Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

_ ._._._._._ ._ ._ ._ ._._._._ . _ . _ ~._ ._._ . Western hotline A Yamaha TZ750 is a very expensive - about $7.000 - m ot orcycle. Reducing one to ashes can make the strongest men cry. Daytona 200 (Continuedfrom page 7) 36 His bike lost its rear brake on the 10th lap . Hansford took every possible advantage of Romero's problem to put his much slower Kawasaki in front of Romero's day-glo orange Yamaha. At tum four , for example, Hansford would come from 50 yards behind to swoop past Romero on the outside lap after lap, Until the brake problem , Romero had run in sixth behind Pierce, with Hansford just behind (Hammer often separated the two , but wasn 't on the same lap). Romero also was "flushed with gas " at both pit stops. Asarni's pit crew didn't have the right quick-fill tank fitting and so used duct tape to join the tank filler and fuel tower hose before refueling. That lightened Asarni's pit stops to about two minutes each. In contrast , Hansford's pit stops went perfectly. The firs t one too k six seconds; the second took four seconds. But the fine pit stops couldn't make up for the horsepower problems . Ha nsford's fastes t lap during the race was 2: 11.8, a full six seconds slowe r than the best times turned by Roberts. a nd five seconds slower tha n the times of Ba ker , Aksla nd and Cecotto . Du ring this dice with Romero and Asami, H a nsford 's times were comparable to theirs. But Hansford lost ground on every straight and made it up braking into turns. With a faster machine . there is no telling who Hansford might have been racing. Da vid Aldana had bogged his bike at the start and had to watch as the pack shot around him into the first tum . At the end of the front straight, Aldana's machine seized . He slowly let out the cl utch and cruised around for several laps. falling back to about 40th place, A few laps later, Aldana started moving again, putting together a charge that would eventually put him into a 10th-place finish. Aldana had crashed hard Friday during qualifying when his bike seized at the entrance to the chicane, While tuner Pau l Dahman rebuilt the mangled motorcycle Friday night, Aldana was given fou r stitches in an elbow wound and had his' scraped hand taped up. He qualified seventh on Satu rday , On the day of the race, a bruised side and t he other inju ries forced Alda na to walk stiffly and painfully. T he most consiste nt ride next to Roberts' was that of Pierce. In spite of some brake problems early in the event. Pierce came around every time after lap two in fifth position. His bike wasn't as fas t as the machines ahead of him, but no one behind him could catch up , either. His blgges; challenge was simply dea ling with traffic . "There were some guys out there who were go ing so slow it was terrifying," he said later. "1 was coming up on them so fast I thought their engines had b lown up or something. They took all the 750 lines , too, but must have been going 40 mph slower." Roberts' ride was not only more consistent than Pierce's, (Roberts held first unchallenged from lap two to the end) . but also more eventful. On about the 35th lap , Roberts' steering damper broke. sending the Yamaha into tankslappers on the banking immediately after the infield exit. The motorcycle started " horn dancing" and flailing back and forth when Roberts applied the brakes and leaned into the chicane entrance on th e same lap. In an amazing display of skill , Roberts had adapted to the new handling of the 750 just two laps la ter . "It startedwobbling so bad I couldn't figure out what was wrong. It shook a lot." Roberts said after the race. Robert s also had troub le understanding some of the pit signals. at one poi nt t h ink~ng that Baker was ga in ing on h im . So , Roberts speeded up . In actuality . his pi t crew was trying to signa l him that he had a 100 second lea d on Baker . Then, on lap 47. Baker's bike quit as he started out of the infield onto the banking. " It tightened up ," Ba ker said after parking his bike on the grass inside the turn . "W ait 'til next