Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.'" M '" e, N .... ~ M' " :> .., C ~ w Z W ...J C U >U Last year it was this close. After 100 miles. the whole thing became a 100 yard drag race between Kel Carruthers (73) and Mark Brelsford (7), THE SUPER BIKE BATTLE RESU ES LOUDON PREVIEW • • Reprinted from Cyclc News East On June 10 -11 the AMA National circuit will move to the mountains o f New Hampshire for the Laconia 100 -mile ro ad race National at Bryar Motorsport Park, Loudon, New Hampshire. The $ 25 ,000 tw o da y affair is the nin th (the cancellation o f th e Los , Al amitos hal f-m ile has not be en rep laced) National o n the sch edule and th e thi rd of seven ro ad races. A fu ll program of support races fills ou t the two days. Saturday w ill see th e Novices in a GO-mile rac e as well as th e J unio rs and Experts in a 75-mile co mbined even t on 250cc mach ines. O n Sunday th e J unio rs will co mpete in a GO-mile event prior to th e 3 pm 100-mile National , Mark Brelsford (H-D) beat Kel Car ruther s (Yam) by a matter of fee t in last year's action-packed race, T h is year could prove to be even more e xciti ng. The pot h as been sweetened to 18 ,0 00 for the 63-lap National over th e twisting I.G m ile tra ck th at is one o f th e true rid er co urses in the Ll .S , Lac on ia h as no real powe r straigh 15 like Dayto na and Ro ad Atlanta, Each straigh t is capped by a co m er making handling more important than brute p ower. A top rid er with a small machine can win or be h ighl y co mp eti tive ; Kel Carruthers sh owed what it to ok last year. This ye ar the cas t of characters is widely varied. Kawasaki, fresh from a conceded one-two finish at Atlanta will be out for a real victory . Team Hansen mem bers DuH am e l and Nixon are tw o of th e best pure road racers in the U.s. and have raced a lot of miles at Laconia in previous years. This will be Paul Smart's first look at the track but it is closer to a European co urse than other American tracks, so he ma y feel righ t at home. Triumph-BSA must have had someone work ing overtime to get the extra horses they h ad at Atlanta. Dick Mann (BSA) fin ished third in last ye ar 's race and is very familiar with th e track as well as being o ne of th e most experienced riders aro und. Wat ch Bugs very closely . Hard charging Gene Romero (T ri) will be o u t to gathe r to p points an d a share o f th e lo ot . The long aw aited debut of th e new all alloy vee-twin 750 from Harley p rove d th at i t w as well worth waiting for. Mark Brel sford rolled to a second p lace finish in the Col o rad o mile an d then ran away fro m th e co mpe tition in the TT National a t Garden a. California. Lac o nia will be th e firs t road race for the new H-D and both Brel sford and teammate Cal Ray born sh ould be high ly co m pe titive. Honda riders G ary Fish er and R oger Reiman see m to h ave found th e elusive reliab ility th a t Ho n da has been missing fo r m o re th an a year. Fish er is a real h ard charger an d a real co mp e ti tor; he never ceases to amaze. S uzuki will not be a t Lac on ia. T hey have n ot ye t been able to rebuild their machines so that th e head s me et AMA requirernen ts. To allow th e use o f th e stock cy lin der he ads. new cylinders will h ave to be made and tested . an d th ere just is not time. The last of the factory teams may well h ave the best chance of all. Yamah a. although raci ng an underpowered (350cc) machine, has han dling. re liability and Kel Carruthers. Daytona was a bitt er d isappointment for newly appointed racing developmen t chief, Carru th ers as he managed a to tal of only nine laps in two races. That, plus an asso rtrnen t of bugs, gremlins and pla in b ad luck took it s toll . Atlanta put ( Yamaha back in to stride with Carru thers and rookie Kenny Roberts picking up a sixth and seventh . Team size alone could be a factor wi th Carruthers. Roberts, Keith Mashburn and J im adorn on the grid. Don Em de served n otice to th e factories that this could well be the year of th e independent. Hi s Mel Dinesen prepared Yamaha was a gian t kill er at Daytona. Dave Smith is n ow rec overing fr om a .p ost ra ce accident after Atlanta and sho uld be rid in g the same Ves co milch inc t hat Carruthers to ok to a second p lace fini sh last year. Ray He mpstead is ano ther private er who h as .r -. been consisten t, His second and eleventh place finishes on the pavement this year arc what put him into the top ten riders so far. The 250 co mbined will probably fa ll to Carruthers on ce again but this time it won't be so easy. Ro n Pierce (back on Yamah a after a ye ar on Suzuki) gave Kel a run fo r th e money at A tlan ta and Dave Smith, Kenny R ob erts,.J ohn Lane and Jerry Greene arc breathing hard not far behind. So that's the run down. An yon e can win . Th e factori es arc vulne rable the independents are hot. Sh ould be a helluva race. DEALER S; Contact us direct for im m edia te ship ment. We have bikes . . . II ~I , : . Last year's winner's circle foun d Mark Brelsford all smiles. wh ile Bugs Mann (4 ) . Ke l Carruthers (73). and the referee seem to be wiping away their tears. If you -or your youngster - started out on mini-bikes and demonstrated some natu ral bent for cycling, it may be time to moue up. Not to tile full-size bikes, but to mini-cycles. Some have already " graduate d " - bit found han dl in g and power of the imported mid-ran ge bikes not u p t,', their needs. The STEEN Mini-Mo tocro sser fills the bill as the bike must likely to -succeed; it's a 3,4-scale "big job" that handles with the best and uses a lOOcc Hodaka 5-speed engine for plenty of power plays on the field of you r choice: trails, motos, desert, scrambles. whatever! The 'Cross-Hundred was tested by leading magazines, with straight-A scores. Isn't it time you graduated ? X~100 ON T HE COURSE Bry ar M otorsport Park is a twisting 1.6 mile true road course. The start-finish (A) leads into a so ft left han d tum followed quickly by a t ight right and another soft left leadi ng ont o a (B) rising straight. A ha rd right turn (C) sets the riders up for the up hill straight pri or t o the fast d own hill right hand sweeper connected by a short power straight before slowing f or a tight left hand power curve. The back • ~traight leads past the p its (01 and int o the fina l corner. a fast banked right-hander. then out and into a short straight to the finish line . ~v~~~o~ BOX 2276 AL AMORA. CALIFO MIA 91003 ij 21 1289·4351 3

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