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/126423
Five. four. three two. onel The starting grid cIeers. clutches drop and they're off for the first F750 leg. Gene Romero (31 and Patrick Pons 13031 grab the immediate lead follow~d by Raymond Roche (304/, Randy Mamola (39/. Kenny Roberts 121. Skip Aksland 127/ and Oala Singleton 130/. World Championship F7S0 Road Race Series - Round seven King Kenny romps SCRAMP's Laguna Seca F750 weekend By Jack Mangus Photos by Charles Morey 1.9 mil~, nin~ tum course with a 1 minut~, S.40 ~conds tour which av~raged out to a tick of th~ clock ov~r MONTEREY, CA, AUG. 5 100 mph. PJ1-sponsored Skip Alr.sland jetted to Mont~rey aft~r Friday night'S Winston Pro Sfiies Santa Fe Short Track round and logged ~cond fastest tim~ with a 1:OS.S6 lap. Yamaha works rid~r K~nny Roberts was th~ only oth~r ri~r to br~ak into th~ "S's" with a 1:OS. 91 clocking during Satur· day's timed practice ~ions. Turning in fourth and fifth fast times to fill th~ front row for Sunday's first I~g w~re Imperial Spa/Don Vesco·sponsor~d G~ne "Burriuo" Rom~ro and Taylor White/B~aulieu of America-sponsor~d Dale "Pig FIM 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts turned· northern California's Laguna Seca Raceway into his own personal playground as he romped, stomped and wheelied his way to victory in both legs of SCRAMP's Champion Spark Plug 200. Making only his second racing appearance in the U.S. this year 6 - his firSt aboard 7'50cc machin~ry in '79 - Ro~rts haa competitors as w~lI as spectators shaking their heads in disbeli~f as h~ put on an ~xhibition of road racing skill th~ likes of which f~w if any had ~er Sttn. While Ro~rts was romping, N~w England~r Rich Schlachter and Californian David Aldana rod~ th~ir h~arts out in. h~at~d competition for second and third ov~raU. Schlachter put tog~th~r a runnerup performance in th~ first I~g and a fourth in the s~cond I~ for his plac~ positio{l, while Aldana garnered his third o:v~rall with a 3-5 afternoon. Qualifying Formula 750 ~ries points leader Patrick Pons tum~d in a record lap to_ top lh~ field in qualifying. The T~am . Sonauto/Gauloi~/GPA - sponsored Fr~nchman blis~red Lal!"na/S~ca's Farm~r" Singl~ton. First leg Veteran ~n~ Romero duplicated his Sears Point start of thr~ w~ks ago by l~ading th~ field off the lin~ at th~ wav~ of th~ gr~n flag. B~hind BuTTitto th~ "fast guys" hooked up whttl-to-whttl in a high-s~ char~ ~t r~d, Rob~ns, Pons, Raymond Roch~, Schlach~r, Randy Mamola, Aksland and Aldana across th~ start/fmish lin~ at th~ ~nd of ~ first lap. Laps two through fiv~ w~~ also led by Rom~ro with th~ positions ~hind him shuffiing lik~ a d«k of cards. But ROmfio was forced into th~ pits on th~ sixth tour with a "stuck throttl~_" With Rom~ro and his machine ~ing attended to by Don Vesco and ~, th~ rac~ continued at a f~v~r pitch as th~ l~ad changed all around th~ course. Schlachter and Rob~rts took turns l~ading wh~r~ it counts at the start/finish line - on laps six through 12 witli Aksland and Pons n~~r mor~ than a f~w yards b~hind. Th~ racing behind th~ quart~t of front runn~rs had Aldana a slight distanc~ back, and an ~ual distance ah~ad of MamoIa through th~ first half of th~ race.