Race Watch
RACE WATCH
Husky takes Baja, Baker doubles at Loudon, 250 MX series
FULL HOUSE/HARRINGTON HALF-MILE
Already into its tenth event, this year's Camel Pro Series has yet to produce a duplicate winner, an indication of how hot the season’s been thus far. Now, in the state of Delaware, in front of a sellout crowd, Michigan's likable Corky Keener has racked up his first National victory of the season and the fifth of his career.
A valuable member of the factory HarleyDavidson Racing Team, Keener overcame problems in his heat race to go on to win the last-chance-for-transfer Semi, then went from 2nd to 1st on lap four of the National. Teammate Jay Springsteen, on yet another of the ferocious Milwaukee Twins, looked as though he would challenge for the lead late in the event, but came up short. Following the H-D duo was none other than exteammate Gary Scott, whose 3rd-place finish assured him of the lead in the National points standing. Like Corky and Jay, Gary was riding the H-D brand, but under private sponsorship. Kenny Roberts worked his factory OW72 Yamaha into 7th on the fast limestone track.
Corky’s victory lifted him from 29th to 9th in the standings, and he always feels more at home in the Top Ten.
PROTEST UPHELD
Early in the day at Delaware, Gary Scott got an encouraging word from AMA officials who were upholding his protest of the Oklahoma City Half-Mile, which was redflagged. during the late stages because of a four-rider crash. An earlier protest would have scored Scott as 8th-place finisher, but his protest on top of the protest upheld the original listed finishing positions. The entire affair pointed up the importance of getting the proper wording into the AMA rule books. Many rulings are quite ambiguous and subject to varied interpretations.
CAMEL PRO SERIES/LOUDON
It was more distressing luck for Ken Roberts at the Duckworth-sponsored New Hampshire Road Race National, and a continuation of Steve Baker’s prowess on the pavement. At one point Roberts had built up a 12-sec. margin over Baker, but he then got in a spill while lapping another rider. The rider fell, taking Roberts with him, and Kenny’s OW31 was too broken to continue. Baker held 1st from that point on and made it a sweep for the weekend. His win in the 75-mile National was his first in that category of AMA racing.
The previous day Baker had blitzed the field in the 250 Lightweight race. So far this year the quiet guy from Washington has beaten just about all of the world’s road racing greats.
Second place was grabbed by an emerging Randy Cleek, who is now ranked 3rd in National standings. Gene Romero came through for 3rd on his Vesco Yamaha, thereby cracking the Top Ten for the first time this season. Back aways in 7th place was Gary Scott, picking up a valuable eight points to hold a good lead in the National total.
The 40-mile Superbike Production event was a cakewalk for Mike Baldwin on one of the limited production Moto-Guzzi 850 LeMans models. He soundly trounced the $20,000 BMW factory bikes of Gary Fisher and Reg Pridmore, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Daytona Production winner Steve McLaughlin,was hampered by gearbox troubles and DNFed.
Scott Pearson, a red-hot dirt tracker from the West Coast, beat the horde of Novices for a win in the 40-mile event.
Camel Pro Series standings after Loudon:
1 Gary Scott, 87; 2. Jay Springsteen, 75; 3. Randy Cleek, 68; 4. Ken Roberts, 67; 5. Hank Scott, 63; 6. Rick Hocking, 56; 7. Ted Boody, 52; 8. Steve Fklund, 50; 9. Corky Keener, 37; 10. Gene Romero, 34.
SCORE BAJA 500
A new course, flawless weather, numerous entries, good organization and bikes taking the first two places overall made Mickey Thompson’s SCORE Baja 500 one of the best cross-country events ever run in the Mexican State. Larry Roeseier and A.C. Bakken blew the doors off everyone, including the car driven by retired motorcycle racer Bobby Ferro. In spite of their Husqvarna suffering a flat that Roeseler had to ride on for 20 miles before reaching a check point, they finished the somewhat less than 500-mile event in 8 hr., 50 min., 41 sec. Aside from a very tough x>cky mountain pass, the overall route was the fastest ever used in a SCORE event.
