Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

man fight fo r positions 2-3-4-5 between Steve McLaughlin, Ron Pierce, Britain 's Ron Haslam and Gene Romero and a sp ectacular grandstand straigh t crash involving Californian Bruce Hammer. Hammer was sent flying when Rich Chambers and he made contact approaching the start finish line. Hammer's subsequent slide down the straight resembled a 100 foot " b aseball slide" and when he popped to his fee t the crowd gave him a standing o vation. Hammer suffered only an asphalt rashed hand, but his Bill Krause sponsored/"me and th e credi t union" owned Yamaha burst into flames as it came to a stop several hundred feet down the track. -. Those among the estimated 12,000 spectators who watched Hammer's burning bike missed the dicing behind Baker that ended up with Mc Laughlin and his bubbless T Z, also sponsored by Bill Krause, taking the runnerup honors. McLaughlin h ad " crashed " in th e pits trying to avo id one of the cou n tless pit-blockers who all displayed one form or another "official" passes. National The front row of the starting grid read Nixon, Roberts, Baker, Cleek and Mclaughlin with the remaining 45 riders lined up in nine others rows of five men each for the 47 lap, 76 mile National. Steve Baker led the first wave o ff the line and for the first five lap s it was a Baker/Nixon/Roberts battle royal. Baker led the first two laps with Nixon taking over the lead on the third lap, bu tthree laps later Nixon "just flat threw it away. " Though he quickly re m ounted and rode around slowly for one more lap, his chances of a fifth Loudon National win were gone. Nixon suffered a rashed right shoulder. \ Roberts Rot by Baker on the eighth lap and the racing got hot and heavy as the front runners began to lap the also -rans all around the tight, twisty course. With Roberts pulling away from Baker at nearly a second per lap, attention shifted to dices going on behind th e two Yamaha sponsored riders. _ Holding down a comfortable th ird, som e distance behind Baker was Steve McLaughlin. Mclaughlin 's TZ had been smoking throughout the weekend and o n the eighteenth lap Steve pulled into the pits while squeezing his upheld right fist indicated that it had finally seized. "After Nixon retired, I had the fastest running thr-ee~cy linder o ut there," was how Mclaug hlin summed up the p roblems he was having with his four-cylin de r Ya maha. Two lap s prior to McLaughlin's re tirement, Rob erts' race: came to an abru pt end when a lapp ed rider we nt down in fro nt of him on the tum jus t befo re the pit straight. While no one seemed to know exactly ho w the incident shaped up, Yamaha mechanic Fritz Huebner said, "Kenny sai d he knew he was in trouble because as he was setting up to lap the guy - we think it was Dennis Purdie - he realized that the guy was going into the comer as hot as he was. Sure enough the guy threw it away and Kenny had no place to go . .. n With tr affic making the race hectic for most of the faster front runners, Baker appeared to be able to cop e w ith the problem best. Cleek, ' in turn, held an almost identical lead over Romero and the top three finishers were set. As was fourth with Haslam and his Mal Carter/Motion Enterprises TZ comfortably ahead of the Scott/DuHamel dice that, as the race drew to a close, brought the crowd to its feet. DuHamel had followed Scott from the thirteenth lap on with the exception of the 39th lap when he took the point position away crossing the start/f mish line . Many felt that Yvon was playing cat and mou se and would attempt to set Scott up for 3 similar pass at the ch eckers. And that's just what he did to take home sixth finishing position m on ey . Occupying eighth at the finish , a lap down, was Skip Aksland , who had wrap ped up that position early in the race a fter a . brief dice with David Aldana. Aldan a showed up in tenth behind Floridian John Long in the first posted results, but p rotested successfully th at he had nipped Long at the finish line. Winner's circle acnvines had Ro xy Rockwood interviewing a _happy trio with Baker his usual reserved self, Clee k wearing a ear-to-ear grin and Romero looking the most tired. After Baker had popped the champagne and given credit to mechanic Bob Work, he was asked about his plans for the upcoming European rounds of the Formula 750 ser ies, which currently has Gary Nixon as the poin ts leader. "Our sponsor is Yamaha Motors Canada and we're obligated to race in Can ada, but we 'll defmitely be at Laguna Seca in August," was Steve's answer. And th at 's bad news for his competitors. • Results NATIONAL: 1. St eve Baker (Yam). 