Talladega
TALLADEGA
DUHAMEL MAKES IT TWO YEARS IN A ROW, AS INTENSE HEAT ELIMINATES SEVERAL TOP CONTENDERS.
JOHN WAASER
LABOR DAY WEEKEND is a natural time for big-time racing, along with Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. So, when the AMA moved the Talladega race to Labor Day, it was heralded as a great move forward, giving motorcycling a race on a par with the big stock car scene.
This week, though, they decided to start a couple of days early, to make a Daytona-like week out of it. Not bad; the idea is good, but they announced it too late, and a lot of people never found out about it. Many riders got there late, too, including Mike Devlin, who was running the Don Vesco effort this weekend. He arrived at the track on Thursday ready to sort the machinery out, only to find that his novice heat was minutes away. The novice and junior races had been moved to Friday, and they raced before virtually empty grandstands—which seems a shame.
On the bright side, the banked turns, had been repaved, and most of the riders labelled the track smooth-which surprised me, as I got a close look at the infield. It looked bad in places. But at Talladega, the infield is just incidental.
When riders talk about the track, they think in terms of the bank. They gear for the bank, they put on tires for the bank, they jet for the bank. No matter how much time a rider can gain on his opposition through the infield, it’s to no avail if he can’t at least hold his own on the bank.
At Loudon, Don Emde and Jim Evans had fitted smaller section rear tires to give quicker handling. They left them on for Laguna Seca. And Jim got here, hopped on his bike, went around the bowl a couple of times, and pulled in because the rear end didn’t feel right. He had destroyed his rear tire. There simply was not enough rubber. This was with a little Yamaha, so you can see why the big bike riders were worried about tires.
Suzuki had rented the track on Monday for tire testing, and Kawasaki had it on Tuesday. Semi-treadless tires, shown first by Goodyear at Daytona, were out in force here. DuHamel won on a rounded profile semi-treadless Dunlop rear tire, which he reported was tricky on the infield, but just right on the banking.
Suzuki had its machinery legal again. Reportedly it had been planning to put the racing heads on the street bikes, but these appeared to be street heads on the racers, and one team rider indicated that this was the case. There was no arguing that the Suzukis were fast, but Kawasaki had the fast times, and when somebody asked Jody Nicholas if he was going to requalify to try for the pole, he just shrugged and said no, mindful that the air-cooled Kawasakis are at their best on the first couple of laps, and can qualify better than they can run during the race.
Kawasaki had a host of modifications to the machinery. New engines were said to be good for 110 bhp, a 10 percent gain. New fairings on DuHamel’s and Nixon’s bikes were good for more speed and better stability on the bank. All three bikes had three completely different frames, all of which seemed to do the job well.
Paul Smart had a Seeley frame, with an aluminum gas tank. The frame was longer than the others, and Paul liked it a lot. DuHamel had a factory-built modification of a standard H-1R frame.
Nixon had the trick setup; a frame designed by Team Hansen’s own Randy Hall, with Randy’s ideas on geometry, and an eye toward production. They have found that many privateers will try to stuff a street engine into a racing frame, and with the standard H-1R frame, it doesn’t work too well. Randy’s frame has the front down tubes splayed out wide enough to accommodate the street engine’s exhaust system, and has a revised rubber mounting system for the engine so it will take either the street engine or the racing one. No mention has been made of marketing plans, yet.
DuHamel’s bike had a third exhaust pipe bent up similar to those on the Suzukis; Yvon, it was explained, leans a bike way over, and it was deemed necessary to get as much as possible out of the way. The Kawasakis were sporting cast wheels up front, but they were unable to obtain enough wheels in time to outfit all the bikes, and they didn’t have enough time to design a disc rear brake system, so the rear wheels were left stock. They will doubtless be cast by Daytona, however.
When they ran Goodyear tires, they ran them tubeless, but the Dunlop people still do not trust the bead, or something, and out of deference to the good people at Dunlop, they retained tubes in the Dunlops. It is no secret, however, that the biggest advantage of cast wheels is the ability to run tubeless, and this is another area which will undoubtedly receive some attention before Daytona.
The Yamahas, the giant killers of Daytona, were in trouble, with piston problems—invariably on the left side, too, just as at Daytona. Kel Carruthers and Kenny Roberts were doing well, but were nowhere near the fastest 750s, and couldn’t count on all the larger machinery breaking, either. Kel had pulled his 350 apart for an overhaul, and discovered the spacing on the main bearings had been changed. The grooves on the new bearings for the circlips which hold them in place wouldn’t line up with his cases. Another set of bearings which would line up could not be located, so he put it together with the old style bearings.
