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/141014
...... ( . Ph oto s b y Gary van Vo orh is • - Smith (Yam) Nips Roberts (Yam) By T o dd Raffert y D AY T O NA , FL A ., Mar ch I I, 19 72 Dave S m ith of La ke wood, Ca lif., rode h is Don Vesco Ya m ah a to a narrow victory o ver Kenn y Ro b ert s in the 25 0cc comb ined 10 0·mile road race. Th ere we re a reco rd 46 lead c hanges, su rpassing th e o ld reco rd of 45 set in 1965 . S mi th and Rob e rt s exchanged the lead six times on th e last lap as Smith covered th e 100 mil es at a new record average speed o f 10 1.4 97 . Kel Carruth ers , ho ld e r o f th e o ld rec ord o f 10 1.2 66 a nd wi n ne r of the event th e past tw o years, was an early leader b ut b ecame a victim of "en gine failure". Gary Fish er a nd Don Emde we re also a mo ng th e leaders b ut .F isher reIired wi t h mech a n ical p roblems and Em de u n lo ad ed co ming o u t of th e infield e n tra nc e t u rn, S mith, who h ad b een sid elined for mo n th s wit h a b ro ken wri st, co llec ted 52 ,4 0 0 fo r hi s winn in g p erforma nce . An est im ated cro wd of 2 1,500 wat ched , Gary Fisher stay ed wit h th e front runners in th e ear ly st ages b ut was sid elined wit h mechanical tr ouble at th e h alfwa y m ark . Sm ith a nd Ro b ert s str etc hed o u t their lead in th e closing laps , leaving Robert Winte rs a nd Ray Hempstead t o fight for t hird pl ace. RES UL TS 1. D avid Smith 2. Ken Roberts 3. Robert W in ters 4. Ray Hempstead 5 . Ron Pierce 6. Jerry G reen 7. Marty Lund 8 . Jean L ysigh t 9. H arr y Co ne 10 . Fred G uttner 11. Jerr y Ch ri stop her 12. Jim Odom 13 . Robert Pepper 14 . Dua ne McDa niels 15. Bruce Shoemaker 16 . Jim Metrando 1 7 . Gary McGoron 18. Ken Molyneux 19. Robert Sharp 20. Steve Baker Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Vam Yam Vam Vam Vam Kenny Rob erts/ Oave Smith dual. Smith (20) eked out the win. RONNIE DOnLEY (YAM) TAKES 100-MILEJUNIOR CONTEST Byj ack Man gus DAYTONA , FLA., Mar ch 10, 19 72 Ronn ie Dottlev, a Yamaha-mounted rider fro m Birmingham, Ala., set a new average speed record of 10 3 .3 16 mph on his way to winning Ihe 100-mil e Junior race. Don ley, who had finished second in the Novice race at Daytona in 19 70 : stayed with early leader Jerry Greene a nd held off .J ames Chen for h is first Jun io r victory. \ Do tt ley, Green e and Chen swappe d t he lead over 25 times and Greene ap peared to b e estab lish ing a n edge u nt il h e was fo rced ou t on the 17t h la p with mec ha n ical prob lems . Che n then p ick ed up th e p ace, and h e and Do tt le y contin ued 10 swap the lead u nt il the 24 th la p . wh e n Cheri 's Honda fairing NOVICE RR TO 250 Combin ed Winters b egan moving away in the last five laps to take third. Bot h ro de Yamahas . Smith and Roberts continued 10 swap the lead right up to the wire. On t he final lap Smith led by th ree feet co rning o ut of the infield a nd o n 10 the hig h b an k, bu t coming out on the b ac k straigh t Roberts go l by. He moved out strongly on the hack stretch, and it appeared that the rookie Expert wo u ld do it again. But Smith wasn' t having any as he swep t by in t he last tu rn to lake th e checkers by four lengths, The winning Yamaha was the same machine ridden las t year by Kel Carrut hers when he dominated the 250 even ts. Oave Smith-hard fo ugh t victory cul minates a strong dri ve begun in 19 7 1. Ronn ie Dott lev ce lebrates his Junior win. • started wob bling in th e b reeze. Chen backed off the pace and Dottley pulled away 10 take Ihe checkered n ag and $2 ,050. J ean Lysigh t , wh o had been closely following Dott ley an d Ch en, look advantage of Chen's fairi ng p roblem and slipped by to nai l second p lace . Ca nadian rider Lysight wa s aboard a 25 0 Yamaha as wa s Do t t le y an d five other 10 1' te n finis hers. T he o ne -tw o Yamaha pe rforman ce tu rned o ut to b e a fo recas t of th in gs to come over the weekend as th e potent 350's p ro ved, o nce aga in , th at it d oesn 't lake a 75 0 mul t i 10 wi n. SCOII Aut re y to o k fo u rth pl ace heh ind Che n a nd Milch Murra y pl aced fifth . Both riders were a board Yam ah as. Nick Stevenson (H-D) was a fir st lap casualty , as th e Temple Hills, Md. ride r un lo ad ed coming off t he oval in to th e in field . S teve Da lga rno, riding th e Gar y Nixo n E n terprises ex-Gary Fishe r Jess Tho mas T riump h. was impressive in h is road raci ng debut . Dalgarno dueled with Jim Co therman, a lso on a Triu mp h , u n t il a b ro k en co nnec ti ng ro d p UI him out o n lap 2 1. Cotherman finish ed • sevent h b eh ind J e ffrey March , RE SU LTS 1. R o nni e D aU ley 2 . Jean L yslght 3 . Jam es Chen 4 . Sco tt Aut rey 5 . Mit ch M urray 6 . Jeff March 7 . Jim Cather man 8. T om S chroeder 9 . Manuel R adb ord 1 n . Jo h n G ree n Vam Vam Hon Vam Vam Vam T rl Vam Hon Yam