Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

..... o ,.-.4 IAbove) Mike .Baldw in (43) and Dale Singleton battled for the road racing title. with Baldwin ' taking it. IBelow) Lance Jones l23c) topped Eddie Lawson 111 R) for Rookie of the Year honors. Top rookie in 77. Garth Brow slides along with them. ~~--;;:-::-~~;;:;;;;;:;;;:;;~~--==~~ . . year. Yet he was good enough to lure Harry Lillie, tuner with a reputation of tweaking a mean Yamaha , out of semi -retirement from the circuit. Bailey, ou tgoing and talkative , established him self qu ickly with a fifth in the Houston short track . Later in the season, while competing in a Western Regional Championship event, he suffered a badly gashed leg . The time off gave his tuner time to sort out frame problems, and the work appeared to pay off. although the Harley odds were alwa ys against him . . Bailey , new to road racing. used the season to get his Novice advancement points. He turned up at the September Loudon event, picked up his final points in his heat race, then loaded up the road racer , unloaded his short track bike . and cherrypicked gas money . . ~he highlight of the season for both Bailey and Lillie was at Syra cuse . Actually all they did was make the National: the first and only time a Yamaha sat on the grid at a mile National all year _ " It' s been a year of learning for both of us," said Bailey at Ascot. " Now I want to put that learning to use." On the pavement Skiver and proceeded to win rather easily and score his only CPS points of the season. "W ithou t friends , where would I be?" questioned Joyner afterwards. "lowe this one to Randy." Elation, in this case was contagious. Terry Poovey is a scrapper. Raised on the rough and tumble, no-quarter-asked short tracks of Texas, he carries the same tactics to all his racing. . Sometimes with consequence. He was fined $50 at Pittsburgh for rough rid ing. At Indy, earlier in the year, he was involved in a heated shouting match with Corky Keener. "My bones will heal quicker than yours, " he taunted Keener, who felt that Poovey's riding was less than sportsmanlike. Plagued with slow bikes for most of the season, Poovey still tallied 17 point finishes , including two third place rides. Although one of the lightest riders on the circuit, " Pooh Bear," as he is known. has a throttle hand that won't quit. But it wasn 't until he hooked up with tuner/sponsor Tex Peel at the end of the season that Poovey really came int o his own and proved that with the right bikes , he is a rider to watch. Poovey wasn 't spectacular, but he was almost always in the hunt . Billy Schaeffer found a sponsor in Corky Keener and proved that he can keep on keeping on with the best of them . In addition to winning the Expert title in the Eastern Regional Championships. Schaeffer enjoyed finishing in the top 20 and turned in a career high by finishing second at Pittsburgh. Scott Pearson. a promising rookie in 1977 , saw that season come to an abrupt end at Daytona . Pearson sat out the rest of the year vowing to make up for lost time in '78. Although he started slow, not scoring any points in the first eight d irt events , Pearson mounted a late season charge to fin ish 15th in the final standings , topped by a fourth in the Syracuse Mile . " It took me almost half the season to get back into the swing of things," said Pearson . " 1979 will be a lot different ." The Rookie. 10 It was a slow year for rookie Experts, devoid of any of the spectacular displays of talent that characterized Springsteen's debut or that of Eklund or of Boody orof Brow . In contrast. this was the year of seeing who wou ld stay healthy and who could keep their machinery together. Lance Jones, who took the Rookie of the Year honors, and Don Bailey. who finished in third just a scant point behind runner-up Eddie Lawson . each spend almost eight weeks healing from leg injuries. Lawson, meanwhile, was plagued with fighting the overwhelming Harley-Davidson odds against his Yamaha. There was little drama , and the best fini shes of the three were fifth place rides by Bailey in the Houston short t rack and Lawson in the Santa Fe TT. Jones' highest finish was a seventh in the nil{ht Indy Mile . 