2. RandY CtfJek (Yam) . 3 . Gene Romero 4. Ron P~rce (Kaw). 5 . Ron Haslam Yam . 6. Yvon DuHamel (Kaw) . 7. Gary SCott (Yam ) . 8. Skip A k sl an d (Yam). 9. David Aldana (Yam). 10. John L o n g (Yam). 11 . Gary Flmer (Yam). 12 . Bob Endicott (Vam). 13. Dale Si n gl et on (Vam). 14. COry Ru ppelt (Vam). 15. Gary B lac k m an (vaml. 16 . M ike Clark (Vam). 1 7. Kurt Liebman Vam) . 18. Ro n Mass (Vam). 19. Ha p Ep t o n (Vam). 20 John Clark (Yam). Time : 57 m 23s Speed 7 8 .629 mph UNOFFICI AL C A M E L PRO POINTS : 1. Gary SCott (87 ). 2. Jay Sp ringst ee n (75) . 3. Randy Cl eek (6 8 ). 4 . K en ny Robert s (67). 5. Hank SC011 \ 63}. 6 . R ic k Hocking (5 6/. 7. Te d Bood y 52. 8. St eve Eklund (50 . g . Co r ky Keener ( 7) . 1 0 . Ge n e Ro mero 34) . IYaml' Lightweights: Dollar sign for Stevie By Gary Van Voorhis LOUDON, N.H., JUNE 19 A hu ge dollar sign was ch alk ed on Steve Baker's pit board as Yamaha Motor Cariada te am manager Bob Work waited for Steve to appear on the final lap . o f th e 50 mile Expert Lightweight race. Work flash ed it with a thumbs up signal as well, This , in tum, was met by a similar signal fro m Baker as he swept by sn icking his way down th rough th e gears fo r the tum 10 rig ht hander before th e finish line and th e chec kered flag waiting in the hands of regional starter Mike Anthony . Yvon DuHamel's Martin Carney tuned factory Kawasaki didn 't skip a beat on his wa y to second, with the Creighton Demarest tuned Yamaha of Mike Baldwin third. The Henter Engineering Yamaha of Ted Henter and John Long's Longevity Yamaha roun ded out the top five The first of Saturday mo rn ing's two heats saw pre -race favorite Kenny Roberts explode o ff the starting line and into the lead immed iately . The lead was short-lived as DuHamel battled past and Kenny be gan to slow with a blown gaske t th at w as spray ing oil on the rear wheel. The a tt entio n then focused on a terriftc duel between Rich Schlacter and Mike Baldwin with Schla cter taking second at the last moment after the duo swappe d p osi tions 12 times in the five laps. Steve Bake r th en hustled his way to t he fastest he at of the da y leading a fast and sty lish David Emde and Gary Nixon to the flag. St eve Baker, David Emde and Gary Nixon led the field aw ay from the st art of the fmal with DuHamel close behind and Roberts aro un d lOth position. By the third lap Baker had breathing room as did Emde whi le DuHamel and Nixon were fighting for sole possession of third as were Schlacter and Baldwin for fifth . On the next go around Emde seized on the front straight causing a few anxious moments and throwing the race for second wide open. Emde later co n fided that "Baker was going very fast ; to o damn fast for me ." Things then began to settle down with Steve holding an almost 20 second advantage and turning laps at 1: 13.5. Roberts co n tinue d to lan gu ish around seventh until the seventh lap when he pitted statin g that "the bike wasn 't running th at well and I wasn 't riding th at well ." Rich Schl acter broke a shifte r shaft and tha t was all she wrote for his race . In the Harley duel J ay Springst een held a three second advan tage over teammate Gre g Sassaman. The pa ir had started he ads up from the front row of the second wave and by lap nine had moved up near the top 20. Springsteen eventually took 15th and had "a lo t of fun even though o il sprayed my foot for almost ' the en t ire race causin g it to slip off the pe g and m aking me miss shifts. I even laid it over so far I ticked it out of gear one time. . DuHamel and Nixon continued their duel with each feeling the other out. The fun ended when Nixon pitted after th e rear brake ca liper broke on lap 13. Ron Pierce pitted soon afterwards. Baker now led DuHamel over Baldwin , Henter, Wes Cooley, Rich Chambers and J ohn Long and had lapped his way, by th e halfway flags, past all but the afo remen tione d riders. The top four pl aces - Baker, DuHamel, Baldwin and Henter - were set from the mid-wa y point with Long slipping by Chambers for fifth two laps from the end. • It Results EXPERT LIGHTWEIGHT : 1. St e. e Baker ( Y am ). 2 . Vvon Du Ham el (Kaw) . 3 . Mike Baldwin (Vam). 4. Ted Henter (Vam). 5 . John Long (Vam). 6. R ich C h am b er s (Yam) . 