Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

? GUESS WHO WO ASCOT'S HALF-MILE to '" '." '" '" Cl e, ~ 0" M . >- ::; ~ W Z W ..J U >- U Oregon's M ark Wi lliams gets by Ron Moore to take thir d in the final. GA RDEiXA . CA LIF., May 19. 19 72 Fo r the second s traigh t week Dave A ldana was defea ted in h is h ea t race but may be five laps is just not en ough time to get Dave and his Norto n warmed u p . By ~l ajn even t time the combination was red hot. Garv S cott returned to Asco t and posted the fas tes t time t rial , Me rt Laww ill, fast clocker two weeks ago, was second fas tes t w ith Oregon 's M ar k Will iams th ird and Tom Roc kwo o d , on a borrowed machine. taking fourth and last Trophy Dash sp ot. S cott then put it o n Aldana in the he al race that saw \rilli ams run third, Frank Gillespie in f ourth, and National p oint leader. Kenny Roberts. regulated to a di st ant fifth pl ace . The se cond he at , the fas test of th e night, had Lawwill and Roc kw ood run n in g away from th e rest o f the field with Lawwill in fr on t for his second straigh ( heal ra ce wi n. I t wa s the first he a t lo ss of th e month for Tom wh o h ad m ore trouble com ing la ter in the progr am. Scott looked like a su re w inner in the Trop hy Dash b ut crashed on the Nort l. turn . run ni ng in fro nt o f Law w ill, William s and Rockwood. William s th e n sho t b y th e fa llen rid er to sco re the wi n . It was on ly the second tim e an ou t-or-s ta te Expert has ever wo n a d ash eve n t ove r the lo cals. It d idn 't take lo n g for the action to start in th e Ex pe rt fin al. Al d an a jumped to an ea rly lead. Rockwood d id tw o en d oes on the first tu rn of the second lap bu t wa lked aw ay with a possib le inju ry to h is back that Was broken last Decem ber. Laww ill staved w ith Aldan a as S co tt pu lled off the track in the earl y laps , ap parent ly ha ving problems with the ma ch ine from th e das h spill. ~l ert was a ch a llenger u n til h is tro ttle stuck open mi dway in the race. T he forme r c hamp the n slacked off the pace and finished secon d for the second wee k in a row, I I w as A ld an a, scoring h is fo u rt h straight Mai n event w in . \\ 'iIliams fin ished third with Rob e rts in fourt h. Mike Kidd showed up from Texas, as di d Robert E. Lee . Kid d p assed Shorty Seabourne on th e last lap of the sem i to take las t tran sfe r t o the fin al, T he n the young ro o kie wen t o n to fini sh in sixth p lace. Lee ran las t in hi s hea t race an d ·failed to transfe r. T he Junior class finally found a rider who ca n win more than one ~l a i n event. Larry Gin o and his Triumph raced their . way to th e ~ l ain e ve n t win for th e second straigh I wee k . T he win also broke" tic in the Junior p oint stan d ing s be tw een Gino an d T om Hort o n. First Gin o d ef eated Ho rt on in th e heat race and then the two c ame ba ck \0 finish o n e-two in the yellow pla te fin al. H o r ton had \0 come from down the track to do it an d was close a t the finish, but not close enough. Arizona's Brian Lal'Ia n te w as the fastes t J u ni o r tim e trialer but cra shed on the first tum in h is he at race wh en a primary c h ain brok e. Del Arm our re turned from Denver to once again try fo r a win but fin ish ed fif th in hi s heat ra ce and missed a :\Iain even t tran sfer in th e Semi. On e ou t-of- sta te r who di d find suc ce ss \"..as Texan Jim R.. wl s. He ' i fin ishe d second in h is h ea t, b e h in d Tim Wolf and then ran third in th e Junio r fina l. b ack o f Hort on an d G in o . R awls sh ows mo re promi se with each atte mp t. John Genn ai go t b ac k in th e win gro ove in the Novice class and to ok his, Yam ah a to a heat and Main event win after being sh u t o ut the w eek before. ~li k e