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/141037
.., ~ '" ~ e, N .... ..... ~ N ~ ~ Ul .. ~ C .., • ~ w 2 w ..J U ~ U By Tad Rafferty Photos by Gary Van Voorhis INDIANAPOLIS , IN D., J u"n e I I, 1972 - Calvin R ay bo rn owns Ind ian apo lis Raceway Park, except perhaps the 3 ,000 foot front straightaway, which has been cla imed by Do n Garlits. The sad fa ct is that Ca l has had to work a b it h ar der for maybe o ne -ten th the p urse (compared with NH RA championship d rags) in front of abou t one- fiftieth , as man y spectators. Rayborn (H-D) h as no w won the Ind y Natio nal fou r t imes in a row; '67, '68 , '69 and this year. His only rea l com p e ti t ion was Yvon Du Ham el (Kaw), wh o had to pit on lap ten after run n in g away from th e rest of the field with sp arking p lug malad y . DuHamel and R ayborn h ad each won thei r heats, but sin ce th e Canadian 's time was nearly nine seconds faster, hi s earl y lead came as no surprise. Gary Nix on (Ka w) and Gary Fish er (Ya m) led th e d rag race in to th e fir st tum with th e advantage to Nix on go in g in and to Fish er co m ing a u t of th e lon g righ t-hand sw eep er an d in to th e esses , DuHamel got away slowly , but af te r o ne lap he was closing ra p id ly o n Fish er and moved to the front on the second lap. DuHamel b egan st retching o ut for the ne x t fo ur tours, bu t Ray bo rn had moved fr om fif th place to second in the sam e: int erim. Now it ge ts good. On th e seventh lap Calvin had m oved with in ho ilerin ' d istance of Yvo n , and Masahiro \\' ad a Was on speaking terms with Calvin. Wad a is em ployed by the Kaw asaki folks as a test rider. He fin ished eleve n th at Laconia last week. Meanwhile Ro n Pie rce was p reparing to join the debate o ver second posi tion . . Pau l Smart an d Gary Nixon were h oldin g th eir Kaw asak is in fou rth an d fifth spo ts d uring this period, but they weren 't close eno ugh to see th e littl e p uffs o f blu e smo ke fro m Du Hamel 's bik e wh en he go t on and off th e throttl e. Rayb orn, of co urse. noticed th e pretty lit tle clo uds and moved up for a close r look . In to th e s tra igh t on lap n ine Calvin moved fo r Yvorr's vacuum . bu t Du Hamel tw it ched h is ma chine to th e le ft an d h ugged th e pi t wall to lea d b ack into th e twi sti es (and bumpi es). This. of co urse , m akes hi m a Can adi an draft resist or. But DuH ame l had o bviously slo wed, an d R ayb orn moto red by him out of th e carou sel an d in to the left han der opening o n the front straight. DuH am el pulled into th e pits o n th e nex t lap for ignition rep airs. For five laps he had run a t 84.94 mph, a new lap re cord. Rayborn now held the lead and n obody got close enough to ask him to move o ve r for the next hundred miles. DuHamel got b ack out in ab out Yvon led for a bit until he lost a plug. T hen Calvin came around. Paut Smart (8) leading Nixon 191. Pierce (9 7 ) and Fisher ( 10 1.