Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

•._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.-._._._._._._._._._._._., • • • • =Western hotline •• • I • • • • • .. • •• ••• _ ~ t 1.0 C"- Ol -' 00 -' Portraits at speed - Harry Klinsmann (21 and Bob Tigert (36) . caught in t he bumpy entrance to Willow's 'turn nine as they dusted their competition. Gary Scott (1) and Tom Berry (30) drift int o a tu rn wit hin to uch ing distance and held it for the du ration. Ascot: On the way to San Jose By Maureen Lee and Bob F. Read GARDENA, CAL., MAY 7 It was, with out a doubt th e best night's Asco t racing we've had this season . Gary Scott was back; th e Trophy Dash record fell; and that magnificent Ron Woods' Norton with Alex Jorgensen aboard, plain ran the wheels o ff o f everybody . All the heats were goo d. In the 16 Novice class, Ed d ie Lawson and hi s Bul won t he first one as Randy Mam ol a (Yam) in his first try on the Ascot dirt , cam e right on up th rough th e p ack, feeling th e track o u t an d e m erging wi th a transfer to the se mi . The Novice Semi was just out-of-sight ! No run away for an yone as the lead riders sw apped pl aces at least eigh t ti mes wi th even tual winner Rod Spencer leadin g five differen t times as he, Dave Lujan, J eff Kerr and Randy ' Mamola really had at it . The T rophy Das h went to Alex J orgensen with a t ime o f 1:09.40 breaking Rex Beauchamp's 1974 dash record of 1:09.67. He ran away with it obviously enjoying the good tack y track which was in perfect co nd iti on . Tim McWhorter gave Eddie Lawson some competition in th e first few laps of the Novi ce Main. At one point he passed in the south tum going for th e inside, but Lawson just turned it o n, took back th e lead and charged way. Mamola had his seat co me off on lap three. Scott Pearson (II-D ) go t e no ug h o f a drop on the starter to cause a re-st art o f the Junior Main . Again he got the lead Steve Fortune , T ed fo llowed by Davidson a nd Bob Murray . Davidson started worrying at Fo rtune but Ste ve remain ed coo l and unflappable , final ly getting b y Pe ars on to win. No w Davi d son and Pearson fo ug h t it o ut , often run ning side by side wi th Ted taking seco nd. For Gary Sco tt, th e first leg of th e t rip to t he San J o se Natio nal be gan at Asc o t. The road thus far this year has be en all uphill for the cu rren t Gr and National Champ who p arted ways from Harley-Davidson at the e nd of last season. But Gary returned t o h is home trac k where it all started six year s ago and fo u nd new fuel for th e ide a that maybe a guy can do wi thout factory '" ba cking. The fans, representin g the larg est crowd o f the season, were o n hand to see the return of Scott a nd his meeting against some of his fo rm er fellow riders, plus Ek lund and Jorgensen. Jorgens en go t wh at was perhaps his best st art ever in the final with an absolute perfect straight ahead p ower drive. He had 10 ' len gt hs on the field goin g into the far turn on th e first lap! Scott was running second, takin g th e turns a) h igh and b ) very hi gh. Rob Morrison moved to third to cha llenge Scott o n th e second lap. Berry was not far behind. Al lison was runn ing near th e wall on both en ds and coming up fas t in fo u rt h. T om Berry, the ch u b by kid t hat wear s blue bo ots, go t by Morrison near th e midwa y p oin t in th e fr acas , b ut on ly by in ch es. Allis on was n ow rig h t be h ind Morrison and it was all three righ t on Scott's re ar wheel, or ri gh t along side. Berry and Scott started trading sec o nd pl ace go ing in and co min g o u t of both turns. Before it was over sec ond had changed hands no less than 19 times! Scott looked superb on every lap co m ing out of the number two com e r and onto the backstretch - gobs of horsepower. The brilliant first lap by Jorgensen gave him the win for th e third time