Rcn slow and Ric k H o c k in g, two o ther fell ow X o r th cr n Californ ia ri d ers , pushed an d tried a ll th e way in th e fina l bu t w ere u n ab le to p ull o ff th e up set th is w ee k. All three w on th ei r respective heat races and th en re turned t o to p the Novices fro m th e South all th e way in th e fin a l. Central C ali forn ia 's Jim Keen e r finis he d fo urth \0 ma ke th e sweep com plete . T h is w ee ke n d a t Ascot finds a do uble-header o n lap wit h the h a lf-m ile running on Friday n igh t and the return o f th e TT Steeplechase riders on Saturday eve ning. I t's an open wee k end o n the National schedule so the promise o f ,,11 the top aces is guaranteed for o ne o r b oth n igh ts durin g th e Memorial Day weekend. (Results o il page 3 8 ) Right : Tom Rockwood did a pair of endoes in the Expert Main and walked away from it. Blunt Makes T His rojan • ' t __ _.--_ _ ---- . ... ............ Mike R enslow holds the inside lin e in No vice com petition. Foster and Br ight take aim . . By A rt L oy a SOUTH G ATE , C A L" Mav 18, 19 72 Two spec tacular sp ills that saw both rid ers mirac ulously escape se rio us injuries h igh lighted a n eve n ing th at saw J am e y Blun t co m e fro m be hind to w in his th ird st raig ht 25 0 F.T. Mai n, an d h is second cons ecu tive 2 50 IT Main Eve n t a t T ro jan S peedway. A lle n Smi th lo st contro l of his Ossa goin g into th e first corne r on th e th ird lap of the F.T . fe ature, and b oth rid er and m achin e did a se ries o f roll s com in g to res t ncar th e cras h wall . Th ree lap s lat er, R oc ky Moral es went hi gh in a battle fo r fo ur th pl ace w ith Les Bomar (T ri) , and also lo st cont ro l in th e lo os e st uff hilling the c ras h w all with a terri fic im pact. Lu ckily , bo th riders suffe red mi n or inj uries , despi te h av in g to ca rry Mo ral es off th e track o n a stre tc he r d ue to p o ssible b ac k injury. S ta rting in th e b ack ro w , Blunt an d hi s Oss a cha rged through the field of · riders to move in to second p ositi on by th e e nd o f th e secon d lap behind leader, J im Mill e r (ass) . On the fourth lap , Blun t slip p ed under Miller com ing o u t o f th e come r, an d from th at poin t on co n tin u ed to stretch his advantage all the way to the checkered nag. In the 250 IT Main , Ha tel ey Was impressive , He to o k a n earl y lea d over Mille r (a ss) , ~I e dl in (a ss), and Bomar (Tri) , Blu n t was still a tte m p tin g to pic k h is w ay o u t of tr a ffi c fro m the b ack of a IO-ri de r fi el d. H a tel ey lo oked lik e a sure wi nne r as he contin ued to im press the fans w it h a fine rid in g pe rfo rmance. A t the h al f-wa y point, Blun t moved into secon d and se t h is sigh ts on H a te ley , Blu n t moved past Hatel e y an d w as on hi s way fo r a repeat performan ce. At th e c h ec ke re d , it was Mill er in for thi rd ah e ad of Bomar, a nd Corbett, Bob S anders ( Ka w ) fin all y found th e com pe tit io n th at brin gs ou t his be st riding performan ce in winning both th e 12 5 'r r an d r.T.Main E ven ts . lI' ith out an y hint o f a d oubt, the 100 IT ~I ain h ad t o go down as o ne of th e be st two-rider duels as D ave Luj an, rid in g m ore lik e an Expert than so me of th e Senior rid ers, o u tcl assed defending cham p io n , Sanders for six outst anding lap s o f ra cing for th e lead. H owever, Lu jan, who has never b een pressured as tonigh t, fin ally gave gro un d to Sanders on lap seven as Sanders literally wore down Lujan for the win. The third of a series of 50·lap championship races will be staged on June 1st for 100-I25ee bikes, and a second 50·lapper fo r a 250cc class bikes o n J une 15 th. ( Resu lts on p age 38)

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