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/141050
ex> '" " ." Gary and Burrito from Lap 13 to '" the f inish in 100 laps at Ascot. M e, .... en .... '" ~ ~ ~ w Z W ..J U >- U IT's of th e season, Terry Dorsch was the favorite, but lost his fr ont brake on lap three and th en had t o .sp en d so me time in th e p it s lat er ge tting a fla t rear tire ch anged . Dorsch en de d 16th o verall. by Maureen Lee GARDENA , CAL. , Mar, 18. 197 3 The 100 Lap IT a t As co t has alw ays been a favori te b ut was dis continued fo r th e last three yea rs while th e tr ack was undergo in g managerial upheavals. T hi s year, J. C. Agaj anian de cided to ho ld it again. T he race came in t o being in 1961 wh en it w as won by Dick Dorrest eyn , a rider ma ny co n side r th e best IT man ever . Dick' repeated in ' 62 and in '65. 1964 wen t to Clark Whi t e. S kip Va n Leeuwen to ok five of them, '63, '67 , '68, '69 and th e last on e in 19 70. Edd ie Mulder b roke up his wins b y winnin g in 19 66. T h is yea r it wa s to be yo ung Gary Scot t, who as a roo kie last y ear en de d second Nati onally and this year shows as a real h ot con tender for the Grand National Championship when he ge ts m ore road racing ex p er ie nc e . Interestingly enough, although Sunday's tra ck was slick and fast, the boys co uld n ' t beat the reco rd set at the last one by Van Le euwen of one hou r, 2 1 minutes 36.77 . Three years ago the mac hines weren't as sophisticated as they are today , either. Disc b rakes and the special frames had n o t yet come in to use so "The Flying Dutchman" still holds the 100 lap record by alm os t two minutes. Gen e Rom ero was in tum one first . Beh ind him were G ary Sco tt, Jim Odom, an d Tom Wh ite all o n Trium ph s. Dave Aldan a (11: or) was m o vin g u p through the pack an d looking good. By th e fifth lap Sco tt h ad mo ved up clo se to R omero an d was just sitting th ere w aiting while R ome ro, d em o nstratin g style , ra n like h is im proved 'IT clo ckwo rk w ith n o mi s-t a kes. On lap te n thi ngs starte d happening. Frank Gillespi e w as firs t to retire, an d the n Ed d ie Wirth and his Yam aha came to grie f over th e ju mp but Ed d ie was ab le to make it back to the in field o n his fee t. Romero was st ill leading, but on lap thirteen S cott t ook over and was never re-passed for th e rest of the race, Eddie Mu lder had moved up to th ird from fifth position an d Jim Odom was in the pits with on e cylin der gon e . Tom White was fourth and A ldana fifth, Scott's 100 Lapper By n ow th e leaders were starti ng to lap slower riders, so me o f whom obligingly let Scott and Romero by, Ald ana got White on lap 20 in the left hander after the first tum sweeper, moving to fourth. On lap twenty-six Aldana passed Mulder by diving to th e inside in the esses by the lake. Around the thirtieth lap Aldana, who wa s being ch ased by Dewayne Keeter, ca ugh t up with Tom Ro ckwood wh o w as bein g lapped. Ro ckwood motio n ed them past arid lo oked o ver an d saw A lda na b ut Dave and Keet er went wid e on the swe eper and R ockwood led them ag ain on ly to motion them by again when the y got themselves st rai ghten ed o u t, John Hateley was in fifth place behind Mulder by the fortieth lap, Paul Bost rom retired and Mert Lawwill wa s go ing well but on~ lap down as Aldana ca ugh t him and went around o n the outside o f turn one. Up front Scott was lapping faster th an Aldana who was really starting to move, Lap 45 an d they were all in heavy traffic and Romero was ab le to get right up to Scott 's rear wheel but Gary pulled awa y again as so on as he was in the clear. Lap 4 6 was notewo rthy as th e hal f-w ay poin t approached. A ldana's engine started st utt ering badly, bu t h e kep t goi ng . R ome ro slowed a bit and- The 10 lap semi for the last transfer posi tions was ended on the six th lap when Ron Moore (Yam ) fell in front of Don Emde (BSA) and th e pair went down in tum one j ust coming off th e straight. With over 5 0 percent of the race co m p le ted there was no re-start. Before he fell , Mo ore an d Brian LaPlante (N o r) were makin g a good ra ce of it with Larry Gino (T ri) leading. When th e red flag came out the leaders were Gino , LaPlan te , Doug Christopher and Reg Chosney, all on Triumphs. Emde and Moore be came first and second alternates. Thirty-three riders came to the line and were warned that an y jump-off to gain advantage would lose them one lap as a re-start of tha t many riders wo uld have taken ' a great deal of time. The road racing ti ming start was used, Clock warnings were given every minute, starting with five mi nutes to go, before starter Chuck Murray d ropp ed th e flag . He's one starter who do esn't foo l around and the riders always know what is going on . Because he had won the first two John Hat elev, Ke ith Mashburn 1191. and Dusty Coppage (32) run tig ht. R igh t behind Coppage is Scott who is preparing to lap the t rio. You can see R omero thro ugh the dust . Some people fell over. Junior M ike M izen 160 , top} bent the fence in practice but was OK . The same was tr ue of D ave Ha nsen (23) who d idn't bend the fence. • Dave Aldan a showed that he was the fastest Norto n rider at Ascot at vve ll as D aytona . The gremlins got to his engine.