Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Pacific . Northwest, crowd had their IT motors, Charlie Brown on a Triumph, Walter Mundt on a Yamaha, R andy Scott with a Harl ey , and even Diane Cox bro ugh t two T riumphs - her old IT bike an d a ha lf-m iler Norton Triu mph h ad give n her a co u ple years ago. - i Iarold Mu rr ell and son Dave (breaking in a ne w generation o f track men ) had laid d own anot her m ottled pa ve rnen t-Iike surface on the fairgrounds ha lf m ile, had the turns well-sp rin kled with calcium salt, and were watering heavily in t he still-warm wes tc:ring sun . Aft er the sun set, a lot of th a t water would rise bac k o ut of the track to create a slicky-sticky fast gro ove wi th a slightly muddy o utside cushion. St eve Moreh ead laid h is Har ley d o wn in pr actice whe n its t hro ttle stuc k open en ter ing t ur n three; so he sp en t th e evening with a very sore lef t hand all taped up af ter catching it under the handlebar. Roberts wa s practicing a high, wide lin e ; Gennai was tickled a t passed Romero with his hav ing Triumph, remembering Burritto had told him "None of yo u indoor short trackers can ride real dirt ." Stev e Eklund was trying to ch oose b etween his Yamaha with th e gas shocks or a Harley with a trick sprayed-aluminum rear brake disc. He qualified on the Yamaha. And on e of th e crew on Scott's Carl Patrick Harley wa s say in g, "If th is thin g doesn't run tonight, I'm go nn a ta ke these heads off and give 'em ba ck to Beau ch amp." And, yes, Rex was back, m ended again, to see if San Jose was st ill h is luc ky track. Heats As hea ts we re be ing posted, Roberts ' cre w began slipp ing Car lisles on a pair o f spar e wheels, th ough his bi ke was sitting with fr esh Go odyears after qualifyi ng. If the track d id become tacky, they wan ted t o be ready to h oo k up t he cushion edg e. The Goodyear rep wi th Kenn y 's cre w said "We'd rath er have him win th an . . . " an d left the sentence unfinish ed. Mert an d Burri tto were co m ing to the same co nclusion wi th their he ads together , though Gene a lso had felt good quali fy in g o n Goodye ars. But th e surface was definitely changin g. It w ou ld become what Mert would describe as " Fas t-fast-fas t, then gone." The fi s t t wo to ge t caugh t by th e tr ick y r surface would be Bu rr itto an d Tom Berry, in th e fir st heat, during th e early bum p-an d-sh u ffl e af te r Sp ringer , Berry and Randy Scott had co me off th e row to gether . rev ersed -po le fr ont Second lap , Romero went slid ing in to the haybales fr o m a back-marker po siti on, had st oo d up with hi s back turned when Berry slid down and slammed in to Gene's bike. Gene thou ght T o m h ad broken his leg and th e red fla g ca m e out ; but Berr y was pronounced OK and abl e t o hobble back to th e p it s. From th e single-fil e restart, Springer w ent on to w in, shadowed by te amm ate Keener after Corky rode around Randy Sc ott ou t of turn fo ur and made it sti ck. Ri ck Ho cking had been n obbled by Ore gonian Walter Mundt (Yam). . The second he at also was red-flagged when J ay Ridgeway go t sideways an d was nailed from behind in turn three. Bummer for Steve Eklund who h ad done a spectacular o u ts ide-inside pass for the lead off the first scrat ch. On the restart , it was Mik e Kidd and John Hat eley side- by- side, but Lit tl e John got wide in t urn two an d barely saved it from the haybales. Kidd went on to build a huge lead whil e Albuquerque's Mike Collins (H-D) pushed Eklund back to th ir d. Then Hank Sco tt moved up and wr ested th ird from Eklund just before hi s engine blew and sent him int o the turn on e haybales in a walkaw ay crash. Now Doug Sehl thrust hi s wa y past Eklund, followed by a re surgent John Hateley for fourth, a nd Ridgeway for fifth, leaving St eve finally sixth ah ead of Mert Lawwill. Third he at, Charlie Brown holeshot ahea d o f Roberts/Sc