Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

--- - ...• .., - - - - - - - - - .,.I I I I J..! ------ NATIONAL THE PAPERS ".. - ." Desert Hotline For m ost motorcycle racers and fans, it's b:en pretty quie t for too long. It's time to go racing at Daytona with every type o~ event you w~nt to name. I t will also soon be time to go racIng th Ascot half · m ile for at on e . least five we~ks In a row . Yes, I think Ke.nny R~berts should be t he f avo r i te to Win the 22 Daytona 200 . But Kenny has been the favorite before , a~d he ~an find m? re ways 10 lose th e big one In road ra cmg than any other consistent pre· race favorite I know. . . When I received the offi ci al Day tona entry list I noticed that J oh n ny Ceccoto a nd Steve .Baker, the past two winners, were not hste.d . But I am told by the speedway officials that at least Ceccoto is now an entry. I hope that Baker can somehow find his way to Daytona. also . Baker and Roberts ar~ at pre~em the two best road rac~rs In America , perhaps the two best In the wo~ld. .If Kenny should win Daytona ~hls lrlp with Baker not even emc:red. It wou ld leav e some t hi ng to be desired . . They on ly met on an Amenc ~ n tra ck once last yea r, and Steve won In th e ra in-s ho rtened "Daytona I~O . " . I hav e read some other publications that are handing the win to Kenny. I think th is is a mistake : th e Daytona 200 is too long and too fast a race . It can also be won or lost with the on e or two gas stops in the pits. Roberts has , perhaps. one weakness: He has to l~a.d, or try to , just about any race he IS In . For t~e pa~t couple of years , I have talked with him pnor to the Saturday run,:,ing of th~ 250 cc Lightweight 100 ml.ler. Both tI,,:,es, he told me he was gOIng t.o ta ke It, easy and perhaps play a little until .he started gelling into traffic and la~pIng slower riders. He the n too k off like a bullet and lef t the fi~ld beh ind .. In the 200. there IS such a W gap ide between the five fastest qual ifiers and the last 20 or 30 , that it is not uncommon 10 sec the leaders la pping the slower rid ers in the first five to 1 0 laps. . K~nny told me. recently that th e resrnctor plat es on the carbs do not cu t down the top end speeds , but do cut the surge of pow~r com in~ off th e corners, thus extending the !ue wear which has become a factor In recent years. Two yea rs ago Ceccoto won th e race with a bac~ tire that most of us would not have ridden on 10 the co rner grocery store . Dayton~ is still 100 long an~ ha s too many variables f,?r anyo~ e Simply. 10 say that any one ~Ider has It WO? gOll~g in . I've heard this too many tlm.es I~ the past , then not even find th e rider s name in th e lOp 20. . If th e 200 goes anywhere a ccordll~g to form , then Robe~ts. Ceccoto, Skip Ak sl and , Gary NIXon and Ge n e Romero will be fr,ont ru nners . at least for the first 100 miles , The lon e non -Yamaha contender will a gain be Australia 's Gr.e!;g H a nsford on the fastest Kawasaki In captivity. T hey just ca n't make th em run lik e that over he re for so me reason . Young Dave Emde re!urns for th e second time older and wiser. He we':'t . into last yea r's event as a bras~ rooki e with 100 much con fide nce . HIS fat~e r a nd his brother have won before him . and he ha s one of the best mecha':'lcs in the business, Mel Dinesen , behind him for th e first time. Mel was the tuner for br other Don when he won a nd became the on ly privateer ever 10 win the ra ce . That m ayor may not jell you someth ing. T wo guys that will be there to race but not to win are Steve Ekl~.m? a~d Gary Seen. Eklund is a r,?ok le .In big bike road racing and rak ing hIS first Daytona rest . He 's al~o t~ e AMA Grand National Championship /Camel Pro Series poimleader. SCOll has another new mechan.ic a nd vows tha t things will be better In road racing tha n they ~ere. last year . Gary sometimes known for understatement never scored a point last year and ha r d ly eve r finish ed . Anyth