Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

!pontiac Indoor Rookie Double E' al th o ugh very unp opular . A p ro test of t he rul ing was disallowed. . Tires also entered in to controversy with · the new Goodyear Drr 11 being . remo ved fro m - competition until the rubber strike is settled and there are tires produced in sufficient quantities to be available to all riders. Time Trials, Heats & Semis Rookie Expert Billy Oliger broke into '. 25 second mark on the Harold Murrell prepared track by posting a 25:979 circuit. Fellow Yamaha riders Randy Clee k and Steve Ekl u nd followed in the clocking with J ay Springsteen (H-D) • fourt h and Ch uck J o yner. STri) fifth . Red flags and start to finish leader s dominated the heat races with plenty of tight racing going on for the second and t hird transfer positions and the th ree National tickets from each of four heats. Cleek and Roberts engaged in a handlebar to handlebar du el that ended with Roberts' second heat ' crash as he ran over Clee k's . foo t while seeking an inside line . Rick Hocking moved to · second with Roberts down. With· Kenny's . disq ua lification, fo urth place finis her Mark Smith took his p lace. The red flag flew three times before there was a clean start in the third heat; the final one being used after Rex Beauc hamp crashed on the jump rebreaking his freshly ' healed left co llarbone. Joe Powell and Joh n Gennai picked up the fmal spots in the National as the pai r won thei r respective semis . Powell and Paul Bostrom swapped the lead early with Powell taking the lead for good four lap s in to the program. Jo hn Gennai, Bob Conway and Ed Ingram made Semi Two a toss up , an d altho ug h n ·Gennai led the fi al seven laps h is position was anything but secure. Trophy Race Rookie of the West, Eklund, soa ring. .Rookie Eklund TI'sthe Thumper crowd By Gary Van Voorhis PONTIAC, MICH.,JUNE 4 Rookie Expert Steve Eklund combined a perfect" start with 20 flawless laps to become the eighth different rider in eight AMA Grand National Championship Camel Pro Series e ven ts to take the winner's champagne. Eklund, in a 14 rider field for ·8 the Pontiac TT that included nine Yamaha TT500s, a pair of Yamaha 750 twins. a Yamaha 400 Monoshock, a Triumph and a Harley-Davidson. defied the thumping odds and put h is Mario. Zanotti/Frank Nyc tuned Yamaha 750 through its paces perfectly. In second and closing quickly in the final laps ran the Bel-Ray /Shawnee K&N Yamaha TT500 of Randy Cleek who• . in tum, was being shadowed by the Bill Werner tu ne d factory Harley-Davidson of Jay Springsteen. Both riders put in impressive charges through traffic to work their way in to the winner's circle. The most distressing item about the Pontiac event (and th is covered both nigh ts of racing) was th e exceptionally poor specta tor t u rn o ut of approximately 5,000 per night. That few in a 'stadiu m built to hold 80,000 added a note of frustration for Pace-Delta Mororspor ts, the promoters of the dou bleheader . Kenny Roberts added to his bad luck string by getting himself disqualified from the National for cutting the course. The incident happened when Roberts , dueling handlebar to handlebar with Randy Cleek for the lead in their heat race, spilled inside the tires in tum ' two. He immediately restarted his stalled bike and rode about 10 yards inside the tires to enter the track on the straight rather than the corner as a matter of safety. He gained no positions by doing this. Kenny forcefully regained third place and a ticket to the National, but a rider or riders complained and referee Duke Olliges disqualified Roberts for cutting the "course . By strict interpretation, the ruling was correct I Things "finally went right ': for HJ Products sponsored T rophy