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Nat ional po int leader, Kenny Roberts
(Yam), came to his first Ascot Half-mil e
th is seaso n and went hom e the winner,
losing only the time trial battle.
Racing in o nly his second 'Half-mile
of th e year , he also entered. and won at
San Jos e earlier this season , Roberts
rod e near-per fect to again show he may
be the man to beat in th e May 20th San
Jose Nati onal Half-mile .
His first heat of th e nigh t came in th e
hea t race after he lost ou t to Dave
Aldana in time tria ls. Lloyd Houching
(Tri) put th e pressur e on and led for
four of th e five laps, but Rob ert s got by
o n th e final round to take the win.
The second heat was a duel all the
way between Aldana and Gary Scott
who was undefeated th e last nine tim es
o ut. Scott, rid ing a borrowed motor th is
time , tr ied and tried and tried to pass
Aldana fo r the win, but the Nort on
rider won and sto pped th e longest
Expert streak th is year. Scott nearly
crashed twice trying for the win.
Then Roberts took on Scott and
Tom Rockwood who have been running
one-two in recent Dashes. Roberts got
the lead and ke pt it to cha lk up his
second win of the night with Scott
second, Rockwood third and Aldana
running fourth.
The Main event was an early lap duel
between Roberts and Scott but always
saw Roberts in front after Aldana led
the first round . Roberts took over the
lead on the second lap and Scott moved
Roberts 1801 got past Aldana and
everyo~e
else.
KENNY ROBERTS STOPS GARY SCO'lT AT ASCOT
This is the way it was at the flag . Robe rts led . Sco tt tra iled. It loo ks like the story of the National season. Time always ho lds surprises . how ever, and Gary truly t ries.
in for second over Aldana o n lap nine in
the fifteen lap final. Ro berts had a safe
lead at the finish with Scott a solid
second over the fading Aldana at the
finish.
,
The star-loaded Expert lineup will be
back at Ascot this coming weekend for
a double- header that finds the
Half-miters on Friday night and the TT
event on Saturday evening.
(Roberts' victory came d espite th e
fact that he shot himself accidentally
th e previous week. See "The National
Papers" on page 14.)
Juniors
The best Juniors in the West again
met head-on and another win streak was
stopped. Jo hn Gennai returned after
missing a week and ran his undefeated
win streak to nine, coming from the
third penalty line in the heat race to
score another win.
Rick Hocking won his heat race and
Danny Hackie, missing two shifts off
the line, also won his heat to again pit
the top three in the final.
Hocking: looking for his first
Half-mile decision over Gennai this year
was red hot and led from start to finish.
Gennai was second but off the pace
after the first three laps.
Hackie again missed numerous shifts
off the line and had to come from dead
. last to finis h a distant third to hold his
number three west coast rating .
Gloom feel on the Junior class in one
of the heat races . Hackie caught and
passed heat leader, Ivan Shigernasa for
the lead. Shigernasa, the seco nd yea r
Junio r from Salinas then tried to re-pass
on the ou tside going into the North tu rn
on the fo urt h lap . He got in too hot and
fast and st raighte ned up and went into
t he wall at full throttle. He was
pro no unced dead o n arriva l at Gardena
Hospital. It was the same turn whe re he
crashed last season and broke a leg.
Novices
Sk ip A ksland made it a cl ean sweep for V amaha 'on Roberts' old twin. His competi tion was run
o ver by t he track grad er. of cou rse,
Skip Aksland agai n took home all the
marbles in the Novice class and,
completed Yamaha sweep on the
evening. He won his heat race for the
second time and again had the fastest
heat laps fo r the lightweights.
Point leader, Tom Berry , again
finished second but again had a long
night. Berry finished second to Aksland
in the heat but was later standing on the
front straightaway for some reason
during inte rmission and was run over
and knocked do wn by the track grader!
They carried Tom into the pits and he
later came out for the final and came
from the back row to finish second for
the third straight week .
Notes
The new ovice star, Aksland , it was
learned, is riding Kenny Roberts'
Yamaha twin that won so many races
last season for the Experts that calls
home the same town that Aksland
resides in .
John Hateley returned to half-mile
racing , riding a Norton for th e first
time . He clocked the fifth fastest time
tiral , ran sixth in his heat race , won the
Semi-ma in event and then dropped out
in the final, taking tenth place. John is
favored to win the TT next Satu rdgy
night.
May 18th finds Ascot hosting the
AMA " Regional" Half-mile, an event
that is ex pected to have many of the
nation's best on hand. One will be Mike
Kidd from Texas won won one main
event there last yea r and wo n the
eastern opener at Reading, Pa. two
weeks ago. Louisiana's Mike Gera ld, a
for mer National Short Track champion,
w ill a lso ma ke his first Ascot
appea rance .
RESULTS :
EX FI NAL: 1. Kenn y Roberts (V am) ; 2 . Gary
Scott (T ri) ; 3. Dave Alda na (No r) ; 4 . To m
Whi te (Tri); 5 . Deway ne Keeter (H·D); 6.
Denn y Kanegae (Nor): 7. To m Rockwood
(Tri): 8 . Lloyd Ho uchins (T ri); 9. Ron Moore
(Trl): 10. John Hateley (Nor).
TROPHV DAS H: 1. Rob ert s (Vam) ; 2 . Scott
(Tril; 3 . Rockwood (Tri) ; 4 . A ldana (Nor).
JR FIN A L : 1. Rick Hocking (Vam); 2. John
Gennai (Tri) ; 3. Danny Hockie (BSAI 4. Matt
Falcone r (Tri); 5. John Sperry (Suz) ; 6 . Bob
Sanders (N or) ; 7 . Earl Meyer (N or); 8. Gary
Tonda (Vam).
NOV F INAL: 1. Sk ip A ksland (Va m); 2. T om
Berry (Vam); 3 . Jeff David son IBul); 4 .
Randy Miller (VarnI; 5 . Alex Jorgensen (Bul);
6. Ryan Gif fo rd (Ya m); 7. Bob Hosford
IHon); 8 . Randy Gri ff it h (Va m); 9 . Bill
Calicu ra (B ul); 10 . Gary Cof fma n (Vam).