Second overall, and 2nd in class, were Terry Clark and Howard Utsey on another Husky, proving again that it takes a lot to beat Husqvamas in this type of off-road racing. Their time was 9 hr., 3 min., 21 sec. Bobby Ferro, driving with Ivan Stewart, came in 3rd overall to win the single-seater buggy class in a Funco SS l at 9 hr.. 12 min., 37 sec. The whole thing just w'ent to prove that you can't beat a bike when the entire event is run off-road!
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FINAL 250 MX NATIONAL
In spite of threatening skies, some 14,000 people believed the weatherman’s inaccurate prediction of 85° and sunshine and ventured out to wdtness the epic duel between Jim Weinert and Tony DiStefano for the 250 National Championship in Southwick, Mass. Weinert, although actually from New York state, had ridden in New England during his early years because the competition was so much tougher. He held a class championship one year and is held in almost as much esteem as New England hero Jimmy Ellis.
Jammin' Jimmy had a mathematical chance of taking the championship from Tony DiStefano -another name not altogether foreign to locals-if Tony did poorly, but was injured the previous weekend in Mexico, N.Y., by a rock thrown from DiStefano’s wheel. Although the accident occurred too late for most New' Englanders to even be aware of it, Weinert w'ould he unable to contest the Championship at Southwick. But just to prove he could do it, DiStefano, with no pressure on him, put together a consistent day for 2nd overall on a Suzuki, which would have secured him the Championship regardless of Weinert's ride.
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Southwick has an infamous “spectator jump” that has done in more than one topclass rider. It is a difficult berm, very soft and uphill. If a rider drops below the powerband. or hits it wrong, he loses virtually all forward momentum. The only rider never to make a mistake here was Pierre Karsmakers. Many noted Pierre's style in practice and tabbed him as the man to beat long before the gate fell for the first moto. He didn't let anyone down. Of course, his machine helped some.
Honda had scrapped its old bikes and started anew on the drawing board. They managed to produce the trickest and most expensive motorcycles on the track. From front fork preload adjusters to gold wheel rims, the bikes were beautiful examples of perfection in every detail ... or as close to it as today's technology can come. But Pierre deserves most of the credit, certainly, since the no-holds-barred Hondas didn't help any of the team’s numerous other riders. As a matter of fact, there were four different marques in the Top Five.
Brad Lackey mastered the course early and treated the spectators to his best American ride in years, leading the first moto at the halfway point. He seemed able to pass and hold off Karsmakers at will, for a while, yet dropped back steadily from there, finishing the first moto in 2nd place just 10 seconds behind Karsmakers. Lackey dropped to 4th in the second moto. His Husqvama teammate, Kent Howerton, copped 4th overall, while Team Honda whiz kid Bob Hannah, always in contention, finished the day in 5th.
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The crowd, which paid more per person for a one-day motocross than ever before in New England, certainly got its money's worth. National Championship motocross is in New England to stay.
Final AMA 250 National MX standings: 1. Tony DiStefano (Suz), 291; 2. Jim Weinert (Kaw), 236; 3. Steve Stackable (Suz), 204; 4. Kent Howerton (Hus), 187; 5. Gary Semics (Kaw), 177; 6. Bob Hannah (Yam), 175; 7. Rick Burgett (Yam), 173; 8. Jimmy Ellis (C-A), 154; 9. Gaylon Mosier (Mai), 128; 10. Rich Eierstedt (Hon), 1 15.
BMW SIDECARS SMOKIN’ ON THE GRASS
Speedway type racing on grass tracks is very popular in England and Europe. And grass track sidecars are some of the most interesting types of equipment in racing. Supercharged gasoline engines up to 650cc are allowed, as are lOOOcc fuel burners. Hughenden is now boring out BMW R90/S engines to 990cc using 12.5:1 Venolia pistons. The engine is mounted very low in a special frame, which is achieved by converting the engine to dry-sump lubrication. Because of the lack of oil movement in the crankcase, they reckon a 5-hp increase results. Dell'Orto 38mm carburetors are used with foam air filters. A Formula 1 1 1 car flywheel is used, along with a Hart oil pump that is belt-driven from the front of the engine, where the starter motor has been removed. Gas/oil shocks are used at both ends. Certainly not your everyday, run-ofthe-mill BMW.
RIDE A MOTORCYCLE BACK TO SCHOOL