7. Wes Cooley ( Y am). 8. Mike Cl ar k e (Yam). 9. Ted Dav idson (Vam). 1 0. Ba rt Myers ( V am ) . 11. John Eastveld (V am) . 12. A ur u m Gudelsky ( v ern }. 13. Ha p Eato n ( Vam ). 14. Len Fitch (Vam). 15 . J ay Sp r ingsteen (H·O ). 16. Ha l Coleman (Vam ). 17 . Will Hardin ( V am). 18 . Malcolm M c Pherso n (Kawi ' 19. Joh n C lar k (V am ). 20. Br uce H am m er Yam). The Novices: Dirt star becomes pavement artist By Gary Van Voorh is LOUDON, N.H.,JUNE 20 Sc ott Pearson, one of th e to p Jun ior half milers in th e nation. turned his second ever' ride on a GP class road racer into a ....-inning affair with a victory dash in the 50 mile Novice event to defeat fellow Yamaha riders Jack Robaczewski and Randy Mamola. There were three stories in the race. First , Pearson had not planned to race and borrowed a bike from friend Marty Siegel. He then had Keith Bontrager t wist the wrenches and, while admitting to putting down his foo t dirt track style a co up le of times, went o ut and won the fastest heat for the pole. The secon d story is that Harry Klinzmann is still the fastest thing on two wheels in the Novice class , although a t Loudon he had problems keeping the wheels turning and on the ground. A seizure in his he at put him on the last position of the last row for the final and therein lies the third story. Mamola, on the J im Doyle/Harry Lillie tuned Yamaha holeshot the field off the line on ly to be gobbled up by Pearson as th e field reached the back of the course. Klinzmann, mean while , was working thro ugh traffic and had passed ove r half the field on the opening lap. Pear son co n tin ued to hold th e lead while Rob ac zewski, on his pri v at eer/Hartley Bush ell tuned Yamah a, and Mam ola dueled for second . Klinzmann continued to reel in th e leaders at over a second p er lap an d swept in to the lead 10 lap s into the 32 lap affair, but two laps later he went down and was out of the race. A rear suspension problem was deemed the cause. Continuous dueling in a pa ck of riders vying for fourth through eighth fmally sorted itself out with David Nees, David Garoutte, Nelson Lavelle, Don Mankie and Dan Warren foll owing the top three to the checkers. • Results 1. Scot t Pearson (Vam) . 2. Jack Robaczewski (Yam). 3. RandY Mamola (Vam). 4 . D avid Nees (Yam). 5 . David Garoutte (Vam). 6. Nelson Lavelle (Yam) . 7. Don Mank)e (Vam). 8. Dan Warren (Vam). T ime: 3 2m 13 sec. Speed : 74.496. The "Producers:" Baldwin, Fisher and Pridmore give Loudon the shaft By Gary Van Voorhis LOUDON, N.H., JUNE 20 Mike Baldwin , making everything look as easy as being on a Sunday ride, took his Berliner Motors! Reno Leoni tuned Moto Guzzi LeMans to an easy win in the 32 mile Superbike Production event. BMW teammate s Gary Fisher and Reg Pridmore took second and third while Kurt Leibmann put his Amol Precision Ducati into fourth ah ead of the Primo Mo 'sickle Werkes Kawas aki of Wil Hardin. A slim field of only 18 riders lin ed up on the grid st ra ddling everything from Yamaha RD 35 0's to the big bore thundering BMW's and Moto Guzzi's. With the drop of the green flag it was Baldwin swooping into the lead and the race was as good as over from there on . although the front -five stayed in close formation for the first few laps with Mike leading Pridmore, Fisher, Steve McLaughlin (soon to be out of the race with : suspected " gearb ox problems) , Leibmann, Harding, J ames Rossi and Jacques Tougas as the rest of the field st rung out. . Five laps in to the 20 lap affair Baldwin was holding a comfortable sb second lead and Pridmore and Fisher had teamed up for a little side by side get it on racing. "We figured Mike to have a bit of a power ad vantage on us," said Pridmore, "so Gary and I de cided to have our own go of it (like the close formation racing at Daytona) although Gary changed that a bit at the end." Fisher, perhaps tiring of the game; slipped clear in the final laps for second. As o ne comer -wo rker wh o has see n Mike Bald win do his thing at Loudon before remarked, near the ha lfway poin t, "He's already done his runaway act, now he'll go into hid ing. " • Results SUPERBI KE P R O DU CT IO N : 1. Mike Baldw in (MG). 2. Gary F isher (BMW). 3. Reg Prdimore (BMW). 4. Kurt Liebman (D uc) . 5 . WII Hard ing (Kawi' 6. Marco Mancini (oue). 7 . James Ross i Nor). 8. JaCQues 1'ougas (Hon) . 9. Bruce Hammer (Kaw). 10. Rich Sc hlachter (Vam). 11

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