Champion Spark Plug Motorcycle Classic.
Champion Spark Plug Motorcycle Classic.
NATIONAL ROAD RACING at Ontario has appealed to only one group over the last three years... the super enthusiasts. For everyone else remotely interested in this kind of event, it was a classic bore; monotonous to the point of not drawing them back for a second look...simply not worth giving it one more chance.
There were plenty of reasons why this happened, but the underlined and prominent factor was the track itself. It’s visually unappealing, particularly when viewed through a pair of highpower Bushnells, and these are a prerequisite for any onlooker in the grandstands. And because of all this, each year attendance has fallen...fallen to the level at which the men with the backing bucks start saying, “Hey, is this trip really necessary?”
So, the fourth go-round of the Ontario Classic needed a Saint Bernard with a keg of whiskey around his neck if it was ever to happen again.
Promoters Trippe/Cox came round with this whiskey this time and they brought several changes with them. Instead of running the track in the normal direction, they decided on the opposite way, with two turns chopped off. Spectators at last would be allowed into the infield area for a closer view of the proceedings. And, most of all, Agostini
and Ken Roberts would be clashing once again on the same track. ..two of the best road racers in the entire world.
Pre-race advertising led you to believe that Roberts was out to avenge his losses to Ago at Daytona and I mola, but Roberts had plenty more to think about than Agostini. There were other top riders there; and Roberts knew it better than anybody, though the term worried
could hardly be applied in this case.
As for running the course backwards, it’s not as simple a change as it sounds. A few weeks prior to the National, the AFM ran a club race in the opposite direction just to see how the new plan would work out. There were lots of bitches and gripes, the majority of which could be translated to read, “We’ve got the old course wired and we don’t want to have to learn the thing all over again.” That’s easy enough to understand and ignore. But two points were brought up that could hardly be brushed aside like leaves on a patio table.
The Ontario Romero: A Promise Fulfilled.
D. Randy Riggs
Both complaints focused on roughly the same area of the track...the point at which the riders exited the infield and headed out onto the oval and straightaway. On the faster bikes (and what bikes aren’t fast at a National?), the line of fire onto the oval pointed them directly at the crash wall in the event of a miscalculation or a spill. The speeds at this point would be very high so that a disaster was a likely possibility.
Also in this vicinity was the entrance to pit row, and it was felt that it would be both difficult and dangerous attempting to pull out of the g forces on the corner, cross traffic, and enter the pits. But this was exactly how it would have to be accomplished.
The remaining point brought to everyone’s attention was what was going to happen when the very narrow turn one (previously turn 20), became the exit off the front straight. Again, running the normal direction allowed enough time and distance to spread the pack out a bit by the time they reached the infield. But there would be little thinning of the troupe running backwards.
The AMA listened, but the promoters stood their ground and the race was run backwards. The riders lost the argument even though running the course in reverse went against all the reasons why the track had been designed to run the other way to begin with. And the riders lost again when the promoters failed to provide haybales at a critical spot on the crash wall.
But backwards, forwards or upside down, Ontario was still Ontario. The last National road race of the year has always been a foreigners race. It has been the decider for the Grand National Championship and many other things. But it has always been Ontario, which means it’s tough to be a spectator.
This year the Novice confrontation was more than just another race for two of the riders; the results would decide the AMA Novice road racing Championship contest between Dale Singleton and Skip Aksland. The two have been at it all season long in the race for points. Both have suffered problems and setbacks at the wrong moments, and good vibrations in others, so both wound up in the winners circle at the Big O. Aksland finished in the 1st notch and Dale in the 2nd.
Aksland had this one from the beginning, was never headed, and captured the crown. Next year Skip will be a junior-ranked road racer and an Expert in the dirt, but the way he’s getting around on that pavement these days, he should be an Expert in both classes soon.
The Lightweight race and its outcome were no surprise or shock. Roberts won with enough space between his Yamaha and 2nd-place Ron Pierce’s H-D to build a runway for an SST. And when one stops to consider that Pierce is a brilliant 250 rider, very fast on any course, what does that make Roberts?
When he turned on the gas after the few early laps (during which he and Pierce ran close), there was no chance left to even keep him in sight. Jim Dunn ran a fairly distant 3rd. Top-ranked Junior Pat Hennen was 4th. Marty Lunde was 5th.
The remainder of the Yamaha factory 250s didn’t show up on the results list. Gene Romero didn’t want to risk a chance on the big bike by falling off his little one, so he simply didn’t ride. And Don Castro, who was so gun shy about the Yamaha 250 (he’d been pitched off at Talledega and again at Ontario during an early session), had something break and dropped out less dramatically.
Gary Scott, Roberts’ only real 250 threat late in the season, was on the sidelines with a broken leg suffered the week previous at a mile dirt-track National in Northern California.
In the Junior bash, Pee Wee Gleason became the first casualty of the weekend. He met the crash wall at the critical and controversial spot where there were no haybales. It was the very thing riders said would happen. Pee Wee was hurt seriously, but will recover.
The race was won by Randy Cleek. He passed Pat Hennen, who was looking for another Junior win, at the halfway point and was never headed.
Production racing keeps getting up there on the popularity charts, especially in the heavyweight class. Trippe/ Cox has even gone so far as to say that they would like it to replace the Junior race at National events. Crowds go for it in such a big way.
Again the race was to be a showdown between the BMW R90 Sport and the Kawasaki Zls. The top BMW is ridden by Reg Pridmore and prepared by Butler and Smith. Yvon DuHamel (Yoshimura Racing Zl), and Steve McLaughlin (RC Engineering Zl), are the top Kawasaki riders.
