Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Yamaha Super Series of MXround two By Charles Morey D AYT ONA BEA CH , F LA. , MA R. 8 Can -Am racer Jimmy Ellis and Maico ace Steve St ackabl e bo th tuned-in rep eat performan ces in th e second round of the Yamaha Super Seri es o f Motocross. Ellis overcame a slow start in the first 250cc moto to finish sixth, then backed it up with a win and a The Kawasaki threat sort of overheated 'a nd went away. All that sunshine and she's st ill cold? Tsk. 100 mi Jr. Ex: Roberts' easy ride to the bank By Gary Van Voorhis DA YTONA BEACH, FLA., MAR. 8 In typical Kenny Roberts fashion, the Yamaha factory rider added the 100 mile Expert/] unior light. weigh t race to his growing list of pavem ent wins . Roberts, as is his style, scooted away from the rest of the field in the early laps for a quick (60:51.75) and rewarding ($2,9 I 0) Saturday morning ride. 10 Second place went to the revitalized Harley-Davidson RR250 of Ga ry Scott, while Yamaha Motor Canada 22-year-old Steve Ba ke r o f Washington picked up a close third . The addition of the new Kawasaki 250 sparked a ' lo t o f interest in the Co m bin ed event, b u t the lac k o f time to sort and test the lime-green qui c kies curtailed t heir pot ent ial to knock Yamaha off its perch. Eight days of testing prio r to the race turned up overheating problem s and the need to squeeze out a fe w mo re h o rse po wer. Kawasaki factory racer J im Evans, injured in a practice crash on Tuesday, added an o ther cloud t o the bike's debut. Ron Pierce, e ntered on a Harley, switched to Kawasaki teamed with Yvon DuHamel for the event. Practice p: oved te;> ~ie~e that the bike "handles like a dream. It 's so forgivmg you can really stuff it into a comer, but I wish there was a little more power," he said. Pierce nailed down a fifth in his heat and then learned that the little greenie has seven gears and he was using only six. Kenny Roberts took the firstheat by a good margin while Steve Baker an d Gary Fisher (o n a factory H.D) put o n a good dice for second. Gary Scott and Greg Sassaman each ran disappointing races with mechanical ~ problems plaguing their Harleys, The second heat produced some spirited racing and a privateers duel that lasted the whole race with Doug T eague pulling out the win from Ted Henter. Don Castro nipped Peewee Gleason for third on the final go-around when Gleason slowed after taking a deep gash on his leg resulting from a tangle with another rider's fairing. Work and more work was the order of the eve ning as Gary Scott's mechanic Bill Werner and the rest of the Harley-Davidson cre w spent long hours changing both internal and external gearing in order to cu re problems. The hours pai d o ff as Scott's bike ran cleanly t hroughout the race although the ga p between fourth and fifth gear was wrong, making Scott over-rev fourth in order to reach fifth. In the Yamaha pits everything was in order as both Roberts and last year's winner Don Castro were ra ce-ready. Gene Romero was saving himself for a big day on Sunday. Roberts grabbed the lead before th e bikes were more than a few yards off the grid and that was that for the rest of the race. Steve Baker; however, was not shaken off that easily, as he stuck to Roberts for two laps before Kenny broke free. Don Castro followed in third with Doug Teague, Mike Devlin, Gary Scott, Jimmy Dunn an d Ron Pierce close behind. Yvon DuHamel, on th e other Kawasaki, held 10th pl ace. Gary Scott moved to fourth on the second lap, swooped Castro for third two laps later and out-braked Baker into the infield for second spot another two laps on. Castro mean while was feeling pressure from Te ague. From the back of the pack, the newest H-D factory entry, Greg Sassaman, was picking up positions every lap. Greg started deep in the second wave and was 12th on lap 10, closing o n DuHamel. ' Roberts used traffic to put distance between hi mself and the second place Scott/Baker or Baker/Scott d uel , but was not pulling 'o u t as big a lead as expected. Scott and Baker, in their wheel-to-wheel battle.were WFO keeping Roberts in their sights. Halfway through the 26 -lap ra ce th e front five positions were so lid , as Roberts had an unofficial 10 seconds on Scott, wh o le d Baker by a sh :dow ,,?