Laguna Seca: Who Else But Roberts?
Laguna Seca: Who Else But Roberts?
D. Randy Riggs
If Ken Roberts’ flashy, no mistakes, blistering performance on the deviating 1.9-mile Laguna Seca road course was any indication, Giacomo Agostini will have his hands full holding our National Champion at bay when they clash again this fall at Ontario. Kenny, gaining more and more road racing experience as time rolls on, is only a heart thump away from recognition as the world’s best pavement racing talent; a little more time and he will own that distinction.
At Seca he merely added gussets to this framework by scoring his second double of the season. A win in the agitating intoxication of the Expert/ Junior Combined 250 “happening,” and a resolute victory in the National final after 75 miles of knee-dragging, peeringover-the-edge racing, left no questions in the minds of either spectators or competitors...Roberts is King. The bold black “1” stitched to the white background on the back of his leathers is an indication of this man’s incredible talent...yes. But the impact of actually seeing him in action is something else again. Particularly on a course such as this, because Laguna Seca is not simply anywhere.
It bends like a willowy ribbon eel, is as narrow as the slats in a picket j^ce and heads up and down like a sti^Pnt pilot on his first solo. A place for a rider, and only the best of riders are capable of dealing with its nine turns in the manner deemed necessary for tasting champagne. Cal Rayborn was that kind of rider...he won the inaugural 125-mile running in 1972 on a machine 25 horsepower down on the faster twostrokes. Fiesty Gary Nixon followed last year and gave the event’s major sponsor (Kawasaki) the win. And this time around, not many were wagering against the formidable onslaught of TZ700 Yamahas, most particularly the one positioned under the crotch of National Number One.
There were other threats besides the team TZs handled by Roberts, Romero and a not-quite-in-fighting-trim Don Castro. Kawasaki stood in the line of strong possibles with machinery i^|t was out-handling virtually anythingBrn the track and that was hardly what one would call “down on power.” In fact, if anything stood in the way of a Roberts romp, it was a smoothed-out Yvon DuHamel on a deftly-prepared zinger of ar^fc2R. The only fly in the ointment?
had “tipped over” in an early-inthe-week practice session and sliced some nasties in his hand. The cuts presumably were caused by the windscreen and looked painful enough to slow even the hard-to-dent Yvon.
Art Baumann, Mr. Unpredictable, had another member of the race host’s fleet of machines under him; like Yvon’s and Hurley Wilvert’s, the prep on his was immaculate, but victory was questionable. However, if luck bent in the right direction, any one of the “Big K” riders could thicken his wallet.
More under control and better organized than ever is Team Suzuki, likely a product of the efforts of team manager, Merv Wright. But Merv was missing his ace-in-the-hole at Seca, the coming-offa-win-at-Loudon Gary Nixon. Gary was bitten severely in Japan practice-testing o^^pf the malicious 500 Fours recently d^æloped for the European Grand Prix circuit. He had hoped to be at Monterey as a spectator, but his injuries prevented even that. So Team “S” numbered two Englishmen...Paul Smart and Cliff Carr.
The big Suzukis had undergone several important modifications since Daytona, and a frame change since Loudon, following the success of Nixon on the Kanemoto-fabricated chassis. A wider, stronger powerband coupled with quicker steering had to help on the bumpy, tight Laguna asphalt. But the Yamahas still had the biggest hold on the grip of raw power, and the Kawasakis had handling in their headlock.
Once there was a day when the entrance of the Harley-Davidson factory team truck through the gates at a road race National could cause a lot more than a cursory glance. It brought with it many worrisome thoughts for the competition, because that’s when a Harley on a road race course was hell in the hands of a Rayborn. But their presence at Seca had a lot more meaning for the Combined 250 event than for the bigbore National. Two bellowing, sweetsounding V-Twins were there for...well, as a courtesy to Gary Scott more than anything else. Gary was just 99 points shy of Roberts’ total in the bid for Number One; the now underpowered H-D 750 could at least earn Scott a few points on this shorter course...and that could make the difference at the end of the season.
Rickety assumptions aside, it was fairly safe to figure on Seca as being the retiring event in road racing for the famous V-Twins. They would be pathetically out of the hunt at Talledega and Ontario, both rockety fast, horsepower tracks. With the 25-machine rule next season, maybe the black and orange team truck will again raise butterflies in the stomachs of the road race competition; for now, dirt tracks will remain V-Twin territory.
