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by Richard Creed
DALLAS, TEX., Mar. 31, 1973 Saturday's major r ace, the 250
Junior-Expert Combined, got off to a
smooth sta rt with Don Castro pulling
into a surprising lead on the second lap
over Yamaha teammate Kenny Roberts.
Hustling up in third place was Art
Baumann on one of the road racing
B igh orn Kawasaki singles. Castro,
though not kn own fo r his road racing
abilities, held the lead until the fifth lap
when Roberts got by him, and Castro,
attempting to make up time , lost it on
the back side of the course. Castro
escaped injury. Roberts continued in
first as Fisher (Yam ) moved up on
Baumann in s econ d. Hordes of
privateers on all matter of machinery
made up the bulk of the field, with
John Long (Yam) the fastest . Fisher
held off Baumann with more power on
the st raigh ts as Baumann would cut it
closer in the turns. .
Baumann and Fisher were the race as
Roberts moved ahead in an unassailable
lead. By the tenth lap the leaders were
moving through the ba ck markers like
they were welded to the pavemen t and
Art Baumann used the opportuni ty to .
pass Fisher going into the chicane. He
was ahead only a momen t as Fisher
wicked it up coming onto the front
straight.
Baumann didn't let Fisher go so
quickly, though , and continued to appl y
pressure in the turns and slipstream on
the straights, but Fish er fought back b y
wea ving and forcin g Baumann to cut his
own path through the wind. The wind'
was very gusty and Roberts co mm en ted
later that he felt th e front end bounce
up and down o n the long front straight
many times. Midway through the race
th e final positions were decided as
Roberts con tinued to build an
enormous lead. Fish er held Baumann
,o ff, and Baumann co uld do nothing but
hold onto third.
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Juniors
by Richard Creed
DALLAS, T E X., Mar. 3 1, 197 3 Inclement weather on Frida y forc ed th e
can cel atio n of th e Junior ro ad ra ce and
it was sand wic hed into Saturday's
p ro gra m th at turn ed in to a road race
bonanza with N ovice, Juni o r and Expert
I
e ven ts.
Un fo rt unately only a meager crowd
w as o n hand to w at ch so me of the
by Richard Creed '
DALLAS, TEX., Mar . 3 1, 197 3 - The
Novice ro ad race, cancelle d on Friday,
was lumped in to the S aturday
potpourri. Wes Cooley, Jr., son of
famed California road race promoter
Wes Cooley: Sr., found himself stuck
between the two heat winners Randy
Cleek and Hank S cott, brother of Gary ,
at the start. The front row was a
Yamaha showcase and dominated the
start and 'the first five laps until Cooley
and Scott: 'p ulled away and staged a
heated contest for first. Cooley was very
impressive looking with his knee hung
out to th e inside in a very Smart
fashion. As the leaders moved into the
seventh lap, Randy Clark battled Dick
Clutts for third and John Sommelin
started a whirlwind charge from the
middle of the field.
All eyes were on Sommelin as he
picked up one or \WO positions per lap
and on the eigh th lap got by Clutts and
moved on Cleek in third.
Scott held the lead but only by a
Wes Cooley (691 was the Novice winner. Hore he
foot over Cooley as they approached
Gary Scon , and Randy Cleek 1461.
the halfway point of the race. Cooley
dots in the distance .' Cooley and Scott
made an attempt to pass on the straight •
swapped positions in traffic and traded
but Scott' Weaved 'away . The race back
off again on the 13th lap with Cooley
markers' were coming up now and
ahead and starting to pull away,
Cooley-bung back to use them to block
Sommelin definitely had his eye on
Scott and get by.
second place and was ground flying
On lap 10 Sommelin took over third
from Cleek and streaked towards the • through the pack, traffic and all, faster
tangles with Hank Scott 11431 linle brother of
than anyone else. But it was too late for
heroic rides and Sommelin took a solid
third without getting close enough to
pressure Scott . Hank, in turn, was an
uncontested second after losing his hold
on Cooley who led at the finish by
seven and one-half seconds.
nat i on's best pavem en t scratch er s
co mp e te . It was d own right a ma zing to
lo ok out fro m th e scorin g to we r at th e
vast em p ty expanse that is Dall as
In tern ati onal.
In credibl y , th ere were three times as
m an y sp ectators a t th e Lackluster
mo to cro ss even t th at was being run
adjacen t to the ro ad co urse . The
mo to cross h ad tw o th ings going for it ,
Gary J on es and Mar ty Tripes an d little
el se . Ther e w as li te ra lly n o co mpetit ion .
Be th at as it may , th e Juniors put on
an exciting show that had Texas hearts
(a fe w ) p ounding fro m the st ar t as Mike
Od em streaked into secon d place on the
first lap. Odem 's moment o f glory
passed o n th e th ird lap as he dropped to
fo urth place.
T he first six rid ers , led by T ed
Henter and John Lon g, had pulled a
sho rt le ad from th e pa ck by the th ird
lap . Long passed Henter for the lead on
lap 4 and then suddenl y retired on th e
fif th lap. The Long-Henter pace had
be en so hot that when Long dropped
o u t, Henter found himself in a
co mfo rtable lead with onl y a quarter of
the race over.
Henter co n tinued to circulate in the
lead, and the race was o ver for first.
There was some scrambling around in
the field but the lead positions went ,
un changed until the eleventh lap when
Tim Rockwood, Bill Labrie and Rudy
Galindo got in to a three way dog fight
for second place. These three continued
to argue for the next two laps over who
was going to finish behind Henter.
Finally on the th irteenth lap Labrie and
Galindo pulled away from Rockwood
slightly. or rather Rockwood started
fading to an eventual seventh place
finish.
All of this had little effect on Henter
who was a quarter of a lap ahead of the
dicing duo. Galindo and Labrie were
catching' Henter a little every lap
though , but time was on Henter's side as
he led the drag race for second pla ce by
over eigh t seconds at the finish. Labrie
and Galindo sweated it out down the
home straight with Labrie ahead of
Galindo by a hair at the checker. The
first three riders were ail Yamaha
equipped... what else?
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