Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ ALDANA MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW was evening . trialed br acket , that fast racing. to c o me No in the in a the . > ::E ;= '" w Z W ..J U and >- U has been trying to again fincJ th e groove here, to pped Hateley , Ge ne Romero and I\lel Lacher in the opening h ea t race . Rockwood co untered in the second hea t by co ming fro m third p lace with less than tw o lap s to go to defe a t Gilles p ie, Ro n Moo re an d Dave Se h l, A ldana was in the third beat, rid ing a four-in-a -ro w w in strea k, losin g h is heat race on ly on ope ning nigh t. Ilu t Llo yd Hou chins was th e man that put it on A lda na alo ng with Oregon's l\Iark Williams. Hou chin s h ad it wo n until the final few yards wh en so me th ing h appened to the mach in e. He fini shed fo urth. Williams ca me on to win with Dew ay ne Keete r sh in in g for th e o n ly t ime during th e program, takin g second . Aldan a ran th ird most of th e way an d transferred t o the Semi. R oad racer Mik e Lane m ade h is firs t ap p ea rance as a dirt tr ack Expert an d found o u t th e hard wa y one can no t, especi ally as a rookie, sp ot th e Ascot aces in four wee ks o f com petitio n. Mik e stu ffed himself in to t he n orth t urn wall earl y in th e fin al he at. Then he t rie d to get back into the race , but ran in to an other rider - in the p its!! Re feree Kellam wisely told Mike to try again next week. A ldana, R omero and Moore then ran one- twa- th ree in the Sem i with Can adi an Dave Sehl unable to fini sh high en ough for a transfer to th e final. The T rophy Dash was again Aldan a, Lawwill , R ockwood an d toppin g Ha tel ey . It was th e N orton rider's second Dash vic to ry of the year. Gi llespie, wh o h ad lo st th e heat race on the final lap to Rockwood, loo ked like he wanted t o ta ke it all in th e Expe r t fin al. He an d roo kie Ron Mo ore to ok off an d ran one- tw o fo r the first six lap s. T he n A ldana fo und th e q ui ck way aroun d th e slick ova l an d to ok ove r second from Moo re on lap seven. Two pos it ions changed on lap nine ' with A ldan a ta king the lead and Law will th ird place, be hi nd mo vin g into Gillespie . Hou ch ins was also mo vin g fro m the back and t o o k over fou rth p lace . R omero , Ha te ley and Rockwo od we re not finding th e track to their lik ing and we re all working their way toward the back on eac h lap . Lawwill boomed in to second in the late laps but was to o la te to ca tc h Aldan a wh o scored his third straigh t Main Event win for Haro ld Allison . It w as Mert 's .... N res t of the less than five riders time the twen tv two second mos t that 'b ave ever gone single night of Friday nig ht As cot, N ".j ~Iert Lawwill and Tom Ro ckwood raced ea ch o th er for fast time ho nors with Lawwill, the officia l one lap t rack record holder, edging Tom by a t ick o r two of the clock . Back of these two came Dave Aldana and John Hateley . Lav...-w ill, who' learned his ra c in g at C> ~ GARDENA, CALIF., ~I ay 13, 1972 The doors opened with a bang a t Ascot with the time trials givi ng the notice of wh at . " e, best sh owing in The ta lent- loa de d Expert Ma in sliding through th e first turn. Gillespie leads, for a while. ap p ea rs to be catch ing on to dirt a little mo re eac h wee k. The final had V isalia's j irn Keen er u p - fro n t ea rly with Rick Hoc king a close seco nd . Gennai, riding like it was o nly a three lap event, instead o f eig h t. m oved in to second o n the th ird lap . and departed fro m , h is machi ne o n th e fou rth lap . Re n slow to o k ove r second fro m Hockin g bu t Ric k ca me b ack o n lap six to gra b it back , p assing Keen er for th e lead on lap seven. Re ns low the n became ove r-eager. got in to tro uble an d kno cked o u t all chanc es of his first win. Ho ckin g scored fi rst wit h Keen er second, Renslow third and Guy Bailey, fou rth . Renslow and Ge nna i we re ca ught by th e st arte r, and started from the row three penalty line . (Resu lts on page 36) All The Way To San Jose a professional race sin ce 19iO. Gillespie he ld on fo r third with Houchins in fo urt h an d Mo o re running fifth . The Junior cla ss is great a t Ascot this yea r. Gr eat , du e to th e fact th at a number of riders are giving a display of talent d epending on wh ich Fr id ay night Novic e Ma in victor Rick Hocking hangs it out . v ou watch. . Larry Gino has bee n consisten t this yea r but had not won . He did it this week and became the sixth Junio r in six Friday nights to win th e ten lap J unio r fin al . The Triump h rid er fro m San Bernard ino watche d an d waite d beh ind Steve Nic hols and the waitin g p aved off on the seventh "lap . Larry went on fo r th e w in . Nic hols was so shaken th at he fell on the las t lap, tryi n g to ca tc h u p . Po in t lea de r Tom H ort on finis hed second w ith Io wa's Steve Dros te mak ing his best effo rt at A sco t and gaining a th ird p lace . J ust wh en everybody w as read y to give the en tire: Novice . season to J ohn Cennai, a ne w face appeared on the scene which may change it all. lie's ano th e r No r thern CaL lad bv th e name of Mi ke Re ns low. Like Gen ;' ai , he also rides a Yamaha. Mike was p itte d aga inst John in th e hea t race . Genn ai had never lost a five: lapper a t Asco t thi s season . Ren slo w ca ugh t, p assed and w on th e h eat, going away. Genn ai fo un d himself in the Semi fo r the firs t time this year an d easily won that, but was pushed slightly by road racer loward l:yox aar d • wh 0 -Smili ng Tom Rockw ood sees somethi ng fu nny . Fran k Gill espie checks it out. ~liIe tracks d o co me b ack . For th e first tim e sin ce 195 8, th e Fa irground s ~li l e in San J ose w ill host Natio n a l mil e ac tio n. Th e trac k is designed w ith th e lo nges t stra ightawa ys of any mi le th e ride rs have raced in th e past tc n years. The rid ers and mach ines h ave ad ded the tou ch th at is n eeded. In four previou s dirt trac k eve nts o n the nati on al ci rcu it this seas o n. two T'I's. a short tr ack and a milc , fo u r differ ent ride rs o n fou r differ en t brands of equ ipme n t have come up winners! The ty pe o f chain a promoter looks for . Over $ 20,OUU in p urse an d co n tingency moncy is u p for grabs for the event tha t will h o ld practi ce an d time trials in the mornin g. Racin g starts at2: 15p m. On ly two riders are st ill active who c ompe te d in the '58 mil e . T ha t year S ammy Tan ner was a ro o kie fi rst yea r Expert and Dick Man n was st ill looking for his first National win. Both are officiallv en teredo The ti cket gates and grandstands will be open to the public at 9:00am o n Sundav. If and wh en the seats are all sold, the infield will the n b e open fo r standing-roo m tickets. Bet ween 15 an d 20,000 people are expected to view the on ly mile track event on the west coast th is year. Every dirt t rack Nati on al winner fro m last seaso n and this y ear, with the exception of the inju red Bart Markel, is official ly entered.

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