Don Vesco was busy preparing a streamliner for Bonneville, so he stayed home, and sent his rider/tuner, Mike Devlin, down with four bikes—a 250 for Mike, a 250 and a 350 for Dave Smith, and a 350 which was ridden by Cliff Carr, whose Arlington Motor Sports Kawasaki wasn’t feeling too well. They didn’t get there any too soon, so Mike just set up everything rich so it would last, and went racing.
K&N added a rider, and had everybody here except Mike Kidd. Don Castro is the latest K&N rider, and it seems like another displaced BSA rider has found a happy home. I’m surprised it took Don this long to find a good ride, but K&N is reportedly very happy with him, because of his ability to locate faults, and his willingness to assume his share of the load, as well as his riding. And Don must be happy, as he’s back in the winner’s circle on a frequent basis now.
The Triumph “team” had taken Gary Scott under its wing, and while he still retains some of his “privateer” image, it was factory employees that were working on his bike this week, right alongside those of Gene Romero and Dick Mann. Not far away from help if needed were > Eddie Mulder and John Hately, who were parked directly opposite the factory van.
Harley-Davidson had its full team there, but things were glum. Cal Rayborn had qualified 7th fastest, over 4 mph down on DuHamel. Breisford was 10th fastest, almost 5 mph down.
At 1:00 pm, the novice race was scheduled. It started quite late, finally getting under way shortly before 2:00. John Long, who appears to be trying for an all-time record number of novice wins, had the pole, followed by Ted Henter, and Tim Rockwood. Tim had his arm all bandaged, and his Boston Cycles Yamaha was sporting some K&N fiberglass following a Friday morning crash. He stayed well up there in about 3rd place, for several laps, but started dropping back, and finally dropped out, his wrist and hand were hurting so badly.
Devlin, who had never seen the track prior to his heat race, spent the first half of the race learning shift points, then started moving up. He got up as high as 3rd, but on one lap two guys smoked by him at about 10 mph faster than he was going, and he had to just watch them go. He figures they must have gotten a super draft from somebody.
Meanwhile, Ted Henter had motored on by Long, and was beginning to open up a good lead, when they came up on a slower rider. Ted came into the last infield turn way too hot, apparently just forgetting where he was. He went out onto the grass, and Long slipped by into the lead. Henter’s bike seemed faster than Long’s; had Ted stayed in the lead, he might have been able to pull away. As it was, he was able to stay right with Johnny; to draft him all around the bank and save his engine. And that’s what he did.
Long hoped Ted would pass with five laps or so to go. For in a draft situation, it’s the guy in the rear who controls the show. He’s the guy with a little more throttle to use coming out of the last turn. Henter was too cagey. He just stayed there, and made a move to pass John on the next-to-last lap, but couldn’t get by. He did it again, however, on the last lap, and he made it, getting a few inches ahead of Long in the last turn, and crossing the finish line with Long nipping at his rear wheel.
By Indianapolis time, the junior class, in four road races, had had four different winners. Jerry Greene, and his Kanemoto-tuned Kawasaki, is doing his best to dominate the class since Indy. Surprisingly, the bike is only a 500cc; a situation which doesn’t get brought up too much because Jerry gives vent to feelings of wrath every time it does. The ties between Irv Kanemoto and Team Hansen seem to be pretty strong, and Kanemoto apparently has to take orders from higher up as to what Jerry will ride or buy something bigger himself, which he can’t afford. Still, the bike is the fastest thing in the class. Jim Evans, whose Mel Dinesen-tuned Yamaha is the equal of any Yamaha in the class, rode an absolutely flawless race, and still had to watch Greene, also riding flawlessly, pull out an almost 30-sec. lead, disappear for a gas stop, and still come out ahead.
Third was Scott Brelsford, the only factory Harley-Davidson entered, and the best performance by a Harley this week. Howard Lynggard, the factory Yamaha entrant, was 4th. Jerry’s winnings totalled $4250.
A word about trophy girls may be in order. At Road Atlanta, Jody Nicholas found the trophy girl attractive enough to invite her out that night. And she dug motorcycle racers enough to accept. The same situation occurred at Loudon, with Gary Fisher. But in Victory Lane here, photographers were clamoring for the girl to kiss Jerry Greene. After all, it’s tradition. Finally the trophy girl, who hopefully will have a lot more to look forward to in a few years, gave Jerry a peck on the lips. Jerry’s reaction: “Is that all I get? Come on, I worked hard for this, you know....” The Trophy Girl’s reaction seemed to be that photographers and motorcycle racers are dirty old men. And the photographers’ reaction was that the trophy girl was a spoil-sport and a poor choice.
