Racing Review

RACING REVIEW

SHAMROCK ISDT QUALIFIER

RON SCHNEIDERS

The desert, according to many enthusiasts and writers, is really the proper place to stage the U.S. version of the International Six Days Trial. There, it is believed, our quick desert riders, accustomed as they are to square lava rocks and searing heat, would ride the coldblooded Europeans into the ground, winning the coveted World Trophy for the United States and California. It’s an interesting theory, but in view of what happened at the fifth ISDT qualifying event, sponsored by the Sunland Shamrocks, a theory it’s likely to remain.

The course was what you might expect of a desert course: a big, sprawling loop, 200 miles around, not circular of course, but with lobes that would drift out 15 to 40 miles to catch an interesting mountain or dry lake bed. And although there were changes of direction, most were slight and the impression was always of riding to the horizon 25 miles away.

By the end of Saturday there were about 38 riders still in competition. Two teams were still on Gold, Kawasaki USA and Penton “B.” Triumph had been doing well with John Greenrose and Ken Harvey both on Gold, but Dave Mungenast lost his card and was reduced to Bronze. The Bultaco “B” team had an early calamity: Dave Ekins had ignition failure in the first 50 miles. The Penton “A” team self-destructed in the afternoon when Carl Cranke lost his way and missed a check. Husqvarna was out early, victim of a broken crankshaft on Malcolm Smith’s bike. Monark’s Gene Burcham was also out early with ignition failure. Rokon was out with rider failure—a rider from Fort Hood, Texas, succumbed to California heat. Incredible. Hodaka had all of its bikes out with a horrendous combination of pilot errors and machine failures.

Another surprise came about 9 o’clock Saturday evening. In spite of the fact that there were some very quick desert riders on hand, the best time in the special test went to trials rider Lane Leavitt, who was riding on the Bultaco “A” team. His team’s effort was kaput because team member Greg Ekins ran out of gas.(Yes, it’s true. No, they don’t know how it happened either.) Lane was riding a Bultaco Pursang which had been specially set up for this sort of competition with a larger gas tank, a smaller carburetor, and handlebars that only an observed trials rider could love.

With the cooler-seeming temperatures on Sunday and a knowledge of the course, there was little excitement. All the interest centered around the ques-

tions of whether Kawasaki or Penton would win the Team Trophy and whether or not Lane Leavitt would be able to hold first overall. He didn’t. Jack Penton, riding an overbored Penton 250 in the 350 class, aced him by a mere two points, 2642 to 2644. This amounts to a total difference of two seconds in four separate races of eight miles each, or less than 0.1 percent between them, very close competition.

The team race was not nearly so close in points. Penton “B” won with 116 points to Kawasaki’s 185. The Kawasaki team of Eric Jensen, Mike Patrick, and Ron Bishop actually did extremely well, taking the top three places in the Open class. But that was their downfall—they were all in the same class. In the complicated ISDT scoring system, they had a potential of one “O” for a class win; the Penton team, competing in three classes, had a potential of three “O” and actually won two of them. Both Billy Uhl (175 Penton) and Jack Penton (250 Penton) won their classes, while Tom Penton in the 125 class finished 4th.

THE PEORIA TT

JOHN WAASER

A high flying Dave Aldana almost looked like a good bet to be another repeat national winner this year at Peoria. The weather was hot, and Dave was hotter; most of the remaining riders were not pleased with the super high jump, however, and had the officials cut it down to size early in the proceedings.

After the tenth lap, Dave’s Norton slowed noticeably, and he drifted back through the pack as Mert Lawwill took over the lead and held it for the win, which was virtually assured him after 2nd place Kenny Roberts took a slow motion spill. Kenny got back up in less time than it took him to go down—and Dick Mann was far enough back in 3rd so that Kenny held on to 2nd.

Roberts won the first heat, followed by Scott Breisford and Dick Mann. They were qualifying three from each of four heats, plus two from each of two semis, for a total of 16 riders in the final—four more than most dirt nationals.

Jim Rice took the second heat, with Gary Scott just getting by Dave Sehl for 2nd on the last lap; Dave held on to the 3rd qualifying slot. A restart, occasioned by Aldana, killed Rex Beauchamp’s chances for glory in the third heat. Rex led the first start, but could only manage a 4th on the restart. Lawwill won that one, followed by Aldana and Randy Scott. Chuck Joyner won the final heat, followed by factory Yamaha rider Don Castro. Chuck Palmgren snatched 3rd away from Eddie Wirth at the checkered flag; Chuck was riding his trusty Steed/AAR Dan Gurney-type Yamaha.

After a long and full intermission which included a parade of Motor Maids and a skydiving show, the semis got under way, including such stars as Cal Rayborn, Gene Romero, Terry Dorsch, Al Kenyon and Mike Gerald. Dorsch won the first one, and took Ken on along with him to the final. Gerald won the second, and carried Burrito along to the final.

Sonny Burres pulled a Don Castro number in the trophy race—he won from a penalty line start, ahead of Rayborn and Buddy Powell.

SANTA FE SHORT TRACK NATIONAL

JOHN WAASER

In marked contrast to most of this year’s nationals, where we’ve seen a different winner at virtually every race, and seen riders who have dominated the same event for several years take it in the cheeks, the Santa Fe short track national this year repeated last year’s winners as far back as 4th place. And both of the first two places were won in spite of adversity; Mike Gerald (his name is Barry Michael—but he doesn’t like to be called Barry) was the winner. He had been sick, and wasn’t sure he’d even make the final. Don Castro, who took 2nd, had crept about two fingers over the line in his heat, and had to start the heat from the penalty line; he went on to win, beating his teammate, the national points leader, Kenny Roberts. The result of all this is that Don, currently the AMA’s “best wheel,” picked up a bunch of national points and fully expects to finish second at year’s end.

Rex Beauchamp was one of the big surprises of the event. An Atlanta Harley dealer had taken a super pepped-up Sprint engine up to Milwaukee for Rex’s short tracker. The unit ran extremely well, and Rex was running a strong 3rd in the final, right on Castro’s heels, when the Sprint swallowed a valve three laps from the end.

Kenny Roberts, having finished 2nd in his heat, did not have one of the choice starting slots; he got off poorly, and got caught in traffic. Some tire juggling before the final hurt his grip in the early laps; it was only in the later stages that he could move up a couple of slots into 4th.

Roberts gained a few points, Castro gained a lot, and Scott and Nixon stayed where they were. The season marches on.