Anyone who makes the claim that a Zl can walk off and leave an R90S has never seen the Helmut Kern-prepared Bee Em. Not only did Reg Pridmore grind the cylinders into the pavement with his fine riding, but the machine had so much horsepower that McLaughlin and DuHamel (who finished 2nd and 3rd), were not even on the same straightaway when Reg took the checkered flag. You just know every Zl owner at Ontario was crazy after that finish.
The lightweights don’t have quite the appeal the bigger machines have, mostly because there is not much difference between the bikes. The race soon becomes a parade of RD350 Yamahas with maybe a Kawasaki or two thrown in for good measure. The RD350s, though, are much faster than the stock machines, due to fairly liberal rules and modification allowances. They’ll do 120 or so down the straights and the riders fight like cats and dogs in the turns. It’s just about as closely contested as a 200-miler with the top Experts in the world...Experts like Agostini.
Ago’s presence did not overshadow other top caliber riders, but he was the biggest news of the weekend. Anxious ladies fluttered about the pits in the vicinity of garage 10 where his red and white Yamaha was tended to, hoping for a look at the man they’d heard so much about.
And those more in to the racing were asking questions. Would Ago blitz the gang once more like he did at Daytona? Would Ontario once again be a foreigners race?
Unfortunately, the qualifying heats didn’t provide any answers. Don Castro carted off the first five-lap, 15-mile event by nipping Roberts at the finish. Jim Evans, a privateer, ran 3rd, also putting him in the bargaining position.
The second and final heat was extremely interesting, because Ago was among the riders in the line-up. It was Barry Sheene (Suzuki) who led and finally won—though not by much—and many people speculated that a foreigner would again foul up our balance of trade agreement.
Both heats were closely contested; no one ran off and did any hiding. Not Roberts, not Ago, not Sheene. Barry was pushed very hard those five laps by Steve McLaughlin (Mel Dinesen Yamaha).
Romero was in the second heat with McLaughlin and diced with Ago in the closing laps. Ago got him for 3rd, but 4th still put Romero in the front row for the National.
Was Ago sandbagging? Perhaps he was, because he is probably the biggest strategist in motorcycle racing. But how about Roberts? He got nipped by Castro at the finish. Was he trying his hardest? Predictions ran wild for the National. >
Too bad Gary Nixon was healing from his early season injuries and too bad Paul Smart was laid up in an English hospital after a crash in the Race of the Year. They could have confused the predictions even more. Nixon, by the way, had turned over his Kanemoto team Suzuki to Dave Aldana, who seemed to be enjoying it.
Time for the big one. Announcer
Larry Huffman got the crowd up while starter Bob Malley got the race started. Only one wave went off and it was a furious dice to stay near the head of the pack.
Thirty seconds later, in turn six, the predictors didn’t know what to say. Agostini was out of it, walking away from his fallen Yamaha. What happened? Well, there are several versions, but this one seems to be the most accurate.
Jim Evans and Steve McLaughlin were slightly ahead of Ago going into the turn, then Ago tried to take them on the inside. Both seemed to think that Ago got into the corner too hot and lost his front end. Since Ago did not make a warm-up lap, his tires were not heated up and, therefore, were not as sticky as they could have been. Whatever, he passed Evans with his front tire sliding and smacked the rear of McLaughlin’s machine and both went out onto the dirt.
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McLaughlin got back underway but retired a short time later, a victim of dirt in the engine. Remember, these machines carry no air filters. Ago, meanwhile, got clipped returning to the course and plopped over. He walked away from the machine and retired to the cocktail lounge upstairs.
While all of this was taking place, the
20.000 fans were watching Castro and Phil McDonald dice it up in the early laps, with Evans, Yvon DuHamel, Roberts and Sheene close behind.
Ago’s bike was taken back to the pit, but no effort was made to prepare it for the second half. Why, when Ago was the big attraction, did he not make an attempt to ride again? Any of our riders would have done anything to get back into the race, barring a destroyed motorcycle or body.
Ago’s bike was not that bad off, and with the mechanics, time during the break and facilities available, it could have been running for the second half of the race. He couldn’t have won, of course, but the fans paid to see him ride! He did not deliver.
At the completion of the first 100-mile heat, Romero was on top, with Jim Evans 2nd and Roberts 3rd. Roberts had made the wrong tire choice and was not able to run as hard as he would have liked. Another victim of a bad tire choice was Barry Sheene, who finished the heat in 6th.
Aldana had crashed in turn two. He got underway again, but had problems from then on. Castro lost it and hit the wall while passing Tepi Lansivouri on the outside and had a scary get-off. Fortunately he was not injured.
As usual, the Kawasaki gas stops were the quickest, taking only 3.5 to
4.0 seconds, but that didn’t make a great deal of difference to Hurley Wilvert and DuHamel, who needed more power for the straights. Art Baumann had crashed during practice and did not ride.
During the break, Roberts changed tires, and when heat two started, he pulled away immediately. There was no catching him as he turned astounding 1:48-sec. laps.
Romero had to finish 2nd to win overall, but Sheene had other ideas. Sheene kept getting around Romero on the fast sweepers, only to lose it in turn two where Romero had a low enough gear to accelerate cleanly away. (The Suzuki is only a five-speed and Sheene had to slip the clutch in turn two every lap).
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But this was Romero’s Ontario. He rode to his limit, pulled ahead of Sheene after the gas stop, and finished 2nd for the overall win. Roberts ended up 2nd overall; privateer Jim Evans was 3rd.
Winning was as sweet for the onlookers as it was for Gene, because they knew that no one deserved the win or the ten grand in contingency and prize money more. Besides, seeing a foreigner on top again would have been no fun at all.
Results
