Kent Ama National
KENT AMA NATIONAL
A Road Race That's Really A Road Race
THE STAFF
FOLLOW1NG IN THE WAKE of Daytona, as it does, the Kent AMA road race national hardly makes big time waves.
But it was worth attending, if only to reaffirm our convictions about who the real road racers are in this country. Kent twists and loops. Daytona is wfo for the most part-a series of interconnected straightaways. If so-and-so wins Daytona, you draw no conclusions about the rest of the season, unless he did well in the prior season. If so-and-so wins at Kent, you draw conclusions.
The so-and-so in this case was Suzuki factory team rider Ron Grant. Riding one of the new, improved 500-cc Twins in the company of teammates Art Bau mann and Jody Nicholas-with the added help of Jimmy Odom-he really put it on everybody.
Honda was nowhere to be seen, apparently having decided that it is enough to win Daytona once a year. The 750 Fours are in Europe, as the company is setting its sights on the Isle of Man Production TT. Daytona winner Bugsy Mann was absent, too. He leads in national points. But he had no ride. What irony!
Save for some unfortunate crashing by Baumann and Nicholas, that formi dable Suzuki squad might have made it 1-2-3, really spitting in the eyes of the 750-cc class limit. And save for a contin uation of developmental troubles with the XR-750, brother Rayborn might have given Grant a few gray hairs.
Calvin was showing everybody a thing or two about line that weekend, whether it was wet or dry. And his win in the Amateur/Expert 360/250 class on a 350 Sprint, that everybody thinks should be faster than the 250s but is really slower, gave warning of what he might have done in the 125-mile biggie, had his XR stayed together.
But we're getting ahead of our selves .
The circuit - Seattle International Raceway-is located in suburban Kent among beautiful trees and rolling hills. With two hairpin turns, a flat-out sweeper and a series of esses, it is a real rider's course. Unfortunately for some, the skies were overcast all weekend, with rain coming down in quantity both mornings. Despite the dampness and chilly air, there was a passable number
of spectators on Saturday and unofficial reports of 14,500 for Sunday's 125-mile national.
The 250-cc race was probably the biggest upset of the weekend, with Cal Rayborn's smashing win over the Yama has of Gary Nixon and Don Emde. Under the present AMA ruling, fourstroke machines and two-stroke Singles up to 360cc are allowed to run against 250-cc two-stroke Twins in the 360/250 class, but it must have been quite a shock to the manufacturers who voted on the ruling at the AMA Competition Congress meeting last November.
Cal's Sprint didn't appear to be quite as fast down the straightaway as the Twins of Gary Nixon and Don Emde, but it was obviously superior in the slower sections of the course where tractability is essential. Cal's riding was as polished and quick as ever, and he was in complete control after the third turn on the first lap.
Only 17 riders were entered for the race, which made spectating pretty dull after a few laps.
Ron Pierce's Yamaha seized going into the second turn on Lap 2, pitching him off and saturating the outside of the track with gasoline. Nicholas was unable to avoid the spilled gas and went down, damaging his Suzuki too badly to continue.
By Lap 8, Cal had a 6-second lead over Gary Nixon, and Don Emde was another 5 seconds behind, followed by Yvon du Hamel, Ron Grant, Peter Kel lond and Tom Rockwood. Emde, who had just been given an Expert classifica tion for road racing only, was doing a beautiful job of holding down 3rd place, showing that several years of AFM road racing in California haven't done him any harm. This is the first time split ranking has been used in the AMA, and sets a healthy precedent, which, if fol lowed, will lead to much safer racing.
Grant and Kellond dropped out at almost the same plape, thinning the already sparse field even more. By half distance, Rayborn had a comfortable lead over Nixon, with Emde still cling ing onto 3rd place. Du Hamel held 4th place on his ailing Yamaha, with Tom Rockwood and Art Baumann filling out the first six. Aside from lapping slower riders, there was very little action for the remainder of the race, with Rayborn
winning by almost half a minute. Rain on Sunday morning didn't slow the riders much. Practice times were fairly close to Friday's times in the dry. Don Castro dropped his Triumph Tri dent, but had it repaired by heat race time.
The two qualifying five-lap heat races were staged on a wet track, but the action was tremendous. Art Baumann, on his 500-cc Suzuki, and Cal Rayborn, on one of the new 750 ohv Harleys, battled for the first four laps and stretched out a good lead over Gary Nixon and Mark Brelsford. On the last lap, however, Baumann came around alone with Rayborn coasting into the pits with a damaged piston.
