Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126059
~ ; IIa • ~ t ~ ~~ r-... Gene Romero. Gary Scott and Randy Cleek work their way through part of the roller-coaster Laguna Seca circu it . 0'1 0 ..... '" ~ eo '~ ~ < ~ @ the to p wa s made all the mo re amazing by the fact that his Larry Worrell tu ned Yamaha had gone on three cylinders, su ffer ing from coil-iris. At the checkered flag it was Baker, 17 seconds ahead of Nixon, whose Erv Kanemoto prepared Kaw asa ki was sporting a new C&J built frame , seven seconds ahead of Ro berts. Gary Scott spo rte d a smile after finishing fourth ahead of Cleek and Rom ero as d id Skip Aksland, w ho got by Du Hamel for seven on the last lap. Work time During t he break between legs most crews attended to rear tire cha nges while others had more difficult tasks to perform. Kel Carruthers ' crew changed Ro berts ' rear tire to a Dunlop slick. " I was sliding a ll over the p lace, pl us Nixon was stuffi ng it under guy s we were lapping and I had to go around the m on th e ou tside ," , Bob Work was busy repl acin g th e rear brake on Baker's Yam ah a ; O1 Kan emo to attende d to details on N ixon 's Kawasaki; Larry Worrel repl aced the defective coil on Clee k's bi ke; Fri tz Hu ebner , w ho had just recen t ly been canned from the Carruthers /Yamaha team, worked on Pat Evans ' fo rk s; and Gene Ro me ro worked on his face shields . " I sweat a bunch an d m y face shield got all fogged up . I was right on Nixon and we were catching Rober ts , but th en I co u ld n't see and . . . " ej> ~. Second 100 km.leg The second leg as a repeat of t he first as far as Baker wa s conc ern ed . He on ce again led the field off the line and had only to contend with the problems of lapping all but th e top eight riders. His 26 se cond margin of victory did see hi m performing some out -of-sight (to view ) "saves." When asked b y announcer Roxy Rockwood about the incidents, Baker p assed them off with, "They wer e probably scary to w a tch, but they weren 't hard to me . " Once again the racing behind Baker drew everyone's attention with the same names providing most of the action. Roberts' switch to a Dunlop in the rear helped him score a second, but d idn 't help at all as far as first was , concerned. Nixon gave ch ase , but his hopes for a second we re not to be as Roberts, despite the fact th at he had to give up using first gear when shifting problems developed, never really let him get all that close. Then Nixon 's race . came to an end on the 17th lap when he jumped off hard. " I really don't kn ow what happened. The fro nt brake locked up is wh at I think, but other people say I got picked up when my p ipe dragged and another guy said well, whatever, Erv and I lose again," was how Nixon put it while ginge rly p utting a shi rt on ove r his fres hly road-ra shed shoulder. With Nixon 's self- removal from the race, Gene Ro mer o moved into third 'so me 12 seconds ba ck from Roberts, who wa s a similar- ti me -gap behind Baker. , The fina l laps saw Cleek close on Ro mero, go fo r it and ge t it on t he last go-arou nd when he stuffed it unde r Burritto in turn nine. Taking an u nhassled fift h was Gary Scottahead of Steve Me Laughlin an d Yvon DuHame l. Steve an d Yvon had had a ra ce of th eir own thro ughout most ' ~of t he leg we ll ahea d of a similar race-with in- a-race be twee n Skip Aksland and Walt Fos te r. JJO For Baker it was a repe at of h is Loudon perfo r ma nce - anot he r double w m wee kend . He was co mp lime n ted by Roberts, who men t ioned his tire an d gearbox pro blems, bu t sai d , "I raced as har d as I could and th at was n 't h ard enough to beat Steve." An d Randy Clee k , wh o is enjoying his bes t season eve r, once again gave a ll the credi t to his new bride, Tracy. ) Unofficial results 75 0 E XP E RT : 1. Ste ve B a k e r 1- 1 ( Yarn }, 2 . Kenny Roberts 3-2 (Yam ) . 3 . Rand y Cl ee k 5- 3 ( V am ) . 4. Gary SCo tt 4-5 (Va m ) . 5. Gene Romero 6 -4 ( V am) . 6. St ev e M cLa u gh l in 9-6 (v em} , 7. V von D u H am el 8-7 ( Ka w). 8. Ski p Aksland 7-8 ( V am ). 9. Wa lt Foster 10-9 (Ya m) . 10. H ap Ea t o n 13-1 1 ( Y am ). 11. Jo h n Lonq 15 ·13 ( V am ) . 12. R obe rt Wakefield 14-15 ( V am ) . 13. G a ry Ni xon 2-28 (Kaw) . 14 . Cory Ru ppert 19-12 (Vam ) . 15. Ste ve Ma llonee 1 8- 1 4 (Yam). 16. Ph il McDonald 16-16 (Yam) . 17 . Frankie J u h an 31 ·17 ( Y am ) . 18. Kevin S ta f f ord 11·29 ( Y am ). 19. B ru c e Lind 23-18 ( Y am) . 20. Pat E vans 34·1 0 (Yam). 7