The Denver Half-Mile
The Denver Half-Mile
Mike Obermeyer
AT THE DENVER Half-Mile, it was like "On Any Sunday" revisited. Mert Lawwill dominated ited. Mert Lawwill dominated the entire event with his smooth, super-fast style and cool analytical approach. Lawwill won the first heat race handily, nosing out Danny Hockie (Tri) and Kenny Roberts (Yam), National Number One, for the win. The track, normally used for horse racing, was very sandy with good-sized rocks buried just beneath the surface.
Promoter Don Brymer had brought with him a crew of track preparation experts from California, who worked for most of the week preceding the race in an attempt to get the track in proper condition for motorcycles, instead of Colorado's omnipresent quarter horses. Even though the crew spent many man hours, and applied large quantities of water and chemicals, the track surface still left much to be desired.
As prophesied by local flat trackers who are familiar with the facility, the track was beautiful for about a half hour during practice and then started to degenerate badly in spots.
One of the major problem areas was a rough patch about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, which developed right in the groove on the exit path from the south turn. Riders who hit this patch head on at speeds approximating 100 mph man aged to compress their suspensions com pletely, and on more than one occasion to scare hell out of the fans sitting in the low bleachers directly in front of this area.
After Lawwill's win in the first heat, he spent the time remaining to him before the main walking back and forth along that section of track and watching the other racers come through the dan ger area. He also switched to a fresh set of tires to gain traction in the loose areas that developed in several spots around the track, particularly in the turns. Lawwill's efforts were apparently bent to finding the one perfect line through the south turn that would allow him to miss the huge chuckhole.
In the second heat race, HarleyDavidson-mounted Gary Scott was the winner, several lengths ahead of Charlie Seale, who narrowly nosed out first-year Expert John Gennai. Rex Beauchamp followed Gennai for a Harley-Davidson sweep of the first four places.
The third heat was won by Roger Krump on a Triumph, with Chuck Palmgren, Frank Gillespie, and Walter Mundt bringing up the next three positions on Yamahas. Palmgren thrilled the audience with block-passing techniques that looked like something straight out of motocross.
The first semi-main gave the Colorado audience a chance to see two more superheros do their thing. Dick Mann, mounted on a rather cobby-looking Triumph, took the lead going into the first turn, but was immediately passed on the first straightaway by Gene Romero on a very trick Shell-framed Yamaha. On the second lap, Romero bobbled and Mann immediately passed. Gene, who obviously had the edge on power and acceleration, repassed again almost at once.
Midway in the race, Mann, who seemed to have cornering superiority, tried to pass Romero on the outside of the north turn. This effort proved unsuccessful—by this time the surface of the track on the outside of the groove had become nothing but marbles, and Mann couldn't hold enough cornering speed to pass Romero.
After this race which finished with Mann in 3rd place, narrowly edged for 2nd by Harley-mounted Mark Brelsford,
I spoke with Mann and several of the other riders in the pit area regarding the track conditions. There was some grousing, particularly by several of the lessexperienced riders.
Although he was gentle about it, Mann appeared to be somewhat scornful of this attitude. He said, "That's what the fans pay to see, and that's what we're supposed to be out here doing. You can't let a rough track interfere with racing."
Talking with Dick Mann is sort of like talking to your father. The charac-> ter lines in his face and his quiet dignity seem to lend an added dimension to anything that he says, and you sort of expect to find out at some later date that it has been transcribed into holy writ. You walk away from the interview with the attitude that "By God if Buggs said it, it must be all right."
The second semi-main was rather uneventful, with Yamaha rider John Hateley dominating from wire to wire.
The trophy dash was probably the big thrill of the day. Dick Mann and his Triumph got it all together and there was never any question about Buggs' superiority in this race. Yamahas showed very well, with Pat McCaul 2nd, Sonny Burres 3rd, and Frank Gillespie 4th.
The final race of the day was the Denver Gold Cup, which was cut from the originally-planned 20 laps to 15. In the main, Mert Lawwill's careful analysis and planning paid off. Lawwill took the lead, and after the second turn it became apparent that he had found the magic line.
It appeared that he was blue-grooving it through the south turn, but somehow had managed to do an incredible job of that peculiar form of vector analysis champion flat track riders do. Each lap he came shooting out of the turn exactly on a line that put him to the smooth outside edge of the chuckhole that had been troubling so many of the riders all day.
Surface imperfections never seemed to bother him and he was never pushed closely enough to become nervous. After watching Lawwill's intense concentration during his study of the track, and his intended line, it must be doubted if anything can destroy his concentration.
Gary Scott sewed up 2nd position nicely, with Triumph-mounted Mike Kidd close behind. John Gennai, who had such an excellent Junior season last year, finished a very creditable 4th, with Chuck Palmgren in 5th, Charlie Seale in 6th, and Mark Williams in 7th.
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Spectators and photographers at north turn exit were treated to a cou e of very impressive crashes. Ken Roberts executed an impressive get-off that left his Yamaha bounding high in the air, and Dave Aldana did one of the most incredible, sliding "save my body" es cape tricks anyone has ever seen in Denver motorcycle racing. Exiting the north turn, Aldana appeared to get out in the marbles and lose it.
The track is surrounded by a canti levered breakaway aluminum railing with long support posts that start well outside the perimeter and come in to
brace the rail. When Aldana saw that he was going to lose it and hit the rail, or at least the haybales piled underneath it, he came off on the outside, rode his steel shoe for a good 30 or 40 feet alongside the bike, then turned loose and simply bent over backward at knees and went down under the rail. looked like a picture of a motorcycle rider trucking, as done by R. Crumb.
The bike was not badly hurt, and Aldana was unscratched. I don't know if he has ever practiced this trick before, but it had to be the most casual 60-mph bailout I have ever seen.
Word has filtered back that the race was viewed with a jaundiced eye by West Coast enthusiasts, owing to the unsatisfactory track conditions. The track surface obviously left much to be desired in the eyes of the less experi enced racers, but didn't seem to trouble those with the fierce concentration of a Mann or a Lawwill. However, it must be admitted that when Kenny Roberts and Dave Aldana both get off at the same spot in the same race there might be~ little something wrong.
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Jim VanMeter, the manager of the Adams County Fairgrounds Track, indi cated that surface preparation will be much more extensive next year, ins ing combing out of the rocks and some of the sandy soil and replacement with more acceptable topsoil. As far as the Colorado spectators were concerned, however, even the $10 gate price did not deter anyone's enthusiasm. In the words of Colorado's own John Denver, "It was far out."
DENVER RESULTS
EXPERT TROPHY RACE
