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/1525848
their way into the main, with Roberts on top and Randy Cleek on his own TZ 750 in fourth, right behind Steve Morehead and Corky Keener. In heat number three, Jay Spring - steen took the win. Don Castro put his Kawasaki into the main with a fourth place and Skip Aksland won the first semi on an - other Yamaha TZ, making it a total of six two-strokes in the main. A concept that had been unfathomable just months before was now a reality. It would be one that the AMA could not (and would not) accept. The final heat was won by Mert Lawwill, with Lane Camp - bell noting that Diane Cox, the AMA's first female Class C Expert, was gaining on a final transfer spot before suffer- ing mechanical woes with her Triumph. Four-strokes and two-strokes, America vs. Japan vs. England (John Gennai and his Triumph also made the main), and a championship on the line. Famed starter "Bouncin'" Bob O'Malley waved them off and the racing was underway in the main event. It would be Law - will and Gary Scott battling for the lead early on. Beauchamp, Springsteen, Keener and Hank Scott would join the scrum, all but Scott having a moment of glory, each getting to lead a lap at San Jose. San Jose always promises close finishes, and it kept its word this night, with Springs - teen leading into the white flag lap. Beauchamp, playing chess, kept his Harley oh-so-close, just where he needed to be to draft Springer, slipping past him at the checkers for the win. "Beautiful," Beauchamp said in celebration. Just "beautiful!" Where were the two-strokes? On the bench. It was as if their heat race success was little more than a flirty wink from a pretty girl; when the dance began, the meaty four-strokes took over. Roberts had faded (and would eventually DNF). Castro, Hocking and Aksland were mid-pack. Only Brelsford could crack the top 10, finishing just ahead of 10th-place man Gene Romero. Gary Scott's fifth place was enough to earn him his first Grand Na - tional Championship, with teammate Corky Keener taking the number-one plate to Scott as they cel - ebrated the new champ in the winner's circle. It would be Scott's only championship and one of his last rides as an official member of the Harley- Davidson squad. The cham - pagne spray had barely dried when Scott and H-D announced a divorce, with Scott vowing to defend his title as a privateer in 1976. 1975 would also be the final season for multi-cylinder two-strokes in AMA dirt track competition. New rules were laid down before the smoke had cleared, and the TZ 750s and Kawasaki triples were moth - balled, to the delight of some and consternation of others, like Scott Brelsford, who believed that he and the two-stroke rac- ers were being treated unfairly. A new champ, a brief but spectacular threat from two- stroke motorcycles and a win for a crowd favorite from Milford, Michigan, named Rex. All who witnessed would likely agree—it was indeed some kind of wonderful. CN CNIIARCHIVES P134 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives Beauchamp won the San Jose Mile in 1975.