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/126330
• From the begi nnlng: By Suzie Mann 20 For the seventh year in a row , internationa l ro ad racing returns to the trick y, twisting 1.9 m ile long Laguna Sec a track loca te d on the beautiful Monterey Penninsula j ust outside of the town of Monterey, CA . For west coast ro ad racing fan s, Laguna Seca has always provided an opportunity to wa tch some of th e best racers at very close qua rt ers from severa l vantage po ints around the hilly track as well as the more conventional grandstand seats. A spectator can be more closely involv ed with a race at Laguna Seca than almost any other track in this country. This year additional excitement is generated by the close battle for the Formula 750 Wo rld Championship between Ken Roberts (who rec ently wrapped up the 500cc World road racing title) and Venezuelan racer Johnny Cecotto. Roberts set out for Europe this spring with three World road racing championships as his goal. He has gained one, but had to abandon the 250cc due to a conflict with the F750 dates and d ie surprising strength of the "down under" Kawasaki green meanies ridden by Kork Ballington and Gregg Hansford in th e 250 a nd 350cc classes this season. King Kenny has absolutely no intention whatsoever of spending a quiet winter in his Modesto home without at lea st two World Championship trophies on his mantle. There is no doubt in most minds that Roberts is, at t he least , th e premier pavement artist of his tim e as well as on e of the best all a ro u nd motorcycle racers in the world . He won th e Laguna Seca race in 1974 and 1975 and bri efly led th e 1972 in na ugu ra l event as a roo kie Ex pe rt before d ropping back to finish th ird . Am erican roa d racing began to evo lve in th e m id 1960s to the level we now see . After severa l years ex isting as a tremendou sly exciting part of the Class C N a tion a l Circu it where th e rid ers , m achines and indeed t he racin g style itself with high ba rs a nd very small o r non -e xist a nt fai rings more closely resem bled d irt track TT ra cin g th an th e "finesse style" classic Eu ropean road racing . A rider didn't even have to have a special motorcycle , he co u ld just mod ify h is existing di rt tracker some a nd away he went, slid ing bo th tires in som e of the co mers a nd eve n occasio na lly , wh en -the sit ua ti o n wa rra nted, pu tting his foo t down in some of th e slower tu rnsl T he growing Br itish in flue nce 'in Am erica racing sta rt ed cha ngi ng all of that in the m id '60 's and to keep up and ahead HarleyDa vidson sho wed up at Da ytona in 1968 with th e Lowboy road racer. In the ca pa b le hands of Cal Rayborn , on e of th e greatest road ra cers of a ll time , Harley won Da ytona in 1968 and again in 1969 , as well as eight of th e nine road races during those seasons. By 1971 how ever, the Lowboy was outdated by severa l of the British bikes and the rapidly advancing J apanese two -stroke machines. Road racing had become a very specialized segment of American motorcycle racing . The involvement and interest - o f severa l factories accelerated its growth to the point that nine of the 24 ra ces on the National Championship circuit in 1973 were road ra cesl Two Br itish journalists, who ca me to Am eri ca and sta rted a weekl y motorcycl e newspa per in 1969 , wa tc hed th is gro wth clos ely. In 1970 th ey branched into race promotion with a few d irt track events. But, for Bruce Co x and Gavin T ri ppe a long with their associate Ge ra rd McC a ffrey, th eir first interests were road raci ng and motocross. They brought International level racing in both areas of th e sport to the West Coa st . Aft er som e negotiations with Kawasaki Motors Corp. , th e American dis tributor, th e fir st Laguna Se ca road r a c e , th e Kaw a saki Sup erb ik e Interna tional. was sch eduled for July 23, 1972 . It was particularly fitting to many that Ca l Ra yborn gave the H arl ey-Da vidson Lowboy thumper its swansong win a t th e firs t Laguna Seca rac e. For days before that first event th e race was pegged as a Rayborn -Yvon DuHamel , HarleyDavidson-Kawasaki dual. Most of the top riders picked one or the other as the man to bear . Laguna is a very demanding course and its conditions suited th e talents of both the quiet, always smiling, Rayborn (who was tragi cally killed in a race crash in New Zealand at the end of 1973 ) and the -small , fire y French-Canadian. Both riders won their heat races with nearly identical times and the final looked to be an equal match between two super riders on super bikes . But it never happened . DuHamel grabbed the lead off the line , got about four turns into the race and thought he felt his engine sour. He looked down to check it in the middle of a 100 mph sweeper and when he looked up again he was off the track , in the dirt head ing for a bank, still at 100 mph . The big Kawasaki threw him , then cartwheeled across the track in front of the field! Gary Fisher (Yam) and Ken Roberts (Yam) sne aked by, narrowly missing th e full gas tank , whi ch had parted company from DuH.amel's machin e. T h e next rider along, Englishman Cl iff Carr (Ka w) wasn 't so lucky as he centerpunched DuHamel' s spi n ning bike and parted company from his ma chine. Dick Mann was the th ird rider to get involved as his BSA clipped