Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Jimmy Ellis wins 250 as Tripes explod By Charles Morey DELTA, OHIO, AUG . 11 o C'J A paIr of J ims, Ellis and Wein ert , scored big" on the hard clay Delta Motorsport Park course this afternoon. Ellis proved what fans have known all along; that when his bike holds together, he can beat the best. Today 's 250 class win lifted the Connecticut Yankee into the top ten in National points, o fferi ng support to Can-A m teammate Gary Jones, whose fifth p lace p u t him bac k on to p of the poin ts list. Weiner t ea rned h is victory with a second placing in each moto ; following lo cal favorite Mike Ha rtwig to the flag in the first race and Maico rider Bryar Holcomb in the second forty-five mi n ute moto, Rain showers in practice threatened to turn the event into an exceptionally rough mudder for riders, spectators and scorers alike . Race watchers ere cted picturesque sheet plastic shelters in stubborn determination to observe the race. Riders, the three-digit number plate guys in particular, fOW1d frustration on one especially nasty uphill off-camber turn. And the sc ore ladies mentally prepared for a day o f identifying brown Jumpy profiles rather than number plates. Luckily, the showers ceased about the same time practice closed. and in the time it takes to run four qualifying motos and two consolations, the course had been molded into hard-packed series of grooves and two-foot tall berms. Texan Keith Duffy led j o hn Savitski and j im m y Ellis in the first 250 q ual ifi er, with the second one going to J im T urner over Bruce Baron . The Open class Heats went to Husky rid e r Jim West an d Ste ve Waldrip o n a Ka wasa ki. 250cc Ken n y Za hrt too k the ins ide lin e as the 25 0 s roared d own th rough th e wide starting ch ute sweep er, an d c u t un der Jimmy Ellis at the first ti ght left -ha nder . Ellis, in a series o f po or j udge men ts , lost seve ra l places in each of th e first th ree turns as he insisted on us ing t he outside line. By th e en d of la p o ne, Za hr t has surrendered the lead to J im Turner. Bultaco s held t he firs t three pla ces as Ro n Po m er oy followed in third ahead of number o ne, Gary Jones. Ellis had dropped to thirteenth. Jimmy was fa r fro m being defeated. ho wever. He began pic king off his competitors at the rate of a least three per lap, riding as if he were dominating an average Sunday afternoon at a familiar New England track. By lap five he'd worked up to third behind Turner and Pomeroy. Kenny Zahrt followed in fourth with Keith Duffy, John Savits ki, and Gary Jones close in h is tracks. In the next two laps Ellis caught and passed the lea ders an d stretched o ut a lead t hat wou ld last for the duration of the m ot o , Pomeroy established a sec ure second place , b ut Bultaco teammate Kenny Zahrt's frame had broken at the top rear shock mounts. Zahrt was forced to putter along to finish well out of t he standings. Meanwhile, Tim lIart had been climbing from a so -so starting position and moved into third a t ap p r o xim a tely the thirty-minute mark. T im almost lost his place at the finish line as Husky mounted Marty Tripes closed in fast. Tripes had recovered from a 28th starting place and the inertia from h is charg e almos t carried him in to th ird . He was inadvertently bl o ck d b y a slo wer rider right at the fini sh line a n d lost to Hart 's Yamaha b y a split second. Jones followed in fifth ahead of Savitski and Howerton, :\'Iarty Tripes c ame back strongly in round two , driving from his third place start to the lead the first two laps. From there he built up an impressive lead wh ile Ellis moved into second. Ron Pomeroy followed Ellis until a thrown chain set him back momentarily. At the ha lfway mark, Tripes had established nearly a thirty-second lead o ver Ellis . T im Hart, Gary Jones, Ro n Po me ro y , Ke n t Ho werton an d Peter Lamp p u foll owed. T he second half saw both Hart and Ho wert on ge t past J ones . T he n in th e last min ut es of the moto, Howerton passed Hart fo r thi rd. Tripes had i t m ade. Then , as Marty summed it up later, the H uksy "blew up . " Ellis in he ri ted the lead an d his second moto victory of the afternoon. Kent Ho wert on , still hurting from bei ng run ove r in the first moto scored a second. T im lIart matched h is first r o und finish with another third. Pomeroy chalked up a fourth for th ir d Overall for the afternoon, and Montesa 's man Peter Lamppu followed in fifth . Gary Chaplin (Mai 15) is first out of the Open dass first turn. St e ve Stackable (Mai 21), West (Hus 28) a nd Bryar Holcomb (Ma i 8 4) chase, along with everyone else . Hangers on Lamppu's bike had seized in practice and Peter had to learn t he trac k in t he f ir st m o t o wh ere he finis he d fifte enth . Open If today 's victory had been based on po p ulari ty ins tea d of raci ng . Mike Hartwig wo uld have been a ru naway winner. Mike re tu rn ed to Husky af te r a sometimes frustrating stint with Team Yamaha. At the e nd of la p one in the first Open m o t o , U.S. Sports Maico rider Steve Stackable hel d off a persistent Gary Chaplin on a newly acq uired 400 Maico. J im West momentarily led Mike Har twig. J im my Weinert foug ht traffic back in eleven th p lace. T he next th re e laps had the partisan crowd whooping for their m an as Hart wig pic ked off th e to p t h ree riders at the rate of one pe r lap. Nationa l p o int s le a de r Tony DiS tefa no p ic ked up the pace , joining the closely packed fo ur- man freight train of Stackable, Chaplin, Semics and West. jim West lo st out when the H usky shed its chain at the thirty-minute mark. DiStefano mo ved into second. With ten minutes to go Hartwig was un t o ucha b le, out front an d hauling. DiS tefano held a not-so-secure second J immy Ellis (C-A 37) came from behind to w in the fi rst 250 moto, got the second dropped in h is lap when T ripe s b lew. J ammin' J immy ja ms on h is way to w in . 8

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