1978 had all the makings of a great year for Lance Jones. He had consistently outrun and outrode any and all comers in his Junior year and had landed a solid sponsorship package for '78 . But the Jump to Expert had been a big one, and sorting out new bikes as well as the psychological warfare that a rookie endures proved almost more of a load than Jones could handle. At one point he tried the services of a hypnotist to bolster his confidence. (Terry Poovey . among others, also used the service.) Jones, however, remained the solid choice of most throughout the year. Prior to the'Indy Mile , Jones had expressed confidence in his winning rookie honors. " I know I'm going to win it , so why bother worrying. Eddie and Don may have good Yamahas, but there is still no match for being on a Harley. If I hadn't broken my ankle hang gliding before Denver, it would have been a lot different," Of the three, Eddie Lawson is the quietest. the most reserved, and the one who seems to shun the limelight. Polite to almost a fault . one wonders how he has the tenacity to race. It was competition that transformed Lawson into an aggressive go-getter. who rode the wheels off his Yamaha to make up for a lack of horsepower. Lawson , who started out the season with a tenta tive sponsorthip from Shell Thuet which was dependent on how well he did , proved himself enough in early events to merit a full year's backing. The transformation from Junior to Expert and being a decided Yamaha underdog in a sea of Harley riders did not shake Lawson's faith in his ability. However , racing takes money, and when you aren't making any , it is hard to go on . "We're heading back west ," Lawson had said after Indy. "I want to be ready for the last two Nationals and make some money. It's been a long season. I feel that I should do good at Ascot ." Lawson didn't score at Ascot , but h!= was smiling, "Next year," he said, " Next year." For almost half of the 1978 season the question was "Don, who ?" Don Bailey , while relatively well known in northern California, did not get the publicity of either Jones of Lawson in his Junior The battle on the pa vement in the Camel Pro Series looked like an easy run for Skip Aksland . Aksland , Kenny Roberts' strongest contender in 1977 , seemed to be a sure bet for the throne vacated by Roberts' departure ' for the World Champion ship . Howe ver . Aksland's injury after a th ird at Daytona. and a win at Loudon threw the ball to Mike Baldwin and Dale Singleton. Baldwin put his DNF at Daytona behind him , parted ways with his sponsor for that event , and returned to doing things his way as a privateer. Baldwin, although normally quiet and somewhat a shunner of the limelight, took every opportunity available to say that he took all the credit for his success , and if he failed. the blame for that. But Baldwin didn't fail. With a pair of seconds at the two Loudon events and wins at Sears Point and Pocono, he emerged as the U.S. Road Racing Champion, He also became somewhat of a hero in Europe via a brilliant individual performance in the World Team Cup Races in Italy, and then turned in a stunning ride to win the final . F7 50 World Championship round in Canada. In one short season Baldwin had dispelled his image of a crasher and one who takes whatever risks necessary to do the best possible. He emerged from the season as an example to many of what singleminded dedication, talent and determination can do . Dale Singleton also ended up in the DNF column for Daytona. A clogged gas tank breather vent cOlt him what he felt was a sure shot at a top three placing, following a front row start. " It's a bummer." said Singleton afterward. "I had the track wired with all the tire testing I had done prior to the event. All I can do is forget it and get on with the program ." Singleton did just that and hounded Baldwin for the rest of the season, placing fifth at the spring Loudon, followed by a pair ofthirds at Sears Point and Pocono (behind Gene Romero both times) and then winning the final Loudon event. "Once you win a National," said Singleton after Loudon, "everything becomes easier. It's like breaking through an imaginary barrier." Unfortunately, just two weeks later he suffered a shoulder injury in the U.S. round of the F750 World Championship, that hampered his performance later in the World Team Cup event , Others. like Gene Romero, Randy Mamola, David Aldana and John Long kept Baldwin and Singleton on their toes. Romero and Aldana remain the old masters, while Mamola is an up and comer. and Long seemed to always be there. Two unfamiliar names on the pavement showed style and promise. Steve Eklund and Steve Morehead didn't set the world on fire , but each showed that with a little practice they could tum in above average rides . While Morehead admits to liking road racing. the exact opposite is true for Eklund. He was not afraid to say that it scares him, and that if it wasn't a part of the championship, he wouldn't be out there. One racer absent from the action after the first Loudon event was Gary Nixon, Plagued with a rash of engine seizures at Daytona. courtesy of the re stricter plate rule, an uninspired ride at Loudon , and lack of financial backing, Nixon chose to sit out the rest of the year. However, Nixon did taste the thrill of victory with a win in the Lightweight Expert event at Loudon before an enthusiastic crowd. He was their hero and collected a meager $565 for his winning ride. •

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