Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

NATIONAL PAPERS In the beginning there were four. With just two races remaining there are two. Who will be the 1978 Grand National Champion? 26· It started last February in Houston . One of the four , Kenny Roberts, chose to watch and get ready for Daytona. Roberts then went on to Daytona and won it for the first time in what was to be his only appearance on the Camel Pro Series circuit for the year. We were down to three contenders. Skip Aksland finally had a good two-race run at Houston and bagged a th ird at Daytona , best of the privateers, and was on his way to taking over the point lead from Steve . Eklund. Skip backed it up with a near-miss second at the first San Jose mile and was rated as a prime candidate for number one, but it was not to be. A spill in June at the Ch icago TT caused shoulder problems, Then in mid -july Skip threw away all chances for the title, trying to run too fast too soon in the Sears Point road race final where he cr ashed. Second shoulder problem that kept him out for two months. Now we were down to two . As many had predicted before th e start of the season, it was going to be privateer Steve Eklund ' versus factory man Jay Springsteen. Both were acknowledged half milers and milers with Eklund given the edge in short track and TT but Springsteen had the unlimited equipment backing which can equalize a lot of natural talent when the stretch run comes up. Eklund won both of the National short track events and also won two of the TTs, plus a second and two fourth places in the other TTs, This ranked him as the high point TT rider on the circuit for the season, as well as the short track division. By August he had a total of six National wins, four on Yamaha , two on Harley-Davidson. Springsteen ran off three straight half mile wins early in the year and then pulled one of the upsets of the season when he won the Castle Rock TT. becoming the first non-west coast rider to ever win in a }4·year span. The month of September has kept the point race interesting and given insurance that it will go to the wire . It really started in late August with Jay closing to within two points of Steve and was heavily favored to take the lead once again in the twin Indy miles - but it did not happen , Gary Scott and Gene Romero each rode their best lOla ps on a mile this season to ace Jay out of a transfer to the final in the first Indy clash. Eklund saw the light and ran third in the final. The next day they both made the final with Steve in fifth. Jay seventh. A 17· point lead for the Californian, heading into the final month , It may go into the records that Steve Eklund either won or lost the title at Loudon. NH . Springsteen, running about 21st place when his engine quit on the 12th lap. dropped out of the ra ce . Eklund was running inside the top 10 at the time, When the race was re -started due to oif ' the tTiic'k~· Steve··went one lap on and pulled off , stating later that many of the riders were riding over their heads and he wanted to take no chances. No points, still a 17.point gap. Then it was on to the Syracuse mile and a mistake by Steve that nearly cost him a chance to even compete the rest of the season, In one of the final practice sessions he stuffed the bike in too hard and crashed at nearly 100 mph. The end result was that while he did ride the heat race and the semi, he could not get everything back running in time for the final that was switched at the last minute from the final event to the next-to-last race . Jay came up winner and Eklund's 17·point lead quickly turned into a drop to second in the standings and three points back in second . Springsteen clearly d id not ha ve the fastest machine at Syra cuse but was clearl y the hardest rider in th e corners. He perhaps saw an opportunity at Syracuse that Steve failed to see . or take advantage of at Loudon . September 24th and 30th will tell . Hank Scott . Garth Brow and Springsteen are now the three mile winners for the season. Jay and Steve have won all the half miles between them this year , Neither rider has stayed awake nights dreaming about road racing but both have proven time and again that they can ride miles and half miles, It could not have come down to the final two races any better and more suited for these two riders , Going into the final two races of the season in '77, Jay had Ted Boody. Gary Scott and Kenny Roberts .to contend with for the title. This year he has only Eklund , Jay has earned the number one plate the last two years running so a lot of fans would like to see Steve bag it all since people switch over to the underdog in just about every sport. (Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl?) On Sunday. Sept. 24 they go at it on the mile at San Jose , a race that Steve has never won, but Jay has. Eklund was nosed out last year on the final turn in one of the San Jose encounters for his best effort on his hometown track. Then the finale comes on Saturday night. Sept, 30 at Ascot . Steve has never won there either, and Jay has , This is the track where Steve learned to ride half mile as a Novice and Junior and . later won regular season events on both H-D and Yamaha , Michigan riders Springsteen and Garth Brow have won the Ascot finale the last two years running for the only non -California victories since the series began back in 1959 . A mile and a half mile to wrap up another great professional season and the two types of tracks where both riders are always at their best. But I feel we may see neither rider winning either of the last two races which means that we will have two races going on in each final , one for the win, and one for the title . Hank Scott , Gary Scott and Garth Brow will be tough at San Jose. Alex Jorgensen , who has already won twice at Ascot: will be pumped higher than ". ever to make it three, Boody could become the third straight Michigan rider to win at Ascot and Gary Scott may finally remember that Ascot is where he started it all so many seasons ago . Then there is a kid named Brow who broke all the track records while winning his first National last year at Ascot. The finale sort of reminds me of a' season long ago when Gary Nixon