dyear re ar slick down to the cords. The crew muscled the bike in to th e air and, wh ile two mechan ics hel d the bike up , tw o m ore ch ange d the rear wheel assembly . Roberts was not as lu cky as Kanaya. His tire apparen tly wen t flat jus t as he was en terin g th e ch icane and in the resultant at te mpt to corr ct the problem Kenny crashed in to the san d banking o n th e outside o f the tum. Ro berts was quickly underway, but had to rid e slowly through the grass to th e p its wit h a flo pp ing tire carcass slapping th e ground. Th e Roberts tire ch an ge was quicker than that o f Kan ay a, taking only five minutes for him to get underway although his total lost time from th e acciden t until he was ba ck on th e track again dropped him way ba ck. In th e laps ju st pri or to th e tire changes both Nixon and She en e untapped th emselves an d the tir e stops by Kanaya and Roberts allo wed Gary and Barry to assu me second and third pl ace. CeCOtlO, wh ile having a one lap lead over Nixon and Sheene , was sp eculated to also be suffering fro m excessive tire wear caused by the brute Yam:m a The fint wave surges forward, the main acton obliterating the background in a haze of burning premix and vaporized rubber. In 200 miles, barely half would still be running. horsepower an d the effects o f almost 200 mil es of very hard racing. Randy Cleek mo ved in to the top ten around the 40th lap af ter having ridden a cons iste n t rac e and spending mo st of his time slicing his wa y from a 38 t h starting posi tion. Hennen had swept his way through traffic to run a closing fourth with Romero . Pons. Rougerie, Kanaya, Cleek and J ohn Newbold fillin g out the top ten on lap 45. Barry Sheen 's hope of third pl ace in the 200 expired one lap later as both he and teammate John Newbold coas ted to a halt in the infield for unexplained reasons. T ha t moved Hennen . into third behind Nixon with Romero and Pons filling out the top five until the chec kered flag. With four laps left, Cecotlo be gan to slow. giving rise to spec ula tion that his tire was deteriorating quickly. Nixon. too. had slowed his p ace and was troubled by a skittish rear tire. Goodyear informed Cecotto's p its that he should pit for a check of the tire. yet Cecotto, aware or unaware of th e fact (he stated that he was not signaled in any way) , sp ed on as the Venezuelan television commentator fran tical ly screamed into a microphone at the finish line eac h time Cecotlo sped by . By the time Cecotto was on his final lap the com men ta t or, the camera crew and fans of Johnny in both t he pits and the grandstands were in a state of ecs tacy. Once the checkered flag fell the cheering and stamping crowds celebrated. Gary Nixon, in second, had his tach go out after his first pit stop with his tire getting slick in the final laps. Nixon said that he "wasn't quite as fast as I wanted to be." although he was pleased. Pat Hennen's reaction to this third place finish was an ear splitting scream of delight. "I've worked so hard for this race that it's like a dream come true. Going 200 miles is a tactical undertaking; I set a pace I could maintain to stay within the lead group. My key to concentration was a pi ece of orange peel in my mouth that made me breathe through my nose and kept m y rnou th moist. " Cecotto, who was a national hero in Venezuela after his brilliant ride in last year's Daytona and the summer's GP events, may just own the country when he gets back. Almost fittingly, the next event in the FL\1 Formula 750cc series is in Venezuela. • Results 8 1. Johnny Cecotto (Vam). 2. Gary Nixon (Kaw). 3. Pa t Hennen (Suz). 4 . Gene Romero (Yam). S. Patrick Pons (Yarn} , 6 . M ichel Rougerie (Yam). 7 . Hldeo Kanaya (Yam). 8. Randy Cleek (Yam). 9. Kenny Roberts (Yaml . 10. John Dodds (Yam) . 11. Bob Endicott (Yam). 12.. Dennis Purd " (Yaml . 13. Ken Blake (Yam). 14. A lex George (Yam). Is,. Walter Foster (Yam). 16. Doug Ubby (Yam) . 17. Len Fitch (Yam). 18. Robert Wakefield (Yam) . 19. ~eYln Stafford (Yam). 20. Rob Oron (Yam).