Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Sunday (Yawn!) After only a few hours sleep, riders, timers, helpers and hangerson returned to the Indy Mile. Fast and furious as was the work being done on most-machines. equally fast and furious was the ride. soliciting being carried on by several go -fasters whose machinery had blown up ' the previous night - or , more accurately, earlier that morning. By the time qualifying started, Skip Aksland had Gene Romero's spare, Hank Scott was on- Rex Beauchamp's half-railer. and Rickey Campbell was up and at 'em , albeit somewhat banged from the previous night's spill. Qualifying Corky "Mr. Dirt" Keener, who had ' returned to the track at the crack of dawn to freshen his XR with some new pistons, burned the Indy Mile with a 37.940 /97.455 mph lap to win qualifying. Keener broke the record , set by Rex Beauchamp last year of ' 37 .077 seconds/B? .095 mph. Heats . Only Gary Scott repeated as a heat race winner, winning the second heat over Kenny Roberts , who came out of nowhere on the fifth lap and stormed into a dice for third with Mike Caves, Terry Poovey, and Bubba Rush . One onlooker quipped , "King Kenny must have found a new battery." Whatever, Roberts rode so hard that the crowd forgot about Scott up front and came to their feet screaming. The first heat had gone to Rex Beauchamp with Billy Eves and selfsponsored Garth , Brow taking the other advancement positions. But the story out of that. heat was written by Corky Keener, who pitched her away in tum three on the sixth lap. He had walked away from the field at the start and although Eves closed up a b it around the halfway mark, Keener was home free . "I kept hearing someone right on my tail and I was riding as hard as I could, Turns out I was hearing an echo coming off the fences. And I 'just knew it was my day," said an obviously dejected Keener , Also fallen on the third lap was crowd favorite Mert Lawwill , who remounted quickly and worked back up to nextto-last, ahead of Diane Cox. Heat three was a Skip Aksland runaway. His performance had Gene Romero smiling as other riders jokingly asked Burritro why he had given his fast bike to Aksland. A good distance behind the young Californian at the finish was Jay Springsteen. He also rode alone , but behind him was another Indy war between Terry Dorsch, Alex Jorgenson, .Terry Bond, Steve Eklund , and Rick Hocking . Jorgenson took the third and last advance as Hocking went down on the last lap . The final heat was a mind-blower as Scott Drake , Hank Scott , Steve Morehead , and Mike Kidd went at it like there was no tomorrow . Kidd's XR gave up the fight and the finish saw the order read Scott, Morehead and Drake. The fifth lap of that heat saw the front four at that time cross the finish line in what would have been a photo finish - four abreast! Semis The first semi belonged to Rickey Campbell, after his vicious get -off of the previous night. 'Steve Freeman picked off ' the second and final · transfer position. Semi two turned into a Boody vs. Romero battle with each taking turns leading. As Darryl Hurst put it , "You can pitch he r in there so ' hard that you're grinding the cases. Mine just picked up and spit me off. " -, , Trophy Race The "consolation" 12 -lap race started out as a two-man dispute between Ed Ingram and Terry Bond and then developed into an all -out war between those two and Bubba Rush, Sonny Burres, Terry Poovey, and Mike Caves. It was Lancaster (Pennsylvania) H D sponsored Ingram where it counts first. National fi nal Sixteen riders lined up for the National. led by pole sitter Skip Aksland, but it was Gary Scott who led the field around on the first lap . Lap two saw Kenny Roberts join the "I went down in turn three at Indy" club , but he bounced up , gave his mechanics a moment to check the bike, and then wheelied back to the starting grid. Gary Scott's crew changed his rear wheel. "Just change ill" yelled Scott. "Something's wrong, I don't know what, but there's -som ething wrong!" . Alex Jorgenson's Norton was getting a gear change. "Lower," sai d Jorgy. Green light again and this time it was Rex Beauchamp who pulled away firs t. Bea uchamp led the first four la ps with Aksland, Garth Brow , Roberts, and "Hank Scott all right there if R ex bobbled . He didn't , but his Harley said "enough" on the fifth lap and Aksland nailed the lead for two laps. . Lap seven and the order rea dBrow, Aksland , . Roberts, Halik Scott , Springsteen , Boody, Morehead, Romero, Freeman, Campbell, Eves, and Drake . Already out with Beauchamp were Palmgren , who didn't make the restart - "I think I trashed a piston. I can't get the plug out , " Gary Scott , " R e a r wheel bearings," said the former National Champ as he viewed the race in street clothes, and Alex Jorgenson , whose Norton started popping on the sixth lap , Brow led up until lap 15 when Boody moved to the front and on the following lap Roberts dropped out of the six:'man fight with a loose exhaust pipe. But once again it was called " t r a sh ed battery ." When mechanic Babe DeMay was questioned -about the fact that it seemed like they were always blaming a battery on their problems, he angrily thrust a fried battery forward and said, "Here take it. You don't believe me? Well then take this one too. It's the space-age $150 trick battery that was to solve our problems. It went out last night!" • Hank Scott joined the list of those who had led he race as he came across the line first on the 19th lap , the same one that saw Springsteen "go in too ' hot" and - yup - join the turn three club. Brow took back over the lead for the next four laps , but when the white flag waved it was Ted Boody in front . The Michigan youngster, you ngest ever to win a Grand National, held off the charges of both Hank Scott and Brow and led them in that .order across the line with his left arm thrust skyward , his left hand balled into a fist . Boody's father and sister were beside themselves with joy , as was Boody himself. He was reminded that his fearsome Terre Haute crash. aired across the country on ABC's Wide World of Sports, had happened just two weeks prior. ''I'm O K now and just _ want to thank everybody who helped me ," he said . H is dad mentioned that Ted had been ou t "woods riding" just four days after the Terre Haute get -off and that he'd raced at Pocono "the previous week with some badly skinned up hands and wrists. Garth Brow expressed his thanks to mechanic Jim Cuinow , "T ha t's C ·V ·I · N-O ·W." And Hank Scott said , "Yep, I'm still , . (Opp. page) Boody heads the Hank Scott 1 14). Steve Morehead (42) and Garth Brow freight t rain. (A bove) Sp ringer in v ictory. (Below) Springsteen moves up alongside M ike Kidd. (Bottom) Boody leads Gene Rom ero. " moody about last night, but I sure want to thank Rex for lending me his bike. Bu t I wish I'd had my Carl Patrick bike. You know this one was . Rex 's .half miler." When reminded that that half miler put him in the winner's circle. Hank just smiled. As well he should have, he'd just participated in the fastest mile race ever ' run . Boody's winning average speed was 96.923 mph . On to Middletown. • Results I . Ted Boody IH-DI. 2. Hank Scott IH-DI. 3. Garth Brow IH-D). 4. Steve Morehead (H-D). 5. Skip Aksland IH-D). 6. Bill Eves IH-DI. 7. Gene Romero {H-Dt 8. Steve Freeman (H-D). 9. Rick CampbelIIH-DI. 10. Scott Drake {H-Dt 11. Jay Springsteen IH-DI. 12. Ken Roberts (Yam). 13. Alex Jorgenson (Nor), 14. Rex Beauchamp IH-DI. 15. Gary Scott (H·D). 16. Chuck PalmgrenlH·DI POINT STAN DING S r. Springsteen 183 2.8oody 2. Bcbeete 179 4. G. Scott 5. Eklund 6. xeeee7. A ksland 179 148 133 l OS 98 8. Kidd 9. Morehead 10. H. Scott 11. Rom..o 12. Jo

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