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/126913
Honda's David Bailey finished third in the first 250 moto, and took fourth in the second heat to finish fourth overall in Pennsylvania. Mt. Morris (Continued from page 11) 26 Honda's Larry Brooks and Hondamounted Guy Cooper of Oklahoma. Keith Bowen, the Yamaha factory rider from Michigan who entered the race with the top spot in the 125cC. National point standings, was well back in 13th place. Kehoe and" Dymond went at it for mo t of the race, Kehoe always leading and Dymond applying pressure from a few bikelengths back. The battle went down to the wire, and even though Dymond kept the pressure on until the final turn, the slip he was waiting for never came; Kehoe held the advantage when the checkers fell. By lap six Turpin had taken fourth, Warren had moved up one position into fifth, and Holland was running sixth. Bowen had come from behind to take over seventh, Suzuki's A.J. Whiting was running eighth, Brooks was ninth and Cooper still held down 10th place. Bowen challenged Warren for fifth in the late stages of the race, and the two riders went at it in every turn for four, three-minute laps before Bowen finally pulled away from Warren on the final go-around. Bowen also got around Turpin on·the last lap, finishing fourth, just behind Leisk. Turpin sellled for fifth place; Warren crossed the line in sixth. Kawasaki-mounted Rodney Barr from North Carolina nabbed the holeshot in the second moto, but it wasn't long before Dymond was out in front, leading the pack. Kehoe, who got caught in traffic coming out of the gate, finished the fir t lap II positions behind Dymond. Just trailing the front-running factory Honda rider at the end of the first lap were Barr, Warren, Holland, Bowen, Burnworth and Brooks. By midrace, Dymond was ridinga smooth as silk in first, while the hard-charging Bowen had moved into second place and was waiting for Dymond to make a slip. Holland was holding down third, followed closely by Burnworth. Bar, Kehoe and Brooks. Bowen's hopes for a moto victory went up in a cloud of dust on lap .six. The factory Yamaha rider went down hard when his front end washed out coming off a set of doubles in the front section of the course. He crawled off the track, visibly shaken, clutching his stomach. He remounted· his motorcycle in a few moments, took one more lap, then pulled off the track, electing not to continue. Bowen's crash gave Dymond some breathing room and pushed Holland up into second. On lap 10, with three laps le£t, Burnworth was pushing Holland hard for the number two spot, and a couple of lapped riders separated the duo from fourth-place Kehoe. Dymond motored across the line to take the checkers on lap 13, Holland held o£[ Burnworth to claim second, and Kehoe cruised to fourth. Brooks rounded out the top five, followed by Barr, Ryan, Leisk, Fred Andrews, and Kawasaki-mounted Tyson Vohland of California. "My first National Championship win means a lot," said Dymond after the race. "I hope this can become a stepping stone for me. Moving down to the 125ccclasswasa big decision. I didn't think I could do well on a 125cc. You can't make mistakes like you can on a big bike. "It took me a long time to get going in the first moto," Dymond said. "Sometimes you've got to sit around quite a while before the first race. By the second race I was ready to go." • Results 250: 1. Rid< Johnson (Han) 2-1; 2. Jeff W.rd (K.w) 1-2; 3. Jonnny O·M.r. (Han) 4-3; 4. o.vid BlIi1ey (Han) 3-4; 5. Billy Lil.. (Kew) 5-6; 6. Ron leenien (Kew)7-5; 7. AI.n King (K.w) 6-9; 8. Jim Holley (Y.m) 1 1-7; 9. Billy Fr.nk (Yam) 12-8; 10. Tom Carson (Han) 10-10; 11. Oanny Storbeck (Yam) B-12; 12. M.rk Murp/ly (Yam) 9· 13; 13. Eric Eaton (Yam) 13-16; 14. Bob Hennan (Suz) 15-15; 15. Jeff Hicks (Han) 21-1 1; 16. Jo Jo Keller (Yem) lB-14; 17. Tom Watts (Kawj 14-29; 18. Alley Semar (Yem) 16-DNF; 19. Scooter Stafford (Yam) 27-17; 20. Mike Morri. (Kew) 17-27. 125: ,. Micky Dymond (Han) 2-1; 2. Erik Kenoo (Suz) 1-4; 3. George Holland(Suz)7-2;4. Jeff Laislt (Hon) 3-8; 5. Scon Burnworth (Yam) 13-3; 6. lerry Brooks (Hon) 9-5; 7. Keith Turpin (Han) 5-13; 8. Fred Andrews (Yam) 12-9; 9. Rodney Ba.. (Kaw) 15-6; 10. Guy Cooper (Hon) B- 14; " . Rick Ryan (Kaw) 16-7; 12. Keith Bowen (Yam) 4-DNF; 13. Tyson Vohland (Kaw) 17-10; 14. Richard Halsteed (Kaw) 10-17; 15. Eddie Wa..en (Kaw) 6-DNF; 16. Brian Myerscough (Yam) 14-16; 17. Doug Dubach (Yam) DNF-11; 18. 80b Moore (Suz) 1 1-DNF; 19. A.J. Whiting (Suz) DNF-12; 20. Michael Jones (Kaw) DNF- 15. POINT STANDINGS 250: 1. Rick Johnson 197; 2. Johnny O'Mara 156; 3. David Bailey 152; 4. Jeff Ward 139; 5. Jim Holley loa. 6. Ron Lachien 92; 7. (TIE) Mark Murphy/Danny Storbeck 90; 9. Billy Lile. 81; 10. Broe Glover 76; 11. Alan King 73; 12. Jeff Hicks 65; 13, amy Frank 62; 14. Tom Carson 43; 15. Dennis Hawthorne 34; 16. Brian Manley 33: 17. Bob Han· nih 30; 18. Mickey Kessler 26. 19. Scan Menning 23; 20 (TIE) Jo Jo Keller/Eric Eaton 23. 