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/141049
N N " '" '" D. FISHER TAKES·JUNIOR-EXPERT COMBINED by Gary and Joanne Van V oorhis ' Ph otos by Ga ry Van Voorhis DAYTONA , FLA ., Mar . 19 , 19 73 Yam ah a held off th e dreaded Greeni es o f Kaw asaki to sc ore an o th er victo ry in the 25 0 Lightweight Combin ed for th e ninth co nsecu ti ve year . Gary Fis he r and Don Castro led a o ne -twa-th ree Yam ah a victory swe ep , with privateer John Lo ng taking third after ru nning o u t of gas on th e last lap . Alt hough Fisher claime d the w in wa s too eas y , there wer e times wh en h e felt the pressure o f being cha llenge d. Fish er an d Carru th ers swap pe d th e lead at the st art and b y th e chicane had ti gh t e n e d t he g r o u p i n to a Carruthers-fish er-Smith trio , fo llo we d closely by Ron Pier ce , Don Ca stro, John Lon g an d S te ve Baker, all o n Yam ahas. Art Baumann and Yvon DuHamel , riding together as teammat es fo r th e firs t tim e , were sn ak ing their Kaw asaki sing les thro ugh traffic at a vicious p ace , racin g ea ch o th er as well as th e re st of th e field. A t times th ey wer e side by side on the banking and into the turns , each daring the other to sh ut off fir st. By Lap five fisher had pulled out a good 100 yard lead on Carru thers, while teammat e Castro wa s holding off a pre ssing Dave Sm ith . Carruthers p ack ed it in on lap seven whe n his engine sucked a gas ke t an d siezed, ope ning the fif t h spo t for Jo hn Lon g, last year's Novice win ner. Mean whil e, from 74th M ..... en ci N '" ::; ~ W Z W ..J o > o Gary F isher; after running fr om Jarno he wo uld say. " I guess I 'm a world champ ion:' F isher leads some very heavy talent ear tv in the race. I ncredibly . Cast ro leads Carruthers (73k pl ace at th e sta rt, Gary Nixon had spe d in to 27th and was pickin g up tw o o r three places a lap: By then the co n te st had se t tle d down into a long, strung o u t affair with many mini races within t he bi g on e. DuHamel a n d Baum ann wer e still pla ying catc h -me , John Lo ng andD ave Sm ith were having a tight duel fo r th ird with Ron Pierce j ust wa iting for a mistak e, and Don Ca stro w as tryi ng his damndes t to close th e gap b et ween himsel f and Fishe r . C astr o , alt ho ug h n ot kn o wn primarily for his prowess as a pavem ent racer, was mak ing beli evers o ut o f man y peopl e and, in th e process, frustra tin g th e hell o u t of road raci ng speci alists behind him. J ohn Long put an end to Castro 's reign in seco nd place by o u t braking him into tum one on lap 18 and se tti ng his sigh ts o n Fishe r , wh o ap pe ared unaware that th e Castro-Lon g dice had sh o rtened th e length of hi s lead co n side rab ly . Nixon had moved into 14th b y this time , right on th e rear wheel o f his "Dirty" teammate Jerry Greene. The DuHamel -Baumann duel wa s being interrupted b y a mere yo ungs te r nam ed J im Evan s, who had apparen tly never heard that th e Kaw s were not to be mes sed with. Evans spli t th e duo on th e ban kin g wh er e h e h ad mo re p ow er, bu t the Gr een ies us ua lly led in th e Gary Nixon started 74 th. The on ly way to go was up.