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/125984
an mu .. est Sunday By Jeff Peck P LYMOU TH, CAL., AP R. 16 . Thi s yea r's Ha ngt ow n Classic loo ked mo re like an end uro tha n a mo toc ros s; Hu ge . mu d hol es kep t ~ .for m ing all ove r ,the : trac k , mo st .-no ticeably at ' the finish line w here if you were not careful your bike might d isappe ar. Even th ough th e tr ack was in such co ndi tio n th er e was still so me very exciting racing going o ri, Ti m Har t tore apart the 125 Pros w ith so me fan tastic rid in g in b oth m ot os. When the gate dropped . on the firs t race Tommy Cro ft (Ho n ) was in the lead wi th Marty Moates (lIon) an d Tim Ha rt (Yam ) hot on his trac ks. On the . second lap' Hart passed Moates, then mo ved up o n Croft and passed hi m fo r t he lead on the third lap . Ti m held th e lead fo r 10 more laps with Moates, then McDoug al and finally Dan Turner (Bul) in the -second spot. The 12 t h lap 'saw H a rt 's chain co me off an d Turner making th e most of it, grabbing th e lead and holding on until the finish . Doug R a in e . (Kaw ) p ull ed do wn seco nd positi o n an d Ti m Hart got it toge t he r for a third p lace finis h, On the second go aro und Marty Smi th (Han), w ho had go t te n a bad st art in th e first mo t a , w as in th e lead . This was no t to last for lo ng as Hart, cha rging very hard, grabbed th e lead on the t hird lap ' and st arted to pass everybo dy on the co urse except Smi th . Bru ce McDoug al held onto th ird un til - the 12 th lap when m ech anical failure nai le d hi m as he and his ' ch ain parted co m pany . This left Ha rt an d Smith all alo ne o u t in fro n t with no one else on th e same lap. At the finis h it was T im Hart way o ut in fro nt with Marty Smith very distant second. Ed die Col e (Bul) pulled in a whil e later in t hird and Do ug Raines wa s fourt h. In t he 25 0 battle Jim Ellis and Ke n Howert on really went t o it. T he fi rst lap saw Ho werton out in fro n t with Ellis very- clo se .b e hi nd, DiStefa no and Wein ert we re already goi ng to it for t he ' th ird and fo urth p os itio ns . Ellis zapped Howert on on the second lap, b ut Ken was not to be held back as he kep t t he pressure on until .th e second to th e last lap when he grabbed th e lead and h eld on until the checker ed. Meanwh ile. back in the pack Weinert an d Di'St efan o wer e st ill going to. Third p lace was u p in t he air un til Weinert crashed co ming out of one of t he slick comers and DiStefa no t oo k over third for the rest o f the rac e. At the st art o f the seco nd m oto it was ' a four w ay battle again with the lead ch angi ng hands and Ho wert on o n ' top at the end of the firstl ap , This ti me ' he was not abo ut to le t any body by , a Tim Hart was doing some very stylish rid in.g.. Upon close inspection most riders came to the conclusion that it really was mud. o .J .J ;- "Ciliii'f#)~ ~ u > "' IIJ ::;.,.tE..;.=---= ..;;,:,= ;- ", 7