yearl " Three laps later , on lap 50 , Roberts lapped Cecotto. Roberts led Cecotto (who reported a flawless ride) , Aksland , Pierce , Hansford and self-sponsored Boet Van Dulmen from Holland , who work ed his way up from 27th on the starting grid to finish sixth. Asami was seventh , followed by Rom ero and Gary Scott (KK Supply). who finished his first road race in recent memory. Aldana was 10th. By the end of the race on la p 52, Robert s' margin of victory was on e lap . five seconds. His average speed of 108 .373 mph set a new track record , in spite of the restrictor plates. Pressed by report ers for a comment on how he viewed his own feat of la pping everyone , . Roberts remained restrained. " It doesn't matter," he said . " It doesn't mean anything ." • Unofficial Results Kenny Roberts (VarnI. 2. J ohnny Ceeono (Yaml . 3. Skip Ak sland {Yaml. 4. Ron Pierce (Yam). 5. Gregg Hansford (Kaw l. 6. Beet van Deulmen (Yaml . 7. Sadao Asami (Yam). 8. Gene Romero (Yam). 9. Gary Scott (Yaml. 10. David Aldana (Yaml. 1, . Bob Wakefield (Yaml . 12. Bruce Lind (Yam). 13. Richard Chambers (Yam). 14. Phil McDonald (Yaml . 15. Hap Eaton (Yam), 16. Rich",d Scntechtee lVaml. 17.389 (Yaml. la. Har"( Klinzmann (Yam). 19. C. Urbanowski (Yam). 20. John Long IYam). Alan Hopper 1 211. Mike ShelllR651. Richard Ising (734) and Jack Greenberg ISSAl Gary Szilagyi leads Don Turk in the 83cc Juniors at AME. another great Gamblers race on October 29 . Resu lts in Resu lts Section . Valdez smokes AMEMiniMX By Judy Greenberg VALENC IA. CA . FEB . 26 Gilber t Va ldez too k the hono rs for the 83cc 9-11 Stock J uniors ~ American Minicycle Associati on $ Sund ay race on Shadow Glen en Glenn Wischmeyer (Suz) crossed the finish line on two flat tires for his third win ou t of three races as a 250cc Amateur. Greg Price (Yam). who received honorable mention as the most im p ro ved rider of the 1977 season at the MRAN awards banquet, took the first p lace trophy in the 125cc Amateur class giving himself a perfect record of two wins in two races as an Amateur. A new MRAN rule guaranteeing 50 percent trophies to Novices brought the Novice riders out in full swing. It was H a ns Hendrickson (Hus) making a cras hing finish for his second first place trophy in t he 250cc division followed by Ch ris Christia nson (Hus) who left with his very firs t first p lace trophy. Michael Welch smoked the 125cc class by crossing the finis h line first on a 100 Yamaha . This year's ha re scrambles proved to be right in line with the two that have preceeded it. The Gamb lers provided riders with a tight. well -marked . competitive course that was enjoyed by most every rider , You can look for In di a n Du nes. Eddie H icks shot int o the le a d with Frank Da rr (Shoemakers) not far behind. Valdez had control of third with Gary Szilagyi (Peskys) and Don Tu rk closing in When Valdez tried to overtake Hicks by going low in a berm , he lost ground as his front wheel slid through a patch of mud . Turk got by Szilagyi in a wid e turn , and then did the same to Valdez on the next lap , leaving Valdez ana Szilagyi in a fight for fourth to the end. The second tim e Valdez to ok command at the start with some tense moments coming from Turk . Valdez managed to gain ground each lap . forcing Turk to settle for second which he barely won over Szilagyi . ') The Taylor brothers , Brett and Russ, walked away with the overalls for the 9·11 83cc Beginners. Mike McCoy took charge of the first mota from start to finish , Brett passed Tracy Sloan to do battle with Russ, but Ru ss held him off dow n to the wire. Moto two fou nd McCoy out of the gate first. He had tro ub le almost immediately. and fell to the back of the b riga de, Brett was the new leader a nd pu lled away from Ru ss. McCoy worked his way to third and then ha d more problems . finishing fifth be hind Tracy Sloan and Lori Edmundson . Mike Longmore left the race behind him in both motos of the 12 and ove r 83cc J un iors. Kevin Brewis h a d a strong hold on second , while Shaun Condon , Albert Godinez and Adam

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