Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Hansford , Harry Cone, Jim Allen and Mike Ba ldwin went at it from the very start .of the 34-lap race, the second road race of the '77 AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series . With first and second spots settled as early as the end of the first la p and Roberts cutting a blistering I: 16.75 lap on the third go-around , opening up a seven -second lead over Aksland - who had a similar lead on the third place rider - everyone directed their attention to the third spot fight. .Texan Harrv Cone was the first . rider to drop back from the six-man dice and by lap II it appeared as though Romero and his Don Vesco Yamaha were safely entrenched in the show position . Behind him. Hansford , Cleek , Baldwin and Allen were giving a graphic example of " p a vem ent scratching." Canadian Allen , aboard an Ernie White ·sponsored Yamaha, broke away from the " a blanket could have covered 'em" fight and began to close on Romero at t he ha lfway flags . At t he sa me time , U . S . R o a d R a c in g Cha mpion Cleek began to drop back due to a rea r tire tha t was beginni ng to chunk . Cleek's mec hanic , Larry Worrell , had bemoaned the . lack of horsepower he was getting from their BS&W OW31 a ll weekend, "We won't be caught down the next time. I've got our problem figured out now ," said an obviously tired Worrell after the race. T he tire problem was something for Dunlop to figure out. While Cleek dropped back and Ha nsford maintained in fifth , Allen began knocking on Romero 's door. That door was opened for Allen by a lapped rider as the high speed battle carried the pair into the infield on the 20th lap. The. la pped rider was Steve" McLaughlin , who had become a teammate of Romero 's when he took over David Emde's Vesco Yamaha for the weekend , Rom ero and Allen continued their pos ition swapping battle and then surprise - Austra lia n Gregg Hansford and his N .J. Doyle sponsoredltuned Kawasaki jumped smack-dab in to the m iddle of the pair and bega n to stir thingsup, Lapped riders gave the trio some close ca lls and th e crowd some excitement. At th e checkers it was Hansfor d and his green Kawasaki brea king up wha t had been sha ping up as a nother all -Yamaha winners' circle ceremony. Romero , who ' has "d ro p ped 15 pounds ," bulled his way ahead of All en on th e last lap to continue what must be the most consistent string of strong road race performances ever turned in by a Grand National rider. Roberts a nd Aksland took turns pouring ch am p agne on each other and anyon e within reach - ' yep , Ms. Camel Pro Series. Lynn G riffi s was doused - and a smiling Hansford displ ayed completely totaled racing boots. Behind Roberts. Akland . Hansford . Romero and Allen in th e top five spots carne Darien. Connecticut 's Mike Ba ldwin and his self-sponsored Yamaha . Baldwin, who had clobbered · the Superbike Production field ea rlier in the da y. rode a smooth , consistent race to take sixth p lace money ho me. .Sevent h spot brough t a b ig smile to the face of Ph il McDonald . McDonald took th at spot away from fellow Okl a ho m an Ra ndy Cleek, who as ment ioned earlier was fig hti ng a chunking tire, to score his highes t Grand Na tional finish since u ndergoi ng two inj ury -slowing seaso ns . Rou ndin g out the top ten were Californian Wes Cooley. Jr. aboard a j jm Cowan -tuned Yamaha . and Harry Cone. Just missing out on top ten spots ' t ) " " JH • •; l • .J I~ s r, :t J-J - o eo ...c u S- ." (Above) The first turn: Roberts. Romero. Cleek (29) Phil McDonald 115). Skip Aksland (271. Harry Cone (20) and Gary Scott. (Belowl Aksland and Roberts douse Ms. Camel Pro Series as Hansford loo k s on . we re 11th place