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/126255
(Above) Gene Romero (Yam 3) leads Skip Aksland (Yam 271. M ike Baldwin (Yam 1861. Barry Sheene (Su z 7) and Gary Nixon (Yam 9) on the first lap, (Right) In the w inner's circle. Aksland tells Roxy Rockwood how it was, (Below) John Long (Yam 36) leads David Emde (Yam 25) and Dale Singleton (Yam 122), Long finished fourth. Emde lost a lap in the pits. Singleton crashed. (Bottom) Gary Nixon temporarily holds off Rob Murray (Yam 171) and Gary Scott (Yam 5), Nixon removed the cast f~m the wrist he broke just three weeks before at Daytona. and finished seventh. Aksland wins Long Beach GP By JohnUlrich LONG BEA CH . CA. AP R . 2 Skip Aksland led from the first turn of the sec .ond lap to win the 76-m ile motorcycle race held on the Long Beach GP through- the-streets road circuit Saturday. Aksland , who took over first 6 place when early leader Ge ne Rome ro overshot turn o m' a nd sta lled h is hike 's e n gi ne , won 4 .590 in p u rs e . qual ifying and lap m on e y, Ironically , it look ed like Aksland mi gh t no t eve n sta n th e race . About 20 minutes before the sta n. he was attacked by overz ea lous garag{' guards as he ran to don his lea th e rs, '" guess they t hought I wa s illeg a l be cause I was running," said Aks lan d , " b u t I was wav ing m y pass a nd n ic king bot h sides . O ne guy grabb,'d me a nd I pulled away , then another gu y was going 10 tack le me ." Aks land was saved from the violent g-uard s by Cook Nei lson and others , who pointed o u t that Aksland was a ra cer a nd a l~ea dy late to ! he grid . Once he act ua lly m ade 11 10 th e sta rt, Ak sl and had little t rou b le winni ng th e race . St an in,\:; fro m th e fro n t row , Aksland sho t Int o second pla ce behind Romero a nd a head o f Mike Bal d win . Ba rry Sh eene , a nd Gary N ixon . Fro m t he m om ent Romero ran off t he cou rse, the race bclon gr-d to A ksla nd . lI is margin of victory after 38 la ps on the 2 .02 ' m ile co u rse was 18 .6 seconds . ." 1 was n't rea lly t ~yi n:\:; t h ~t .ha rd," said Aksla nd after wmm ng. I Just set ll a pace for m ysel f', W about a 2 (~ ' s~'Cond lead , and ~~'hlll , I g.o.t grt'a ~ I'll S1g n a.I~ . from m y Illt crew . . I erry ~a ge a nd I' irn Rock wood . I t hin k I m Ight turn ou t" to he a d ecent ro ad racer a fte r all . Aks land. who drew ooo o hs and a h h h hs f rom sp,'c ta ln rs with the a u tho ri ta ti ve wa y he threw a ro u nd his D .A .R .T. PJ-l Lubri cants -sponsored Yam ah a TZ7 50D , turned ra ce lap times a ro u nd lAO . He had qu alifi ed seco nd fastest at 14 1.548 . Romero c a ll e d hi s seco nd - la p ex cursion nff th e co u rse " a case o f beinK unde r co m ba t co nd itio ns and wa nt ing to win . I didn 't know what 10 t hink . It d idn't seem like I was ge tting in too ho t. hu t there was just no way I co u ld SlOp it. I j ust knew I had a he ck o f a lot of time 10 m ak e up and had 10 d o it pront o ," Aft er hurn p -st a rt i ng hi s Don Ves co /Evc l Kn ir-vel /j a rd ine / O cean Pacific Sunwear Ya m a ha TZ750D , Romero c harged fro m 12t h plan' a t, the ~' n d of t he second la p up 10 fou nh at the e nd of la p th ree . rig ht be h ind Shcene. By t he seve nt h la p , Rom e ro was t h ir d . beh in d Akslan d a nd Baldwin , and on Lap 10 . ''' T ig,'r Gene" Romero was in a secure sec ond place. " I was re all y shocked ' m ade up " as much as I d id ," sa id Romero , who took home $2.620 for sec o nd place, third fastest qua lifying tim e , and on e lap worth o f lap mon ey, Fa st qu al ifie r Barry Sh cc ne fin ished t hird o n his RG 500 Suz u ki, bl aming- a last m inute t ire c ha nge. " It was a ll m y fa u lt," sai d th e 50 0cc W orld C ha m pion . who was h yped u p as th e ran" favo rite in pre -ta\'(' n l puhli cir y. " We c hangt-d t he rear tire to th e wro ng co m po u nd . It was j ust a stu pid. idioti c mistake ," By t hc ti me Romer o had bumped started h is bike ant i gOllen ha ck into the ran' , Ph il MeD ;ll1ald a nd W a lt Foster had co llid ed and cras hed at th e sa m e pl ace as Romero had ru n off. As Romero m oved through th e pack , ,\ Iike Baldwin hel d o ff Sheene for second pl ace o n his se lf-spo nsored . sel f-tu ned 19 75 TZ7 50 . But by the time Ro m ero had ca ug h t a nd I;assed Sheeru- for th ird place on th e seventh la p . Bal d win's hike had fractured an. e xha ust pipe and was down o n power. Romero passed into second pla ce on rh e l Ilth la p , but Ba ldwin continu ed 10 ho ld o ff Shccnc . riding' his heart o ut in an effort that la t er drew com plim e nts from Gary Nixon, On the 36th lap , Baldwin, 22 , saw h is sure