and the late Fred Nix came down to the wire, looking only to qualify for the final and score points rather than hanging it all the way out for the win. Whichever rider wins the title deserves to win it. In some ways it is too bad that we cannot have cochampions. But there always is an outside chance of a tie . We came within one point several seasons back, didn't we? The difference between who finishes first and who finishes second comes out to about $50 ,000 , give or take a few thou here and a few thou there. Roxy Rockwood Pioneer Town behind the scenes By Maureen Lee Some of the little fun stuff that went on while the cast of hun dreds cavorted around Racing World ., . Saturday A contingent of nine riders came from Avalon, all members of the Islanders M.C ., loading their bikes on the barge to start the trek to Racing World ... most of them were in th e first class including Mike Cummins, whose bike went into flames but was saved to continue racing by some quick dirt throwing action .. . the Cataline group had a terrific cheering section . . . most fun in the 0-100 class was had by Don Gossett; quite a large grown-up on an XR75 who finally fell off in the ruts. lay there helpless with laughter until he got himself under control and went on . In the 125ccJunior/Expert class Pat King made it into the lake - with only his head out of the water after he got into difficulties in the mud and highsided into the pond .. . his Suzuki was finally rescued too and blew a stream of water out the pipe when fired up but somehow they both started off again. The spectators loved that mudhole and demanded water be added to it as it got splashed out. Hack team Bingham and Moore with pudd'n' basin helmets had a blast with a streamlined road racing chair attached to a Yamaha 500, motoring quietly around with lights on and cherry toots of the horn . .. the mudhole was the scene during their race .. . but where oh where was Penguin this year? The Desert Donkeys took to the water with the best seats in the house from a rowboat flying the Donkey flag , drinking Coors and fishing while the racing went on both days . . . far out! Biggest Saturday crash was in the 250cc Novice . . . Stewart Gerns found himself in the awkward position of lying on top of his bike with both legs in the air unable to right himself until a helpful Dirt Digger hand dragged him upright . , . looked funny as hell but it wasn 't to him . . . Ha l Sanguinetti was doing a marvelous job announcing with Don Kemp and the P.A . was the best ever wherever you went . . . spies tell me one of th e announcers was caught filling the waterhole with a '.. 'buc~ el '~ late' Satu·rClay 'nigttt" ·50"fle'a ' have plenty to talk about com Sunday ... the host club considered feeding him to the catfish for it . . . it's a true story . .. he was caught red, er, welj handed. folks. I Sunday Pre-registration for the Old Timers was down . . . rumors had it they wanted to see how horrible the mudhole was before signing in . .. no duckies, they can ride mud and anything else but when you get to b an Old Timer your back gives out working and cleaning up your scoot after the events . .. that's what does you in . . . 94 Old Timers started, includingi one Dick "Bugsy" Mann who the announcer kept referring to as past National Number Two .. . guess he forgot Richard was a Grand National Champion (on a BSA yet) ". his Yamaha is fixed up like one of his beloved Matchless' or Beezers, shifts on the right side and thinks it's a Limey bike. Dick says. , . their start tip the hill looked like the charge a Seminary Ridge , . .John Rice was there, he now rides horse endures for fun but he rode the Old Timers and Pioneer class with his famous frog on his helmet and was careful not to fall in the lake when we pointed out there were frog -eating alligators in it. Sue Fish is terrific (in person and on the track) .. . a nd the other girls all d id well and didn't get too involved in the mudhole which wasn 't bad Sunday . .. had to get it dried out so the Pros wouldn't get muddy plates .. . with $10 ,000 on the line scoring had better be good . A special thank you to the Coors people , . . th ey were out .of sight, they even had a press tent along with sponsorship of the race and putting up all that money ... so OK you beer. drinkers . let's see sales of those other brands fall off; support those who support us .,. And thank you Dirt Diggers for giving us all a chance to see a group of the top motocrossers in action . , . Pro rider (besides Brad Lackey) I was most impressed with? Maico's Darrell Shultz; there's real talent there. For the Pioneers . . . it must be at least 13 years ago we wrote about "Iron Man" Walt Axthelm and he still looks the same, strong enough to break his Kawasaki in half with his bare hands ... wonder if any of our teeny boppers will be half as good as the Pioneers are when they are even 22? .. Dick Mann rode that one too and won it (for me because I couldn't ride under doctor's orders - (phew, relief) then went out again in the fourstroke race, . Former National number SO. Tom White, and another Pro , Don Frauenberger both were in the Unclassified Beginner/Novice Open class! Before shrieks of cherry picking fill the air. I.) neither wanted to ride that class (especially Tom) ' but that's where the Dirt Diggers put 'ern ... and 2,) " Ma ureen's Kids" don't cheat. they know better .. . and if they were cherry picking how come both of 'em got beat? .. Tom got a third, Still , there's a bit of embarrassment all around 1 fear . . . but imagine if Springer showed up to ride and they tried to put him in that class because he didn't have a District classification . , . once an Expert always an 'Expert! ' Best things for th~ weekend .. . thanks Dirt Diggers for considering me a Pioneer, it means mu ch . . . the joy of that gorgeous Goldstar ridden by Len Miller in the four -stroke race. many of us were misty eyed at its voice , . . the hard work Diane Connolly did in coordinating the Pro race - dealing with the big boys when you are District ain 't easy . . . and husband Jim is a super starter. no muffed starts there . .. we'd Ij~e to see him a t Ascot. • ,... , ~ ,

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