Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125980
00 ,......; Twenty-eight motocrossers try to make a tum wide enough for about 25. 500cc overall winner Stackable gets annointed with 200cc of love potion number nine. Jim Ellis threads through the sandy slot. Kenny Zahrt on the gro u nd a t th e beginnin g of round two . Hart an d Ba ron restarted, but Zahrt wa s visibly sha ken and r emoun te d. Kenny go t ce n t e rp u nc he d later in the afte rn o on by an out-of-control rider, putting a ca p o n his totally bad da y . Jimmy Ellis, perhaps m oody over his sixth pl ace finish in the first moto, put the Can -Am out in front o f the pack on lap one. Following within striking distan ce were Team Honda riders Marty Smith a nd Rich Eierstedt, while back in fourt h , Tripes had begun anothe r cro wd-pleasin g rally. On lap two Tripes a nd Eierstedt both got past Smith ; then, just before the finish lin e, Tripes edged by into seco nd. In th e fo llowing lap s Tripes ' Bultaco closed on Ellis u n t il finally he crowded into the lead on the f ro n t st raight. Ellis, however, held t he insid e line and stuffed bac k under Tripes in t he tigh t left-ba nder at t he st raigh ta way 's end. Using th e Bul ta co as a berm , J im m y relcaimed th e lea d as Marty sa ved it a nd held sec on d. Mart y S mi th had repassed Eie rste d t and held steady until his machine sei zed , droppin g th e 12 5cc Natio nal Ch amp t o 28 t h . Ellis m aintained h is lead t o th e chec ke re d fla g as Tripes, now running ja m m ing t oward th e front In true Weinert style. DiS tefano 's Su zuki held off Sta ckables Maico for four laps. Then, as th e two ran sid e by sid e st eaming st eadily awa y from the others, the Su zuki 's front brake p late broke a nd T ony D was spit off as th e wheel lo cked up . He remounted to finish a distant 17th. Meanwhile , Weinert's c harge was cut sho rt by, as Ji mmy p ut it, "A malfunction at t he junctio n. Yamaha mec ha nic Bill Buchka simplified the explanation by gr u mping, "Seized." Gary Sem ics p u t o n a dynamite showing in his first east co ast ride on th e new Kawasaki, fo llowing Stac kable through ro un d one for second place finish. Atlanta 's Zappa Racing CZ te am o f Gary Ch aplin and Bobby Harris filled th e third a nd fou rth p ositions ah ea d of Ji m West's CZ in fifth . Again in t he second leg, the Stac kab le/DiSt efan o duo took turn one ~",-:;----------'~.:----~~r;-~ 12 with a flat rear tire and a b ro ken for k slid er , held second. Eierstedt , Sallquist and Mike Runyard followed. Howerton co uld only back up h is first moto victory with a n 11 th afte r getting tangled in th e first tum activiti es:' In an all-out attem p t to over come t he bad second moto, Kent Howerton passed Sonny Defeo on th e first lap of round th ree, and proceeded to build up an unbeatable lead. Ellis co nve rted his fifth place start into a second b y the end of the moto . .. go o d e no ugh for the overall win. Rich Eierstedt's th ird pl ace gave Honda a second in the ov erall as h is 4 -3-3 total topped Howerton's 1-11 -1 sc o re . Tripes su ffered a poor start" in round three , re covering o nly to I Oth place , fo r fo urth o vera ll. Fifth was Kaw asaki rid er J an -Eri c Sa llquist . 500ccc motos Tony DiStefano wedged into the lead ahea d of Pie rre Karsrn akers and Steve Stackab le as the first 5 0 0cc m oto smoked onto th e track. Be fore th e lap e nde d. St ackable had second a nd Kar smakers retired with tra nsm issio n failure. Wyman Pri ddy 's Kaw held t hird with Gary Ch aplin a nd Gary Semics close behind. Nat ional Nu m ber On e J imm y Weinert was back in ni nth an d tt side by side and quickly resumed their battle, while drawing st eadily away fro m all the others. Gary Chaplin had copped a third place starting position . ahead of Wyman Priddy. Weinert, with a new top e nd on the factory Yamaha, got away in 11 th and began once agai n to work up th ro ugh the mob. Semics' luck deserted him as he completed lap one in aro u nd 25th p lace an d was unable to significa n tly help his standing during the moto. Five la ps into the race, J immy Weinert had fo ug ht up to fift h place; b ut th e ne w m o tor tightened up again , fo rcing the champion t o call it a day. Steve Stackable took the lead from Tony DiS tefano on the n ex t la p , pulling a gas p-dra wi ng blo c k p ass on a t igh t "S" section of the track. Steve c ru ise d o n for several laps more wh ile Tony hel d a steady pace 20 yards back. Three lap s fro m the fi nis h, DiStefano repassed for the final t ime to take the wi n ah ead of Stackable, Ch aplin, Thorwaldson and Pete Lamppu. Stac kable found a clear st art to the front of the third 500cc go-around, while DiStefano was forced to work up from an eigh th place st art. Maico rep Barry Hi ggins grabbed second place and led Rokon ra cer Don Kudalski, Jim West and Scott Jordan in the early momen ts, Kudalski was able to pass Higgins, but retired shortly with his th ird broken chain of the afternoo n. It took DiStefano 10 minutes to plow up to Stackable's rear fender. Once there however, Tony quickly ripped-off the lead; a nd Stackable, realizing that he 'd gain nothing b y ch allenging t he Suzuki rider, let him go . Stackable 's 1-2-2 score placed h im safely ahead of the closest co mpeti t or, Gary Chaplin . Chaplin p u t in a fas t , consistent 3-3-4 finish and wa s rewarded wi th second p lace overall. Jim West and Rich Thorwaldson tied in poin t s wi th West wi n ning the · nod for third. Fifth went to Tony DiStefano. • Unofficial Results 2 5 0 cc , 1. J immy E llis (C ·AI 6, I , 2. 2 . R ich E ie rst edt (Hon ) 4, 3 . 3. 3. K ent Howerton ( H us) 2, 2 . 10. 4. Marty Tripes (B u l ) 2, 2, 10 . S. Jan -Er ic SaJl q uist (Ka w ) 5. 4 , 9. 6 . Sonny D eF eo (Mal ) 8 , 7, S. 7 . Billy G ro ssi (S u z) 9 ,6 , 6 . 8. Ti m H art (Yam ) 3. 13. 7 . 9 . Mi k e Ru nya rd (C·AI 14, 5, 8 . 1 0. Ga r y Wise (K aw ) ~gb~~:' 1. Steve Stackable (Mal) 1,2,2.2. G ary Chap lin (C Z) 3, 3 , 4 . 3 . Jim West (CZ) 7, S, 7, 5 . 4 . Rich Thor w al dson (Ma l ) 6 , 4, 7. 5 . To ny D i St ef an o (Suz) 17. 1 . 1. 6 . Bob Ha rr i s (CZ) 4, 13, 6. 7. Pete r Lampp u (CZ I 8 , 5 , 9. 8. Sc ott J orda n (B u l) 11. 6 , 8 . 9 . GAry Semics (Kaw) 12, 14. 10. 10 . Mark Blac kwe ll (H us ) 7 . 8, 14.