Absent were the echoes of the factory British bikes; no rhapsodies emanating from the megaphones of Triumph Triples; no soliloquies from Norton Twins. A total contrast to the inaugural running of the Ontario 250 a couple of years back, when the rider’s task was to beat yet another British machine. They were everywhere in strong dominance then. Nowhere in sight now. To have seen them...to have witnessed their finery and glory...is a treat for the memory.
But four-stroke followers had nothing approaching the glory days of BSA/ Triumph racing to witness here. With the notable exception of a simply incredible ride turned in by Gary Scott on the Harley, only two other four-cycle power plants circulated the track during the course of the 75-mile National. Reg Pridmore was at the helm of the Helmut Kern-prepared, Butler & Smith-sponsored BMW, and Bob Endicott wrestled an unusual Kawasaki Z2 Four, the 750cc version of the famed 900.
Maybe there was a bit of condolence for these four-stroke fans in the ranks of the privateers. Because, regardless of engine or brand preferences, one has to appreciate how hard and how fast these guys make it. Sponsorships are varied, so one rider may operate in the fashion accorded the top factory teams, another may wonder how he operates at all. Novices, in particular, fall into this category, though some, Skip Aksland, for example, have it a little better.
Aksland is the brother of Bud Aksland, who worked as Ken Roberts’
mechanic for quite some time. Skip’s done plenty of play riding with Roberts, he’s learned a few tricks, and Ken is now his sponsor. A Junior-ranked rid^r in the dirt, Skip’s affair with the p^^ment has advanced rapidly from the petting stage. And at Seca he charged for a nearly uncontested victory in the 50-mile final. One reason was that Aksland’s Excedrin headache number one, John Volkman, disposed of himself in turn two before the race had gone 1500 feet. Skip’s Yamaha 250 held a 16-second lead at the halfway point; it was a coast job for the remaining green-flag travel. Murray Hoffman on a Vesco Yamaha took the checkered in 2nd.
If the Novice contest was a runaway, and somewhat tedious for the gathering of onlookers, the Junior trek would have been worse yet, except for the fact that a smattering of those awesome Yamaha Fours were enough to provide diversion. Largely, it was a case of the practiced and deliberate riding of Pat Hennen lacking a peer; he ran alm^ leisurely 1:16s without pressure fi^l behind and wheelied out of turn nine and up the straight just for fun. Next season, Pat, things will be tougher. Hennen’s distant chasers for much of the race were Larry Bleil and Walt Foster. Foster was riding his 350 Ya-
tia ragged against the 700s, he evenly dropped out as Bleil kept 2nd and Phil Frank took 3rd.
More interest was shown for the Expert/Junior 250 race than at any time in the past. Since Gary Scott’s resounding tromp of rival Roberts and his 250 Yamaha at Loudon, on the new H-D no less, people couldn’t wait to see how Yamaha would retaliate. The savvy pit folk just knew Mr. Carruthers would pull an extra five horsepower out of the Central California coastal air and Scott just knew Roberts would be hard as Rhino hide this time around. No one was wrong.
In the qualifying heat, Roberts simply owned 1st place, though Scott never quit pressuring. Ken’s Yamaha was the only 250 team bike running the new Goodyear slicks developed especially for use on the lightweights, Romero and
f»tro ran Dunlops, Scott opted for a unlop in the front and the Goodyear slick aft. He later admitted that a Goodyear might have worked better on the front after all, but then it was too late.
Gary led just one lap of the lightweight biggie. Roberts took over from that point and gradually increased his lead, not with the very slight power advantage he enjoyed, but rather, by riding the 250 like one has never been ridden before. One-minute-fifteen-second lap times at Seca are figures dreamed of by many 700 riders. They found it hard to comprehend that he was managing such times on a 250! And not far behind this rousting run for first place was a separate fracas, between the two remaining team Yamahas belonging to Romero and Castro.
Romero wasn’t letting his weight disadvantage hold him back one bit, and he and Don traded positions like baseball cards. Then Gene made his mistake in the hairy corkscrew by grabbing one finger too much of front brake and down he went...unscathed but DNF in the results. A tired Castro held his 3rd a good country mile behind Roberts and Scott...Pat Evans followed him.
