The Ama National Trail
THE AMA NATIONAL TRAIL
THE AMA NATIONAL mid-season point standings, following Dick Mann's hair raising road race win at Kent, were as follows:
The names in the Top 10 and those that are absent from same reveal much of the complexion of this year's professional racing series.
BSA & TRIUMPH
The BSA/Triumph group’s lavish support of eight salaried factory riders is paying off. Barring the usual unforeseen circumstances of this high-risk sport, it would appear that Mann, Romero or Rice will be next year’s national champion.
With the English machines holding 6 of the top 10 placings, the whole affair reminds us of Harley-Davidson’s similar position just a few years ago when they invariably dominated the Top 10. BSA/ Triumph has caught on, you see. Harley didn’t dominate with their KR only because they were 750s running with a pack of 500s. They won because they backed a team of good riders with consistent factory support.
BSA/Triumph is particularly fortunate to be getting good results from this year’s racing, for 1971 may be their swan song year for this part of the decade. The future of the racing program has been left gravely in doubt.
AUSTERITY AHEAD?
The American branch of BSA and Triumph, Birmingham Small Arms, inc., has undergone a considerable bit of corporate shaking up, seemingly triggered by the British inability to produce enough bikes to meet newly and expensively created sales demands. As Peter Thornton, an avid proponent of the racing-image-sells-motorcycles theory, has resigned as the American branch president, nobody knows how support the BSA and Triumph f; teams will get next year after the present rider contracts expire. Austerity is the most likely prospect, which means less racing money.
Making Sense Of Mid-Season, We Find Sisyphus In The Lead
DAN HUNT
Meanwhile, Dick Mann-a combination of Paul Bunyan, Rip Van Winkle and an old-time dude named Sisyphus whose gig in hell was to push a big rock up a mountain only to have it roll down again for all of eternity—continues to astonish those people who think that 37 years old is too old.
His performance at Kent was exemplary. Given a sweet running BSA 750 Three, the handling and braking power of which has been greatly improved over last year’s racers, he was able to endure a tense 46-lap 100-mile sprint. Kel Carruthers, the 1969 world GP champion, nipped at Mann’s heels the entire distance and passed him several times.
Kel’s 350 Yamaha, tuned by Don Vesco, seemed to have the advantage of greater nimbleness on the twisty upand-down circuit near Seattle. But Mann’s 750 compensated for its weight and girth by delivering more punch out of the corners. Geared for acceleration, the Yamaha was too wrung out on the straightaway. So Carruthers and Vesco chose to gear for top speed, which enabled the Yamaha to draft the BSA down the straight.
Mann’s job, then, was to make no > mistakes while evading Carruthers’ brilliant attack. Seeing Kel swoop identically mounted Cal Rayborn, and assorted AMA troops, in the preceding day’s rain-soaked 250 Expert-Junior feature, you had to conclude that Kel is the finest master of racing line riding in America today. But Dick Mann is better than Kel at one thing: carving his way through traffic. He wisely got in front early in the Expert race, where he could both set the pace and have dealer’s choice when they caught up with the tail-enders. As the two of them lapped everyone except 3rd place Don Emde (BSA 750), traffic there was aplenty. Kel kept up the pressure until the third to last lap, when he crunched a gearbox component. A five-sec. gap opened up, enough to lose him the draft from Bugsy’s machine. Kel lost a second a lap until the checkered flag fell.
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
Harley-Davidson’s performance at Kent was fair-to-middling. Cal Rayborn’s XR-750 broke a piston after a determined chase of Emde. Mark Brelsford’s H-D survived to place 6th; his body and hand were still hurting from a 100-mph high-side crash in Saturday’s race.
The Harley team is down but not out these days, as Mark delighted himself and fans by winning the championship road race at Loudon, N.H., passing Carruthers only on the last turn of the last lap.
Dave Sehl, the Canadian dirt track specialist, won two half-mile nationals for H-D at Louisville and Terre Haute. Bart Markel, a not-too-active figure these days, won another half-mile national for Harley at Columbus. Bart is alive and well. He has now won 28 AMA Nationals, an all-time record surpassing Joe Leonard’s 27. So H-D has reason to be cheerful. They are also optimistic about 1972. having just unveiled an alloy-engined version of the XR-750. which hopefully will not break as much as the present one.
SUZUKI'S BLAHS
Suzuki’s squad of crackerjack road racers—Art Baumann. Ron Grant. Jody Nicholas and Ron Pierce have yet to rid themselves of that case of the blahs they contracted at Daytona. Their score at Loudon was zero, with two crashes and two mechanical failures.
At Kent they finished better: Nicholas, 7th: Bauman. 8th: Pierce. 14th: Grant, dnf. But the banzai fire present last year, when Grant won Kent, and Bauman and Nicholas were right behind him until they bailed, is absent. They all could use a little mechanical luck and a heavy psyche job. i.e.. win. place, or show.
Quite interesting is the performance of what we can call the “low profile” riders. Gene Romero ( Triumph) was such a rider and he made No. 1 that way last year, not winning many races but finishing well in all of them. Gene is not a road racing specialist, but he tags right along, quietly amassing also-ran points on the pavement, then putting a big glob of them on with an impressive showing at a dirt track national.
Gene did just that at the San Jose half-mile, turning in a mediocre qualifying time. 2nd in heat, and then winning the National after passing leader Jim Rice ( BSA) on the second lap.
This combination of consistency and flash may be of no avail, a^ the AMA slapped a 15-day suspension on him. Chuck Palmgren. Dick Hammer, and Skip Van Leeuwen for “falsifying medical forms required for licensing." Absence from two weeks of racing can quickly put a rider out of the running for the championship.
The AMA action followed a routine check of professional racers' medical forms. Romero and the others were charged with forging a physician’s signature. AMA officials smelled a sticky wicket, they said, when they discovered that the signature belonged to a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology. So. it may be the most costly S10 Gene ever saved for a physical. Naturally, he and Triumph are appealing the suspension.
Another low profile rider who’s managing to keep it low, but effective, is Jim Odom. Jim, riding for Yamaha under their non-direct sponsorship program. failed to get points at Kent, and Loudon, but ha?> been doing well enough on the dirt tracks to be 4th place in the point standings. This is excellent, as he and Carruthers are the only two men in the Top 10 not having direct factory team backup. While he is not in the best position to win No. 1, the low number plate he earns may buy him a very good ride next year.
At this point. Mann and super-consistent Jim Rice look like the obvious candidates for No. 1. Road races predominate this year, and' Rice doesn't take to pavement with ease. Romero's medical form debacle may cost him more than 10U points, not to mention the points his opponents will keep on making. Therefore. Mann seems to be the favorite. If he wins the championship. it will be for the second time. He won it last in 1963 under les> favorable circumstances, as he was riding several brands with nothing like the factory support he has now.
Looks like you can't put a clean old man down. Give him a good ride, and he run> with the best on any track. Ó¡
