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/141053
C. 4: '" ~ w Z w ~ :J > o Suzu ki finally got a Nat ional win with their 750 and Smart qat riche r. b y Richard Creed DA LLAS , TEX ., Ap r. I , 197 3 - Paul S mar t , aboard a watercooled 750 S uz u ki , enjoyed All Fo ol s day b y sw eeping th e Dall as In tern ati onal Mo tor S pe ed wa y's fir st Nati onal Champi onship ro ad race. Smar t inh erited th e lead from pre-ra ce favorite Yvon DuHamel on the fourteenth lap and was never heade d to th e fini sh . DuHamel o n a lightnin g q ui ck K a w a s ak i re tire d d ue to mechanical proble ms afte r bli tzin g into an incredible lead. Du Ham el appeared un t o uch abl e before h is rei treme n t as no one was within a h undred yards of hi m , and it wa s o bvious n o one w as getting close as Yvon fo rge d fur ther ahead with each lap. Gary Ni x on finis hed second on a "private" Kaw asaki aft e r b attling an aggressi ve and surprisin gly smoo th Ke n ny Roberts on a wate rcoo led 35 0 Yamah a. R oberts, better kn own fo r h is flat tr ack and IT abilities, p ressured Nixon th e be tter p ar t of th e rac e, as Garv co uld not shake th e d e termined Yarnaha p ilot until the d uo we re lapping the slower riders and Gary 's use of the YlIOn pulled awa y a nd nobod y co uld eatch h im - un t il h is b ike bro ke . rolling r o ad blocks e nab led h im t o fin ally put some di st ance on R obert s and m ak e a ch allenge on Sm art. The Heats In an effort to put th e raci ng b ack int o road racin g, tw o hea ts and a semi were run be fore th e fi nal ; j us t like Short T rac k. T he fir st fi f teen rid er s fro m each eig ht lap heat tran sfer red to th e main, an d the rest were left to scrap fo r th e remaining ten pl aces on the s ta rti ng grid in the 20 lap semi. The first te n rid e rs fro m the semi transferred to the m ain. In the fi rst heat, D uHamel on the lead " G ree n Meanie " explode d away fro m the start an d in to a 50 yard lea d by lap four. It was a portent of th in gs t o come as he Was in th e lead at th e fir st tum and never heade d . Beh in d Yvo n, scrapping in a heap , we re R oberts , Don Castro on Yarnahas, Masah ir o Wada (Suz) and Cliff Carr on a Kawasa k i. The second position Was swapped back and forth with no one able to hang o n d ecisively en o ugh to pull aw ay from the remaining pack. Roberts got a sixth lap grasp on second and pulled a sh ort lead and a tt e m p ted to reel in DuHamel but it was an impossible task. Japanese cham pio n Wada and Cliff Carr (Kaw) pulled away fro m Castro and Jim Evans (Yam) on th e seventh lap and held them in pla ce with a two bike lead. Don Castro separated from Jim Evans on the last lap and pulled out th e stops for a scorchi ng attack o n Carr an d Wad a. Castro m o ved ahead of Carr and slipstreamed Wada d o wn the front straight in a drag race fo r th e chec ke r. Wada won th e d rag race and th ird place as Doug Se hl, who was o n th e fri nge o f the action , t ried t o take Cliff Carr. But Seh!'s Harley XR was no ' match for Carr's Kawasaki and Carr tran sferred to th e final w ith a fifth place . DuHamel averaged 85 .09 for th e win. . Three Gary's headed up th e second heat fron t row. Gary Fish er (Yam ) had th e p ol e position with Gary Scott (T ri) and Gary Nixon ( Kaw) next t o hi m. Geoff Perry (S uz) from New Zealand an d Art Baumann ( Kaw) co m p le ted th e fro nt row. Dick Mann (T ri) and late en trant Paul Smart (S uz) were in th e second row. Fis her got th e hole shot to the first tum, but Baumann wa s right o n to p of him and passed him on lap 2 as Perry moved to pass fisher. Gary held momentarily but could not st ave o ff the fron t straight power of Perry 's Suzuki. Fisher dropped to third and co uld find no rest as fo urth place Gary Nixon d ecided to m o ve up th e ladder. The th ird lap h ad Bauma nn sti ll in a d istant lead as Nixon pulled a ne at maneu ve r and got under Fish er for th ird a nd b egan reeling in Perry so fast ·that b y lap four Nixon was in second and mo ving on Baumann. Bu t Paul S mart strea ke d fro m hi s secon d row slot an d in to third pl ace ah ead o f Perry as Fis her conti n ue d to d rop d o w n the list. Smart a nd Per ry fo rmed a shadow boxing te am on Nixon an d proceed ed to slug it out with him fo r second p lace . Nixon hel d on gamel y an d sh ut the door on S mart 's sixth lap p ass attem pt o n the front straight . Smar t an d Perry con tin ued to pressure Nixon on the seve nth la p a nd S mart got on th e insid e line and passed Nixon on the last lap as Perry t rie d vain ly for third. Nixo n wasn't going to have any of th at and nipped under Smart in th e second chicane tum and pulled a bike length lead on him d own th e h ome straigh t. Baumann was th e:: win ne r wi th Nixon second and Smart third. The Semi The ra ce for the last te n fin al positions looked lik e a race fo r back marker and also ra n . It was ob v ious from the start that n o one making th e final by way o f the se mi sto o d a sn owball's ch ance in hell o f takin g home an y heavy coins or poin ts. Bu t with th e promoters pa ying d own to 20th there was alwa ys th e hope tha t on e co uld at least m a ke expenses and ma ybe have a good time . Mer t Lawwill (H ·D ) and Ron Gran t (Suz) pulled away . Gran t developed a short lead as Mert began to fa ll back. S teve Bake r , th e best J unio r rider last year on poin ts, m o ve d past Lawwill on th e th ird. lap and started to pressure G rant. G ra nt resp o nd ed by leaning the big S uzuki over a little further in th e turns and puttin g th e beans on th e burner down the straights to pull a way. Gary Scott, who never go t go ing in th e second heat, steamed past a fadin g La wwill fo r third o n th e fourth la p as Baker ap plied the pressure to G ran t b u t to n o avail. T he fifth lap sho wed G ran t in f ro nt b y a h air o ver Baker, Gary Sco tt third, and Steve Dal garn o m o ved up to ch alle nge Lawwill fo r fo urth . Th e Gran t-Baker clash left th e field behind and Sco tt was to o far b ack to have a chanc e: fo r sec ond unless someone got o ff . Behind Scott th in gs livened u p as LawwilJ repeatedly re siste d Dal garno 's attempts t o pass. The Baker-Gran t t he next -to-Iast ...