The race also marked the return of one of the quickest road racers in memory. Jody Nicholas, former CW staffer and Suzuki team man, had come out of a lengthy layoff in racing to give it another go. Jody had a horrendous spill at Ontario two years ago and was forced into retirement because of injuries. A 7th-place finish here shows he’s on the right road back.
So Roberts had gotten his revenge on Scott, as Yamaha had on the Harley crew, who were still all smiles since winning three dirt Nationals in a row. But Mr. Ken still wasn’t through...not done just yet. If he could run a 1:15 on a 250, what in God’s name could he turn on one of the water-cooled Fours?
Certainly the 34,000 spectators on hand were ready for anything; most were thoroughly jazzed by the big-bore Production Bike event. Seeing Yvon DuHamel, Steve McLaughlin and Reg Pridmore throwing 900 BMWs and Kawasakis around with almost the same fervor they expend on their GP bikes had them buzzing. Guys all over the place were telling their chicks, “See that bike DuHamel’s riding? Just like mine, kiddo.” Yeah, sure. But not far from it
(Continued on page 88)
Continued from page 51
anyway.
There was a bit more money incentive this year. Seca was chosen as one of three events in the $15,000 Camel Pro Series. Camel had posted “Welcome Race Fans” banners all over town and generally stirred things up in a neat way. The awards (money) would be handed out upon the completion of the three events (Seca, Santa Fe Short Track and the Terre Haute Half-Mile) to the guys with the points.
Heat one just had to be a blitz off the line. With every Team Kawasaki, including that of DuHamel, the yellow crotch-rockets belonging to Roberts and Castro, a Suzuki factory bike and Steve “Poster Power” McLaughlin’s privateer TZ, Seca was transformed into Drag City.
DuHamel held an edge for a few seconds...at least until the first slight bend. Yvon rolled off the twist grip maybe just a tad...Roberts didn’t. First was his for the remainder of the heat, even though Yvon’s slick handling and quick Kawasaki pressured much of the time. Paul Smart had managed his Suzuki past the Mel Dinesen-tuned Yamaha of McLaughlin, while Hurley Wilvert worked his way from a poor start into 5th. Poor Art Baumann only got as far as turn seven when he piled it in, giving himself a good scrape job in the process. His mechanic looked disgusted. “He just lost it, I guess.” The race average for Roberts was a very fast 93.721 mph. It looked doubtful that he could be topped after such a methodical run on the course and the other riders.
The second heat would have been anticlimactic if it weren’t for a scrap between two close friends...Romero and Dave Aldana. David was riding an extremely potent Yamaha 700, tuned by National Number 69, Sonny Burres. He made Romero sweat and ride his butt off the whole time, and probably loved every minute of it. Romero held him though, and wonder boy Pat Evnas was 3rd.
Most of the machine-fiddling between heats was being performed by the Suzuki mechanics. Cliff Carr’s good engine went south, so his mechanics had to make a motor swap in 45 minutes. Worse than that, Carr was dismal over the fact that the new engine had the wrong ratios in the transmission for the Laguna track. And starting in the last row didn’t thrill him much either.
Naturally, Kenny led the charge out of the start, and about five seconds behind him DuHamel worked on slithering past Romero. He made it after a tussle; all the while the back markers were making their bids.
Pat Evans stayed 5th...didn’t drop back...didn’t move up. Paul Smart crept in on Romero, and Gene’s pit kept holding the chalk board up every lap. All it said was, “Gene +0.” Since Smart would occasionally stick a wheel under his Yamaha in the turns, Gene needed no pit board to tell him what was happening.
Gary Scott never let up on his big Harley, even when the rear tire quit working. Through the corkscrew he would bump the big machine over on its fairing, then throw it the other way until it scraped again. No one has ever ridden a Harley around Seca faster than Scott. Yet, in spite of that kind of riding, the onslaught of horsepower from Suzukis and Yamahas and Kawasakis kept him back in 8th position. What could this man do on a prepared 700 Yamaha?
Lots of riders had their close calls in 75 miles of racing. Even Roberts had a few just cutting through the traffic he was lapping. But when it was over, the fans knew, the riders knew, who was best. No one was really in the same league that day at Laguna Seca...auÄhe almost made it look easy. RobertÄras like a kid cut loose in a candy store.
RESULTS
