Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'8 wa ose lC) ~ Q..I ..0 o .... u o Closing on the big One By Lane Campbell SAN JOSE, CAL., SEPT. 26 "If I was to bet, I'd put my money on Jay today." The speaker is a cast-burdened Corky Keener, who has 'been handling a stop-watcn for his HarleyDavidson teammates ("Fast! , They re a full second under last year.") And Jay would have made Keener ric her, had anybody called the bet. Springer found ex tra ounces of late-race traction to hold off defending champion Gary Scott (H-D) who in turn survived repeated charges by Rookie of the West Steve Eklund . Six men (including these three) had seen daylight at the front of an eight-rider jam (if ever so briefly) during a tightly. contested National on a narrow (for San Jose) groove. Former doub le-winner Rex Beauchamp had his turn at the lead, bu t took the checker fourth; while Kenny Roberts, at fifth, slides far enough _behind in Camel Pro points to need a double hat-trick miracle to pull off an up set. Jay's win gave him 16 points up on -Scott . s.o m ore t~an. ever, th~ AMA 's Grand National Championshp hinges on who do.es wh~t at the. Riverside: ro~d race while Spn~ger (a full Expert m dirt track only) SIts It out. Preliminary bouts A night and morning of cl ou dy damp with just the hint of driz zle se t th e condition of the tr ack. San Jose 's p avem en t-like surface would not dry ou t and form its familiar blue groove. The combination of c oo l dense air (for horsepower) tacky groove-edge and plen tiful Goodyear D (T-ll tires spelled doom for Rex Beauchamp's 1975 lap record of 38.21. No less than 24 riders got under it in time trials as J ay Springsteen demolished it with '1 3 7. 15 second top time, followed by teammate Beauchamp and Can adi an Dave Sehl, 6 On this surface, th e DT·lIs seemed to demand a ro ad-racerly drive-around style ("Just won't slide" - Gennai) from everybody ' ex cept Ken Roberts, who blew minds by' throwing his Yamaha down to the c ases and pitching it sideways ju st lik e old times ("It's just the way I rid e ... hold the gas On un til it starts goin' sideways, an d when it go es sideways I hold the gas on a little longer until it's time to come out. "). He timed fourth ahead of Randy Cleek; while Gary Scott was in at 12th and Diane Cox made the front row of a mile heat for 'the fir~t tim: aboard ~ary. spare Harley. MIke Kidd, sportmg maro~n rough-ou t leathers and a Mert LaWWlIl Harley, timed ninth. Still no word on the rest of Mike's stolen property: ' Clou ds began to boil up in the mountains to the west, and . Gene . Romero began to worry about rain before the first heat. Polesit ter Springsteen reversed the start as the program got underway with an eye to the sky. Hank Scott holeshot the heat from the middle and led through tum one with Springer coming up the outside to power by on the back straight, Kidd in tow. By the end of the first lap, Kidd had forced his way to the front, while Randy Cleek slipped under Hank for third, enterin g tum one. J ay tucked right down and closed up on Kidd, but Mike held him do ggedly until the Harley ate a valve and coasted to a stop near the back pit entrance. Now Springer was free to lead Cleek and Scott single file . to the flag as behind th em Mik e Collin s (H.D), Ddrryl Hurst (Yam ) and Pat Marinacci (Tri) waged a three-way duel for the last direct transfer. Darryl managed to survive the shuffle with the final p assing before the white flag, and held off a visibly disappoin ted Collins the final lap. Second heat, Steve Morehead (H-D) and Al "J orgy" Jorgensen cam e off the line together, going side-by-side clear through the west turn with Rex Beauchamp for a shadow. Jorgy, on the C & J·framed Ron Woods Norton, pulled a slight edge down -t he back chute and the local partisians went wild. Second lap, it 's Jorgy holding Morehead by less than a bike length, Beau champ, Pau l Bostrom a sligh t gap, . then Rick Hocking (big knee and all) barely holding Chuc k Joyner, who's dragging the groove-edge full-on and truly cross-threaded. Th ird lap , Rex drafts in to the lead, Joyner passes Hocking. J orgy goes wild, trying Beauchamp inside, outside, any side tum after turn, as the front-runners separate into matched pairs.. Bostrom aces Morehead, Hocking comes back around Joyner, and J orgy /Beauchamp go to a near photo-finish at the line - Rex by inches, say the officials. Gene Romero/Chuck Palmgren ho leshot together ' with Skip Aksland righ t be hind as Diane Cox an d polesitter Doug Sehl get bottled up in third heat traffic. Aksland tries the inside of Palmgren in to tum three but gets the door slammed while Sehl u ncorks himself and moves into second. Diane is hanging in, reeling in Mike Myers and John Gennai in tum for an eventual fifth behind Greg Sassaman. Sehl stuffed it u nder Aksland (who had repassed him earlier) as Palmgren slipped ba ck about a length; then Doug blasted by Romero up the back straight, only to have his Harley go