Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Disappointed, Marty slos h ed hi s way back to the pits. It was the sec ond National in row that he had shown he could have wo n if the bi ke had hel d up. Pie rr e took the m o t a win, followed by Gary, and then Rich Thorwaldson. The leader varried during the firs t three laps of the fina l mota as everyone took turns ge tting stuck. Pierre led the first. Tony Wynn . had his Noguchi Yamaha in the lead momentarily, and then T horwaldson wa s out fr ont. Gary Jones was in seco nd at one point, but th en the Can -Am drowned out and the throttle gri tted up. Don J ones worked feverishly to fix it, but co uld n ' t. Just fin ishing both motos me an t a rider would place in the top twenty. By th e four th lap, Pierre was unstuck and back in fir st position, with Honda of Piqua's John Franklin (Pen) in second. Blasting back up th rough the pack again was Marty Tripes after another bad star t, Blasting was hardly the right word as the ' m ud was really bad and the tactic to get rhough a m udh ol e w as for a rider to slide up to it, stop and wait for directions from the people standing there, then back up fo r a running charge at it. It helped to make sure there were enough people there to p ull you out , because the o dds were yo u wo uld get stuck. When J oh n Franklin did get stuck momentarily on the last lap, Marty took over second to finish beh ind Pierre, with John third, and Bob T hompson (Oss), fourth. With so much mud, the scorers had a difficult time. Protests kept the official scores from being posted until eleven P.M , Marty lo st a lap somewhere at the start of the second mota , pe rhaps because he was stuck too long in a mudhole or had numbers impossible to read. S till , being dropped one lap in the fmal mota moved Marty only from sec o nd postion to fourth behind Bob T ho m p so n , an indication of the su rvi val rate . a First dass bike prep. sma rt line selection and steady riding ensured the overall wi n for J im Weinert on the 450 Kawasak i. III can't aHo to use anyt ng but the best. II Evel Knievel These products are Open National Karsmakers and Weinert splash through Ohio mudbath By Jim Gianatsis HAMERSVILLE,OIlJO,MAY 19 Motocross: The lest o f a man and his m achine on a demanding track. The only word left out of the defini tion is "race," because in no way did racin g apply 10 the 250cc/500cc AMA Na tiona Molocross at Gran Am Ra ceway. A rain-soaked weekend turned the track into an impassable mire for the $7 ,500 Mota-East sponsored Yamah a Gold Cup Championship . The track i tself was a go od one. Almost a mile and a hal f long through a hill y, wooded a rea over natural terrain . A heavy rainst orm ea rly Saturday morning left it sli ck. bu t use b y the Yamaha Motocross T eam fo r a rid in g sch ool during th e d a y had left it in perfect co n d itio n for practice b y race m orn in g. Sec tions nf th e co urse al te rna te d from supe r lo a m y to su pe r slick . a nd o ft en it was impossibl e for a rid er to judge which Was whi ch un til he dialed on the throttle. AMA referee Chuc k McC all , a fast rnot ocr osser himsel f, divided th e ri d ers in th e 250 cl ass for tw o qu alifying m ot os. T he top twel ve ride rs fro m each transfe rre d alo ng wi th eig h t from the Co nso la tion m ota . All fo rty-fo ur Open class rid er m ad e the Mai n program. Jus t as t he first 25 0 q ualifier head ed fo r th e s tar t ing ga te , the sky le t lo os e with th e biggest gu lly washer th is side of Noah 's Ark. II last ed tw o ho u rs. When the. sun did poke out, bikes co uld be found bogged down, drowned out, and stuck up to their tanks eve rywhere alo ng th e course, One back section of the co u rse was nearly impassable without the aid of spectators who jumped the fences to help mud-drowned riders. It proved to be th e favorite vantage point for the small crowd that braved the weather. Finishing proved to be not a mailer of being fastest rid er, but who had th e thinki ng ' an d experience to pi ck a line that would n' t stick or drown out his bike. Often, getting through a deeply ru tted se ction req uired a full th rottle attack on a transverse line. The mechanical p reparation of the bi ke was also important , a nd those two factors: intelligent riding a nd hike p reparation, combined with a littl e luck, gave Jimmy Weinert (Kaw) the