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/126282
CN ...... M Q) ..0 o ~ u o Gary Nixon heads the 150 National snake through the esses.Unset! David Aldana can feel Kenny Roberts' hot breath on his neck. Roberts' 5th 1.977 road win at Riverside; Aks/and literally explodes Aldana comes close By Bobi Scott RIVERSIDE, CA , OCT. 2 "I just decided to sit back and watch for what lines the leaders were taking and not push it too soon. It's a pretty long race , you know ," remarked Kenny Roberts after pulling off his record-breaking fifth . AMA / Camel Pro Series road race win of the '1977 season. Roberts, . ibl y content Wit h t h e R rve r . ' VISI . . SIde N~t1onal road ra~e. ou~come. mo ved mto second posmon m th e Camel . P~o Series ~ints standin/f"' a~ter picking up 20 points for the da y s Win . 8 ~oberts' most pro~is~ng threat , Skip Aksland , wa~ Injured lat e Saturday afternoon m a spectacu.lar I~O m .p.h, fiery get.off while filmmg high. speed runs for a new Peter Starr movie. Roberts and Aksland were running side by side through the wide tum nine sweeper when Aksland's front wheel appeared to wash out. He was riding Kenny's spare bike. Bike and rider both slid into the crash wall and the gas tank - exploded. Luckily Aksland slid away from the burning machine which helped to avert " possible critical injuries. Aksland suffered a frac tu red left collarbo ne and broken right wrist, p u tting him out of contention for th e rest of th e season I D 'ds H .ey· avi on wiseIy d eCI ed not ' id ar to jeopardize Jay Springsteen's health b y putting him on th e Riverside asphalt. The H .D factory rented the track earlier in the week and set up an XR750 machine for the current National points series leader. But it wasn't vital for the dirt track specialist to make the attempt. John Davidson said, " No," and left it at that. None of the factory H.D riders were entered in th is event . 750 He ats Two 25 ·mile heat races would determine starting grid positions for the 750 Expert final as the crowd settled in for a hot , smoggy da y of racing. To no one's surprise, Roberts walked away with the first heat race, setting an average pace of 102.855 m .p.h. He was followed up by a very quick Dave Aldana . as Gary Nixon , Michael Baldwin , and Steve McLaughlin rounded ou t the top five finish ing positions. Jimmy Morales , .the self-sponsored Yamaha rid er from Fariaz, Mexico , was taken to th e hospital for a precautionary chec k-u p after a fall on turn seven . Morales , claiming the injury "was nothing," was determined to make it ba ck in time to line up for the Expert final. . Georgia's Dal e Singleton bought th e lea d of the seco nd heat and im me d ia tely set a bl isterin g pace whi ch none of the other 18 rid ers coul d match. Sadao Asa m i, Ron .Pierce , W a rren W illin g . a nd Bruce Hammer filed in for the next four pl aces, gu a ranteeing their second row positions for the Na tional. Sin gleton's aver age speed was 102.768 m .p.h . on ly .087 off Rober ts. Wi th Akslan d ou t of the picture a whole new ga me plan was taking sha pe as riders m ad e last minute adju stmen ts to m ach inery . plotted new stra tegies, lines. and tactics. Th e Nationa l By 3 p .m. th e haz e was so thic k that fans wa tching e ve nts fr o m ' t he towe ring heights of rhe turn six grandstands could barely mak e out sweeping turn nine , at the opposite end of the track, let alone the riders. Thirty-eight experts shifted from the pits onto the starting grid for the National final. Kenny Roberts lined up in his usual pole position as Dale Singleton edged his Ta ylor White /White Construction Co. sponsored Yamaha happily into the second slot. . Dave Aldana, former Grand National Champion - Gary Nixon . and self-sponsored Mike Baldwin of Darien, CT took their earned positions on the first row for the start. Sadao Asami , of Tokyo, Japan , headed up the second row , next to Team Innerspace sponsored Ron Pierce, Australian Warren Willing, self-sponsored Californian Bruce Hammer, and Steve McLaughlin, who was rid ing an OW31 Yamaha, lent by Mile C lark . Riders moved off the grid for one practice lap before th e start. But before they were halfway around th e trac k. the two-minu te sign came out. AMA rules state tha t any rider not in his sta rt ing position on th e grid at the on e-minu te sign will be relegated to the back row. Slowl y everyone appeared in proper formation everyone th at is, except Singleton. Spe cta tors a nd pi t crews' peered th rough the haz e , wondering what had become of the quick/slow southerner. Singleton a nd the one-minute sign appeared simultaneousl y and everyone was ready to race. Seconds lat er the start flag dropped. Nixon and Roberts slammed into. the first tum together , but Nixon - got to the second turn first. Aldana . Roberts , Singleton , McLaughlin , Baldwin , . Romero , and Wes Coole y followed Nixon into turn six as the rest of the National pack sorted out on th e first lap. Aldana shot around Nixon on lap two and Roberts followed suit. Both raced ahead of the pack , trading the lead on every ' tum. Singleton stayed tight on the two leaders , keeping time with their pa ce . After five laps Aldana was cook ing. holding Roberts off- and the crowd loved every m inute of this unforeseen turn of events . Singleton, within striking distance of the leaders, was putting space between fourth place McLaughlin as Baldwin , Cooley, Romero, Willing, Pierce, and John Long rounded out the top 10. Nixon pulled into the pits with clutch problems and Asami followed soon after, hoping to replace his coil and retu rn to the race. His attempt failed and he too ended the day early. On the sixth lap , Roberts outpowered Aldana , as they charged out of th e turn nine sweeper , and clicked his Carruthers-tuned Yamaha into overdrive for a commanding lead. The two had built an invisible barrier between themselves and the entire field as Singleton, still maintaining th ird , started to drop off the pace with a sputtering engine. McLaughlin , Cooley , Hammer , and Willing were fighting their own battles for fourth .and fifth. Average speeds at the end of lap 10 wer e up to 103.359 m .p.h , for the lead ers. and climbing. Mechanical fa ilures began to plague the rest of the field mid -way in the 76mil er. Mike Baed er retired ea rly due to illness: Bob Rect enwald discovered his tempera ture gauge sitting on "overcooked" and pulled out of th e race ,before th e engi ne seized ; Greg An d rus , rid ing the only Honda in th e fi eld , g ave i t up wi th ig n it io n problems ; Richard Seifri ed pulled out with transmission woes. Meanwhile Roberts rode on - with absolute per fect ion , as if p rogrammed by rem ote control , turning faster laps on every pass . Aldana wasn't slouching, but Kenny had bu ilt up an 18-second lead over him and was still stretching. Singleton gave way to McLaughlin at the halfway point, while Hammer, Willing and Pierce moved through traffic setting up for the tight esses leading into turn six. Gary Scott pulled out of th e race after 21 laps with over-heating problems. Scott had never come close to maintaining the pace necessary for a points -paying positi on in t h e Na tion al. Rob erts at t his point had la pped all but the top six riders on the course, setting an average speed pace of 104 .143 mph while holding Aldari'a back in second. On the last of the 30 laps Roberts screamed across the finish line 24 .23 seconds ahead of Aldana. McLaughlin ' followed them into Victory Circle with third. Ron Pierce had won the battle