Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• felt better and was far more aggressive with the nimble Triumph. - Roberts , me an while, was turning unofficial 2 2. 73 s in p ra ctice and qualified second faste st at 22 .62, ah ead of Gene Romero. Springsteen, still favoring his so re hand, cam e ou t an d timed eighth , 23.23 , running Pirellis on ' his sp are bike. . Early practi ce had sparked a rush of tire . ch anges . Springer h ad crashed running a Pirelli fro n t an d a Goodyear DT-ll rear ; and many o t h ers had star te d out similarl y eq ui pp ed. T he track threw them all a cu rve ; for a hot , dry day followed by a hot dry evening left the surface reminiscent of NorCaI tr acks a t the end of a hot, dry summer. It was hard, smooth , co vered with a deep cushion of small hard clods that hurt when they hit. Thus the mass move to Pirellis (an d an occasional Carlisle) while the track crew worked to get some water into the surface without ruining it . It was nasty , but it was fast as the appearance of five riders in the 22 seconds bracket attested. Who was fastest? Heh, heh, ready for a shock? John Allison, an off and on Ascot regular from Poway , California turned 22 .59, using an old (and 1 mean old) Firestone "military" rear tire. " Is there an y other tire? " quipped co llege-b ou nd Allison, who was wearing under his leathers a Tsshirt that said ''' If you can 't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullsh it." During the lull , referee Chu b Kell am had ta ke n special care to read th e t roo ps th e rio t ac t (" Although that cen ter light may see m t o have a greenish ca st, it .floes no t mean Ga. " ) Whatever , clean starts seem ed m ore the rule th an u su al. Skip Aks land from the middle of the fro nt row led th e firs t heat into t he so uth tum, shado wed by Dave Aldana o n a Ron Woods No r ton, John Gennai o n a Bell flower Yamah a, and Al Jo rgensen o n his No rt on . (Two No rto ns? Yes , and there was a th ird for John Hatel ey. Three handso me Woods No rto ns in t he p its, which led o ne o bse rver to re mark. "Jeez, there 's m ore Nort o ns he re in the pits th an th ere ar e out in the street !") Skipper led wire-to-wire as Ald ana st ayed close and threatened a time or two. J orgy displaced Gennai for third and a direct transfer; Randy Cleek came righ t up around Gennai, t hrea tened Jorgensen, then faded with a blown clutch. Outside polesitter Allison finally worked his way into. fourth ahead of Gennai after losing ground on the start. The second heat was all Rex Beauchamp's, and in recor'd time (3:46.89) followed at a distance by Mike Kidd (H.D) : Roberts-gated third with constant pressure from Ted Boody (H-D). The Rookie of the-East got drive on Ken coming out of turn four and settled into third about mid-race, . sending Roberts to a semi, co mp lain ing of rear tire troubles. John Hateley blew off the third heat as Romero elected an outside pole, go t the front end up twice in succession co m ing off the. line, and settled into third behind Rick Hockin g. Ge ne in tum had Hank Scott for co mpany , and gave up third on about lap three as the lead group remained close . Dan McWhorter followed at a dist an ce to fmish fifth ah ead of Art Fredenburgh and Bob Sanders. Springer and Sco tt were in the last heat. Again it looked like the holeshot came from the middle of the fran trow (Ran d y Scott?) but it was J ay all the way with drive from the exit of tum two. Steve Eklund was in third, highlining the north ,tum and flirting with the wall in his effort so pass Gary Scott, who held his line and fmislied second. Vern Johnson at fourth went to a Semi, along with Randy Scott/Randy Skiver who stayed close. Roberts" crew was still . wiggling the rear wheel of his prime Yamaha (getting an awful lot of flex it seemed) when the first Semi was called ; while Skip Aksland's crew was borrowing Kenny's spare engine. Skipper's had begun to smoke as he won that first heat. All the factory Yamaha mechanics would say was " It 's just the tire" as they pushed the Roberts' bike out for the Semi. Kenny won it, hanging the outside cushion of the sou th turn to put away J ohn Allison, visibly wrestling with his Yamaha , almost diamonding the north tum too far and getting into the deep soft marbles; but he still sewed up his Na ti o nal slo t the hard way . Randy Cleek, havin g coo ked h is clu tc h in a hea t, had to go for it from the back ro w. Go for it he did, reeling in p eo ple each lap to fmis h third b ehind Paul Bostrom afte r Allis on 's bike q ui t on ' the back straight. Ge ne Romero h ad coo ked his bra ke in a hea t (" Leav es a very insecure fee lin g") and h ad .th e pole. He an d Dan McWh orter gated to gether, wi th Randy Scott and Randy Skiver shuffling beh ind , bu t Gen e pulled cle ar at first. The Scott/Skiver duel continued alm os t side by side while McWhorter do ggedly kept Burritto in sight. Past mid-ra ce, Dan began to close; then about two laps from the end, Romero "diamonded" tum three-four almost to the hay bales (like, no brake?) and McWhorter slipped under. Next lap, Gene was righ t back on Dan's tail. White flag, they drag race to tum three, Gene flips it sideways and shoots under Dan , crossing back out in tum four in a MX.style block pass, holds drive down the front straight and wins