Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

and the Erv Kan emoto prepared ' Kawasaki in tenth as the fastest of th e green meanies, There wa s some speculation in the pits that the front four lightweight monos were unproven in racing and that the qualifying engines might just give way to something a li ttle less fas t and a little more reliable. In the Suzuki pits there was concern about the lack of r aw horsepower needed to keep the Yamhas in sight al th ough team manager Merv Wrigh t looked at it p hilosophically , " \t's a tortoise and hare proposition. The past three years we 've been very fast, but haven 't had the res u lts to sho w for it. This year we'll go for re liability becau se we pl an to be there in the top at the end. Team rider Barry Sheene was less optimistic. "That bloody Kan aya has almost 17 mph top speed on me Suzuki. The only wa y 111 win is if the lOYamahas in front of me break." Sp eed and horsepower were also the topic of conversation around the Kawasaki pits. With Yvon DuHamel he aling from a broken leg, an d Ron Pierce 's bike in bits and pieces, the odds fell to Australian Greg Hansford and Gary Nixon. Nixon made no secret of his wanting to win the event, saying that his tuner Erv Kanemoto would build the bike to go as fast as possible without breaking. ' 'I'll ride it as fas t as 1 can without throwing it down," sai d Gary. The 200 On the st arting grid mechanics were wipmg sweat from Johnny Cecotto's neck as another one massaged his shoulders and a television camera crew climbed over and around the b ike giving the fans back' in Venezuela a live television close up view 'o f the starting grid. It was alm ost a too close closeup as the crew were still on the grid when th e o ne minute sign cam e out. Cecotto was t he first rider away from the line, but grabbed too m uch thro ttle and wheelied about 20 yards while other riders zap pe d past. Pat Evans, coming from the second ro w, found a quick lin e inside and emerged in th e lead as th e first wave of 40 snaked into the infield with Ro berts, Cecotto, Baker and Kanay a close behind. Roberts outbraked going into th e chicane to take the lead and, by th e t ime th e front runners crossed the start fiuish line for the first of 52 laps it was the trio of Cecotto , Roberts, Evans and Baker side by side with a slight edge to Johnny C. ' Pat Evans crashe d as the first wave dove into turn one going down app aren tly unhurt in a spectacular crash just after Roberts had outbraked his way back in to the lead. Greg Hansford followed the lead quartet as the second lap ran through the infield with Gary Nixon, Barry Sheene, St eve McLaughlin, Gene Romero, Hennen, Skip Aksland, Ron Pierce and Boet Van Dulmen making up the leading baker s' dozen. Sheene was showing no signs of the ligament damage to his right knee th at was sustained in a practice session the week prior to Speed Week. He complained ofloss of movement in th e leg and, on the suggestion of Champion Spark Plugs' Bobby Strahlmann, flew toMiami to see a specialist in knee injuries.... The treatment improved the leg, although Sh eene still complained of pain on Saturday as he spe ctated at the International Lightweight even t. By lap three Roberts and Cecotto had broken away into their own lit tle duel with Baker a short distance behind and Kanaya trailing. On lap four the distance between Kanaya and Roberts had grown to 12 seconds. Phillippe Coulon and Gary Blackman became the first riders to retire by other than accident with . the attrit ion that would take a toU of half the field beginning. , Roberts led the drafting race on lap five as the North America-South America duel had pushed the average race speed to 107.833 mph. Roberts" although professing that he did not want to lead early but rather , ride a more conservative tactical race, was doing anything except being conservative. The really dangerous riding began on lap seven as the leaders began to pass slower riders. The ' 15 second time differential and 12 mph gap in qualifying speed from first to 80th position bothered a good deal of the riders with Roberts altering his passing techniques accordingly and planning to do more passing coming out of the corners and on the straights rather than outbraking slower riders. Roberts used his lead and knowledge of the track to good advantage as he put space and 'riders between himself and 'Cecotto through lap nine. Baker, Kanaya, Hansford and Nixon held sway in the next four spots with a crowd co n taining Romero, McLaughlin, Sheene and Aksland dueling it out for seventh. Hennen was just a bi t sh y at this st age with Pierce and Van Dulmen close. Phil Re ad p itted when his radiator hose ca me loose, losing a- half lap in the p rocess . Steve Bak er began to slo w his fantastic pace on lap 10 saying later that he had 7

• Cover