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High in th e Florida sUl1shine. Brad (9) Lackey passes Harry Everts .
By Gary Van Voor his
ORLANDO, FLORIDA, OCT. 27
If past seasons are any gauge then
Dutch Suzuki works rider Gerrit
Wolsink will be this year's TransAMA champ. Of course this is
~
8
only a prediction , but based on
the 1972 and 1973 winners at
Orlando Uonsson and Weil) who
went on to win the series, it co uld
be a fairl y safe guess.
The sun and sand at th e Orlando
Sports Stadium facility took its toll and
when the final flag had dropped, Geritt
Wolsink, in a battle of att ri tio n , had
taken the overall win in the
International class over Husky rider
Arne Kring and Japancsc Yamaha
streaker Yukio Su gio. Brad Lackey took
top American honors with Rich
Eicrstedt , in his best ' seri es ride,
fini shing fif th ove rall. In Support class
actio n Marty Smi th onc c aga in proved
the might of h is fac tory Honda by
taking his sec o nd straigh t win over
Hu sk y rid er Kent Hower ton and
Bultacos Ron Pomero y.
Orlando proved to be th c longest
track in the series thus far with a sandy,
strength-sapping layout th at str et ched
over almost two miles, One fact became
_ qui ckl y evide n t to all - th ose wh o
weren 't in sha pe mi ght just as we ll no t
c ha l le nge the sandy berms , the
bu tt-b us t ing, bi ke-breaking jumps and a
sunny s ky th at turned sp ec tato rs ' skin a
bright red wh ile robbing strength from
th e competitors. In those areas where
the new section of the track had been
laid out the sand hung in the air,
attacking everything like a fine grit
sandpaper. It clung to skin and nostrils
while filtering through all but the
tigh test airboxes and when th e sand
wasn't doing that it was trapping those
who let their engines bog in a turn or ,
worse yet, surprising those who be came
careless when attacking the deceptive
berms, •
500cc Inte rnational
Aberg managed a hole shot from the
starting gate and led the 42 rider pa ck
down the lo ng straigh t and over thc hill
into the slow, deep right-hander a nd as
the pack crested the second hill of the
twisty, snake-like layout, Ben gt was
already opening up daylight. Th e sta rt
at Orlando was a bone of contention
between , rid ers as the ga te was not wid e
enough to acc o m m o da te the full field
and those like DeCoster, La ck ey,
DiStefano, Karmakers and Wolsink who
had drawn high numbers wcre either
squeezed in or opted for a tw o-row
start. Those late from the gate found
themselves in a sm all traffic jam th at
co llecte d Vic Allen , Adol f Weil, Steve
Stack able an d Tim Hart just lon g
enough to effcctively han d icap th em.
Aberg twisted the wick and qui ckl y
built up an almost three sccond lead in
the short space of a lap and a half, only
to take a tumble on a fast section of
whoop-de-does and get back into the
action four spots down, Bryar Holcomb
found himself in the lead after Abe rg 's
miscue ahead of Mike Kessle r and Ake
Jonsson: but the lead soon wilted with
strange rumblings inside Holcomb's
engine. By 10 minutes into the moto
Jonsson led from teammates Andersson
and Karsmakers with Wolsink, Harry
Everts and Willi Bauer behind. Attrition
began to show its hand as Holcomb,
Aberg and West be came spectators;
Gary J ones came in for an unscheduled
pit stop and Jonsson began to stretch
his lead. J im Pomeroy and Brad Lac key ,
victims of bad starts, were slici ng
through traffic and p icking up spots
Roger DeCost er (before his engine seized) ta ils
Pierre Karsrnakers (before his forks welded).
slowly as the field began to really string
o ut. Lackey was doubly handicapped
after his rip-offs came off in one swipe
and he was now riding without goggles.
In quick suc cession Karsmakers and
DeCoster dropped out; Roger with an
engine seizure and Pierre with seized
forks. Minutes later Kess ler was o ut
with mechanica l ills and Kawasaki ride r
Christer Hammargren foll o wed with
leaking shocks. Ake maintained his
comfortable lead followed by
Andersson, Wolsink, Bauer, Pomeroy,
Everts, Ramon Bouven , Lackey and
Sugio.
One lap past the 30-minute mark the
complexion of the race changed agai n as
J o nsso n , enjoying a co mfortable lead,
snapped a sea t bolt , losing his seat an d
the race. Wolsink, who had mo ved in to
second a few laps before, took o ver with
a 10 second lead until the flag.
An dersson held second bu t Baue r was
feeling the pressure of Pomeroy and,
two laps from the end, was bumped to
fourth. La ckey, sandy eyes and all, was
fifth with Everts, Sugio, Bouven, Kring
and Eierstedt rounding out the top 10
places. Tim lIart, last on the first lap,
had worked up to lIth with Weil 16th .
Pomeroy had closed to within one
second of Andersson at the flag.
The Can-Ams of Jimmy Ellis and
Gary Jones led the charge in the second
moto o ver Weil, Kring, Aberg and
Jonsson. Weil quickly bumped Jones for
second. but found getting aro un d Ellis
much harder; taking a full 10 minutes to
drop Jimmy from the lead. Pomeroy
1tnd Lackey, hoping to capitalize on
their fi rst moto finishes, had their races
come to an abrupt halt, Po meroy with a
broken chain tha t cost him a lap and
Lackey tangled up in a first turn
accident.
With a new chain, Pomeroy took it
easy the rest of the race for fear of
stretching the chai n or breaking it.
Lackey, after spending strength
bumping and pushing his bike to restart,
changed to catch up and dropped the
Husky another few times in the pro cess.
The second moto lead was being
chal lenged by six rid ers. Weil, although
still holding the point, had Kr in g to
contend with plus DeCos ter ,
Kars makers, Jonsson and Wolsink
within breathing distance. Kring passed
Weil on the start-finish line for the lead,
held for a lap then took a tumble and
came back in fifth with Karsmakers in
the lead and DeCoster second pushing
Weil to third and Jonsson fourth.
Min utes lat er DeCoster had closed on
Karsm a kers and then disappeare d, the
victim of a hard crash . J o nsso n moved
in t o second with Wo lsink third and Weil
fourth but a hard charge by Arne Kring
dropped Adolf back a spot ahead of
Sugio and Rich Eicrstedt,
Karsmakers, with fists clenched an d
arms in the air, roared off the track with
the moto win as Wolsink took his
second overall ti tie in four rounds.
Pierr e said that his win came at a good
time; that he hoped it wo ul d be a n
omen for the res t of the ser ies . It was
his first good finis h since the series
started:
