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Into the 70 MPH f irst turn thunders the open class her d , Rich T horwaldson (31 lea ding. Overall winner Mikkola wears number two . Americans 3rd & 4th in Honda Hills Trans-AMA By Charles Morey LINNVILLE, OHIO, OCT. 13 Team Husqvarna's new World Champ, Heikki Mikkola entered the 19 74 Trans-AMA series in true cham pion's style, taking the Gerrit Wolsink repeate d his runner-u p act from the two previous weeks (at Unadilla and Capetown), taking over the Trans-AlIlA series pain ts lead in the process. Roge r DeCoster and new Su zuki teamster Willi Bauer turned in steady performances fo r fifth and sixth in the day's overall placings . Top Americans Jim Pomeroy and Brad Lackey co nt inued t o impress specta to rs with th eir GP know -how. T he time spent ac ross the Atlantic has tra nsfo rme d our already to p rid ers in to serio us conte nders at any world-caliber event. J im turned in the better rid e today , following Mikkola and Aberg to a th ird in mota one, and backing it with a fifth in round two. Brad rode with steadily dis in tegrating wheels as the har d surface and tall jumps with fiat landing ramps took th eir toll to claim a seventh in the fir st mota . The second Thorwald so n and Brad Lackey b rac ket J im m y Weinert, who did n 't f igu re in the overall st and ings, New Wo rld Champion Mik ko la shows wh y they ca ll him " The Fly in' Finn ." Honda Hills event with a one- t hree finish in the two 45 -mi nute mo tos. . leg saw Lackey grab a quicker start (ninth, compared to his 23rd in round one) and convert it to a thi rd by mota's end - good for fo ur th overall. Support class action was cen tered aro und Husky teamsters Ken t Howerton and Terry Clark early in the day with Clark h olding the advan tage un til a broken chai n adjus ter flip p ed his chain off the sp roc kets. Ho werton we nt on to win t he firs t mota unc hallenged. Frank Stacy kept Howerto n ho nest in the fi nal laps of round two, p ullin g up to Howerton's rear axle at the fin ish line. Stacy finished three-t wo; second to Howerton's flawless one-one performance. Marty Smith matche d Stacy po in t wise (two-three) for third. 500 Trans-AMA mot os American Suzuki team riders Rich Thorwaldso n and Mike Runyard sna pped th e crowd to atten tion at the sta rt of t he first 500cc m o t o , Thorwa ldso n pulled the h o ldsh ot of the d a y , I ea di n g Adolf Weil , Pierre K ar sm akers, Rich Eierste d t , Ge rr it Wolsink an d Heikki Mikkola through t h e TT styled d o wnhill sweeper . Meanwhile, ba ck at the othe r end of the pack, poor Ru nyard was dusti ng himself off after a spectacular wheelie/back -flip at the gate. Thor stayed ahead of Weil's Maico for two laps before the senior MXer slipped by in his incredibly smooth and controlled manner. But Adolf 's ti me at the front was limited. Mikkola got by Tim Hart lea ds the way o ver the Ho nd a Hills . Eierstedt on the seco nd lap and passed Karsmakers on the third . By the JO-minute mark, t he fearless Finn had stolen . t h e lead and established three-to-five second cushion over 'Veil . Team Bultaco, Jim Pomeroy and Bengt Aberg , were in the process of neg-ating the disadvantage of their slow starts. Pomeroy made quick work of moving up, using t he first J 0 minutes to put six of the world 's best behind him as he pushed from 10th to fourth p lace. Aberg seemed content to spread his charge out over a 20 minute pe riod. It was n't unt il the last 10 mi nutes tha t the Mo to cross des Na tio ns' star caugh t and passed Pomeroy fo r second in the mo ta. Mikkola and Weil passed time o ut in front ho lding a rapid steady pa ce and it appeared that the first two places were secure until Wei! failed to co me past the scoring booth . The Maico had derailed the chain, twisting it into a useless tangle and dumping Adolf's sure second (and possible win) into the DN F category. One lap later Pierre Karsmakers, who was running deter minedly in thi rd ahead of Pomeroy, th rew up his hands an d coasted off the track . Karsmakers' 400 had mo mentarily seized . Given a co uple min utes to cool , it restarted and allo wed the Dutchma n to fin ish a disapp oi nting 20th . Mikkola main tained his advan tage to the fin ish whi le Aberg, ridi ng wi th a broken exhaust, overtook Pomeroy for second. Gerrit Wolsink paced himsel f', finishing one spot up from where he'd started - fourt h. DeCoster and Bauer followed . T horwaldson had main tiined fifth until his goggles, some new o nes he was trying out, smeared with d ust and perspiration. He tried one lap without them, but the rocky course forced a quick stop to clean them. That pause cost hi m the chance at a top placing. Maico mast er Ad ol f Weil d ro pped the ha mm er at t he start of ro und tw o an d, after wi nning th e bravery co n tes t on the 70 MPH first tum, p ro ceeded to wal k off wi th the mota . Min ute after m inute , lap afte r lap , Wei! flo we d his m achine . over the rocky hillsides unchallenged by anyone, including th e four for mer an d presen t Wo rld Champions on the trac k. A fou r-rider crash at tum three o n the opening lap p ut Pierre Karsmakers an d Willi Bauer out of their co mpetitive start ing positions. Bauer recovered for 13th in the mota and sixth overall; bu t Karsma kers ' bad luck stayed with hi m and he was unable to finis h. Following Weil in the early lap s was Ben gt Aberg, Mike Hartwig, Gerrit Wols in k. Ha n s Maisch an d Rich Th o rwaldson . Ha rt wig was havin g' o ne of those races wh ere the kid fro m Mich iga n is as fast as the bes t, Mike held a strong, smooth third place and wh en Aberg cras he d himself o ut of contentio n Mike was on hand to take o ver second . Aberg lo st contro l o n a do wn h ill, injuri ng his elbow in the fa ll. Wolsink took second away fro m Hart wig a couple of lap s later; j ust before Mike's fro nt ' tire went flat. Hartwig returned after a pit stop , b ut was too far back to make it into the standings. Weil was safe in the lead . There wasn't any last lap change in the top posi tions. Brad Lackey took fo ur t h ahead of J im Pomeroy . • 'Results UN O F F IC IAL T RA NS·AMA POIN T S STA ND ING S A F TE R H O NDA H I LLS , t. Gerr it Wo lsi nk, 24 0 . 2 . R o ge r o ec c sre- , 2 1 0. 3. Jim Po me r o y . 18 0 . 4 . Heikki Mi kko la , 1 5 0 . 5. Brad La ckey . 140. 6 . H akan A ndersson , 10 0 .7 . A dolf Weil , 55. 8 . R ich E le rst edt, 55 . 9. Will i Ba uer. 50. 10. Pie rre Karsma kers. 40. 500cc IN T E RN AT I ON AL ' 1. H e l kk l M ikkola(Hus) 1-3. 2 . Genit Wolsi nk (SUZ ) 4-2 . 3. J im Pomeroy ( 8 ul) 3·5. 4 . B rad Lac key ( H us) 7-4 . 5. Roger D eC o st er (Su z ) 5-7. 6 . Willi Bauer (5uz) 6-12 . 7. Rich Eierstedt (Hon ) 8- 13 . 8. R i ch Thorwald son ( 5 uz ) 1 3 ·10. 9 . Re x Staten (Hon) 12-12. 1 0 . V . Sugi o (Yam) 9-15. 1 1. T o ny D iS t e f ano (C Z ) 17 ·8 .1 2 . Mike Ru ny ard (SUl) 16 ·14 . 1 3. I van Mill e r (Pen ) 15· 16. 14. Steve Stac kabte (Ma l) 28 -9 . 15 . Tim Hart (Y am ) 18-19 . 16 . A dol f W eil (Mai ) 3 9 -1 . 17 . B en et Aberg ( B u l ) 2-39. 18. Sonny D e fe o (Ma i ) 2 4 · 1 8. 19 . Mike K e ssl e r (Vam ) 22-22 . 20 . V ic Allen ( B u I ) 39-6 . 250cc SU PPOR T : 1. K en t H owert o n (Hu s) 1·1. 2. Fra nk Stacy ( C Z ) 3-2. 3. Mart y Sm ith (Ho·n) 2 ·3 . 4 . Pet er Lam ppu (Mo n) 4 ·7 . 5 . R o b er t Pl umb (Ma i) 8 · 5 . 6. James St uddard (V am ) 13 -0 . 7. Ji m Sli f e (Ma i) 11 -8 . 8 . J i m W ic k s (Ma l) 10-11. 9 . J im T u rn er ( Bul) 15 ·9 . 10 . Ke n zan r t ( B ul) 21~ . 11. Ed d ie Cole (Bu l ) 1 2 -15. 1 2 . Ron H uffman ( Pe n) 9 ·20 . 13 . B o b T ay lor (H us) 17·1 3. 14 . Ma rvin A za r (Bu l) 16-16.·15. Ted F o l tz (Hon) 19-17 . 16. J o hn Frankli n (Mal ) 29-1 2 17 . Pau l W awr y novic (CZ ) 2 4-1 9 . 18. W oodrow Be c k etn t m er (Hon) 23 -2 2. 19 . J o h n Ayers (H us) 20-25. 2 0 . R on Pomeroy ( B ul ) 5 ~ O. 18 /