125: 1. Mickey Dymond 167; 2. Eric Kahoo 163; 3. (TIE) Keith Bowan/George Holland 140; 5. A.J. Whiting 103; 6. GuyCoopar 89; 7.lerry Brooks 81; 8. Doug Dubach 79; 9. Tyson Vohland 78; 10. Scott Burnworth 78; 1 1. Rick Ryan 72; 12. Keith Turpin 52; 13. Ronnie Ttchenor SO; 1•. Eddie Werren .9; 15. Jeff leiak 47; 16. Rodney BlIrr 41; 17. Fred Andrews 37; 18. Willie Surratt 31; 19. (TIE) Mike ....Iey/Mike BlIier 30. . Aut~or Shilton (center) after errivel at the Marble Hells building. Triumph ride (Continued from page 21) the town of Linkopin~. Like most of Sweden, this is moose country and the roads are punctuated with warning signs bearing images of these animals which are the size of a cow and have never been known to reverse once they decide to cross a road. They makea big contribution 1O theSwedish road accident figures. The second prf'.5S appointment was in the large lOwn of Norrkopping at the Rallye hotel, made famous as the checkpoint for the Monte Carlo Rallye drivers who start from the north of Sweden. By the time I arrived there, the half daylight had faded, the temperature had dropped to near zero, and the driving sleet turned inlO ice on the screen of the fairing. Bengt phoned Stockholm to report our position and gave our estimated time of arrival as 7:00 p.m., which meant doing the remaining 120 miles in 212 hours. It was some encouragement to be told by Bengt that the exhibition organizers had arranged a birthday party for me at the Stockholm hotel. This last section 01 the journey seemed much further than 120 miles and the road was busy with big freighters travelling south 1O the ports. Each one had a bow wave like a destroyer and the Volvo was an occasional blur. At last the darkness of the road was illuminated by sodium lamps but they soon disappeared astern. The)t were the lights of Sodcertalje and twice more came illuminated stretches of road followed by darkness as the towns of. Tumb and Huddinge fell behind. Away to the east the flash of a lighthouse was reflected 'in the snow clouds, the entrance 1O Stockholm harbor, and atla t I saw the city limit ign. Ten minutes later I rode the Triumph into the hotel garage and the journey was over, the least enjoyagle of the many I had done for the Meriden company, and the last. In my room I observed the ritual which had made many long rides worthwhile. a warm bath with a large whisky in easy reach, and I reflected on my 22 Meriden years. Was it really so long ago that I discarded my army uniform and put on riding gear to start my travels as a Triumph representative? I remembered the license number MNX 675 of the Speed Twin I had to buy to start my work and which covered 50,000 fau'ltless miles in the year before I traded it for the Tiger 100 GDU 718 and ~d another 50,000 before buyinlt one of the first three Thunderbirds which launched the new 40 cubic inch model with the 500-miles-at-92mph demonstration at the Montlhery track in France. It is now in the National Motorcycle Museum near Meriden. In the Scotland Yard Driving School Museum is the Police Saint Thunderbird 177 EUE which carried me for 100,000 miles on demonstration rides in Britain and continental countries. Happy years of trouble-free miles which now ended in Stockholm with a machine which had given me my worst ride of all. The following morning I rode the Triumph into the Marble Hallsexhibition building and opened the show with a ceremonial cutting of the tape. The show was sponsored'by the Swedish international racing driver Picko Troberg and in the evening I was one of the people who crowded into his Rolls Royce to be driven. around Stockholm. The Rolls was ex-British Embassy and in place of the Am bassador's pennant there was a banner advertising the bike show. The original chauffeur would never have~ to drive like Picko. After the party that evening to celebrate the opening of the show, a girl reporter from a Swedish journal made an excellent contribution to the enjoyment by performing a strip dance. She was wasting her time as a journalist. The prospect of riding the Triumph back to Gothenburg did not appeallO me, and so I had it shipped back from Stockholm and phoned Freddie Frith asking him if he would collect it at Immingham by truck. We arranged 1O meet at the Lincolnshire Police headquarters and I would trail it back to Meriden. A few days later we met at Lincoln and Freddie arrived riding the machine. He had been curious to check out the report I had given him a week earlier and was even more curious to learn the cause of the problem. I telephoned him the answer the following day when the forks were stripped at the factory. The stanchions had been drilled the wrong way around, so reversing the fork damping action. Some hundreds of machines had gone out in this condition but there was time to replace the stanchions before anyone got hurt. A more satisfying outcome of my last Triumph ride than the thousand orders I brought back from Stockholm. •