The Sacramento Mile
THE SACRAMENTO MILE
Introducing The 50-Lap Time Trial and Destruction Derby. A Shocking Upset Brings The No. 1 Plate Home To Triumph.
DAN HUNT
IN AN ANTICLIMACTIC race that all but killed any excitement left in the AMA national championship series, “Tiger” Gene Romero led the 50 laps of the Sacramento mile from start to finish.
He won so many points that he could have gone home to San Luis Obispo for the rest of the season. The Grand National Championship was his and Triumph’s.
His two most likely opponents were BSA riders Dick “Bugsy” Mann and Jim Rice. Rice, in fact, had led the points race for most of the summer, occasionally being outpaced by Mann. Romero didn’t even seem to be in contention, but then he won a 71-point race at the Sedalia mile, at which Mann broke his left leg. At the Nazareth event, Rice recouped only three points on Romero and then placed 19th in the Indianapolis mile to Romero’s 4th. So Rice had 534, and Romero had 521. The two riders were only 13 points apart in the championship before Sacramento, which would be worth 101 points to the winner.
In qualifying at Sacto, Romero emerged the fastest on his Twin, with a 40.60-sec. lap. It was the only lap time in the 40-sec. bracket.
An incredibly pain-proof Dick Mann, fresh out of a prematurely removed cast (and without a pit crew until a worried friend, Kawasaki’s Bob Hansen, happened by and offered to pitch in), qualified 2nd fastest at 41.10!
CYCLE WORLD’S assistant editor, Jody Nicholas, found the 115-mph speeds of Sacto to his liking and turned in a 3rd fastest time of 41.16.
Both Romero and Mann won their heats. Mert Lawwill won the 3rd heat, after a tussle with Nicholas and Cal Rayborn. In the 4th heat, the order was Jimmy Odom (Triumph), Gary Nixon and Jim Rice. Two seconds after Rice hurriedly took the checkered flag for 3rd place, he lost himself the national championship. His BSA Three slipped out of gear. Rider and machine went flying end over end at 100 mph.
Amazingly, Rice suffered only shock and facial lacerations. So BSA tuner Tom Cates set about rebuilding the twisted machine, hoping that Jim would feel well enough to ride in the 50-mile main event.
So he did. But he couldn’t get up enough steam to place better than 15th.
And Dick Mann, his face twisted with pain, had to withdraw early in the race, after running 2nd behind Romero for a few laps.
Another flashy favorite, Dave Aldana, wiped out his BSA Three in the first lap of the 50-miler, and couldn’t make the restart.
Gary Nixon, giving his three-cylinder Triumph a fabulous workout, “burying it” deep into the corners with the back wheel hung way out, kept Romero in sight for 48 laps. Then his big Trident’s cases caught the ground going onto the front straight, and he crashed.
Mert Lawwiü’s XR750 lost its edge, and he dropped back after having held 2nd spot for several laps. He finished 10th.
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Don Castro’s Triumph went onto one cylinder while holding 3rd place, and he dropped out.
Nicholas, finding himself in 3rd and closing on the early leaders, also found himself on a Norton with no oil. The line to his experimental oil cooler had come adrift.
So what was left?
An unruffled Gene Romero, the new No. 1. Second came Tom Rockwood (Triumph), who had quietly slipped up from the battles raging in mid-field between Eddie Wirth (BSA) and Cal Rayborn (whose H-D had not one, but four oil coolers). Rayborn arrived 3rd, followed by Wirth, Odom, Mark Brelsford (H-D), Lloyd Houchins (Triumph), Chuck Palmgren (Yamaha), Frank Gillespie (Triumph), Mert Lawwill, etc.
Curiously, Sacramento was only the 2nd national points event that Romero had won this season. Jim Rice, the odds-on favorite to win the No. 1 plate before the race, had won six nationals. But Romero’s consistent high placings through the season had kept him within reach of the title.
With such a large batch of points being allotted to a single race so late in the season, all it would take was one slip—a quirk of fate—to upset the odds.
It happened to Jim Rice.
50-MILE NATIONAL RESULTS 1. Gene Romero, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Tri 2. Tom Rockwood, Gardena, Calif.....Tri 3. Cal Rayborn, San Diego, Calif.....H-D 4. Eddie Wirth, Manhattan Bch., Calif. . Tri 5. Jim Odom, Fremont, Calif.........Tri 6. Mark Breisford, San Bruno, Calif. . . H-D 7. Lloyd Houchins, La Crescenta, Calif. Tri 8. Chuck Palmgren, Freehold, N.J. . . Yam 9. Frank Gillespie, Berkeley, Calif. !... Tri 10. Mert Lawwill, San Francisco, Calif. . H-D 11. Ralph White, Torrance, Calif.......Tri 12. Eddie Mulder, Burbank, Calif.......Tri 13. Dallas Baker, Orange, Calif........BSA 14. Gary Nixon, Phoenix, Md..........Tri 15. Jim Rice, Palo Alto, Calif. ........BSA 16. Keith Mashburn, Santa Susana, Calif. Yam 17. Jody Nicholas, Newport Beach, Calif. Nor 18. Dick Mann, Richmond, Calif. ..... BSA 19. Don Castro, Hollister, Calif........Tri 20. Ralph Waldman, Fairfield, Calif.....Tri Time: 33:58.67 AMATEUR 10-LAP FINAL 1. John Hately, Van Nuys, Calif.......Tri 2. Gary Fisher, Parkesburg, Pa........Tri 3. Terry Dorsch, Sunland, Calif.......Tri 4. Rick Holly, San Diego, Calif........Tri 5. Tom Phillips, San Mateo, Calif......Tri 6. Adam Lee, Berkeley, Calif.........Tri 7. Kristofer Bakke, Los Altos, Calif. . . BSA 8. Tod Sloan, Fresno, Calif...........Tri 9. Pat Marinacci, Seattle, Wash........Tri 10. Dennis Palmgren, Freehold, N.J.....Tri 11. Chuck Joyner, Oregon City, Ore. . . . Tri 12. Rex Beauchamp,Drayton Plains, Mich. H-D Time: 6.52.50 1970 POINT STANDINGS TO DATE 1. GENE ROMERO...............622 2. JAMES RICE . . .'..............565 3. DAVE ALDANA...............443 4. DICK MANN ..................412 5. DON CASTRO ................379 6. MERT LAWWILL ..............317 7. CHUCK PALMGREN ...........303 8. TOM ROCKWOOD .............294 9. MARK BRELSFORD ...........272 10. GARY NIXON ................268
