Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'" M '" '" C>. '" M e-, '" '" ..., " c CIl ;: w Z W ..J U > U Rex Beauchamp hooked his Harley to f ilth place . status was left hanging b y Dick O'Brien, Harley's racin g d ire ctor, stating, "We have an interest in Jim Rice ." T he fourth heat was all Rex Beauchamp who led from hi s pole postion to a wide margin of victory over first year Expert Scott Brelsford. Whil e Rex had an easy time of it Brels ford had to figh t Dave Aldana and Ch arlie Seale for the runneru p spot. Norton moun ted A ldana shook o ff Brelsford and Seale o n the third lap and appeared to be on his way to making the National when his "hacksaw b lade" kill button sh o rted ou t, dropping the popular T eam Mexican rider fr om th e race. Dave Seh l put it all to gether in th e first semi and scored a runaway win ove r BSA mounted T eddy Newton. A di stant third was taken by Larry D arr, Who, alth ou gh he is still limping fr om h is Daytona inj u ries, is b ack in good raci ng fo rm. Semi number tw o was the last ch an ce fo r such tal en t as Don Cas tro, Gen e Rom ero, Gary Nixon, Ron nie Rail, Cal Rayborn and Terry Dorsch to ad vance to th e Na tion al. N one of th em did. Castro appeared as th ough he wo uld as II I he led th e first three laps until giving up the point spot to Corky Keener. C astro held se cond to Keen er until th e seven th lap with an err an t ground wire wr ote finishied to his ' evenings work . Keener, aboard re cently retired Bart Markel equipmen t, went on to the win followed by first year Expert Mike J oh nson with the tw o advancing to the Nati onal. T he dollar breakdown for dirt National has many riders unh ap py with the fact that on ly th e National and T rophy race pay . A rider can co mp e te in a heat and a semi and not make one cen t, and to top off many riders' disatisfaction with setup is the fact that th e winner o f the Trophy ra ce made as mu ch as the last pla ce m an in th e National. Man y ask ed why th e T ro phy Ra ce can ' t be eliminated and the m oney disbursed d own th e lin e so all 48 rid ers wh o mak e the program can at least p ic k up a li t tle gas mo n ey in st ead of receiving thei r co mpeti tio n licenses b ack in an o therwise empty envel op e . Bitching aside , th ere was a Trop hy Ra ce an d it turn ed o ut to be a crowd ple aser with Larry Darr an d Jimmy Zeiglle r figh tin g fo r the win and Eddie • .- Me rt listens as Jim looks serious. Dave loo ks tired and the trophy girl look s about to slip off the pl at form . Wirth , Kei th Ulicki; Ge ne Rom ero, Gary Ni xo n, Ber t Cummi ngs, Terry Dors ch, Ste ve Gardner, F rank Gill espi e and Cal Rayborn fighting fo r th e o the r spots. Calvin Lee called it a nigh t a ft er a vici ou s tank slappe r in turns three and four wh ich promp ted Dick O'Brien to wave Rayb orn off th e tra ck . Harley me chanic Bab e DeMay when queried as to wh eth e r o r n o t Calvin 's Da ytona/Anglo American seri es shoulder injury w as aggrav ated by th e tank slapp er answer ed , " I' m not supposed to talk ab out that," Darr went o n to take th e $ 350 first pl ace followed by distant Zeigler and an equally distant Ulicki. T he twenty lap National startin g line con sisted o f Pole man Mert Lawwill, with Ric e, Beauch amp, Mann, Scott, Rob erts, Brelsford, Palm gren, Keener, Sehl, Johnson an d Newt on along side , onc e th e green was waved an d the p ac k cle ar ed th e secon d t um th e ra ce was all but o ver as far as th e first tw o p osition were co n cern ed. Se h l pulled away from Laww ill wh o did like wise to th e rest of field, and a foll o w-th e-leader tr ain race began th at saw o nly a handful o f p osition ch anges. Keen er and Rice d uele d for th e th ird sp ot wi th K eener h oldi ng off Ri ce until th e seve n theen th lap. Rice mo ved around the Michi gan y o ungste r wh o was th en passed by fe llow Michi gan re siden t Beauchamp o n the ni ne teen th lap . Gary Sco tt h ad run ahead of Beau champ fo r the first four laps, but lap five saw R ex drop Sco tt int o sixth wh ere he re maine d , un challenged by the Y amah a battl ed between Chuck Palmgren and Kenny Roberts taking p lace so me di stance beh ind him. Palmgren hald th e se ven th spot from lap four with Dick Mann between him and Rob erts . Roberts got by Mann on the ninth lap and set o u t after Ch uck with a high lin e through th e turns that saw him start to reel in Palmgren . Roberts got by Palmgren on the se ven teen th lap and the finish ing order from that p o int on was c h a n ged o nly hy T ed dy Newton dropping o ut and Scott Brel sford ' ..::' passing Mike J ohnson on t he last lap to take eleven th, Sehl 's time for the twenty laps was 8:54: 35, and for Sehl it marked a return to th e number o ne sp ot at Louisville after a second place last ye ar behind Mark Brelsf ord. T hree victories and a second in four years is hard to top , and the \Valerdown , On tari o, resid ent might find the track renam ed Seh l Downs th e nex t time around . RESULTS : Dave Sehl w o n Lo uisville three out of four years. Once he slipped to second place . 1 . Dave $eh l ( H-O ) ;; 2 . M ert Laww ill ( HoC ) : 3 . J im R ice ( H · D ) ; 4 . Re x BeauChamp ( H -D ): 5 . Cliff Keener (H ·D): 6. Gary S cott (Tr l). 7 . Ken R oberts (Vam) : 8 . Chuck Palmgren ( Yam); 9 . D ick Mann (Tri); 10 . Scott Bre lsford (H-D); 11. M ike Johnson (H-D) . .

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