raggedly on one cylinder a lap later. Now it's a two-man race, as Romero slo wly drives it under Aksland the length of the one/two tum. They n ever got out from under the blanket the final few laps,and whe n it was over they were still side-by-side coasting, shaking hands in turn two as officials gave Burritto the nod. Palmgren had cruised to third. The fourth heat had Ekl u nd, rival rookie Ted Boody, Roberts and G ary Scott. ' Gu aran te ed fireworks, as these four hit the first tum 'in a bunch, Roberts first, Boody working into sec ond, Scott/Eklund going wobble-wobble in unison ou t of turn two. The track is grooving noticeably now. Two laps and it's Roberts-Eklund, with Scott/Boody shuffling third. Dave Aldana leads Bubba Rush, Mike Elder (H. D, out of Seattle) and Oregonian Brad Hurst, who has the wobbles, too. Elder slid down safely through traffic in tum two, Hurst. dropped behind Phil McDonald and Jay Ridgeway (both of whom co mp lained of motor ills), as Aldana/Rush settled fifth and sixth respectively. Bu t at the front, nothing was sc ttl ed. As Elder was crash ing, Roberts/Eklund got side-by-side, Eklund ou tside. Scott tucked low and slipped by Boody, but next time . round the order was Boo d Y: Eklund-Roberts-Scott, Then Roberts seemed to bobble in tum four, letting Gary by and Gary slingshot into th e lead next time through turn three. But the two rookies bracketted him coming out of tum two, and here com es Roberts! Closing fast and suddenly no 'p lace to go, Kenny drags it right down, taps Gary's rear wheel and the four boogie au t of tu m two as an indistinguishable mass ' of wheels and helmets, not giving an inch. Nex t time throu gh the west tu rn,-Scott's ba ck in th e lead, holding Eklund outside by for ce of will, in tight formation the whole way around. Ek lund takes an edge on the ba ck chute, Gary ducks und er enterin g the far turn, no one seems to notice the checker's ou t and waving. Here come the two rookies, they bracket the champ out of tum four, edge by on either side and are congratulatin g each other on cooloff as the fans are into total mind-seizure. Now it's time for second chances. The first Semi goes off bunched behind a' clear lead er. It's Rick Hocking, going all the way ahead of Pat Marinacci. Mark Smith hosed the bales twice in ' tum three-four and came through late in the race loo king like h e 'd knocked off a footpeg or clobbered his right foot (sure was holding his leg funny). Chuck Joyner, after flirting with the edge all race, fmally destroyed abou t a dozen hay bales along the tum three wall (boarded and baled as a reminder that Mark Williams had gone between the fence posts there two years ago). Chuck was up and pushing to safety immediately. This left Dan McWhorter a distan t third ahead of a typical San Jose ja m. Pee Wee Gleason sliced through this traffic late in the race for third as Vern Johnson shuffled McWhorter to fifth and Mark Smith came in sixth, weird riding position an' all. The Diane Cox story Not even ' the Tum Fo ur Flasher could keep Diane fro m stealing the whole show, the n ex t two races. T he Tum Four Flasher? Yes, superbly-endowed redh ead with a wide-open overcoat hung out a bold fron t at the apex of tum four, perchance to distract the leaders as . Lady Diane got another mid-pack start. But Dave Aldana, Man of Steel that he is, stayed on the groove a wheel ahead. of Bubba Rush to win it. Diane, co ming up fast, simple ran out of race while clo sing on Bubba and that last National transfer slipped au t of reach. To hear the crowd scream, you'd think . Diane had made the National anyway, and her Semi effort had pu t her beside po lesitter Pee Wee Gleason for the Trophy Race. New Mexico's Vern Johnson emerged in the lead, however, with Diane in second, Jay Ridgeway third and Brad Hurst/Mark Smith right alongside. Gleason was making up time lost on the start and soon moved to third. Diane, with the bit in her teeth, closed right up on J ohnson and dropped inside him into tum four. Then, Oh, Mama! As Vern forced her in , she caught her steel shoe on the inside verge, it yanked her leg right back and she was ou t of the saddle, both legs flying, hanging on by the bars and still got it screwed on. The bike did a vicious wobble as she hauled herself back on, losin g about three positions on the -exchange. Next lap, she was right back, a tiger by the tail and in third ahead of Brad Hurst. Gleason and Johnson do a scary low-frequ en cy slide-bump-wobble over the turn three/four slick spot and Pee Wee goes in to the lead. Here com es Diane again! She's by J ohnson on the front stra~ht and cookin' as Jay Ridgeway follows a bit later. White flag, Diane is in striking distance. Last turn, she's right on Gleason's tail, moving au tside, she's gonna" drive arou nd, gaining, gaining, getting more sideways, in to the slick spot and suddenly she's lost it, rear en d coming aro und, spit off, a

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