Race winner Gary Ho rto n. Horton p ut his self-tuned Triumph into the lead fro m the start an d ro de a careful 12 lap s righ t into th e winner's circle. Halfway into the race Horton's kick starter (" I use it because I have no pi t man. ") began to hang up every ti me he landed on t he jump. T he problem was dealt wi th and Horton led Jim Gulledge, Ed In gram , Paul Bostrom and Hank Scott National Seeing the impressive array of Yamaha thumpers linin g up fo r the National, few people gave anyone riding anything else a chance fo r victory on the tight, 'slick and somewhat ro ug h track. Acc idents in the Main caused Rick Hocking to tear ligaments in his righ t knee while' Billy Labrie tu rn ed his body black and blue and John Gennai received a suspected concussion. Also down, bu t . uninjured, were Steve Morehead and Mike Kidd. Steve Eklund made a perfect start fro m his m id-fro n t row grid .p osit ion to lead the 14 rider field in to turn one, up and over the jump. Steve Morehead wen t down in the middle of the pack and spread them out before quickly getting back in action . Hocking and Kidd then wen t down in the middle of · tum two after the jump with Hocking out and Kidd, thinking his th rottle cable was broken instead of o nly p ulled loose, • trudging toward the pits. The problem was then noticed and fixed . The field had sort;d itself out by lap five with Eklund leading, followed b¥ • Gary Scott (who la ter said he lost his front brake on the first lap ), Bill Oliver, Jay Springsteen, Skip Aks land, Billy Labrie , Ran d y Cleek, Mark Smith, Ted Boody, Joe Powell, Jo hn Gennai, Steve Morehead and Mike Kidd. The racing from lap five to tlie halfway flags in the 20 lap National was marked by the tight ness of spots two through ten ' with only leader Eklund gaining any breathing room . Labrie crashed on lap seve n losi ng abou t five places and Cleek co ntin ued his quick trip throughtraffic to fifth. On the l Ith tour Clee k mo ved in to fo urth behind the banging and bashing Scott and Springsteen. Oliver dropped to fifth . John Gennai did a gro und-sky act on the 14 th lap that left him dazed. Cleek waited one more lap and th en pu t .a move o n Scott and Springer that prop elled him in to second. The Scott-Springer battle continue d to rage with Springsteen fmal ly edging past four lap s fro m the end. However, the racing was n ot ove r as Cleek closed considerably on Ek lund wi th Springsteen breathing close behind. The pair ran o ut of laps. Mike Kidd changed handily through thypack to unIap himself. The Nationa l had drained winner Ek lund an d he admitted it. "I was tired fro m the hal fway poin t on arid in the closing lap s had to keep checking on where Cleek was . Luckily there wasn't a need for a big push ' at the end. My sponsor, Mario Zanotti, who has he lped me since m y Novice year, is going to be surprised when I call to tell him I wo n ." Results 2 0 -LA P N A TIO N A L CHAMPI ONSH IP E VEN T: 1. St e ve E klu nd 2 0 ( V am). 2. Randy Cl eek 16 ( Vam). 3 . Jay Sp t l n gst ee n 13 (H-D ) . 4 . Gary Scott 1 1 (Vam). S. Billy · Oli ver t o (Yam). 6. · Sk ip A k sla nd 9 ( Y am ). 7. J oe Po well 8 (Yam). 8 . Mark Smit h 7 (Yam). 9 . T ed Boody 6 ( Vam) . 10. Ste ve M o reh ead 5 ( v amj . Time: 8 ' 5 2 . 2 2. EX PE RT T ROPHY RA C E : 1. Gary H o rto n T r l l . 2. Ji m Gulledge ( V am) . 3 . Ed gar Ingram Ka w). 4 . Paul B ost r om (H · O T. 5 . H an k Sc ott Yam ). 6. B ob Con w ay (Yam ). 7. B ubb a Ru sh Trl ). 8 . Da r ry l Hurst (Y am). 9. T err y D o r sch H·D ,. 10. D ive Aldan a (H-D). T ime : 5 :22.34 I ( Rex Beauchamp caught break ing his collarbone. (Opposite page) Under the air suspended balloon. King Kenny and his TT 500.

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