this seas on. Scott had to hold off Berry, who bounced all over th e tr ack the last five la ps, trying to p ass, and also Morrison and th en Allison. After the race we aske d Scott if he was re ally tryin g, or ge tt in g the track firml y planted in his mind for the October National? He just sm iled and star te d talking about hi s broken lef t hand th at is still on the mend. He said it went numb on him th e last five la ps, ma king it difficult to hold onto th e bars. Ask ed if it was go ing to bother hi m on th e mil e. again he jus t sm iled and said th at he wa s no t go ing up there to finish second . • Alex Jorgensen had a 10 length lead on the Expert field right from the start . W /ERA donates a road race By Lane Campbell WILLOW SPRINGS. CAL. . MAY 8-9 Running against a C\IC Saturd ay race at Riverside , the W/ERA organizers expected to take a finan cial hat h on this Divisional/ Enduran ce points event; but the y did as advertised , held the event, and paid ou t over $800 to rid ers over the two day weekend. T o lessen th e st ing (b y spreading it aro und ) Race Dire ctor Lan ce Weil and th e Rickey Race r flag crew .d o nated w hat would hav e be en their wages (abo u t $250) in to th e rider pay out. After prel iminar y sp rints an d a Sa tu rday GP final (wo n by Jim Vialovo s), just six sta rters made the grid fo r the e nd urance ra ce. Sco tt Clou gh led all b ut the las t five lap s, gain ing three seconds a lap o r more on the rest o f th e field . J ust pa st three-quarter -d ist an ce , he was muscling t he b ike in to the left-hand tum three when " I ju st felt something drop down o n th e left ... " It was his left han d lebar, fr actured at th e root . Scott hung on, us in g the cl u tc h as be st he co u ld , a nd co ntin ued to circ ulat e at a safe speed, until the engine seized go ing into turn one. " Then it go t kinda' wild : it was all lo cked up, go ing for the edge, a nd I was trying to grab for some clutch and co uld n' t get anything . .. " He saved it , dangling handlebar and all , and watched from the infield as the Fantasy Factory Suzuki 400 went on t o win the rac e. It hadn 't been an easy cruise for the winner, either. St eve Carroll had st arted and wo rked the bike into thi rd, abou t 25 seconds back from Bob Crossman (Yam ). Then Cr ossman broke, elevating the Su zuki into second prior to the rider change. A bo u t three laps out from the pits, the relief rider, bra kin g deep into turn . th ree , felt hi s leathers grow suddenly coole r an d sm elled he avy gas fumes. T he gascap had co me away , and an y hard b rakin g was ca usi ng a regul ar fountain. So he, to o . slo wed to a sa fe, speed until Clough's d iffi culties brought o u t the "Go " pit signals, an d the engi n e had d rawn the fu el level down far en ough to permit m ore aggressive riding. On Sunday, Bob , Tigert a nd John Chermak had co me down fromthe Bay Are a , J ohn t o try o u t his 250 Yamah a against the 410 Production tr oops (he got a second overall behind Tigert, co llect in g fir st in cla ss points for the effort) an d his trusty 20 0 against the GP folk. But in 200 GP, it was Don ~lacMullen on a really sana I 92cc Honda (which had begun life as a thoroughl y ordinary Chicken Hawk) goin g all the way. In 250 GP, Harry K1 in zmann, Mike Baeder and Dave Emde had been hav ing dynamite heat ra ce s, a so me co n t in ua tion of their Riverside battle. In their fin al. however, Baeder, atte m p t in g an ou tside pass in the hoo k of tum nine, cra shed hard and came away sh ak y-kneed, wit h a possible co ncu ssio n . After th at. Klin zm ann cru ise d ,. trailed b y Em de a nd Mike Clarke (Ya m) . Em de ca me ba ck o u t and won the 5 00 GP race ; Stev e Mall onee, on a T Z7 50, o u rho rse po we re d Em de in the Op en GP ra ce and then be at his heavy ha ndi cap to wi n the Handicap pursu it as we ll. •

• Cover