~h Teague and Castro only a short distance behind. Mike Devlin held sixth over John Long, Ron Pierce, and Tom Byars, with Greg Sassaman a bo u t to move into 10th. The pace was just over 98 mph. Pierce began to slow with over-heating problems as Byars bumped Long for seventh position and Sassaman m oved to ninth with Bruc e co m ing up to take 10th. The rac e between Scott and Baker raged until the 18th lap when Sc o tt began to draw away and from there un til the finish th e top 10 positions failed to change. Baker, with increasing wheel ch atter, had decided to play safe and take third rath er than risk an ac ci d en t in the closing laps. , Doug Teague, with a fourth placing, won the top privateer after a ride that paid tribute to his considerable tuning talents, while Sassaman justified his factory team standing with the top Junior placing in ninth. For Kenny it seemed that the 100 m iles was j ust another trip to the bank, b ut for Scott a nd Baker the distance seemed a little longer, Scott 's all-night wo rk h ad paid off while Baker, was co mpe ting in his first race since removing a cast fro m a bro ken leg acquired at las t year 's Talladega event. Results EX/J R CO MB 1 0 0 MI LE, 1. Ke nny Roberts (Vam). 2 . Gary Scott (H· D). 3 . Stev e Ba ke r (Vam) . 4. Do ug Teagu e (Yam ). 5 . Don castro (Yam). 6. Mike Dev lin (Vam) . 7. Tommy Bya rs (Vam). 8. John L on g (Vam ). 9 . Greg S assa m an (H- D). 1 0. Bruce Lin d ( Ya m ). 11. Murry Hoffman (Yam) . 12. Ri ch Fuller (Yam). 13. Ron Pierce (Kaw) . 14. Wes Coo le y (Vam) . 15 . Brian Henderson (Yam) . 16 . Conrad U rbon ow ski (Yam). 17. Kurt Lentz (Yam). 18. Rich Cham be rs (Ya m). 19. Billy Payne (Yam). 20 . Ken Brunswick (Yam) . second placing in the last two motes. Stackable weathered an all-out charge from Suzuki-borne Tony DiStefano to work his one moto win and two second places into an overall 500cc victory . Spectators numbering some 35,000 roared approval of the total six 20·minute moto program as they sa w that 1975 will be a classic year for National caliber MX. The a nn ual game of "musical bikes" that puts new riders on new factory -sponsored m achi n ery has given many top talents incen tive to impress their ne w employers. With Karsmaker switching fro m Yamaha to Honda, Weinert stepping from Kawasaki to Yamaha, DiStefano and Grossi making the move to Suzuki, Tripes picking up a Bultaco ride, Runyard and Thorwaldson leaving Suzuki for Can-Am and Maico mounts, an d many more changes too numerous to list . . . it all adds up to a tremendous amount of riding talen t and determination to win. Close racing m ore th an made up for th e absence of top-line Europeans at Daytona. 250cc races The Flying Hawaiian J ohn DeSoto dramatized his eastern appearance by grabbing a healthy holeshot as the 250s left the line a n d spilled onto the Gary Bailey designed track. Hot on DeSoto's tail were Gaylon Mosier, Tim Hart, Gary Wise and Rich Eierstedt, Hart moved in quickly to take the lead on lap three, but Husky rid er Kent Howerton overtook the Yamaha on the same lap aft er working up from a slow start. Once clear of traffic, Howerton dialed win and held the margin that would keep him ahea d for the rest of the moto. Meanwhile DeSoto had spun out and Hart led Eierste dt and Marty Tripes. Tripes had ninth place at the e nd of lap one, but was rapidly pi c king off the front runners in a style that held the crowd screaming their approval. With two lap s reamining, Marty slip ped by Rich Eierstedt, then flew over Tim Hart on Bailey's spectacular double jump. The first moto standings: Howerton, Tripes, Hart, Eierstadt and Jan-Eric Sallquist. One of Daytona's infamous first tum pile-ups left Tim Hart, Bruce Baron and Marty T ripes o n his new Bultaco ride chases 250 class,wi nn e r Elli s (C A).

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