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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125993
KOIL250 National o ...... Tony retook the points lead. {Continued from page 19) Husky, started fro m 16th place and moved into 10th by the third lap . Marty Smith , Mitch Mayes, Gary Sern ics, Gaylon Mosier, and Steve Stackable sep arated Kent fro m the fo ur-way K a r s m a k er s -Di St e fan 0- We inert- Ellis ba ttle. By the mi dway point Howerton powered his Husky past Stackable on one of the many lon g straights to ta ke over fifth. A four way struggle for seventh developed behin d Stac kable as Gaylon Mosier (Mai), Steve Wise (Kaw) , Mitch Mayes, and Bill "The Bear " Grossi probed and p rodded at ea ch o th er . Th e duel was settled when Grossi missed a berm and lost four positions and Marty Smith charged his Honda past Maye s and Wise to follow Mosier in. Karsmakers pulled aw ay convin cin gly at the two lap signal. At this point Tony DiStefano said, "I looked back and saw Weinert and Ellis behind me so 1 knew Kent had to be behind them." Th at was almost a costly mistake as Howerton swooped past th e Can-Am/Yamaha battle and started to carve off yards at every turn. At the finish jump it was Karsmakers and a DiStefano-Howerton tandem with Ellis, Weinert, Stackable, and Mosier filling out the leader board. The early morning rave reviews for the track had turned sour in the riders' mouths as they realized nothing was going to be done about the blinding dust. The pit activity was feverish as Grossi put the bar bender to work, Bultaco rider John Savitski fixed a flat, and riders tried to seal their goggles. DiStefano continued his string of National holeshots in the second mota by leading the pack over the electrically activated cable starting gate, but Marty Smith emerged as the leader. The track had become hard. slick, and dusty, and the Southern California 125 Champion felt right at home as he turned in two minute and 10 second laps around the KOIL Radio sponsored serpent. Sonny De Feo debued the new 250 Harley-Davidson, which suffered black box problems to probably end its appearances this year. DiStefano, Stackable, Wise, and Mosier broke from the dust cloud to provide the Nebraska crowd with white knuckle and locked wrist racing. Missing from the front runners were first moto winner Pierre Karsmakers and Texan Kent How erton. Howerton was behind Pierre when, "K.arsmakers started weaving back and forth, so I know he couldn 't see and 1 gassed it past him." The dust cut the vision of the riders so much that when Mitch Mayes crunched his bike over a jump, Honda teamster Tommy Croft hit it so hard in the dirt fog that his gas tank was sliced open. At the two-thirds point Marty Sm ith was on his way to an eight-one score for the day while Tony DiStefano held off a persistent Jimmy Ellis. Weinert and Grossi traded fourth twice on every lap when Stackable dropped back with a bent brake rode. Suddenly on the last lap it was a Weinert-Grassi-Howerton confab as the three bikes shared the same soil on more than one occasion. The last lap saw Smith, DiStefano, and Ellis hold onto the front positions while the Yamaha. Suzuki, and Husky exited the final turn simultaneously, and Weinert won the sprin t to the flag over "the Bear" and Kent. Tony DiStefano's two seconds gave him 150 points and the 250cc points lead with one 250 National remaining. Kent Howerton dropped to second place in the standings, but the final round is at Lake Whimey, Texas, and Kent just smiles when asked wh at he thinks his chances are at the track where he won last fall's Trans-Arns support class. 500 Support Peter Lamppu had to run the 500 class when his 250 CZ was crunched at the Ken tucky National. Larnppu easily won the first mota after overtaking Roger Smith (Hus), Don Kudalski (Rok) , Tom Dougherty (Yam), and Jim Slife (Yam). Unnoticed in the park was young Rocky Mountain Yamaha rider Carl Zortman. Zortman came from the middle of the pack to finish second behind the veteran Larnppu. Don KudaIski ran well until his Rokon automatic suffered mechanical ills. When Lamppu took the lead at the start of the second mota the crowd went for hot dogs and cokes. But Zortman pushed past Peter Larnppu and took the lead. Roger Smith, Danny Ackart (Yam), and Nebraskan David Byrd (CZ) rounded out the top five. Larnppu began to close in at the white flag and pulled up from 50 yards behind to five feet, but it was five feet too little as Zortman's two-one score bested Larnppu's one-two. Roger Smith took third overall with a consistent three-three score. • Results 1. Tony DIStefano (Suz). 2. Jimmy Ell is (C-A). 3. Marty Smith (Hon). 4. Jimmy Weinert (Yam). 5 . K . Howerton (Hus). 6 . P. Karsmakers (Honl . 7. Gaylon Mosler (Mall . 8. S. Stackable (Ma l). 9. Mike Runyard (C·A . 10. Steve Wise (KawI. 11. Bill Grossi (Suz). 12. Arlo Englund (Bul). 13. Gary Semles Ka WI . 14. Troy Jorskl (Kaw). 15. Jim Turner Vam) . 16. Charles Cooper (Kaw) . 17. John Kelley (Vaml. 18. Ron Self (Mon). 19. Wayne Boyer rczj. 20. John Sav ltskl (Bul). 500 SUPPORT , 1. Carl Zortman (vaml. 2. Peter L..amppu.,Jc~. 3 . Roger Smith (HU5 .4. Dan Ackart ( am . 5. Oavld Byrd (CZ) . 6 • . Tom Doherty (' am). 7. Mike Mcintosh v am l " 8. Brad Skipton (Yam). 9. Dave Faber l lYam. 10. Mark Johnson (Husl. 43 ~