With the novice race advanced to Friday, the only road race on Saturday was the 250cc combined junior/expert bash. Kel Carruthers took an early lead, in a race which has come to be regarded as his. Kenny Roberts and Gary Fisher had a neat duel going for 2nd. Kenny was almost always in 2nd, with Gary in 3rd, but Gary was staying on his tail; Kenny couldn’t shake him at all. Jerry Greene was in the fray for a while, too, but later dropped back a place or two. Fisher picked up some steam on Roberts, finally, and passed him just before the finish.
Probably the neatest dice of the whole race was between junior Jim Evans and experts Ron Pierce and Mike Ninci. These three were in a drafting, pass-and-repass match all through the race; a different one was in the lead virtually every lap. On the next-to-last lap Evans was in the lead. He was still in the lead going onto the bank on the last lap—which was not a good place to be. Ron crossed the line in 7th, with Ninci behind him, and Evans in the 9th slot. Fourth and 5th were another couple who have been into some great dices all year, including at Daytona where they finished one-two—Don Emde and Ray Hempstead.
The front row for the expert race consisted of DuHamel, Nicholas, Kel Carruthers, Kenny Roberts and Art Baumann. But that doesn’t, tell the whole story. For one thing, there was almost 3 mph between 1st and 2nd, and a 4 mph spread over the row. For another thing, Paul Smart actually qualified within 12 hundredths of a mile an hour of Jody Nicholas’ speed—but he did it on Friday, and the rules say that the front row will be determined on Thursday, and nobody may bump a rider from the first row by qualifying faster on Friday. The factory Harleys were grouped fairly closely, behind Smart. Gary Fisher was on the second row, riding his Yamaha. Apparently he has abandoned for all time the Krause Honda Four which made him famous.
With the countdown already under way, Don Castro was off to one side getting a new front tire. That’s a rather inauspicious start, but at least they were out of the way. Well after the 2-min. mark, mechanics were still on the grid tending to Mert Lawwill’s front brake cable, and Ron Grant’s leaking carburetor. They got Lawwill’s bike off to the side.
Castro got pushed off just as the last of the riders cleared the grid, following some super pit work by the K&N crew—though how he could have a flat on the grid in the first place is beyond me....
Grant did three laps or so, before pitting to have the carburetor replaced. With gas all over the place, a small fire > erupted while they were push-starting his bike after the pit stop. The mechanics kept pushing, the engine lit off, and sucked the flames in before any damage was done. Grant took off, apparently unaware that he had been on fire.
Jody Nicholas came by on the first lap with a good lead over DuHamel, who was trailed by Baumann, Nixon, Roberts and Smart. This was surprising, because the Kawasakis usually can outaccelerate the Suzukis, and are at their best in the early laps. By the fourth lap Cal Rayborn was out with a seized piston in the Harley-Davidson. The sweetest sounding bike on the track, and one of the coolest running, had to be Reg Pridmore’s BMW(!).
Nicholas came by in the lead, but Yvon was closing, then there was a long gap to Baumann, and another long gap to Nixon, who was involved in a tight duel with Kel Carruthers. Behind them, Kenny Roberts was dicing closely with Paul Smart, then came Gary Fisher, Ron Pierce, and Mark Brelsford, followed by another long gap to Gene Romero, Larry Schaefer and Dick Mann. Meanwhile, Nicholas was beginning to feel the effects of the intense heat. (Mel Dinesen had gotten his wish— though it was to do him little good.) DuHamel had gotten by, while Kenny Roberts and Kel Carruthers had settled into a good dice with each other—on as nearly identical machines as you could ask for. The 10-lap average was faster than DuHamel’s qualifying record speed. A few laps later, another great dice had developed between Gene Romero and Dick Mann, which lasted until at least the 30th lap, when it was Dick who started pulling away from Gene, for a switch. The old champ is getting turned on late this year....
DuHamel pitted for gas on the 16th lap or so, handing the lead to Nicholas, on the infield, at least, though Yvon was credited with holding the lead throughout the stop. Perhaps it was because Jody pitted on the next lap, and the Suzuki pits were before the finish line, and the Kawasaki pits after it.
