Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

RACE 6 RESULTS Pet er Wi lliams !J .P. Nor). 16 . Y lIOn Du Ham el (K aw ) , 15 . Barry Sheene (Suzl. 14 . Percy Ta it rr-n. 13 . Gary N i xon ( Kawl , 12 . Cal Rayb orn (H-D ). 11. Da.... Cro xf ord (J.P. Nor) , 10 . Mi ck Grant (J .P. Nor). 9 . Ton y Jefferi es 8 . Mert Lawwill (H -D), 7 . Ron Gran t [Suz}, 6. Dave Potter ( K uh n Nor) . 5. Dave Aldana (J .P. Ncr} , 4. A rt Baumann (DNF-Kaw) , 3. Paul Smart (DNF-Suz). 2 . Cliff Carr (K aw) , 1. Nixon IKew} , 6. Mert 'Laww ill (H .D) . 5. Ron Gr ant (Suz) , 4 . Tony Jefferies (Tri) , 3. Dave Potter (DNF -No rl , 2 . Barry Sheene (ON F-5uzl . 1 . rr-n. '" " i' c, M r-- '" ai . > ::;: ~ w Z w -' U ~. RACE S IX: The dec ider. The star of the show , Peter Williams . Sidecars run at all English events. David A ldana sho wed his Talladega victory a few years ago was no fluk e. After five races, th e on e th at would co un t was the last one. Baumann , Nixon. an d DuHamel swe p t into th e first tu m to ge th er. Cal was fourth and Paul Smar t was fifth, p assin g Cal on the second lap . Nixon ahd Baumann slo wed a little an d Sheene, Williams, an d Croxford came fo rward . Cli ff Carr retired . T h en on th e th ird lap Paul Smart crashe d in th e firs t t um righ t in fro n t o f Sh eene, Sh ee n " saved it, and Williams moved in to secon d as Nixon faded. Aldana was beginning to come to th e fro n t again whe n his machine quit on on e cylind er. Instead of giving up, Aldana con tin ued to motor ar ound on o ne cy linder; hoping to con trib u te 'Po ints fo r fin ish ing . Bauman n re tired when his m o tor qui t. Williams caugh t an d p assed DuH amel and just can tin ue d to go . For the first time in th e series. the leade r faced n o challenge r as Williams o pened lIP a large lea d . Du Hamel w as left to b attle Nixo n an d Sheene for secon d place. Yvon need ed th at se co n d if he was to tie fo r th e ' individual poin ts lead . But Sh een e seeme d d etermined. T he three swapped pl aces fo r a whil e until Nixon de veloped a spot o f b oth er in his ignition sys t em. For th e fir st time, 42 year o ld Per cy Tait see med t o be on form an d h e p assed Ni xo n fo r four th . Yvon man aged to h ol d off Sheene an d tie fo r p oin ts with William s, who won the race fo r a che ering cro wd. Dave Aldan a pleased th e cro wd by motoring acro ss the finish line, standing up and ,waving to th e cro wd with both hands. The British pulled o ut an 18 point lea d in th e las t race fo r the team vic t ory , an d at the trop h y p res enta tion th e ann oun cer asked Cal Rayb orn', o ff-fo rm sin ce Brands Hatch , h ow he felt . "Terri ble ," said Cal, who is off to have his colla rbon e pinned. AMA's Woods calls promoter's choice ~~A raw deal for eur _ uy s." g WESTERVILLE, OHIO - AMA Director o f Competition Don Woods this we ek called the outcome of the Anglo-American Match R aces in England last weekend "a raw deal for our guy s." Woods' remarks were prompted by the placement of American lic ensed racer Paul Smart on the English team. - The three-race series co ncl ude d on Monday, with the En glish remaining undefeated in th e now-three-y ear old series , 4 16-3 98. Sm ar t is a native of Kent, England n ow livin g in San ta A na, Cal ifornia. He w as approved by th e AMA t o race the An glo-Ameri can Cup as an Ameri can rep resen t ative , based on hi s A me ric an lice n se issu ed under rules of th e FIM, internati onal govern ing body fo r m o t orcy cle co m petition . How ever, up on arrival in En gland, Smart was pla ced on th e Eng lish te am by th e even t's promoter. Among Smart's fin ishes we re tw o seconds an d a th ird, re pre sen ting more than enough points t o give th e Un ited S tates th e victory , had Smart been rep resenting th e American team. In co m menting on th e in ciden t, Wo ods n oted, " It's reall y h ard to blame Paul. He went to th e series in go od faith, and w as pl aced by th e promoter. We fe el that"; in this age of international co m petit io n , guidelines must be foll owed in determining what co un try a rider represents. Our b asis is the same us ed by th e FIM, an d we think that sh o uld be go od enou gh fo r an y on e." Wo ods co n tin ued , "Obviously Paul is an Eng lish ma n by bi rt h, and the case can be made that h e sho uld re p resen t h is h ome co un try . But by . th e same to ken, wh en th e appeal of A merican road racin g prompts a rid er to m ove to ou r shores to set u p resi dence an d to ride all of o ur championship eve nts o n an A merican lice n se , then unde r FI M rules he b ecomes an A merican rid er." T he pain t is that, desp it e so me inj uries an d o ther ' problems, a fine t eam of American ra cers went to England an d won that series. T he re cord books wo n't sh ow th at, b u t ou r guys have th e satisfac tio n o f k n owing th at it' s so ." Wo ods indicate d that n o o fficial ac tio n wo uld 'b e taken , and th at the AMA would co nti n ue it s sup port o f the match races. . This is th e trophy t hat shoul d have gone t o th e U.s" -'

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