Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125696
fA T OHIO. TRANS-AMA; ~ z ~ w Z W ..J U > U Joel Robert in first appearance in the Trans-AMA series. Lackey shared American honors with Jimmy Weinert in the ftrst moto. Weinert was running third until fatigue and pain dropped him back - he has a cast on his left forearm and wrist, which covered his palm with blisters as a result of stiff.arming the right handers. He has been riding with the plaster since Labor Day. Weinert placed even further back in the second moto, after his front brake locked up and dropped to a 12th starts. To save time and make for more exciting races, the support entrants were divided into two huge heats rather than four smaller ones. In the ftrst race, solid hopes' for a win in the fmal were dashed for Barry Higgins when his primary chain broke. This is the same malady that affected his five·speed Ossa at Unadilla the previous week, Though Higgins had a 360 (also a prototype) on hand, he had no space whatsoever for it, and opted for the lightweight race instead. Ossa and Bultaco are the only two stroke machines to use a primary chain. After Higgins dropped out, Tom Rapp moved back into fust place and stayed there for the rest of the heat. Rapp also won the support main after a 20-minute tag match with Ron Stockman, who has been riding for Bultaco as of the Delta race. The two yellow shirts were lapping riders halfway through the 20-minute feature, bobbing through the turns and flying over'the jumps like twins. This eye-and crowd-pleasing spectacle was not reflected in the fmal results, however, as Stockman was penalized for jumping the line at the start and dropped one place to third overall. Second went to Paul Reed a first year rider from New Hampshire. Reed does a lot of skiing and has adapted spectacularly to the skills of motorcycling. "I just got on and knew how to ride 'em", he explained. Reed won the support race at Unadilla the week before. In the main motos, factory riders embarrassed most of the others. Robert took the edge off BSA power by taking the overall win, but the next four places went to the red shirted four stroke pilots. !'irst American rider was Brad Lackey, who took a modest eighth overall in the final standings. At the end of the ftrst moto Lackey took out of the last hairpin about 100 yards in front of the checkers and crashed ignominiously in front of the grandstand. He was unable to kick the rno tor back to life and pushed across the line. Only riders he had lapped passed him during this time, however. English, BSA teammateS Jeff Smith (11) and John Banks stay together. overall in the fmal standings. Leading American rider at this point is Brian Kenny, from Shaker Heights, Ohio, on a Husqvarna. Taking seventh in the fust race, seventh in the second and eighth at Delta, Kenny has 1540 points for fourth overall in the current standings. The BSA team holds the first three slots with Smith, Nicolls, Banks all above the 1700 mark. (Results on page 22)