Shortly after the 20th lap, Kenny Roberts went out with a bum piston, then Dick Mann pitted for gas, with Gene Romero following him a lap or so later. Jody Nicholas was looking downright ragged on the infield, and Don Em de was going slowly, motioning other riders on by. Nicholas pulled off, a victim of heat exhaustion, while Emde made two trips to the pits for new plugs.
Kel Carruthers holed a piston on the bank, pulled into the pits, and promptly collapsed. He says he felt fine on the bike, but as soon as he got off, he felt the heat. Eddie Mulder had dropped out with heat exhaustion. The race was getting short now, and tuners were out on the grass flashing information.
Keith Mashburn’s tuner had inscribed a huge vertical arrow with an exclamation point on his pit board. Keith was the only factory Yamaha to finish. DuHamel lapped the 3rd place rider two laps from the end of the race. Brelsford had moved up to 5th, a gain of two places from his dice with Ron Pierce. It looked like Mark would save face for the Harley contingent, but on the last lap his engine blew. Since he was the first rider to complete 47 laps (other than those who completed more), he was credited with 7th place.
Pierce later said, “I wanted Mark to get some points, so I motioned him to tuck in behind me, and draft me, to save his engine, since we were so close. But Mark pulled out too early. If he had stayed there another couple of laps, he might have made it.”
Mashburn pulled in to a sort of a hero’s welcome, to report that he’d kept saying to himself after the pit stop, “When’s it going to break? When’s it going to break?” He had pitted to have an oil seal replaced, and as he took off, the clutch let go, so he finished the race without a clutch—but nothing broke. Also accorded a hero’s welcome was Yvon DuHamel, of course, with cool wet towels, and a drink. And Bob Hansen had fresh, clean Team Hansen T-shirts for Yvon and his mechanic.
Not so lucky were guys like Gary Scott, who had a spark plug come out of the hole early in the race, turning him into a spectator, or Gary Fisher, who had the exhaust pipe come adrift twice, and had to pit to have it replaced, losing precious laps, and little John Hately, whose points went out at six laps. Falstaff supplied the trophies, which contained a genuine Falstaff beer can (Walker and Gabe would have been proud....).
For Kawasaki, it was a happy weekend. A thoroughly professional team effort had won the junior road race, the open motocross and a special 30-min. all-comers moto following the expert road race, won by John DeSoto—which
may have been held at least in part to compensate ticket holders for the loss of the junior road race which took place on Friday-and, of course, the jolly green giant could look with pride on a three out of four sweep of the big road race. And Bob Hansen promised to “do something” about that guy Baumann, breaking up his team like that, before Ontario.
results
200-MILE NA TIONAL
1) Yvon DuHamel; 2) Gary Nixon; 3) Art Baumann; 4) Paul Smart; 5) Dick Mann; 6) Ron Pierce; 7) Mark Brelsford; 8) Conrad Lirbanowski 9) R.G. Wakefield 10) Ray Hempstead; 11) Cliff Carr; 12) George Kerk er; 13) Bob Bailey; 14) Gary Fisher; 15) Reg Pridmore; 16) Stan Friduss; 17) Ron Grant; 18) Roger Reiman; 19) Keith Mashburn; 20) Don Emde.
COMBINED 250cc-OPEN MOTOCROSS
1) John DeSoto; 2) Gary Chaplin; 3) Brad Lackey; 4) Gary Bailey; 5) James Cooke; 6) Scott Jordan; 7) Jack McElwain; 8) David Doerschuk; 9) John Borg; 10) Wayne Cluck ey.
76-MILE COMBINED ROAD RACE
1) Kel Carruthers; 2) Gary Fisher; 3) Kenny Roberts; 4) Don Emde; 5) Ray Hemp stead; 6) Jerry Greene; 7) Ron Pierce; 8) Mike Ninci; 9) Jim Evans; 10) Howard Lynggard.
76-MILE JUNIOR ROAD RACE
1) Jerry Greene; 2) Jim Evans; 3) Scott Brelsford; 4) Howard Lynggard; 5) Steve Baker; 6) Tom Schroeder; 7) Jean Lysight; 8) Jeff March; 9) Kurt Liebmann; 10) T. Mike Hishiki.
76-MILE NOVICE ROAD RACE
1) Ted Henter; 2) John Long; 3) Tommy Byars; 4) Larry Varbrough; 5) Mike Devlin; 6) Wes Cooley; 7) Phil McDonald; 8) Bill Weigle; 9) Tommy Hall; 10) Dave Watkins.
