Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

N '" C> '" e, N ..... C> Norton ight Features Gillespie, Aldana s: '" w 2 w ..J U >- U Gillespie leads a heat as Jody lIIicholas (581 makes a lunge to get to the inside. By Maureen Lee Photos by Dan Mahoney GARDENA, CAL., June 16 , 1972 - It Was a Norton kind of nigh t as the big machines took both the Main and the Trophy Dash. Eariier in the evening, o n an extremely bumpy track, Dave Aldana and Frank Gillespie made it to the Dash by setting identical times of 23 .~ . Gillespie grabbed the lead .foll owed by Mike Haney, Aldana and Chuck Thielke. Haney couldn't stave off Aldana who finished second, b ut Gillespie was the winner. Coming to the line fo r the Main, the crowd an ticipated a real battle between Gillespie and Aldana. Unfortunately, .lady Nicholas had to he discounted as his Harley was ohvlously handling very poorly . You don't see tank slappers on the straightaway very often hut on the eighth lap, it caught up with him . He cracked the wa ll in the south turn, ending the race as a spectator from the top of it. Taking the lead again was Gillespie with Aldana righ I after him and Mike Haney (T ri) tryin g t o break the Norton domin ation, and the race was on. On the nin th lap Mel Lacher (N or) dropped it but walk ed aw ay. On the twelfth, Idan a go t Gillespie after a good rid e on what w as almost a m otocross co urse in spots , very unusual for the Ascot half-mile. Gillespie so un ded sour corning down the straight. After the motor caught hold again , he could do no better than fourth beh in d one o f the better shows of th e night: Mike Han ey, who had his hands full with De\\'a yne Keeter (II-D). The Juniors had their share of troubles with the track. In the heats, Mike O'Brien had the bad lu ck to be behind a rider who slowed momentarily going into the south turn as they came off the line . He hit the guy's rear wheel and did a spectacular endo putting him out for the rest of the night, but he was able to limp off the track with assistance. The Semi Was a size-off between Tom Horton , the Triumph mounted pain t leader, and John Sperry on a Suzuki who showed in no un certain terms that a big two-stroke is equally as fast as the four-hangers. Terry Moriarty took a good lead but lost it going too high . It was all Horton and Sperry needed to shoot through and under. In the Main, it was the man o n the pole, Larry Gino (Tri) who took th e lead never to lose it aI tho ugh Brian LaPlante and Tom Ho rton gave it a good try. In the 250cc Novice class one sees more and more Harley's coming to the line as the warm weather and drier track conditions possibly off-set the horsepower loss to the twins and two-strokes, but it was a solid Yamaha Main with the exception of Bultaco rider Mike Danell and Kawasaki's Chris Smith. In the Main. Mike Dan ell reall y jumped the starter and got put ba ck for his efforts, along with Hank Scott, who . was able to overcome the disadvan rage better by ending fourth . In tw o laps he was up with the front runners who were busy chasing Rick Hocking, who won with approximately half a lap lead over Mike Renslow and Walt Foster. Gary Scott Sweeps Dayton Newsies By Gary Van Voorhis, Cycle News East DAYTON, 01110. June 16, 1972 Everyone carne up a winner at the second annual Old Time Newsies Half-Mil e in Dayton , Friday night. Gary Scott, Mike Johnson, and Steve Moorhead took the Main events: Ronnie RaIl Was the crowd favorite with h is rooster. tail style of riding, and and the Dayton Big Brothers, Cerebral Palsy Research Fund and the Miami Valley Hospital will share in the almost $ I 5 ,000 raised. Cary Scott arrived late fro m practice at Ind y for the weekend road race National adding to a top field of Experts including Larry Darr. Rex Beauchamp, Doug and Dave Schl, Californians Terrv Dorsch, Tom Ro ckwood , Ted ' Newton, and Suzuki-mounted Ronnie Rail. The program began to take .fo rm as Experts Dave Sehl (II- D) and Ted Newton (BSA) broke the old qualifying record of .lady Nicholas. Mike Johnson (BSA ) set fast Junior time an d Tom Cummings (Yam) Was fast iii ovice heat winner. Fran k Gi llespie ( 76 ) and Dave Aldan a provid ed mo st of the up-front act ion among the I: xpert s, taking the Dash and Main respectively . .... . .. 4 . . • • • •• ~ . . . . . -- .. • .. • . . . . • ... .. .. o6,' • • ,~ ' • ... ~ •• <10 • to • • •• • •• T he p its were fr an tic with act ivity p rio r to th e Semi's. Gary Sco tt chang ed to an improved trick Go od year. Ronnie Rai l. cloc ked third fas tes t Expert ti me F but decid ed th at his gearing Was due fe 3"(Tn-.J1l ~(, •• • • " r :', ... .. .. : at Scott swept his Semi while Rail swept past Ro ckwood. pulled his rooster-tail act in turns three and four and blasted to the n ag. The Novi ce final was a Tom Cummings, Steve Mo o r e h ead production with Moorehead the winner and Cummings the runner up . . The .I unior final line d up as a real battle. Last year's third and fourth ranked Novices, Dale Furst and Mike Jo hnson, diced with Bert Cummings. At the nag it Was Joh nson all th e way wi th Furst and Cummings close behind. Cummings and Furst d ueled the en tire race un til Cu mmings lost it in turn four on lap ten and sma cked the fence. Johnson took the ch eckered m aking it two wins here (last ye ar 's Novice event) in two years. .Iohnson was riding Ted Newton's spare BSA because Fren chy Le Blanc was riding Johnson's Triumph after Frenchy put assorted dents into his bike in practice . Larry Dahr (H .D) took th e lead in the Expert final followed by Ted Newton and C ary Scott. SCali moved into second on lap two with Newton" close behind, followed by Mark Williams. Rail . and Dave Sehl, Sco tt made his move o n lap five go ing und er Darr in tum o ne and ope ne d up a lea d. Ted i ' ew t o n closed on Scott in th e fin al laps bu t co uld never seem t o get close en o ugh to p ass. S co t t h eld on [ 0 the ch ec ke red ; -

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