Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

the Mother Lode event, he had won by consistency, but now he was winning with sh ee r dominance over the entire field of riders. That is, except Hart. By the third lap , the pack h ad alread y seen the rage and power of the new proto Yamaha . Like Mike Hartwig had done earlier in the Open National first round, Hart wa sn't p icking 'em off one by one in hi s drive after Smith ; he was doing i t in clumps of t hrees and fours and had suddenly burst ba ck into the spotligh t and was in fifth place ! , T here was still a considerab le gap between the two challenger s, but Hart was looking for a Smith error to cash in on. In stead , the err o r was Tim's. O ff a jump he adi ng back to the far back 'sec t ion , t he bike we n t sideways, hi t hard and that was it . He finally got his self tog ether enough to putt slowly back into the pits where he retired in pain . \ Left, unmatched, Marty Smith cru ised home with the moto victory and the subsequent Overall, the first ever in the history of the AMA 125cc National Championship trail. Chu ck Bower (Hon) , ano the r Southern California rider, who knows more than anyone just how Hart felt as he had cra shed here last year while con ten din g the 125 Overall and broke his arm, used a fourth, sixth and second to claim the runnerup spot. In fact, the entire Honda team seemed to be the dominant for ce in a moto by moto sh owin g, although Bob Haag (Hus) broke matters up with a thi rd Overall. Bob had retired about nine month s ago, then felt the urge agai n and returned to practicing in December. In the last month he has been getting in to his old shape and today had p erh aps his best ride as a nationally -ranked star, usin g an 8-7·4 tri o to capture the show money. Eastern Ro ck et , Mickey Boon e [factory Honda ), had troub le adj usting to th e terrain in this, his firs t visit to th e - West Co ast. He took a disgruntled -; eleventh in th e first t rip , improved to an eighth in th e ne xt, then finis he d up the 'd a y wi th a strong th ird behind teammates Smith and B'o"';e~ - in th e final. The only dent Nor th ern Californians cou ld pu t in the ov erall resul IS were dealt by John Keese (Bul) of San Lui s Ob ispo and Vincent . Clark of Lompoc, fifth and sixth overall. North hopeful Danny Turner (Hu s), was in contention in both the first two motos, actually leading Hart in th at second round runaway for half the ra ce , but bike problems ca ugh t up with him and he fini shed down the list. Honda ' finished up i ts factory attempts with Bru ce McDougal taking seventh overall , hurt greatly by a final moto 19th when he was bogged down by a fir st lap problem . Two things were quickly agreed upon today. Marty Smith is probably the best 125cc rid er in the country. And th e other is th at the new proto Yamaha seems to have a very bright fu ture. It should be an interesting season ... Results 1. Ma r ty Sm ith rHon) 1·2 , 2 . Chuck Bower (Hon ) 4~ ; 3. Bob Haag (HUS) 7 .7: 4 . M iCkey -" Boone (Hon) 10·S : 5. Vincent Clark (Suz) ; 6 . Jonn Keese (Bul) 6-4; 7 . Buce McDouga l (Hon ) 2 ·5.8. 'Eddie Col e (Pen) ;3.10; 9 . D ick Sracla 9~? ; 10. M i ke W ickerSham ( V a m ) 15 ~ ? 250 By John Ulrich Bill Grossi (Hon ) got the ju mp at the of the first 30' minute 250 moto , WIth Gary Jones (Can -Am) and Buck Murphy (Pen) right behind. One lap later Grossi still led, but Murphy was second and a hard charging Marty Tr ipes (Hus), 1973 Hangtown 250 class winner, out for vengance against T eam Honda after be ing " let go " this year, was reeling in the slack as he aimed for t he lead. Jones was fourth and his arch-rival, Op en National MX Ch ampion and last year's non-national Hangtown Open class winner, Pierre Karsmakers (Yam) , rid ing a 25 0 today , was back in tenth. The well-dug ru ts in th e mud comi ng s~t ou t of th e fini sh turn fooled J ones the next tim e aro un d . He sta lled it long enough to dr op one pl ace to Gayl on Mo sier (Ho n) . With Karsmakers on th e m ove up , that