Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1972 07 25

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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N ' .... '" ... N ~ lEl > .il '" ~ ~ w d >U By Toe! Rafferty Photo. by Gary Van Voomis NEW BERLIN, N.Y., July 16, 1972 Unadilla looked suspicious from the start. The course had been aI tered considerably; it was tighter, slower and tougher (as opposed to smoother, cooler, quieter, long<:r). And the sun was shining. As we know, Unadilla is lndian, loosely translated for "may all your motos be muddy, and your pits puddled." In the early morning hOUrs, Sunday, it rained Iigh t1y, bu t the day dawned bright and humid. Daylight was greeted with scattered sneezing and several minor cases of galloping disorien tation. Meanwhile, we sneezed and yawned and looked at one another and at the thousands of other yawners who had slipped in during the night. George was still in the tent,mumblinR, "where is that girl? Did I steal her barrette? Where am I? The 250 In temational class was slated for two 45-minute matos, the 500 Support was to ride three twenties. However, the multitude of Open class entries were divvied into two separate qualifying motos (15 transfers) and a consolation mota (10 transfers). With only about an hour's delay, practice opened for an abbreviated session on the new circuit. One hill looked to be at least 60 degrees and 150 feet. The 250 International class was up first and au t of the gate were Gary Jones (Yam) and Hakan Andersson (Yam). They bit the first right/left/right together. Andersson gained the advantage on the short straight and Jones locked in behind. A few breaths behind were Torlief Hansen (Hus) and Arne Kring (Hus), Marty Tripes (Yam) got knocked off in the start and Jim Wicks sustained a minor back injury that' put him out. Tripes remounted and got away close to last. As the leaders completed lap one, Andersson had stretched out a lead on Jones as Hansen and Kring had begun closing the larger gap between Jones and themselves. at much farther back were Arne Lindfors, Jim Weinert and Torsten Hallman allan Yamahas. Jim Pomeroy (Bul) was right behind. Tripes regained twelve positions in little more than two laps, but could make up no more of the time he'd lost to the fran t runners. Hakan Andersson was escaping the pack at a super brisk pace. In five laps he had built a 17-second lead on Gary Jones. By this time Hansen and Kring had sandwiched Jones. Enter Arne Lindfors. After ten minutes of tight struggle with Weinert and Torsten Hallman, Lindfors broke out after Kring, who had taken over second. Jones had fallen back, and Hansen and Weinert had d,one messy mudnops. Kring ran afoul of the elements somewhere, and J ones moved back in to fourth spot. Lindfors and Hallman were in a tight contest for second place. Kring repassed J ones on th e nex t lap and Hakan Andersson turned up missing as Lindfors and Hallman new by the scoring booth in a tigh t, orderly. fast procession. J ones and Kring can tinued their struggle, and J ones came around in third on the next tour with no close company. Weinert and Pomeroy held fourth and fifth. Hansen had disappeared. With about five minutes to go, Hallman got around Lindfors and smoothly dominated the final four laps 500 support class winner 'OeWayne Jones joined the Yamaha Team Arne Lindfors outlasted everyone to take the overall win in the mud. Jim West uses Marty Tripes' Bike for traction. Torlief Hansen. to take the nag. Lindfors was second, Jones third, Weinert fourth and Pomeroy fifth. Next in were Peter Lamppu (Man), Bob Grossi (Hus) and Brad Lackey. Brad's Kawasaki seemed ,to have a variable power band and he had a struggle to locate it. Hakan Andersson p\ltted in with a drive chain that appeared to have elbows in it. Four coun tries were represen ted in the top twelve: four Swedes, five Americans, a Finn and an Englishman. With meager apology, we here pass over the two and a half Open Support motos momentarily and wire in the 250 Final, in which Arne Kring leaps the gate and loses a lap; Marty Tripes suffers more troublesome nasties; Lindfors, Jones and Weinert finish 2,3,4 for the second time; Torlid Hansen wins the moto, and it rains. The half-minute sign went up and almost simultaneously they were out of the gate, or over it. Kring had charged with having a wheel atop the metal restraint bdore it dropped, automatically penalizing him one lap. Though he was given the checkered nag before Hanse, the winner, Kring appears in seventh spot in the final results, Kring protested th penalty, but it stood. Kring's alleged premature leap put him only inches ahead of Weinert and Hallman in to the fust set of turnings. He held the slim' margin through the hairpin bottleneck, down the rippled straightaway and into the chasm. Brad Lackey's troubles continued and he got away dead last, about a half-lap behind the field. Hakan Andersson also got out poorly but quickly began knifing through traffic. Kring was off and winging, but Weinert was locked in behind him in the early going. The pace was incredible. Hallman and Lindfors seemed equally fast in their can test ovor second and third, less than ten seconds back. In tenth- place, Tortief Hansen started showing his moves. Within two laps he was by Pomeroy. Lamppu, Stuart Nunn and Gary Jones. On the next trip he went past Hallman and pressured Lindfors. Hallman seemed to slow. , Then, the rains came. The dust clouds diminised almost imperceptibly, as if slowly erased by the descending grayness, and a steady rain changed the color of the day. It brough t tractionwhere .there had been choking powder, and the major mudhole went from thick to greasy. The leaders seemed to go still faster. The crowd seemed transfixed. most of them bareheaded and short-sleeved, and there was little scrambling for shelter. Kring was out front alone, first but not first. Lindfors and Hansen both went pasl Weinert when his exhaust pipe began to come apart. Gary Jones, riding steady as the rain, moved past Weinert into third. At the fmish, Hansen grabbed fust on Kring's foul; Lindfors, next for his second second, then Jones and Weinert. Pomeroy' had 'passed Hallman. to take" I

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