Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

J im Weinert stuck it in sid e Pierre for about half a lap. Karsmakers sweeps fiery InterAm in sunset finish By John Huetter SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, JUNE 30 Nobody had the combination of skill, conditioning, machinery, and mechanic . to beat Pierre Kars'mak ers in this openIng round of the 1974 InterA.\IA. Unless some of the riders and, in some cases, their facto ry sponsors get thei r act togeth er soon, this could be Pierre's series. 8 T hose who are fast enough to' slay with the Flying Dutchman broke and those w ho di dn't break are ei the r not in t he same leagu e of inte rnatio na l m o t o cr o s s or obvious ly not in co nd it ion. M a n y ri ders, hath Ca lifornia-based an d fro m o ther areas, lo oked li ke somebody flip pe d off their "Go" switc h after 20 mi n u tes. Rex S taten lasted bette r than most to be second. The Inte rAMA series got off to a fairly inauspicious start in the foothills of the mountains around Salt Lake. The setting was beautiful. the co u rse natural, techni cally demanding, and long but nothing seemed to come together . The promoters represented a combination o f seemingly high-powered talent hut boz ed down in the details born of Inexperience, like dust control. The result was a sour tone to the day. which didn' t seem all that necessary . T he racing was delayed from a scheduled o ne p.m . start t o 4 :30 as first, "Light Br o w n " Lancione, Al\IA Mo tocross referee. made th e decision to de lay raci ng until t he track met with h is ap proval an d th e n, some ri ders me t to affirm the th ree p.m. dead line th at Lan cione had first recom m en de d as a c utoff ti me fo r ei ther beginning practice or goi ng ho me. All th is was a mids t ta lk of n ot racing at a ll and genera l unin form ed co nfusion about what was corning off. T he pro mo te r set to work w ith th e wa ter trucks again as Eve l Kni evel p layed to the c rowd until th e water tr ucks - were diverted to a brush fire that hroke ou t above t he trac k. R iders stood on top of trucks and trailers watching the cars explode as the fire swept up to them while the hot, dry afternoon wo re slowly on. Bryar Ho lco m b allo wed as how the fire a nd exploding, runaway cars was worth the • 6 admiss ion . Many of t he spe~ta to rs whose transportation was In flames or caroming down the parched hillsides, or even those who merely waited in 104 degree heat, may have questioned that. In the 125 National class, run as support to the 250 International motos. But the Dutchman had little problem once he got away from Eierstedt and Staten. Jimm y Ellis came ba ck on a Can-Am 125 for his fir st bi g U.S . race since his seve re injuries in Florida so me months ago . He was th e fastest rid er and the Can-Am was th e torquiest 12 5 but when t he final tally of th e t h ree shorte ne d m o t o s was in , Team Honda 's Man y Smith was t he w in ne r. Ellis led til the last la p a ll th e way fro m th e st art in th e fir st mota, only to crash o n tha t las t tour. S mith passed for the w in with Dan n y Turner, t hird . In the second go, Nils-Arne Nilsso n got the hole shot on a very stock 12 5 Hu sky and led u ntil E llis ou tpowere d hi m. Turner also go t hy very ncar t he end, with Smith in fou rth on the a ll-ne w red-frame, air -shock machi ne whjch Honda d ebu ted in bo th 12 5 an d 250 classes. Ellis took t he lead in the last mo ta until the Can-Am broke. Smi th was the re again to take th e overall win . Turner was second in t he mota an d overall and Nilsson got n ip pe d b y Tim lIart on the las t la p bu t sti ll third overall. When t he 250 class rid er s pu t their fron t wh eel s in t he star ti ng ditch for th e first tim e (T he st ar ti ng gat e w as so ric ke ty it wou ld n' t stay up or fall d own so was by-passed.) it was afte r five p.m. a nd a 101 of th e racer's ed ge had to be take n off th e ri de rs aft e r eight h ours in th e h ea t. At t he to p of the star t hill, Gaylon Mos ie r ha d his air-suspen ded red Ho nda in t he lea d and he stayed there ahead of Kar sm ake rs, St a ten , Falta, Wei ne rt , Pomeroy Ui m), and Lac key fo r abo ut 10 minutes. Then Pierr e go t by . Th en Re x got by, then everybody else started b rea kin g th eir moto rcycles. Brad and Bimbo were ru nning a bou t five-six. m o v i n g up from u ndistinguished starts. It seemed like o n ly they , plus Pierre and Falta, had t he lines and conditioning to do it fo r 45 minutes. Luckily fo r a lot of riders, t he 250 motos had been shorte ned to 30. Then Brad's stock (No kidding. T he GP bikes weren't shipped over.] Hu sky seized. Then Falla's front w heel ca me apart. Marty Tripes' Husky h ad it s shoe ks go away - radically. Terry Cl ar k stuck his Husky's piston. If you get the impression th a t jetting fo r the 6500 f t. altitude and 28.4 barometric pressu re was difficult, you arc getting it correctly. Pierre pulled o u t a m on str ous lead while the only ride r left w ho could keep him in sight was Jim Pom ero y , J im h ad passed th e two Ho nd a . ide rs , rea lly out poweri ng t he m wi th a sm o other line up the bumpy u p hill. He was ac tually closing o n Pie rre , th o ugh Ka rsrnaker s didn' t feel too much p ressure. T he n J im Weinert didn't come aro und. T he fro nt fo rks on his Kawasaki self-des truc te d so J im got off whe n he had some choice in t he ma tter, a t th e to p of a d ownhill. Then, on what p roved to be the last lap of the fi rst mota , Jim didn't come around. As Pierr e enjoyed a ha lf lap cushion to the checkered Ilag, Ji m bumped down the hill off the course wi th his goggles and kidney bel t over the handlebars, managed to avoid hitting me, and shouted, "I seized ." Pierre never displayed the Zdenek Vel ky d idn't look like he was liking it but he knew he was in the U.S. for business. The CZs aren't getting any weaker. - )

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