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/141045
III N THE EAST HAS EVER SEEN .. & Q. M .... C) o N -.0 ., u.. ~ w Z W ..J U >- U The money began in the heats and so did the antic ipation: try ing to be away first. Pat McCaul (48yl gets ready. Mike Kidd came home third on a 250 Bultaco. down. On the restart Gennai pulled another cannon-shot start, but wh a t ap peared to be braking problems in the cornell' put Hocking into the lead on lap one follo wed tire-to-tire by Ken Roberts (Yam ) , Mike Kidd (Bu l) , Pat McCaul (Oss) and Gennai. Hocking continued to lead through the midway point of the twenty lap event, but was feeling the presure of Roberts who stayed glued to his tail. The Hocking-Roberts duel was a study in co n t ras ts. Rick Ho cking: young, very quick, knowing the pressure was on more than ever before, riding with an immense concen tratio n, and never deviating fro m his tight lin e. Kenny Roberts: second year Ex pert an d a little wiser in the savvy of racing, eager to put hi mself into the winner 's circle but wise enough to wait for his opponent to make a mistake. Ro be rts squared the comers, exploding out a little raggedly, whi le Hocking methodically sta yed glued to the insid e line. Steve Dalgamo was steadily working his way up in the pack, taking advantage of others' mis takes. Dalgamo, trailed by Bill Schaeffer, swooped by Gennai on lap eigh t, taking advantage of Gennai's ill-handling ride an d a cras h by McCaul to take over fourth . The Hocki ng·Roberts due l con ti nued, and it seemed that Hocking would keep the MSG record of virtual u nknowns (on the East Coast) stealing the show. Roberts seemed to sense that . Hockin g wasn 't about to make a mistake, so he movcd closer on lap nineteen then stuffed his wheel inside in turns one-two 'causing Hocking to break concentration for a second. It was side-by-side down the back straight, but the advantage had transferred to Roberts by virtue of the inside line which he held whil e Hocking tried a last charge that left him less than a b ike length sh o rt. Roberts was cool in the victory circle, almost quie t. The d rama of clutch·~Ji pp in g and starter-reeding, twenty laps of total concentration had drained him. Two Yamaha Cups in two weeks - not a bad way to start a season. Rick Hocking lost bu t eve n in doing so he won . The second place by Rick coupled with the sixth place of rival John Gennai assured Hocking of the number one spot for the American Indoor Championship Series and to sweeten his nigh t there was the SI ,900 in lap money from the Final. ' Even Yamaha won since the two previous winners were on Bultaco an d Ossa respectively. But the biggest winners were the fans that t urn ed out for the best Sh or t Track racing the East has ever see n . and a Mini Race, of course They went around like this for 19 laps. Hocking in tha lead, colleeting the $100 per lap money; . Roberts squaring the corners, look ing for 8 mistake . On the last lap Roberts went underneath and ·loo k control - and the Yamaha Silver Cup. to serio us business: Mulder, Dorsch looks for an opening A sort-of monocoque short tracker. Wow l or someone to knoc k off .