put Jones fifth an d Karsmak ers right b eh ind at sixth - th e f amous Jo n e s /K ar sm a k er s mo toc ross/bar eknuckle duel was once again in full swi ng. T h is time th ey kept th eir ba t tle limi ted to m otorcycl e raci ng . Tripes was right on Grossi's rear wh eel as the p air op en ed up a lead on Buck Murphy in third. Jones mad e a m ove to pass Mosie r off th e j um p ri ght afte r the start area . A few turns later the m omentum of h is charge pu t Mosier b etween him and Karsm akers. On th e fourth lap it was Grossi and Tripe s wh eel to wheel, side b y side, back and forth. T ripe s took the lead Grossi grabbed i t back, Trip es go t ins ide, Grossi did th e same on th e next turn going the other way. The b attle moved from ten second s ahead of third to 15 seconds ahead of third in one lap as Tripes kept the pressure up . Jones and Karmakers are doing the same trip three seconds behind Murphy, and th e hardest part of spectating is d eciding which du el you want to see. J on es dialed it on and pulled away f r o m K ar sm akers. After a b rie f back-and-forther with Murphy , Jones ' took third and stretched it out righ t awa y. Murphy 's b ike was sounding raspier after each lap and he started losing po sitions. Karsmakers and Mosier moved up as Mu rphy's Pen ton go t louder and slo we r an d the lead er s sta rt getting in to traffic. Mosier got into th e same mud ru t as J ones d id an d Murphy , still charging as his bike we nt so ur , was b y. It didn ' t last after Mosie r got straighte ne d out again : Grossi used traffic to shake Tripes a bit, bu t Tripes closed up whenever he go t a clear line. J ones moved away from Karsm ak ers th e same w ay . Gro ssi had eight seconds on T rip es as th e wh ite flag carne ou t, J ones had third with seve n second s over Karsmakers, When it all cou n ted one lap later, J ones was'xigh t on Tripe s' kn obby with Grossi still ou t fro nt, and Kar sm akers cam e in a ways back, looking down at his re ar hub as he motor ed int o th e pits. Mos ier , Murphy, and 25 0 Trans -AMA cha mp Rich Eiersted t (H on ) followed. Southern California hotshoe Ken Zahrt (Bul) got the hole shot awa y from the gate in the second 250 mota, with Mosier right behind him. Mosier, Jones, and Murphy all zapp ed Zahrt before the lap was over. Jones was in a d ice again , but this time it was with Mosier. First Jones led , with Mosier a hot sec ond. Then it was swap tim e wi th Mosier 'in fron t by a foo t or so and Jones in second fighting fo r first . It stayed th a t way for six more laps. Both Eiersted t and Grossi were on the move as the J ones/Mosier duel continued, lap after lap. Right behind was Ron Pomero y (Bu l), de termined to pull off a finish better than the ninth he go t in th e fir st mo ta. Murphy held t hem all o ff in third for aw hi le, but then the wh ole bunch go t b y. Karsmakers lost h is right footpeg, got it fixed in the p its , an d cam e b ack out two laps down. Jon es had the lead, but Grossi was th ird and moving up on Mos ier w it h . every b ody else right b eh ind. When Grossi bl asted past Mosier and Jones on on e lap, Tripes followed, but only past Mosier - . until another lap had be en run. Then it was Grossi and Tripes all over again with Jones third (aga in ), Pomeroy fourth, Eierstedt fifth , and Mosie r back to sixth. Eierstedt held on even after hitting a stalled rider he was lapping (in the same spot Jones stalled in the first moto.) They finished alm ost the same way, except Rich Thorwaldson passed Mosier to take sixth. Overall it was Grossi, T ripe s, J ones, Eiersted t, and Mosier. .s-. 0. ~ Bill Gr ossi (Han) took h is new factory rid e and just plain beat everybody in the 250 class . TIm Hart went fast , crashed hard on monoshock Yamaha 125. Weinert challenged State n in the first mota until his sparks went away. Richie Th orwalds on watched ' Daddy take seventh 250 fo r Suzuki. Results by Ste ve Castillo 1 . B ill Grossi (Hon) 1·1; 2. Marty Tr ipes

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