Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

field but started working up amazingly quickly, on the third lap, they were in t hird and fourth behind Jim and Rich, who had moved up to second on the fourth la p . The crowd went wild as Pierre passed Jones and Thorwaldson in one swoop and set out to catch the 1973 Spanish GP winner. Behind them a good battle was raging over fifth position between Wynn, Bailey, Gaylon Mosier, Gary Chaplin, Ron Huffman, a n d Bob Grossi, now back into racing after having been out for six months after a knee operation. Pierre closed to within about 40 feet of Jim, but coming o ut o f a t igh t tum, Pierre got on th e throttle to o quickly and the Yamaha went down. The cr owd let out a loud moan as Pierre picked himself up, restarted and got back on, but time was running out. Jim Pomeroy maintained the smooth pace he had set at the beginning of the m o to to take the win. Behind Pierre were Thorwaldson, and Bailey, with Gary Jones having to push himself across the line a ft er the rear wheel of his Can-Am came apart while running third. A big pile-up in the 180 degree first tum m ar k ed the beginning of the second moto wit h The Arkansas Flash, Tony Wynn, jumping out into the lead followed by Buck - Murphy and Pierre. On the second lap, Pierre passed Buck, then, on the next o ne, Tony to take the lead. Tony began to drop b ack a little as first Murp hy got his Penton aro und Tony's Honda, and then Ro n Pomeroy got his Bultaco by as the y banged it out. Behind them Peter Lamppu (Mon) and Jim Po meroy were having a discussion about fifth, with Ga ry Jones a good distance behind them and c oo lin g it. Midway through the moto, Jim Pomeroy started passing people an d moved right up to the rear wheel of his brother. Then Jim had h is rear wheel destroy itself; letting Ron finish second behind Pierre. Jim had to push across the line for a last place. . . Buck Murphy put his Penton out of one of his super holeshots to take the lead at the s tart of the final moto, with J on es and Karsmakers right hehind. T hey came aro und to 'th e front straight to begin the second lap , they were three abreast : Jones in the m iddle, Murphy on the right, and Karsmakers on the left. Their bikes were in top gear as they crossed t he asp ha lt pit road that led to the back section of the course and a series of thr ee-foot high whoop-dee-doos. The entire crowd was standing and screaming louder than seemed possib le as the trio hit the whoo p-dees. There was a groove cut through on the right, where Murphy was, making them only about a foot high, so Buck kept the Pen ton dialed on. Gary was sandwiched in tig htly between the two riders and w ith the two-foot deep section in front of him, he wisely chose to back off. Pierre didn't back off and there probably wasn't one person there who expected him to . Whe n the wil d tu lip grower hit the whoop-dees, it was Endo City. The dust hadn't even settled when Pierre pi cked himself back up and jetted in to the chase after Jones and Huffma n. The crowd went totally wild. T hen, the usually smooth Gary Jones lost his Can-Am on a small jump, slid off th e course and d own the pit road with his handlebars di gging a groove in t he asphalt. By the time Gary had remounted, Pierre w as in second reeling in Murphy. Buck lost the pace when Pierre blew by to take ov er the lead, givin g Gary the opportunity to get by for second place b y the en d of the moto. It was qui te a race, not just up front, hut back in the pack where T hor finished fourth after a battle over fifth place between Don Smith , Bailey, Grossi, Lamppu, Wyn n and the two Pomeroys. Jim lo st more points when his rea r w heel again b ro ke nea r the end of the m o to and he had to limp across to finish. Open Class Un like the 250 ro u nd s, spectators didn 't seem to have any favorite in t he Open class. Everyone favored Roger DeCoster to take the win, but were also hoping for an American to run a way with the ra ce. It was the South American Motocross Champion, Wym an Priddy, ...c o .... .. - ~ Both Rex and Gary were behind the Main Man. Ladies a nd gentlemen , this here is the World Champion - Roger D. Pie rre Kar smakers (Yam) wo n t he 250 d ass. .. ...then sw itched bikes to h ug " - iss Motorc " w hil e Roge r smil es t he winner's circle sm ile and just shi nes it on. Another t rophy. h u h? who took off to lead the first moto on his independently-sponsored Kawasaki, followed closely by Rex Staten, Ken Zahrt, G ary Semics and Roger DeCoster. On the third lap, Staten put the factory prototype radial head Honda into the lead, as Priddy fell back. DeCoster began a methodical but slow moving up process. Both Staten and Zahrt o n his big bore Bultaco, had built up a good lead. It took DeCoster five laps to close th e gap, and then another lap to get by Kenny into second. It was in terest in g to think Zahrt may have been able to hold off t he World Champ if his bike hadn't gone sour about then. As it was, Rocket Rex did beat DeCoster to win t he m o to . Gary Semics finished third on a new 360 GP H usky which had the rear shocks positioned c a n t i lever-style, Then came Mark Blackwell a nd Tim Hart. Houston Trans-AMA winner, Jim Weinert had his bike go dead along with Sonny DeFeo and Tony DiStefano. The second moto went to Ro~er DeCoster on his new radial engine Suzuki, but the lad from Fontana, California, Rex Staten, had gotten the lead at the st art and it too k Roger t hree laps to get by. Rex still fin ished second, in his IITst ra ce ever for American Honda. T o n y DiStefano showed his Florida Seri es flash and fin ish ed third on his personal CZ ahead 0 f Tim Hart on the factory 400 Yamaha. Gary Semics got the fact o ry Husky off to a beau tiful start in the third moto and was gone, leaving Zahrt, DiStefano, Gary Ingham, and Barry Higgins a good distan ce behind to battle it out. DeCoster fell midway through the first lap as he tried to make up for a poor start, but got up again quickly. Turned on b y his good start, Gary Semics kept his 100-yard lea d ove r t he rest of the field fo r the remainder of t he moto to take the win, as DeStefano moved up to second, and DeCoster, third. Everyone seemed happy about the overall outcome of the race. T ony DeStefano because he was going to get a factory ride on a GP CZ; Gary Semics because he won the final moto; and Honda because they have, in Rex Staten, the ho ttest new national rider aro u nd. (What about Roger?. . Ed.) Results 2 5 0 CLASS : 1. Pierre Karsmakers (Yam) 2 · 1 - 1. 2 . Buck Murphy (Pen) 8-3·3. 3. Rlcn T h o r w al d so n (Suz) 3-74. 4. Tony Wynn (Han) 4-6-8. 5. Gary Bailey (Bul) 5-1 0-6 . 6 . Peter Lam p p u (M o n ) 10-4-7.1 . Ron Pomer oy (Bul) 14-2 -14. 8 . John Bor ders (Bu l) 1&8-10. 9 . Ga ry .Jon es fe-A ) 30-5 -2 . 10. Ron Huffman (Pen). 13- 1 4-11. 19

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