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/126422
CAbove) "King Kenny" Roberts. who Is currently Ieacfing the 500cc World Championship Roed Racing SerIes. will. milk. his only 79 appeerance on 8 750cc road racer at Laguna Sece. (Below left) Veterlln Gene Rom.o Is 8 good bet .'or the top three. (Below right) F750 points leader (bef~ Cenede) Johnny C.cotto. r----------.-----..... F750 line-up Roberts returns, but so will Cecotto, Aksland, Pons, Romero, Singleton... By D81e Brown Sunday, August 5 offers U.S. road racing fans several unique opportunities. Laguna Seca Raceway, located on California's scenic Monterey peninsula, will host the U.S. round of the 14 Formula 750 World Championship Road Racing Series. The I Champion race inPlug U.S. that Spark 200 the only road the is carries .World Championship status, and it's the West Coast's only oppor· tunity to view a road race with an international field. Heading the list though, is none other than America's own World Champion, defending 500cc titlist Kenny Roberts. Roberts, who recently won the Sean Point National road race on his factory Yamaha YZR500 (the competition rode TZ750 Yamahas), is the defending Laguna Seca champion and win be riding his 750cc works Yamaha for the fint and only time this year. (Rules don't permit him to give away 250cc to the competition and then blow their doon off anyway.) Roberts' presence by itself is reason enough to be at Laguna Seca. Watching him cut an awaome swath around the track, knees scraping in nearly ~ comer, is truly a sight to see. When you're watching Kenny Roberts, you're watching the best road racer in the world at the present time, and quite possibly, the best of aU time. But when you're the World Champ, a lot of people get wry inspired to be the one to knock you off the throne. Skip Aksland, like Roberts, is from northern California. Often described as Roberts' "protege," Aksland is a superbly talented road racer and a former Laguna Seca winner. With access to Yamaha factory equipment, and'smarting from a runner·up fmish to Roberts at Sean Point, Skip could well be the man to pull off an upset. Aksland win have qllite a busy three·day weekend. On Friday night, August 5, he'll compete aboard a 250cc Yamaha dirt tracker at the Santa Fe AMA/Winston Pro Series short track near Chicago, and then fly to Laguna Seca for the roa.d race. Johnny Cecotto, who defeated "King Kenny" for the F750 championship last year after Roberts had mechanical difficulties in several events, leads this year's F750 points going into the Canadian and U.S. rounds. With Yamaha works equip· ment supplied to him through Venemotos, the South American Yamaha distributor, Cecotto will be a. strong contender. He's alrea.dy proven it by winning two of the five rounds, and placing second in another. He missed one round due to injuries and another round due to a conflicting race, but still leads in the points, 79· 71, over Frenchman Patrick Pons. Pons won the rainsoaked French round and pl~ced second recently in Austria, and Laguna Seca spectaton will see him and his Gauloises Yamaha. Pons placed third at Daytona this· year, so we know he can run well on American tarmac. We are told by Laguna Seca's press liason, Gerard McCaffery, that Werner Nenning, winner of the recent Austrian round, will be at Laguna Seca. Little is known of the A~rian rider, but reports out of Europe say