Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Heats • - • • - - _•• -- - . . •• Two 10-lap heats were run to set u p the grid for the National a nd both were fu ll of ac tio n . Robert s led the intia l hea t at th e end of the first la p . but th at lap saw Ne w En gl a n d 's Mi ke Ba ldw in u nl o a d heavi ly a t t h e sta rt / fin ish line. Ba ld win ho pe d to score well on what m ost call his home track . bu t his second get-off of the wee kend left h is bike , which ' he purch ased from Mi ke Kid d JUSt prior to th e ra ce , d amaged to the point th a t he p ulled o ut of the National on the third lap . Aksland a nd Nixon took ove r from Robert s o n the sixth lap and Nixon took the win , passin g Aksla nd on the last la p . N ixo n "owns" La con ia , a nd the crowd went crazy as he swe pt by Aksland and then wheelied down t he front grandstand st raight. The second heat saw Gene Ro m ero r id e hi s Don Vesco Special Yamaha to a ni ne-s ec ond margin of victory over t he Evel Knievel/Gem Enterprises Special of Gary Scott , but once again it was a heat that took a hea vy to ll. Canadian Jim Allen got off on the third ' lap and moments later Phil McDonald ca me through th e debris left on the track .and high -sided, All en escaped inj ury but McDonald su ffere d a broken left a rm . National N ixon, Aks land, Roberts, Romero and Ri ch ard Schlacter occupied th e front ro w on the starting grid with Scott, Dal e Sin gleton . H arry Cone, John Long a nd R on Pierce filling out the second row . Roberts pulled off the ho lesho t a t the sta rt and fo r all but a last .la p charge by Ni xo n th a t wa s the race as far as the wi nner was co nc er ned, But as se t as the front p ositio n was , the racing behind the lea d er was furious . N ixo n ,. aboard a n Erv Kanemo to -prepped Yamaha , had young Sk ip Aksland to contend wit h the entire race . T he two exch a nge d the runnerup po sit ion nea rly 20 times and N ixon des cribed their dice as o ne in which the y "got close a wh ol e b unch. " T he third place finish by Aks land and his PJ -I Lubri cants • sponsored , T erry Sage tuned Ya maha m a rked his third consecu tive top road race finish . He wo n the Lo ng Bea ch GP , finished second at Charlotte and appeared happy over his third a t Loudon . Gary Scott pulled ou t of the race on the third lap with a loo se co un tersha ft sprocket. Scott's luck in road races re cently has been " no luck at all ." By th e sixth lap Roberts had pulled out a nine-second lea d over a three ,', wa y d ice behind him betw een Ni xon , ;:c' Aksland and Romero . Lap number 20 saw Roberts ho ld in g a 14 -second lead a nd the foll owin g position -swapping trio was nearly a half a m inute ahead of fourth place R ichard Schlacter, a boa rd the Bost on Cycl es sponso re d, Ke vin Cameron r t:.:~~9. Yamaha. ' Beh ind Schlact e r c amC:- selfsponsored Ron Pierc e , T a ylor White sponsored Dal e Singleton, Floridian J ohn Long and Cal ifo rnian W I'S Gooley,J r. Lap 21 marked the end of rhe ra ce I for Komero . " I jumped e ff in the turn S just before th e hill. N ixon , Skip and I k we re ha ving a go od ra ce weren't I we?" Rom ero left a pound of flesh o n o the track but ot her than th a t was n uninjured . It broke u p a lengthy st ring ~' o f top road race finish es for the former b Grand Na tional ch am p ion who had ~ just made his auto racing debut th e previous week in a USAC midget car BJ race. I Ro berts had settled down to a 10" seco nd lead over the Nixon/ Aksl and , war on the 26th lap, but at that point his road race bike tuner, Kel Carruthe rs. hea rd what everyo ne d id - th e sou nd of a holed ex h a us t pi pe . Roberts wore a hol e th rough t he pipe th e size of a beer ca n . but never slowed unti l the fina l five laps. " Kel signalled m e tha t I have five laps to go and a five second lea d . T hat m ea nt N ixon a nd Aksland wo u ld ha ve to make up over a second a la p so I knew I had it made. ' But while Ro bert s knew he " ha d it m ade" the crowd went bananas as Nixon broke awav fro m A ksla nd as they worked thro ugh lapped rid er s and began to clo se on Ro bert s. On th e ne xt to last lap it appeared that th e 36· year old red head m ight be a b le to pull it off, b ut Ro berts twisted th e throttle a bit mo re a nd scored his second National win of th e yea r . 'T he points earned m o ved him into the lead in th e Cam el Pro Series and the ho led ex haust pipe left ' him nearly deaf. Nixon su m med up his second with a " did n't ha ve it togethe r" but admi tted that t he Lightweight win and t he runnerup finish es would ,d o his wa llet pro uder than the "$90 I ea rned he re last yea r. " Behind th e fron t- r un ning trio at th e end was Rich Schlacter, wh o got ca ugh t by th em and was nea rly o r just lapped at t he fin ish . Missing . though . was a deject ed Ron Pierce . wh o was dicing wit h Schlact er for fourth until hi s rear wh eel came loose o n th e 40th lap. Fifth at th e fini sh was Da lt on , F arm e r " G e orgia' s Dal e " P ig Singleton . " Y'a ll better run m y picture - ya heah ?" sai d a n o bvious ly ha ppy Sin g let on a lter the race . Rounding o ut th e top 10 were road racing specialists Long , Coo ley, Doug L ibb y, Al an Bar bi e and R ob ert Wakefi eld . • Results 1. Ken Roberts IYaml. 2. Gary Nixon (Yam). 3, Skip Aksland (Yam). 4. Richard Schlacter (Yam). 5. Dale Singleton (Yaml. 6. Joh n Long (Yam), 7. W es Cooley IYaml . B, Doug Ub by (Yaml. 9. Alan Barbie (Yaml. 10. Robert Wakefield (Yam), 11. Gary Blad

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