Race Watch
RACE WATCH
Billy Uhl Makes it with Maico, Kenny Breaks His Jinx and Long Beach is Lookin' Good
D. Randy Riggs
LOOKIN’ GOOD IN LONG BEACH
Motorcycle racing got a fine bit of promotion at the Formula One car races in Long Beach.
Major show for the western U.S. Grand Prix was, of course, the cars. But because the promoters need to provide more than a two-hour race for the weekend event, they are always in the market for supporting features.
This year it was motorcycles, by invitation. World champion Barry Sheene, who is a pal of car driver James Hunt, was the star of the news releases. Sheene brought a brand new Suzuki RG500, and his lady friend. Both appeared daily in the papers for the week before the event. Glamour and like that, which never hurts.
The race people invited just about every rider who wasn’t going to Imola, which was held on the same day. Must have been good starting money, as they attracted Sheene, Gary Nixon, Gene Romero. Gary Scott, Skip Aksland, David Emde, Mike Baldwin and a bunch of other guys, plus what must have been every Yamaha TZ750 in America.
The race was keen. Romero did a rocket number into the lead and rocketed straight off one of the corners, which put him into a game of catch-up for the rest of the afternoon. Sheene didn’t impress, as the English say. Never got close. He said later he’d fitted the wrong tires.
Aksland picked up where Romero left off, closely pursued by Mike Baldwin. Introduction? Baldwin is one of the better upcoming riders, a top production class guy just getting into the pure racing bikes.
He got into the big time the right way, holding off Romero until his exhaust system fell off and the engine put its legs in the air. Any big sponsors out there? Anybody looking for talent? Baldwin would be a good bet.
Meanwhile, Aksland won, Romero worked into 3rd and inherited 2nd and Sheene was an easy 3rd, despite announcer Larry Huffman seeing a challenge where others saw a procession.
A good race. From the motorcycle racing side of things, the race was a fine bit of public relations. There were thousands of racing fans present who’d never seen a motorcycle race. They enjoyed it, Long Beach being a race through city streets and thus a great place to watch cornering techniques, wheelies and such from close up.
With cars, all you can see is the top of the driver’s helmet. This biking reporter had a fine time standing with the car people, telling them to watch Nixon, true grit and bolt upright, then contrast that with Aksland, who’d come through a lefthander hanging from the left side with his right knee hooked over the tank. Came the kink and the turn to the right and Aksland would heave himself up, daylight showing between him and the bike. Then he’d vault sideways and down off the right side of the bike with his left knee hooked on the tank. The crowd went wild.
Also pleasing for us bikers was that there were a lot of bikes in the crowd. Never saw so many cafe racers, outlaws, fulldress Harleys and Honda GLs, endless models of BMW. restored Triumphs and Velocettes. Optimistic, perhaps, but it was pleasing to think we’d put on sort of our own show, and that car racing fans had learned something about two wheels and those of us who ride them. The Long Beach race is always in financial hardship, so one cannot safely say there will be a next year. If there is, though, let’s hope the bikes will be back, as formula racers and even with a production class. Wouldn’t the car people like that, though, with lovely four-strokes and the battle of Kawasaki, BMW, Honda, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Suzuki, Laverda et al.
We could call it Daytona West.
—Allan Girdler
SHEENE TOPS BAKER IN 500-cc GP OPENER
Why they continue to allow a GP World Championship event in Venezuela is anybody’s guess, what with its recurrent hassles, lack of accommodations and other major problems, but it didn’t stop the top contenders from showing up. Points are points, after all. Most figured the big battle would be one with current 500cc Champion Barry Sheene up against stiff opposition from American Steve Baker, debuting Yamaha’s latest GP weapon, the “Square Four.”
And that’s precisely how it turned out, Baker leading most of the way from the start until late in the event. Baker apparently tired from the high temperatures and allowed Sheene to scoot by and win by a comfortable margin. Third was steady Pat Hennen on a Suzuki similar to Sheene’s and 4th went to local favorite Johnny Cecotto, also on the latest Yamaha. The battle resumes in Austria.
KENNY BREAKS HIS JINX AT IMOLA
Kenny Roberts got off to a bad beginning at Imola. In the 100-miler for 250-cc bikes, he was 20 sec. ahead of Steve Baker, Walter Villa and Barry Ditchburn
when the gear lever on his Yamaha broke and he was forced to stop.
But on the next day. the 200-mile main event for the big 750’s, the troubles went away. Roberts led 19 of the 22 laps in the first heat and all 22 laps of the second heat. He thrashed the opposition; in the first heat Baker finished 21 sec. behind, while Giacomo Agostini was a full 2:17 back. The second section saw Roberts pulling away to an even wider lead. With no riders close behind, Kenny could concentrate and in the closing stages he set fastest lap of the day.
No fewer than 110,000 spectators attended and after the race Roberts commented he was glad to finally display his riding skill before an Italian crowd.
The event itself was marred by accidents. The track had been resurfaced and widened in many spots but there were a large number of crashes along the hilly and high-speed autodrome. —Carlo Perelli
BILLY UHL AND MAICO TEAM UP
Famed enduro and ISDT star Billy Uhl will be on a new brand of motorycle this season. Uhl will be mounted on a Maico 250 WR for the ISDT Qualifiers and perhaps seen at a couple of the long distance endurance races. Uhl hopes to earn a spot on the U.S. ISDT team and then go on to win a gold medal in the tough event.
Joining Billy on the Maico team will be Lars Larson, Barry Higgins, Bob Mercil, Bill Harris and Ben Watkins, as well as the U.S. Army Team from East Hood, Texas.
BURLESON IS AMA S AMATEUR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
The guy they call “King Richard,” Dick Burleson, has been named the AMA’s 1976 Amateur Athlete of the Year for his outstanding accomplishments in amateur motorcycle competition.
Since 1974, Burleson has captured three consecutive National Enduro Championship titles, along with three straight gold medals in ISDT competition. Last year, he was the highest American finisher at the 51st ISDT in Austria. He currently leads the 1977 National Enduro standings by a comfortable margin riding a Husqvarna.
TRAGEDIES TAKE ICING OFF IMOLA 200
Though Ken Roberts put in a superb performancein winning both 100-mile segments of the prestigious and high paying Imola 200 in Italy, his victory was overshadowed by the death of three Americans during the weekend. Road racer Pat Evans sustained massive injuries during a high speed crash which took place during the first segment and he died three days later in an Italian hospital.
While Pat was fighting for his life, an automobile accident that occurred after the event took the lives of professional rider Randy Cleek and his Bel-Ray sponsor Kurt Kiefer, along with their Italian translator, Giuseppi Geraci, as well as three
persons in a second car, also involved in the horrible crash.
Both Evans and Cleek were scheduled to ride for the American team in the Easter Match Race Series in England, Evans having just signed a contract with Honda to ride European Endurance races during 1977. Cleek was last year’s American Road Racing Champion and finished 5th in the Camel Pro Series standings, being equally proficient on dirt as well as pavement.
Kurt was often seen at major races and was well known throughout the motorcycle industry. I considered each a friend and the loss is great to all who’d ever come in contact with them. There is not much one can say when something such as this happens. I’ll miss Randy, Pat and Kurt. g>]