Open class win and Pierre Karsmakers the 250 v ictory . Hu sky's J ack Lehto spoke to the spectators during intermission, sxying that the mud would be the great equalizier that would give lesser kn own ride rs the opportuni ty to do as wel l as the factory boys. He was right as many of the independent riders found the y were lucky to be: their own me chanics when it came to preparing fo r the mud. 250 National Gary J ones put the Can -Am in t o th e lead of the first 250 mota, but Pierre Karsmakers was righ t behind and seemed co ntent to follow Gary , staying j ust far e no ugh behind to avo id the mud th e Can -Am was sling ing up . After a few lap s. it was obvious that " Pierre was hanging behind G~o wat ch h is lin es and, perha ps, wai ting for th e o th er Na tio nal Cham p to ge t st uc k . After th ree laps o f th e ca t and mouse game. Pie rr e slid th e Yamah a ro und Gary to take the lead , n ow content in know in g th e safe." way aro u n d th e co urse . Pierre and Gary were actua lly th e on ly rid ers a nyone could keep track of. By mid-race, the rem ainder o f th e field was s tuck so mew he re o r m an y lap s d own from the leader s. T he o nly rider who wasn ' t was Mar ty T ri pes. Mart y cras he d hi s Husky in the firs l t urn aft er the s ta r l , ge lling awa y almos t a la p behind, b ut once ru n ning he went wid e o pen. At the 2 0 min u te mark, he had made up the lo s t la p , p assing Jones for second , and th en Pierre to ta ke over the lead . J ust as he did though , th e bi ke threw it's chai n , breaking th e b ra ke ro d . Tony DiStefano, c u rre n t points lead er in th e Open class for the National Championship, was able to br eathe a sigh of relief back in the pits when the race was over. He didn 't finish well in th e two muddy motos - co n t in ual ly faIling d own o r getting stuc k. But Mike H artwig, his main riva l for the Ch ampionship, had an even worse day. Mik e was leading the fir st mota by hal f a lap wh en h is 3 9 0 Yamaha began to fou l, finally quitting . Jim Weinert, cruising through the water on the fac t o ry Kawasaki in second, inheri ted t he lead mid-way th r ough the mota an d held it to the finish . John Untiedt of Virginia, on a Maico was second. Not many people have hear d of Joh n even though he's raced a lo l o f AMA Motocross Nationals. Finishing around the top twen ty, Jo hn used his head today, surviving the m ud d y track to fin ish fourth in th e second m o ta , and second Overall. Husky's Gary Semics finished the first mota in third place, and in d ep en d en t Tony DiStefano was fourth on his home-built CZ . Jammin' Jimmy led the second mota from start to finish. The 450 Kawaskai never missed a lick, and neither did he. Mike Hartwig cam e walking ba ck to th e p its when his Yamaha quit aga in on the first lap. m u m b ling someth in g about u • • • someday , you'll own a Yamaha." And Tony DiStefan o 's p oints lead grew . With Weinert in co m man d for the lead, all eyes were o n th e race for seco nd pl ace . Two Hu sk y riders, indepe nd en t John A yer s of Orego n, an d fac to ry rider T erry Clar k had qui te a rac e go ing th e second hal f of the mo to. Bo th o f th e m rid ing co nventio nal CR 400's. th ey traded seco nd p lace a number of limes in th e fin al few lap s , after p ow er sli the ri ng aro u nd th e fast er turn s side by s ide . Clark held t he ad vantage a t the finish. John Un tied t; running second a t o ne point durin g th e m o to, e nded up fourth to cinc h th e Overall No.2 spot. • Results 1. Pi e rre Karsmakers I II (Yam) ; 2 . Tho rwalQ!oon 3/ 5 (SuzJ ; 3 . J ohn Fra nkl i n 112 (Pen) : 4 . Joe Fi scher f>/6 (Ya m) ; 5 . Boo T hom pso n 10/3 (Oss) ; 6 . Cdylon Mo!oilltr 4 /10 (Hon} ; 7 . BlII Grossi 6/1 2 (HOn); 8 . Rick O 'S r ien 8/14 CHon): 9. Kelvin "r'nomas 16/7 CBul) ; 10 . Pet er Lam ppu 15 /9 (Man). O p en: 1. Jim Weinert 111 (Kaw) : 2 . John Untied t 2 /4 (Mai); 3 . Ga ry S8m ICS 31Wj (Hus ): 4 . Terr y, Clark. (Hus); S. Ro d cooeer (Mai ): 6 . T on ~ Di Stefan o rcz r, 7 . Jo h n A y ers (Hus); 8. Greg D avi s (Hus) ; 9 . O.. vld D oe rschuc k (tuw) ; 10. Alan Hah n (C ZI . 2~ Occ: R ich the best. Ask your M/C dealer for: Gaske t cemen t 2qde oil Engine degreaser Fork oil Air f ilter oil Gear oil Tire mount lube Chain lube AII-purpose grease 4

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