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/141027
Holy Handlebars, Endicott Does It Again " '" '" Q. ,.. N en By Art Frie d man CA RLSB AD , CA LIF ., May 21, 1972 g' Bob En dicott did h is usual thi ng and ran >'" away wi th b o th big-bore events in ::;; today's ACA road race. After practice it looked as though he was goi ng to get w some competition from Jimmy Chen on 2 an 810cc Ho nda Four. J immy , who i£ w aJmost won the J u nio r event at Daytona U this year, was flying down the straigh t about 20 mp h faster th an Bob on his Ho n da 750 . Chen's Honda also had a d ual disc set up on the front brake. When th e flag fell on the 250-open Seni o r G P even t, Endicott shot away to take th e le ad. G oin g in to th e first comer, h ow ever, Ch en ou tb raked him and wen t by on the insi de . Then in th e second tum, "Rabbi t" Chen came up a littl e short of ground clearance and the 750's o f Endico tt, Dick Kilgroe (Kaw) , and Dennis l' egclo n (Kaw) opened up a lead . Chen wasri 'j, ve ry conce rned , however. since he had just co me ou t to ..J >- U tes t his new mach ine s. He wasn 't about to be sen t h om e in a sponge for a t roph y . So the p urs ui t of En dicott wa s left to Kilgroe . Fo r aw h ile it lo ok ed like l' egelo n rnigh t do some go od, bu t then h is le ft intake ma ni fold went zu t , and he went ou t about th e same tim e that J ohn Gallagher on th e o nly 5 0 0 fell over com ing o ut of th e h airpin and mad e his ignit ion syste m sto p igniting. End ico tt w on as u sual with Kil gro e second, also as usu al. Bru ce lI ammer (Yam) was the first :;5 0 in. He spen t th e en tire race lock ed in a di ce wi th Neal Cobe n (Yam) wh o won the 2 50 class. The ir dice ca rried the m p ast Ch en wh o seemed to be havin g a good tim e an d ta king it easy . Earlier in th e dav En d icott also w on th e Op en Produ cti ~n even I. T his time . th ough , it was Pegelo n th ut was chasing him. Until a throttle slide st uc k wide open on him, Pegelon stayed wi thin striking di st an ce of Endicott. He did so me nice wheelies o u t o f the co m ers and off the hill leading into the hairpin . Whe n Dennis retired Kilgroe moved into the second slo t. Behind h im , Chen (l1on 500) and Mike Devli n (Yam 35 0) d uked it o u t. Che n finally got th e flag first. Second spo t in th e 5 00 Class was fo ught over tooth and nail. Bob Crossman (Suz) had go tte n a lea d at th e st art over Chuck Strohmen ger (Ka w) . T hrough th e 20 lap s, Strohme nger closed . T he Su zuk i had a good deal more b rakes bu t the Cow showed its extra ho rse s on the straight, On the last lap Chuck go t by . T he n Jimmy Chen was protested and withdrew, mo ving Stro me nge r to the w inning position. Endicott finished wi th co rd showing o n his rear tire. Crossman found revenge in th e Juni or GP class. He led o ff the line and That is a very sana looking 125. J jrnmvCh en had a ground clearance probl em because he was using a Slack rear wh eel. Th e f ront one was very trick how ever. S tro hme nger was never ab le to catch him. Jun Yamada o n his 250 Yamaha TD-2 d id, h owever, an d lo o k the whol e b all of grease . J oe lk egami o n h is Yamaha 350 w as creep ing up o n Cr ossman b ut co uldn't q uite close in twe nty laps. O ne of the lo w poin ts of th is race was the girl on the "Adrenalin 380". She had been qui te predic table , although slow , in the Produ cti on even t. In the GP go, th ou gh, she almo st ca use d acc ide n ts twice . Sh e ran S troh me nger o ff a t the top of the h ill whecn she m oved over to let another ride r by . She was never even aware of Chuck's presence . She di d it to another ri der while we watche d . It wouldn't be so bad, b ut she is so slow that the leaders are passing her every three or four laps. Sp eaki n g if ad re n alin , th ere is a sign alo ng side th e track at the top o f the hill th at says "S low. 15 mph. Two way traffic," Hope nobody sees th at ju st before th ey ge t airborne. T he ACA h as so me endurance races co m ing up du rin g J un e and July so ge t your bike d ialed in and ca tch up on you sleep. (Results o n page 38) Half a lap into the production event and Endicott already has a fair to mid dlin' lead. Devlin pursues.