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
HAMPION FOR NUTHIN! _ figh ting fo r second pl ace. Th e ave rage sp eed at the end of . t en laps was 100.0 9 5 MPH. While N ix on lapped sm ooth ly and Grant and Perry's fight fo r second moved th em up closer to the le ad er on each lap, many other battles for p os iti on were taking pl ace in th e field. Sa arinen and Gary Fishe r were scrat ching for fourth place with Fisher taking th at p osition away from the Finn o n th e twelfth lap . Pol e p os it io n winner Paul Smart, 'after a slow start, passed Saarinen on the fo urtee n t h lap to tak e fifth and R on Pierce also moved by Jamo to drop th e 250cc World Champion d own to sixth . Smart, who had won th e pole by po sting a 101.871 MPH lap in q ualify ing, slippe d by Fi sh er o n the sixteenth lap as Saari nen m oved by Pierce. Kel Carruthers, alo n g with Cliff Carr and Don Castro, h ad be en figh tin g over the 7-8-9 posit ions and their di cin g moved th em up as a group into the fight fo r the higher positions. Both Baumann and DuHamel had ~ w Z W ..J U >- U The weekend wen t to these tw o men. Gary Fisher see med to have the edge over wo rld champ Saarine n (1Q), but then the Finn fi nished where Gary broke . Close only cou nts in hand grenades. . th a t I'v e e ve r seen , to RAYBORN CRASH ES Rayborn , wh o man y conside r Am erica 's premi er roa d racer . -un loaded in the n ew ch icane on th e sa me lap that Sa arinen to o k the lead , an d su ffe re d a fra ctured cla vicle. Ca lvin, starting from th e th ird ,rowan , th e grid, had wo rk ed hi s way up to 10 th behind D ick Mann before unloading. On the sa me 32nd lap th a t saw Saarinen ta ke th e le ad and R ay bo rn get off, Gen e R ome ro re ceived the black flag. Romero h ad run out o f gas on th e co urse an d refue led usin g gas fro m a bike th at h ad been retire d. Burri to 's action s resul ted in hi s disqualification. A srn ilin g Romero jokin gly passed it off with, "It's j us t because I'm a Mexican. They j ust don' t like wetb ack s. Heck , down here in th e South a all these Baptists," " From th e 32 n d lap o n the, ra ce l"- ::; '" PIT STOPS THEN IT WAS JAR NO . '" M o N slowed by the la ck of fairing bubbles and eventually retired with , as Baumann pu t i t , "dirt in the slid es, and wha tever else happened in th e crash ," Catholic doesn't s tan d a c ha nce ag ainst " '" e, e> "re turne d to th e race, but b oth were Nixon , pushed by th e pressu re from Grant and Perry , h ad upped his lap spee ds to just under 10 1 MPH . Gra n l was th e firs t of the le ad ers to pit for fuel as h e ducked into th e pi ts on lap 17 , leavin g Perry alo ne in sec ond position foll ow ed by a cl os in g Smart, Fishe r, Saarin en and Pierce. Perry took th e lead on lap 19 as Nixon p itted fo r fu el. Nixon , after another of Team Hansen 's rapid fuel stops, returned to the race having los t on ly one position. The fo llo win g lap saw F isher pass Ni xon t o take o ver second b ehind Perry, and wh en Perry pitted for fuel on lap 20 , Fisher, winner of the 25 0 Combined race the previous d ay , to ok the lead. Nix on's Kawasaki seized o n the 2 1st lap and Pierce and S aarinen took over the second an d th ird p osition s, fo llo we d b y Perry wh o had als o pitted quickly. Yamah a fac to ry rid er Fi sh er led laps 21 th rough 25 and d uring that peri od both o f the forme r Ontario win ners, S ma r t ' a n d Norton- mounted J ohn Cooper re tired from th e r ace with mech an ical problem s. Perry regained th e lead on th e 26 th lap wh en Fish er pitted for fuel, ~u t Gran t go t h y Perr y on lap 2 7 and t ook th e lead fo llowed by Fish er an d Saa rine n. Fisher's cran k bro ke on th e 30th lap an d th e young Pennsylvanian wa lke d back t o t he p its fro m th e infield, passin g b y th e vic tory lan e he had hope d to occupy fo r the second day in a row . HI guess 1 started co unting the m on ey too earl y ," he said. Wh en complimen ted on his abili ty to lead Saarinen he smile d and replied, " Yeah, I guess I'm a world champi o n." T he man wh o Fisher h ad led aro und th e course fo r m an y laps, J arno Saarinen, to ok th e lead fo r good on the 32 nd lap when R on Gran t's bi ke broke. , S aa rin en, who h ad crashe d in pract ice at Ontario las t year and didn ' t race, brought a tremendous re p u tation wi th him fro m Europe. T wice durin g th e 1972 Eu ropean ro ad race seas on he had ' defea ted Giacomo Ag os tin i an d had w on the Mall ory Park "Race of th e Ye ar" in , England. His performance at th at ra ce p rompted Cal R ayborn t o say, " he's th e fas test thi ng o n tw o wh eels l"N , ~ Kawasaki teammat es Art.Baumann (30) 'e nd Yvon DuHamel stayed this close together all wee kend. They led early in the race and finally crashed togeth er, got up tog eth er, and continued together wi th ratty running engines. They we re clos e in the Comb ined , too . That's were this pho to was taken . " . .