Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

ails By Lane Campbell ALB UQ UERQ U E, N.M., JULY 4 High-lining inches from the wood post outer rail, with Corky Keener in his wake, Jay Springsteen vaulted into the Camel Pro points lead, winning thi s truncated Grand Nati onal Mile, th e first-ever m otor race held on New Mexic o State Farigrounds' 38-year-old' horse track. Kenny Roberts h ad ridden pretty much his own race in th ird, whil e Gary Scott (who, it turn ed o ut, h ad th e most to lose from a shortened race) h ad come b ack fro m a heat race crash, and ch arged 0 ff t he third ro w , thro ugh dust and spray and traffic, to a rapidly-d osin g fourth. Dust. As riders , man y o f th em in a jocular, almost-p ar ty mood , go t t heir firs t look at t he sandy-su rface horse tr ac k, Mert Laww ill was saying what all were th inking: " Afraid it 's going to be too dusty . I don't t hink they ca n pu t enough wa ter on it ; it'll dry out during th e co urse of an event." The ke y to - track co nditions ' were somewhat ' political, as th e promoter, All American Sports, had barely wr an gled t he use of th e facility from the horse-oriented fair board. An d of course , the pivotal condition had be en - n o calcium in the soil. With the stands co mfo rtably full at an estima te d 9500 - 10 ,000 (One local citizen observed th at judging from motel occupancy , th is w as the b iggest thing to hit town since the Arabian Horse Show. ), All American has a much stronger case to ta ke to the board next year. Indeed, thanks to effective publicity , all grassroots Albuquerque seemed to have cau ght motorcycle fever this Fourth of July weekend. At any rate, given that the situat ion was comm o n knowledge , the riders were little inclined to gripe. They ju st ' wo rried a lo t, hoping th e sur fac e would hold (me m o ries of Co lo rado) , praying that it would stay a multi-line track. As it turned out, Harold Pulliam and a crew borrowed fro m a local road contractor, co m ing in cold like everybody else, dealt th em a primo racing surface th at , aside fro m the dus t, held up we ll all da y. The mandatory between-e ven ts watering m ad e th e p ro gram drag, but sa fety was upp erm ost in everybod y 's mind and t he crowd , showing more tolerance th an most, main tained. Time Trials Ask ed his secret , Gene Romero said " A t o ther track s the y had slow clocks. At this t ra ck I had a fast motorcy cle." His Evel Knievel Special Harley had just carried h im to top qual ify ing spot at 43.29 sec onds. The real secr et was jetting for the m ile-h igh al ti tu de, with many tuners recommending about three sizes sm aller sp ray bars (Mikunis , near-universal , it seemed) to cure the mid-range blubblers, Doug SehI, Mike Collins (a favorite son of Albuquerque) and Corkey Keener, allan Harleys , timed in next. Jay "Underdog" Ridgeway slipped the Kennedy Triumph in at fifth, Springer was sixth at a cautious 44.15, Roberts was ninth, and Gary Scott 16th. Heats The significan ce of time trials would begin to wane as th e hot wind did its work on the track, but in the first heat , Burritto started th ings off according to form by going from an outside pole around ho leshot leader Mike Kidd to win , h e day '~ fastest heat. Kidd tried turns on e /two, but Gene, st aying hi gh, wasn 't having any. With these two nose-tail up th e ba ck ch u te , ne xt ca me Roberts, Ridgeway, and Chuck nicely, and two distinct lines low or hi gh . The prolonged waterin g and wheelp acking wa s p aying o ff in a durable , hole-free surface; but it m ad e fo r an impatient third heat field. After be ing redflagged for "red lighting" on ce , ' th ey go t off in a ti gh t bunch wi th C l e ek /Gre g Sassaman R an d y slip st reaming each other for the lead and local hero Mike Collin s so mehow inserting himself between them , bes ide .th em , around the m during the first lap. Clee k led the first ti me o ut of turn four ; next t ime it was Sassaman , Co llins, Clee k, a gap , then Al Jorgensen (Ron Woods No rto n) and Denver's Del Armour (H·D) body-blocking each o th er over th e bump sp o t, trai led by Ski p Akslan d. Sassaman opened up and hid so bad he c oul dn 't even see his co m petition, th ou gh he looked seve ral times. Cleek was in t he p ro ces s of b reaking a ring an d wasting an engine , but he hu ng o nto third as Ar mour worked clear of J orgy for fo urth . The fi al hea t wa s also over-eager. On n bo th starts, the o ne th at was re d-flagged and th e o ne th at co u nte d, it was Gary Scott /Corky Keene r o ff together bumpin g and jostling for the poim. . Second tim e, Corky, riding high, held z c( o II: 111 r III o Z e oil > Z o r c( ~ z c( o > III III o I- o Q, '-r .