ewor
O'l
1-0
~
.0
o
.....
u
o
Faces in the crowd; and Jay's has got to be .t he happiest. That's his new "playbike" on the stand. Unset! Ms. Oui and her cantilever front suspension caused many a double-take.
By Lane Campbell
GARDENA. t AL.• OCT. 9
This was to be the big showdown
the climax of 28 days and"
nights of Camel Pro/Grand National Championship racing. It had ,
co me down to the wire wi th th ree
co n tende rs still ' having
shot at
th e titl e. When it was done, Jay
S .
h d ki d
ff
prmgsteen .a
issc
0. .
a
a
number o f Ascot r ecords a nd traditions;
cl inc hing his title in th e manner of a
yo u n~ Ch ampion - n ot la y ~ng .bac k and
co u n tmg points . bu t by wmmn g. Ale x
Jorgc;nsen ha d a ~most pu~led t he upset
of h is care e r. bri efl y leading th e 20· lap
Nat ion al Half Mile on th e Ron Woods
Norian and fini shing a close second.
Skip
Aksl an d (Ya m) runnin g with
Roberts' spare m o t o r. had n ipped
defe nd ing cham p io n G ary Sc o t! (II- D)
for th ird lat e in t he race . wh ile his tu tor .
bedevilled
with
rear
suspension
p ro bl ems.
fin ished
among
the
backmar kers.
Earlier. it had lo oked like Roberts
ju st mi ght pull o ff his hat tric k; for he
alone o f the t h ree co n ten de rs was not in
'tro u ble as practice ended. Sp rin gsteen
~:" ap ply ing cold co m p re sses to an
Injured hand. !i~ an d Rex Beau ch amp.
had been pracncmg cl o se to gether; Rex
had go tt e n cle ar sid eways co mi ng onto
the back chute . Jay with no place to go
ce n t er-p u nched Rex and went d own.
dislocating a finger of his right hand.
Re x ca m e on a ro und . his st eel sh oe
dangling. and possibly havin g tweaked
his San Jose knee again.
Gary Scott's vin rage Triumph went
very quickly in practice. then developed
a high-speed miss th at de fied a ny ready
explanat io n or cu re . While Sal Aco sta
p u lled the pl ugs (very blac k) an d
checked the ignition . Gary warmed u p
t he Harl e y . One mo re try with the
Trium p h ; it still wa s breaking up badly.
so Gary par ked it regre t fu lly . He was
going quickl y with ei t her bike (q ual ified
fourth fastest on the Harley , 2 2.84 ) but