the last National slot with. his fist in the air. Burritto power! The Trophy Final front row appeared to break the timing light before the green, but at this point there was no need Io r a recall, as at least the y'd all broken together. Emerging with a drive Gary Scot!"s lady pinned a ladybug on his leathers as he wen t out. Rex had finally chosen an inSid e pole ; beside him teammate Springsteen , Norton-mounted Hateley; Aksland, Kidd and Gary Scott, o u tside. Second -r o w polesitter Steve Eklun d was off to the side getting tap e wrapped aro u nd his fu el tank (cracked mount?). Rick Ho ckin g waited next o n tli at ro w , with Aldana, Boody, Hank Scott a nd J orgy. All three Nortons had m ade the National (a first ?); and that 01' record-rattler Roxy Ro ckw ood was . busy tickmg off 'the list of Asco t precedents that would either stand or be broken to night: The third row held Kenny Roberts and Gene Romero ; and it looked like quite a . distance. "It 's alright, Ken," said Gene , "we 'll be in the fron t row before f . , green goes on." Nothing like telling it like it is. " Ligh t 'em off!" yelled AI Mintz, and Burritto notwithstanding, it looked like a clean start. Springer has it from the line , with Hateley in tow. Into the north turn, off the back chu te it's Jay, J orgy, Skip Aksland, Ted Boody , Gary Scott, St eve Eklund and then Hateley. By lap four, Gary Scott had moved into third a fter going side-by-side with Ted Boody for about a lap, with Skip Aksland for close company. Behind were Steve Eklund, Mike Kidd, Rick Hocking, John Hateley, Hank Scott, Gene Romero, Rex Beauchamp with Roberts about to -run up his backside, and Dave Aldana. There's some shuffle in the next two laps as Hank Scott and Burritto move around Hatdey. Meanwhile, Gary Scott, Boody and Aksland are close in th eir own group; and by crossed-flags time J orgy has moved right up on Springsteen. J ay is hanging the outside groove-edge, still fmding extra drive au t of each turn as AI continues to th reaten from low i in sid e. Rick Hocking, doing m uch the sa me, wen t w ay wide in the north turn's ap ex, hosing the bal es and losing position to Ekl u nd an d Hank Sco tt as he scrubbed off speed. Romero go t by up the fro n t straigh t , Then lap 15, it's Springer's tum to get wide, and Jorgy slipped under him co ming out of tu m four. Ek lund's Harley goes on one cylinder and he's out. Next lap, Jay is r ight back o n Jorgy's tail, feeling for th e down-l ow traction instead of the high groove-edge. Next time th rough turns th ree -four, it's Jay down lo w , getting t ru ly, cross-threaded rig ht at th e apex , keeping it screwed on and hold ing it under J orgy , passi ng up the fro n t st raigh t an d go ing back in to th e lead. Abou t this ti me AI's rear ti re began ch u nking and he se t tl ed bac k in to a co m fo rtable sec o n d. Skip Aksland h ad m oved in t o fo u rt h pas t Boody , wit h Gary Scott still leading this ti ght threesome. Back a bit , Mik e Kidd's solidly in six t h ahead of Hank Scott, Burritto , Rick Ho cking (last time on th at wounded knee), Roberts and Beauchamp, Hateley, Aldana. White flag is out, and dropping low, Skip Aksland steals th ird fr om Scott (" I wen t a ' little high and ' h e slipped underneath m e.") For J ay, it 's a new track record co min g up as he wins it, ti m e 7: 36.66, abou t a second un der Ro be rts ' 1975 time. He 's also bro ken one of Ascot's old est hexes - t he first out-of-stater to win t he ha lf mile Na tional in its 18-year history . J orgy h as go tt en his be st National fmis h ever, an d Skip Aksland in third , man ages to give both Ms. Camel Lynn Griffis a nd Roxy Rockwood a champagn e shower . Give th e kid a b o ttle and he 's dange rous. bubbling without the J ay is cham pagne. To ld he didn 't need to win to be Ch ampion, h e'd said " Ho t-damnit, I'm gonna do it anyw ay!" He and Harley te am manager D ick O'Brian embraced like father and son ove r the brigh t red Sportster that w as a bit of a "bonus" for bringing the Big Number One back to Milwaukee. Withou t even beginning to add up the Camel Pro money or the ga te from the SRO crowd (10, 64 7 ac co rding to AMA 's Bill Boyce); let's say Christmas cam e early th is ye ar. • Results 20-LAP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, 1 . Jay Springsteen (H-D) . 2 . Alex Jorgenson N o r ) . 3. Skip Aksland IYam). 4, Gary Scott H 'D!. S. Ted Boody H-D). 6 . Mike K ldd ~ HaD 7. Hank Scott (Vam) . 8. Gene Romero H·D . 9. Rlek Hocking (H·D) . 10. Rex eauchamp (H-D). 11. John Hateley (Nor). 12. Kenny Roberts (Yam). 13. Dave Aldana (Nor). 14. Steve Eklund (H-D). 0 Time 7 :36, new track record. FINAL CAMEL PRO SERIES POINTS, 1. Jay Springsteen 301. 2. Gary Scott 280. 3. Kenny Roberts 265. 4 . Steve Eklund 141. 5. Randy Cleek 130. 6. Ted Boody 128. 7. Rex Beauchamp 125. 8. Hank Scott 118.9. Rick Hocking 96. 10. Gene Romero 93• . TROPHY FINAL (12 laps), 1. Randy Cleek (H-D) . 2 . PaUl Bostr om (H·D) . 3. Mark Sm ith (Vam) . 4. Dan McWhorter (Vam). 5. Pat McCaul (Trl). 6 . Randy Scott (Trl). 7. Randy Sk iver (H-D). 8. BObby Sanders 9. Ryan G ifford (Trl) . 10. Brad Hurst H.D . T ime 4 :36.47 The group behind the leaders, repeated with variations, lap after lap. lH.D!. O'l ,.....; ~ Q.) ..0 o ..... u o

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