--J The crowd had thei r hometown hero, Mike Co llins (8G) in the thick of a three-way heat race battle. ' Palm gren (Gurney ' H-D) who had ducked under Dan McWhorter (H.D) fo r four th. Ro be rt s highl ine d around Kidd go ing out o f tum t wo as Palm gren zapped Ridgeway at th e other end of the track. Then it was Kidd 's·tu rn as the d ust began to rise . Chuck gobbled Rob ert s up t he backstretch, as Kidd 's bi ke we nt so ur. Kenn y wasn't about to let that sti ck , duckin g under Chuck in turn one , an d th e race w as reall y on , as Chu c k horsep o wered by agai n o n the chute. Back came Kenny div ing into tum th ree, drivin g hard an d barely holding Palm gren off at the flag to settle second/ th ird as Ridgewa y p icked up th e bump sp ot and Romero had cruised in the lead, unmindful of all the flap behind him. Se cond heat Paul Bostrom an d Jay Springst een gated together and sta yed to gether , whipsawing the lead b ack and forth for two laps until Bostrom laid it down entering the first turn, his bike slidin g out of Soringer's spray to jam itself upside down in the outer rail. Paul slid between two posts several yards downrange , shaken but OK . Canadian Doug Sehl moved right up on Sprin ger 's tail as J ay rode th e widest, hairiest possible outside line , full-on and clipp ing haybales all the way around both turns. They finished one-two ahead of Rookie of the East, Ted Boody . Mike Myers took the bump sp o t, as a big scrambling group that included Hank Scott, St eve Droste , Darryl Hurst and Terry Dorsch went to a Semi. By now the track had a definite Gary off through turn four, but Scott powered by up th e fro nt straight and dov e inside on turn one. Bu t then Gary " sor ta slipped off th e groove " go t in to the loose, tri c ky gro ove-edge and endoed. The flag crew sperit one fu ll lap indecision before calling th e in ambulance, so when th e race was red-flagged fo r a single file res t art, Gary (thankfully OK, tho ugh hurting) was officially one lap do wn for the single file restart. Yes, he m ad e it , wi th Carl Pa tri ck and a host o f volunteers straighteni ng h is bike as best they co u ld under eight minutes grace (an d a bit ex tra, may be ). Refere e Chubb Kell am told th e Champion , " Do n't bust y our ass - you Tl all mak e it into a Semi." On th e restart Keener proceeded to a co m fo r ta ble ' -win , while Cali fornians T o m Berry and Steve Eklun d argued second /third to Tom 's even t ual advantage (backstretch slingshot pass). Steve Mo rehead picked up fourth over Lawwill as Mert 's engine seemed to go off-feed for a moment. Semis Steve Droste , Bubba Rush and Darryl Hurst all took off together, and Darryl just gobbled them both on the inside through turns one-two. It was to be a trophy dash for those last transfers, as the Semis had been cut to five laps . Rus h and Droste were righ t into each other back and forth over that crucial second, tooth and claw, when to their surprise , on the white flag lap, out of nowhere comes Mike Kidd to slingshot them both on the ba ck straight! Sneaky Texan. Seco nd (last-eh an ce) Semi, Art Fredenburgh and Phil McDon ald (back from h is injuries at long last) gated together with Scott shadowin g them. Gary blew by on th e back stretch, McDonald tucked in behind h im, and th e two went nose-t ail for t he distan ce. Trophy Race It was a lo ng time coming with the afternoon waning. Clo uds we re beginning to cu t the heat, allowing the track crew to m ake so m e headway w