ing would be better than last year. They sa y that the c h a m p, JaX Springste en , will probably make hIS only road ra cing appearanc.e o~ th e ent ire year at Dayt ona. Bu t It WIll be on Saturday in th e Lighw eight race a nd not in Sunday's 200 . Wh a t a cha nce for Eklund an d Scott to st re rch poi nts on Jay who will head into t ~e western Nationals in Ma y for one m ile and three half mil es under a full head of steam. For the firs t time, all 80 rid er s tha t make it through tim e trials will get paid . Call it "s t a rt m on ey" o r what ever. It's more o r less a compromise from th e EuroI:'ean way of paying small purses bu t vane~ amount of appearance money to rid er s for what they have done in the pas!.. The American way is still 10 race for It , go for it, get paid for what you do that day in that race . It 's still th e best for the rid ers and th e people that pa y to see a race . About the on ly t hing I am sure of. is who the Novice winner will be . Now , there is a switch! Most of the time , none of us hav e heard of 95 % of the Novice field at Da ytona. But it's different thi s year for th e first time since Walt Fult on , Jr. showed up yea rs ag~ , sta rted I.ast and won the Novice ra ce In recor d lime . The Novice wh iz is Louisiana 's Freddie Spencer who ha s m~re ro.ad racing time than any other rid er wit h the exception of Gary Nix on , who he ha s defeated on occ asion in th e va rio us play races around th e c~)U ntry. Freddie ha s been tryIng to become a Pro for th e last three years . He was suspended for an ~ntire yea~ as, an Amateur for fudgmg on his b irth certificate . . If the bike holds together, th e kid with th e red boots will win goi ng aw ay. H e's also as good in the dirt as he is in road racing, wh ich he will p ro ve later in th e yea r. . West coast rid er s ge t ready. Starting April 7, the Ascot H alf Mil~ will ~un five Friday nights in a row , Inclu dl?g the Fridav before th e San Jose MIle weekend . ' Aggie has lined up ser ies poin t fund money, p lus an additiona l $500 to t~e purse ea ch Friday night . T he .senes may a lso be th e only wax for J,:,m ~rs to be qual ified for t he j u n io r Invitational at San Jose on Ma y 7, like last yea r. By th e way. Refer ee Chub Kellam ha s moved for th e .first time in nearl y 20 years and has a new phon e number. 213 /537 -3430. Roxy Rockwood 10 (A bovel Ron Kephart passes Charles Welk in t he D-38 European Scrambles (Belo w) Perry DePalmer (left) and Ron Kephart at the IVMC Desert Scramble!! -} p Welk wins IVMC / Desert Scrambles By Loretta Pipkin PLASTER CITY , CA. FE B. 12 Charlie We1k screamed his big Yamaha to a three-minu te victory over Ron Kephart in the Imperial Valley Motorcycle Club Desert Scrambles, On th e 70 -m ile co u rse, div id ed into three loops , Welk had lapped on e rid er by the second go round and five by the finish . Ron Kephart held com m a nd of th e 250~c Exp erts with Mike .Stea rns hot on his back wheel. O n the second loop Greg Meyers slid past Bob Morton and Mik e Rose , ,a ll 250cc Experts , who were swappIng with Open Expert Claude Maynard and 250cc Expert Rom ie Taylor. Ji~ Valov , 'rid ing Open Amateur , hung In for a first in his class and 10th overall . It was the first time in a wh ile not to see a 125cc Expert fini sh in the top 10 but Don Mathews was having iis troubles. Dogging it on , he managed I first in th e cla ss and l Sth overall. Nineteen Seniors challenged tie course with Cecil Holl enbeck and Den Cavins bringing it in sid e by side, first and second in th e cla ss. t Another Kephart has su r fac ed. Thirteen -year-old David . riding 125t c Novice , copped a third in his class behind Glenn Madder and Malt Koenig, Resu lts in Results Sect ion . Teams tangle at D-38 European Scrambles By Loretta Pipkin IM PE R IAL , CA, FEB , 19 .tlll Dist rict 38 Sports Committee held a European Scra mbles west of Imperia l on private land. A

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