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/126331
riding with such intensity that he ground off the toes on both boots and finished th e race with bloody feet. Gene Romero took the Don Vesco I Ocean Pacific -sponsored bike to fourth overall. The tw o entries fr om Europe . Frenchmen Ch r istian Sarron an d Patrick Pons. failed to fin ish both heats. Sarron went ou t midwa y through th e first h eat with engin e problems. Pons finished ninth in the first leg . but dropped out early in th e second with a broken gearbox. Skip Aksland , who won here last year . returned to competition after fall ing at the July Sears Point road race . Aksland finished second in th e first 100 km, but made only two laps in the second before pulling into the pits with a broken co il. The twisting 1.9 mile Laguna Seca track was nearly all repaved . New tarmac covered the start /finish straight from turn nine's entrance and co ntinued . up to the turn ' six "Corkscrew ." The repaving resulted in higher speeds - 99.1 14 mph for the fastest F750 heat compared to 96 m~h averages in 1977 . . First leg It's the start of the second leg and Steve Baker 1 321has Mike Baldwin 1431. Ke nny Roberts 121 and Gene Romero 131 chasing hi'!'. F7S0 World Championship Road Racing Series - Round nine Rober·ts dominates LagunaSeca By Dale Brown Photos by Felix Adamo MONTEREY. CA. SEPT. 10 "Believe to ride Roberts winner's 6 it or not , this is the hardest I've had all year ," said Yamaha's Kenny in the Champion Spark Plug 200 circle, King Kenny dominated both 100 km hears of the Laguna Seca Form ula 750 W orld Cham pionship round to close I within J11 po inCeco ttseries point ts of leader ohnny o. Cecotto D NF the first heat when his factory- backed Yamaha broke a shift shaft seven laps into the race while he was ru nn ing sixth. He did not start the second round . Steve Ba ker . the defending F750 World Cha mp . was re-u n ited with t he Bo b Work-tuned Yamaha Motor Canada TZ750 and he p ut toget her a . 3-2 finish for second overa ll after lead ing the opening laps of both heats. Third overall went to self-sponsored privateer Mike Baldwin. who rode for a fifth and a third . In the second leg he kept up with Roberts and Baker. Steve Baker and Randy Mamola led the first wave into the sweeping lefthander to begin lap one. At the lap's conclusion. the order was Baker. Mike Baldwin . Kenny Roberts . Ge ~e Romero. Mamola , Johnny Cecotto and Skip Aksland . Roberts moved by. Baldwin and started to hound Baker on the next lap. By lap four. Romero had moved up to pressure Baldwin and Aksland was past Cecott o . Baker's lead lasted three more laps before Roberts nailed him in the fast turn three. " Und er braking. it seemed to slide around quite a bit. " reported Baker after the race . Between heats, the bike's rear end was lowered and Baker's problem was solved. At the one-third mark. the order was R o b e rts . Ba ker , R o m e r o , Ba ldwin . Aksland, Mamola , Wes Cooley. Steve McLa ughlin , Christian Sarron and Patrick Pons. Baldwin re-passed Romero on the followin g lap and Aksland go t by both th ree la ps la ter. Aksland, riding the PJI Lubricants /Lectron Ca rb s/D .A .R .T . Dev, Yam , started closing on Ba ker. By the two thirds mark. the order was basically the same. Roberts had opened up over five seconds on Bak er , who in turn had about two seconds over Aksland. Ba ldwin had a narrow gap over Rom e ro . Mamola , who battled with them early in the race, had dropped back and had a good . cushion on a scrapping pack composed of Cooley, McLaughlin , Dave Aldana and Pons. Aksland's move past Baker , again by out-braking, came on the 22nd circuit of the 1.9 ·mile course. On the same lap. Romero got by Baldwin again. McLaughlin. also beset with brake problems and a water leak, was passed by Pons. . Roberts . now with an eight-second lead. crossed the finish with an average speed of over 99 mph , less than half a mile per hour slower than his thirdfastest - behind Ba ker a nd Romero - qualifying time. Aksland, Baker . Ro mero . Baldwin , Mamola , Aldana a nd Coo ley were the on ly riders still on the sa me la p with Roberts. Second heat Ba ker agai n led the field into the first turn with Roberts and Cooley flanking him . Baldwin put in another first lap pass to run second at the end of one. Robe rts, Rom er o . Cooley ,