ith the water. Vern Johnso n / Bubba Ru sh gated low, Steve Droste /Skip Aksland went high, an d the lo w-riders won the race ou t of tu rn two. Rush put away J o hnson (wh ose bi ke gave o u t); Akslan d put away Droste (who hung on to third) an d these two cleared away fr o m the field. Rush stay ed in the gro ove was making rel igio usl y. Akslan d unbelievable moves ou t in the cu shi on, bu t was st ill seco nd, 25 -oops- 16 la p Nat ional A fierce gusty wind b lew up just as the riders be gan taking their explo rat ory lap s ar ou nd th e freshly w atered and packe d cir cu it. With clou ds of dust and lo ose papers flyin g everywhere, a wo rr ie d rider/ref conference de cided to cu tit to 16 laps. Romero chose an o u tside pole again , and ne arl y the entire front row Burritto, Springer, Sassaman, Keener, Roberts (we ll in side and ab ou t fourth) , Collins, Tom Berry and Dou g Seh l - hit th e first tum together. Gary Scott was co m ing off the third row, somewhere in the traffic an d sp ray . Coming around again , Springsteen began to clear away , followed b y Keener, Roberts, Romero, Sehl, Berry, Collins,a nd already Gary Scott a nose ahead o f Rookie of th e West Steve Eklund. Sassaman and Palmgren were bottled up. The worrisome dust didn 't get as bad as expected, except in tum one, which was half-blind, at times. Burritto briefly saw daylight ahead of Roberts on about th e third lap , but Kenny rode around him driving out of tum two. Fifth lap (or thereabou ts) it was Springsteen /Keener, together in the outside cushion, then Roberts more into the groove, Romero with a tire beginning to wear away , Sehl, then a gap and a bunched m idpack led by Scott, Berry, Collins and Eklund. Keener stayed in stri king distance but ro de formation ; Sehl passed Romero, and by about lap eight, Scott had o blite ra te d the gap, clearing away from th e now single-file m id-pa ck . By lap 10, Gary had cau gh t and pass ed Burritto , who st epped out of the gro o ve a lap later, go t all out of shape and faded back into the mid-pack mob, as Berry / Palm gren slipped under him together. (Berry would even tu ally fade to tenth.) By lap 14, th e bi g Number One had caugh t Sehl and was closing on Ro berts wh o wa s unawa re o f the danger , b eing fu lly occu pie d with deliberately goi ng wide in the loose stuff to kee p his tired, ove rheating Yamah a from bogging in the turns. All too soon fo r Gary (but soon enough fo r everyone else) the chec ker waved fo r the J ay an d Corky Show (an d what a sh ow it had been, as the tw o hosed t he haybales good and proper). In t he winn er 's circle,Jay screame d " Tw o in a row - Nati onal points leader" and lapsed into happy i nc a herency, trading champagne shampoos with Corky Keener and Lynn GriffIS S (Ms. Carnel ). Seems the boys owed her a bath a fter Columbus, or somethin' like that. Par ty ti me! • Results . NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP M ILE: 1 . J ay Sp r ingsteen (H-D). 2 . Corky Keener (H-D). 3. Kenny Roberts lYam) . 4 . Gary Scott (H-D) . 5 . Doug Sehl H-D). 6. Chuek Palmgren (H-D ). 7 . Gene Romero (H-C) . 8. M i ke Collins (H- D) . 9. M ike K idd !H.Dl' 10. Tom sen-y ( H -D ). 11 . Ted BoodY H·D. 12. Steve Eklund (H-D). 13. Del A rm o u r (H-D). 14. Phil Me D o na ld (H·D). 15 . Jay R idgeway T r l ). 16. Mike Myers (H - O ) . 17. Carry I Hurst H-D). 1 8. Greg sassaman (li-D). 19. Steve Morehead (H-D). 20. Randy Cleek (H-D). T ime: 11 :42. 05. ·Shortened to 16 laps due to track conditioning p roblems.. 12-LAP EXPERT TROPHV FIN AL: 1. , Bubba Rush (li-D). 2. Skip Aksland (Vam). 3. I Steve Dr oste (H-D). 4. Din Mcwnorter (H-D). 5. Ran dy earthel (H·D). 6. A lex Jorgensen (Nor) . 7. Paul Bostrom (H-O). 8. Bob Sanders (Vam). 9. John A llison (Vam). 10. Vern Johnson (Yam). T ime: 8 :57.44. UNOFFICIAL CAMEL PRO SERIES STANDING S: 1. Jay Springsteen 115. 2. Gary SCott 106. 3 . Kenny Roberts 96. 4. Randy Cleek 75. 5 . Ted BoOdY 66. 6. COrky Keener 64. 7 . Hank SCott 63. 8. Ri ck Hocking 56. 9. Steve Eklund 50. 10. Gene Romero 42. 7

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