ott, but Skip . Aksl and and Da n McWh orter went down together in tum three to bring out t he red flag once m ore. As this was only the fir st lap , th ey all lin ed up for a fre sh restart. Brown ro lled, was sent back , and this ti me it was Roberts, Al Jorgensen (Ron Woods N orton) an d Gary Scott in a wedge up fron t. Scott lowlined into sec ond, Jorgensen tried to stuff it back under him but found n o ro om, an d Rober ts cleare d away. Sco tt , Jorgy an d Skip Ak sland circulated in a tig ht group, as Skip got u nder J o rgy in turn o ne, crossed o utside and set h is sights on Nu mber One. That di dn't happen, as Gary held hi s line , Skip m ad e the Nat ional and J o rgy went bump to a Sem i. Ro berts almost lost it in turn o ne, looking back after the checker to see how ba d he had beaten Scott. Pau l Bostrom was just picture-perfect as he blew away th e fourth heat after bump in' an d thumpin' thro ugh t um o ne ....ith Gr eg Sassaman and Rex Beauchamp, taking the lead on an insi de pass. Ted Bo o dy was bottled up in traffic , fin ally wo rking h is way p as t Steve Dros te an d Del Armo ur for fo urth. D iane Cox had passed So nny Burres to earn a Semi spot, t ho ugh sh e st ill tr ied to p ass Bob Sanders an d laid it down in turn th ree when she got in to o hot, coming up on Sanders low and fa st. Burres used the opportuni ty to slip by . Semis and Trophy Race "Plenty slippery out here" was how T ed Boody summed .u p h is track inspection before the Semis. Sure enough, Melt Lawwill slid down right away to bring out the red flag in the first Semi, Rick Hocking went highlinin g into the lead over Walter Mundt, who co nti n ued to give him pres sure most of the race. John Hateley go t out of sh ape and stepped out about ten fe et in turn two; lu ckily threading pe rfectly between the two riders who zapped by him on th at bobble. Se cond Semi (an d th e final transfer) was won by Al J orgensen afte r Boody tried h im fr om the outside on the opening lap, go t in to the mud and lost several positions which he had to retake with difficulty to fini sh second. . Havin g slip ped out of th e Na t io nal, it was so me consolation for T ed t o w in th e Ex pert T ro p hy Race, passing Ste ve Droste and holesh o t leader Dick Wascher to t ake over ,af t er duelin g with Wascher fo r abo u t a lap .and a half _ f _. o persistent pressing. Wascher slowed unexpectedly , letting Romero into third, then pi cked up the p ac e to hold off J ohn Gennai , who h ad gotten mo ving late . Droste bagged a h aybale try in g to kee p Burritto o ut of secon d. 2Q-lap National Ken n y Roberts had ch os en an o utsid e pole and fitte d up those Car lisles to try to hoo k up that gr o ove edge. Beside him on the fro nt row wer e Paul Bo strom , Springer, Kidd, Gary Scott, Rex Beauc ham p, an d Corky Kee ner. Off the line, Scott an d Kidd en te red turn one side -by-side with th e m ob beh ind, as Hocking' s bike went " b lap ah!" and died co mi ng o n to th e back straight (h ad our bo dy left the gas off? ) The order (mo re or less) was Sco rt -Kidd-RobertsSp r in gsteen- Bostrom-Keener-SassamanSehl-Beau champ, until Springer did a long slow laydown into a turn one hay bal e, rel inquishing his Camel Pro p o ints lead then and there. He restarted a lap down, and Hocking had also restarted in time to give him ch ase throughout the event. Meanwhile, up front Scott had built a little lead before Roberts began to pick up momentum; Kidd, with h is Har ley's fron t end p lowing in both turns, had third nailed down anyhow ; and Keener briefly ducked under Bostrom . when Paul got it into the turn one marbles. Paul held off Sassaman, then came back to repass Keener next lap. By about lap ' seven, it was still Scott-Roberts, a gap, Kidd, ' th en a bigger gap, then Bostrom-Keener-Aksland-Sassaman in a tigh t group as Skip had nipped Sassaman and then got himself truly cr oss-threaded trying unsuccessfully