finish er Dale "Pig Farmer" Singleton on his Taylor W hite-sponsored, self-tuned OW31 , and Frank Mrazek (usually of the Lester Wheels endurance team) , who rode an ex -Steve Ba ker/Bo b Work Yamaha , in 12th . The opening lap of the race saw Gary Scott's bad luck continue as the former Grand National Cha m pion coasted across the start -finish lines (the finish line had been moved back from the starting line to give riders room to shut off for turn one in. case of an at the-line battle) at the end . of the opening lap with another handful of mechanical gremlins. Attendance was estimated at 15,000 and CMS ' Director of Public Relations, Joe Whitlock , announced that plans were already underway for Charlotte Classics '78 . Whit lock said a full program of road racing, flat tracking and motocross wou ld be run next year. In addition to shoveling more money into the bank and sco ring his 21st Grand Nationa l win, Rob ert s increased his Ca mel Pro Series points lea d . Ro bert s now leads defending cha m p Jay Springsteen, 51-29. Roberts ra n t he ra ce at an average speed of 102 .828 m ph in 44 minutes, 38 .261 seconds. .We ca lled Steve Baker bullet -quick in our Daytona cove rage , perhaps we should begin describing both Ba ker and Roberts as laser beam quick and leave rh e bullet-quick tags for th c rest of this country's road race go -fasters. • (Below) In the lightweight race. Bobertsleft: Cooley (33) chased and passed Schlacter (118). Results 1. Ken Roberts (Yaml 2. Skip Aksland (Yaml. 3 Gregg HansfOf'rt l Kaw l. 4. Gene Romero (Yaml. 5. Jim Allen (Yam l. 6. MIke Baldwin (Yaml. 7. Phil M cDonal d (Yam). 8 Randv CI""k (Yaml. 9. W es Cooley (Yaml. 10. Harry Cone (Yam). 1, . Dale Singleton (Yam). 12. Frank Mrazek (Yam). 13, Sadao Asami 'Y arnl. 14. Kevin Stattoed (Yarnl. 15. Payl Mc lachlan (Yaml. 16. Steve M claughl in (Yam). 17. Bob W akefield (Yam). 18. John Long (Yaml . 19 Murray Sayle (Kaw l. 20. Kurt Liebmann (Yaml . Roberts leaves 'em battling in Lightweight race Mamola lives up to reputation with second By Gary Van Voorhis HA R R ISBU RG, N .C ., MR . 19 Kenny Roberts, smiling in the glow of a runaway victory in th e Expert Lightweight event. al lowed that «, ",) .. it isn't much ma ybe ,r J. I ~ J I oj I t .. ; ., I • fun being out front all the way . "The problem with leading," said Roberts jokingly, "is that you m iss all that batt ling behind you . I' ll still settle for the win ." Kenny la ter added, " I guess the real reason I like to be in front is tha t I've had times where I've raced hard on Saturday and t hen found it hard 10 co ncentrare on Sunday. " Kenny may have taken it easy . but t hat still m ea nt a 27.5 second bulge on the batt le for second. And what a battle it was . Ra nd y Ma mo la a nd Wes Colley too k second plan, rig h down to th e finish line where Marnola's Jim Doyle/Yamah a Motor Corporation mou nt tuned by Kel Carruthers sq u eezed out Cooley' s jeff Cowan sponso red and tuned Yamaha by half a bike length . Right behind that pai r ca m e rhe Team Yankee/ Kevin Cam eron tuned Yamaha of Rich Schlachter holding off Kevin Stafford's Paul Dahman/Don Vesco tuned Yamaha for fourth place. Stafford's last ditch charge cost himheavi ly, however , as he ran afou l of a specia l rule for Cha rlotte penalizing riders a la p if they overra n the first turn on th e cool-off la p. Stafford . prot ested the ruli ng (as did Harry Kli nzm ann ). b ut th e protest was disa llowed. " I ra ced to the flag , that's wha t it's a ll a bout," said Staffo rd disgusted ly. "If ' had gone straight through and onto the banking I could see the justification. but I only went onto the grass." The batt Ie that would take second place to the nag began to br ew in the 11

• Cover