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
OJ ~ w Z w -' U >U By J ohn Bethea Ph o to s bv Bet h ea. Dr echsler. Fo wle r and Spen ce r S.\X JOS E. CA L.• ~ Iay ~ 1. 1 9 i ~ - J im Rice: the man wh o Sacra mento 's mil e tr ac k lashed ou t at in 19 i D af ter h e desperatel y made a bid for a t ransfer sp ot at th at 5D -~lile ;\"ation al...Jim R ice. wh o wo n a non-Xational ~lile whil e being denied the victory circle in points-paying events in 19 i 1...Jim Rice . runn in g fift h on lap tw o a nd up to fourth on lap six. Rice w as b ein g upst aged by a ve t a nd th e ro o k, Dic k ~Iann and Kenny R oberts. !l oth were ca u gh t b ack in the field af ter I -~ second row starts. but soon beg an ro cke tin g thro ugh the rank s b y th e time th e eigh th -lap injury to Ri ce occurred. ( R ice followe rs ins ist it hap pened on lap e ight, bu t taped reco rdi ngs seem to substan tiate it was lap ni ne , three lap s --~ Jim R ice, winner of the San Jose M ile, moves up . laps with o u t th e us e o f hi s left side . li e has just passe d Gr and Xu tional C ha mp Dic k M an u, wh o is just as h igh ly exci ted w ith the h o p e 0 1 winn ing hi s fi rs t Mi le Xa tional. What isJim Rice d oing? The imp os sib le ...a nd h e' s succeed ing! Less th an th ree lap s rem ain ing and the desperatel y crazcd-w i th-des ire Rice turns hi s privately sp on sored BSA on a little m ore. Fift een ya rds. 10. a nd n ow eigh l. Robert s, fe eling- th e o nrus hing pres sure. turn s the w ick up . to o . :..tann is u nab le t o keep up an d begin s to ever-sa-slightly drop off the p ace. Rice , usin g the same instin ct th at garnered re-p assed Ri ce in th e tough, h ol e-st udded t urns. R ice ca nno t q uu . Fast e r. fast er. D o wn the b ac k ch ute, Rice p u lled p as t the Y am a h a and regained the pain t, on inst inc t alo ne . shu tti ng o ff las t. Kenny can' t h old b ack. He whip s th e th ro ttl e on a n d co mes out of the third tum side-by side w ith Rice . "It 's go ing to b e a race t o th e finish !" cried the announcer , bu t experien ce prevailed . ' . Rice sh u ts off fo r an ins tan t o n th e last tu rn , Roberts d oesnt . Rice ge ts th e bite. Kenn y goes sidewa ys an d lose s a ll th at h ard -earn ed gro u n d -. Rice win s it him the sec ond Exper t Il eat wi n in a co me- fro m-be h ind fash io n . turns on th e carbure to r flo w a bit mo re . T h e pain ? F or J im to d o th is, h e mu stn 't hav e felt it at the tim e , showing h ow b ad it really w a s, Adren alin is flowing at the m aximum rate an d Roberts seems to have th e advantage. . Down th e fron t straight Rice moved 1I1 to the le ad to take the w h ite nag but Ro berts ' reserve is to o mu ch as he and R o b ert s has to se tt le , re luc ta n tly , for second. M an n rolls ac ross th ird. I t 's victo ry ci rcle time and Ric e is apparently makin g h is victo ry lap . Not SQ. Northern Califo rnian corresp ondent Bill Spen ce r rel ate s: "On the eig h th lap . in th e com er ove r here. he ( Rice) went throu gh and he was too cl ose in an d h e hit the guatQ ra il w it h his shou ld er a nd it probably .'fpped h is sho u lder o u t of its sock e t. He [rod e Mark Brelsford hangs it out and hangs on. w ho won the first Nation al Mile o f th e 19 72 season three we ek s ago at Co lorado Sp rin gs while com p le tel y domina ting the f ield .. .Jim Rice , who h as los t he re at the San ta Clara Fairgrounds on th-e H al f-Mi le circuit only once in the past fo u r years ...to d ay possibly broke a collarbone an d pulle d his lef t shoulder out of its joint du ring an e ighth -lap co llision with the in sid e rail ing whil e runn in g fou rth a t the ~ 5 -L ap Mile Natio nal.. .and still WON!! Pick an adjective. I 've tried and none will su Ifi ce , J im Rice pu t on an unduplicated pe rfo rmance today , greater than any th is reporter has ever seen. It didn' t see m so when the facts were not reali zed . T h e Main w as a terrific d uel fro m the beginning an d Rice w as a la te -st age a rrival. G ary Sco tt, afte r turn in g in the fas tes t o ne-lap time of th e entire d ay ' s racing a t 39. 63 . w hile winnin g hi s h ea t goi ng aw ay. ca me into tum tw o of lap one in second but exited in th e lea d . Fo r th e ne x t 16 laps h e st ay ed the re, p icking up as m an y as I D yards of lead space per to ur. A ve ry ex cit ed and e xp ec ta n t H arley -David son contingent soon rested its hopes on Rex Bea uch am p , the second y ea r Exp er t, b u t he soon began to fade in th e o ns la ugh t the te rrifi c duels pr odu ced . And Ric e. A lso ap p earin g to b e o ff in th e early stages o f the Na tional wh ile after Ri ce h ad m o ved in to fo urt h . Wh a teve r .) At th at point, Ric c , still in fn u rth , lost a lo t of ground to Rob ert s . fif th, an d Mann, sixth , who began pulling up . With that pair dueling together. Ri ce officially entered the picture as being n o longe r an also ran o n lap I D, w he n h e zipped by a fast fad ing Fran k Gillespic, b ut q u ic k ly re-cxited the scene when Bu gsy and Ke n ny passed h im tw o laps later w hile Beauchamp. too. dropped off the pace . I t wo uld seem that th e now-injury ridden R ice was alm o st indignant at being zap ped lik e th a t. lIe dre w u p on all the re sources he could co mmand and stu ck in the re . Wh en Gary Scott 's Triumph b lew on lap I i, as m a n y h ad done earlier , Bugs foun d himse lf in firs t , bi dding for hi s first Mile ;\"ational win of h is .~ D-year career. But Ro berts was n't about to fade a nd th e eyes con tin ued to spo tligh t that duel. Re-enter Rice to pass Bea uc ham p o ne la ter lat e r but to q u ick ly re -ex it during th e nex t mile in wh ich Roberts za p ped M an n for th e lea d. Wh a t 's goi n g o n??? He re co mes R ice, us in g his o n ly good h an d to st ee r the ma c hin e over the hole-studded cou rse in a WFO p ositi on chasing Mann, Bam! Rice is in second and now, take not ic e. What drive s a man to the ex tremes? J im Rice h as been ru nnin g for a d ozen Sitting down on the track at 130 mph. Joyner does a job on his lea the rs.