to ge t a wheel underneath Keener in turn two. Roberts, really motoring half sideways in the outside cushion and then dropping down in each turn, was now closing on Scott rel entlessly, ni b bling a foot or so off his lead in each co rner. Lap 13 , he was right there drafting. Gary shu t t he gat e on him in turn three , but Rober ts dropped low and passed out -.of tum four. Gary drafted back, they went side -by-side into turns one-two, and everybody freaked. Gary managed to hold just a margin more drive the next two laps, got a little wide in turn one trying a different lin e, and th en Rob erts, wi th ro om to maneuver, pulled awa y clear. Sassaman slowed w ay down just be fo re the white flag, and at the finish it was Roberts (full -gas wheelie on his "cool-off" lap I, Scott, Kidd alI alone, Bostrom, Aksland and Keener in a group, Beauchamp, th en Jorgy o ff the second row holding Doug Sehl at bay. Almost lapped, Rick Ho cking had ca ugh t and passed Jay Springst ee n, and that one point difference left J ay. t ied with Roberts instead of second in his won right, at the end of the first leg of the Camel Pro Series. Roberts shook that ehampagne bottle for alI it was worth, got hosed by Scott, managed to thank everybody he could think of , invited everybody to come watch him at Laguna, then played Santa Claus for the growing mob in the winner's circle tossing out packs of Camels until the supply was exhausted, following them with his victory wreath and the Camel hat. Gary, Mike, and Paul were there with him sharing 'th e interviews and the glory (for Paul, th is was one of his best National finishes ever); bu t tonight was definitely Kenny's night to celebrate. • Results NATIONAL : 1. Ken Roberts (Vam). 2. Gary Scott (HoD). 3. M ike K idd (H-D). 4. Paul Bostrom (H-D). 5. Skip AkSland (Vam). 6. COrkY Keener (1+0). 7. Rex BeaUChamp H- D I . 8. Alex Jorgensen (Nor) . 9. Doug Sehl HoD. 10. Randy SCott (H-D). 11. Greg assaman (HoD). 12. M ike Coll ins (HoD). 13. Rick HOCking (H-D). 14. Jay Springsteen (HoD). T ime, 8.51.26. TROPHV RACE, 1. Ted BOOdy (HoD). 2. Gene Romero (t+D). 3. Dick Wasch er. 4. John Gennai (Trl). 5. Walter Mundt (Yam). 6. Jay R idgeway (Trl). 7. De. Armour (HoD). 8Frankie Adamo (Yam). 9. RObert sanders (Vam). 10. Steve Droste (HoD). CAMEL PRO SER I E S POINT STANDINGS AFTER JULV 10, 1. Gary Scott 122. 2. Kenny Roberts 116. 2. Jay Spr ingsteen 1 1 6. 4 . Randy Cleek 75 . S. COrky Keener 73. 6. Ted BOOdY 66. 7. Hank SCott 63. 8. R ick Hocking 58. 9. Steve E klund 53. 10. Gene Romero 42.10. M ik e K ldd 42. ~ PEARSO DOES ITAGAIN By Lane Campbell SAN JOSE, CAL. , JULY 10 . Twelve top-seeded Juniors qualified for a te n-lap one-shot tensi on breaker ru n between heats and semis at the San Jose National. After redlighting once (there were a few notori ous ro llers in the field), Ted Davidson led in to tum one with Rick y Graham o n his tai l. Surprise ! Up from underneath came Scott Pearson to blow them bo th away out of turn two. And it was Scott's race from there on, Davidson, to secure second, had h is hands full with Ri ck y Graham and Randy Gibbs arguing over who wou ld . ch ew at his fen der next. Gibbs got a better drive from lower in the groove , and after several tries, go t by Graham , th en proceeded to give Teddy hell fr om several different directions. Graham's motor died, and Davidson held Gibbs at arm's len gth to the finish. For Pearson, a second year Ju nior , this is his second invitiational biggee win at San J ose. Last y ear he survived a race-long bump and shuffle with St eve Eklund and Dan McWhorter to win o n ' the dayt im e Mile. Results: JUNIOR INVITIAT IONAL, 1. Seott Pearson. 2. Ted Dav idson . 3. Randy G ibbs. 4. Steve Fortune. S. Randy M il ler. 6. Don carlyle. 7. Charles M iller. 8 . Sam M athews. 9. Ma rlow Parks. 10. Chr is Hudson. 11. Ro bert Mur ray . 12. R icky Graham. 9

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