The second five-lap heat race was run just slightly slower than the first, with Jody Nicholas taking the win from Ron Grant and Gene Romero by 5 seconds. The 500 Suzukis had won the first three spots on the starting grid, and it looked like their only problem would be Cal Rayborn, if the Harley-Davidson crew could get his machine ready in time for the main event.
They lifted the wounded XR into the racing van. Forty minutes later, it was ready to go, although racing chief Dick O'Brien was fretting about the suitabil ity of the replacement pistons-which were from a different design and had given unsatisfactory performance at Daytona.
The track was still damp and slippery when the flag went down. Rayborn thundered into the lead at the end of the first lap, with Grant and Romero close behind. Ron Pierce was already in the pits for a fresh spark plug, and retired one lap later. Then Rayborn came into the pits for a plug change, but he also retired on the next lap. The Suzukis of Grant and Baumann were out in front, with Grant usually leading past the finish line and collecting the lap money. Gene Romero held 3rd place in front of Jody Nicholas, and Gary Nixon and Don Castro, on their Triumph Tridents, were close behind.
Nicholas slipped under Romero and the Suzukis held the first three places. Yvon du Hamel had recovered from his poor start on the Trevor Deeley Yama ha, and had worked up to duel with Nixon and Dave Aldana for 6th spot. Aldana was doing a beautiful job on the still-damp track, this being his third road race.
The Yamaha factory team was having a bad day as four of their entries, Keith Mashburn, Chuck Palmgren, Dan Haaby and Ron Pierce, dropped out of the race, leaving du Hamel, Emde and Rock wood to carry on.
Grant and Baumann were really put ting on a show for the lead at half-dis tance, with lap speeds increasing as the track dried out. Nicholas dropped his Suzuki in the last turn, and woke up to find Suzuki's John Butcher-san dragging him off the track. So Romero moved up to 3rd. Nixon and du Hamel got by Aldana, and Tom Rockwood had moved up behind Castro in 8th place. Just behind came a group comprised of Dave Smith on a Kawasaki H1R, Don Emde on Mel Dinesen's second Yamaha and Walt Fulton on one of last year's sidevalve Harley-Davidsons, which was the first Harley in at Daytona last month. The only Harley XR-750 still running was Mert Lawwill's, well back in the field. Mert seemed more interested in finishing the race than scrapping with the leaders when they lapped him, and rode consistently to a 1 3th place finish.
Dave Smith was the first rider into the pits for gas on the 26th lap, but was out again in short order. By Lap 33,
Grant and Baumann had a 26-second lead on 3rd-place runner Gary Nixon.
Grant was scheduled to pit for gas five laps later, but missed the sign and didn't come in until the 40th lap. His stop took 20 seconds and he rejoined the race in 4th place. Chuck Palmgren, who had been running well back in the field with a sour engine, pulled into the pits and retired, while Walt Fulton came in for gas. Baumann was leading.
Then came a startling three-man switcheroo on Lap 44. Baumann spilled in the hairpin! He was to have pitted on the next lap for fuel, but when he finally arrived, he was 35 seconds late, with his fairing in tatters and his ta chometer flopping around inside the windscreen. Gary Nixon inherited the lead momentarily, but Grant regained 1st place on the next lap.
Jim Odom came into the pits for gasoline on one of last year's Suzukis with a bothersome glove removed. Nixon screamed into the pits for a 10-second gas stop, letting Yvon du Hamel into 2nd spot, 14 seconds behind Grant. Grant was lapping at 1:35 and du Hamel at 1:36, but Grant still had a 13-second lead.
As Grant lapped Dave Smith on the Kawasaki, he was in for a surprise; Smith hung on, and Grant wasn't too sure that he wasn't on the same lap! Baumann's Suzuki was back into 4th place, despite the damaged fairing and tachometer, and it looked as though he might be able to regain 2nd place behind Grant until he crashed again, destroying the fairing even more. But he kept going, this time more slowly.
For the remaining laps, Grant and Smith stayed together, lapping faster than anyone else, with du Hamel and Nixon almost a minute behind. Dave Aldana was in 4th spot with Baumann close behind in 5th. Tom Rockwood was doing a fine job on his Yamaha back in 11th place, but the engine had started to go sour at about the halfway point and he was noticeably down on speed. Walt Fulton finished 12th on the Harley flathead, having lapped Lawwill on the last lap.
It was a popular victory for Ron Grant, who has come within a hair of winning a national championship in the past, but never lucked out. The Suzuki crew, although somewhat battered, were just as jubilant as Ron, and are excited about their chances at Talladega next month.
Lest we forget, kudos to Evel Knievel who put a hairy postscript on this exciting display of road racing: he col lapsed his rear wheel, having arrived short in a jump over 15 cars. Then he went back and did it again. Over 18 cars.
