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/125997
scoots at Midland Tony Wynn scatters some sand. Th e figh t for the Support aass wi n was between Shan e Hrusk a (42cl an d Robert Rutter (n cl. Hruska leads he re but Ru'tter won both m otos. By Gary Van Voorhis Can-Am had put in an early charge and then faded to twelfth as the heat and the long motos ("In New England we run 10, maybe 15 minute rnotos. I've got some conditioning to do to get in shape for 40 minute plus,") took their toll on the riders and their engines. Ellis slipped into second a few laps later dropping Kessler a spot while Hart took a spill and lost position and Mickey Boone, Tony Wynn, Bruce McDougal an d Don Goss charged. Hart returned to get a grip on third, but a course cutting penalty of one lap made his ride for nothing. Kess ler and Boone tr ucked on in fourth and fifth with Goss bumping both McDougal and Wynn before the flag. Steve Wise had the honor of being the last rider to be lapped by Smith. In the second 40 minu te plus two lap MIDLAND, MICH.,JUNE 29 Better watch out folks, that guy with the fire engine red Honda and the numero uno ranking in the Marty Sm ith put out every125cc National class is at it again. one's fire but his own as he ' h h ' .. s?10 ke d t h mug t e cOmp~tItlOn like a four alarm blaze In the 6 Midland I2 5cc National MX. While Smith was weaving his way through the co mpetit io n for the overall win , Jimmy Ellis (C-A) was overcoming a pair of bad starts to run second in both motos, Husky rider Mike Kessler put together a pair of good rides for his third ranking. The sponsoring Polka Dots M.C. spent a good deal of time grooming their track for the event and the preparation showed. The interesting one mile, 16 tum monster of fine grit sand featured whoopdies, more whoopdies and more whoopdies. It was only on the short straight from the finish line to tum one that a rider might catch his breath. It was, according to one rider, "Damn short for a breather when you're riding one of these high revving time bombs." There m ay not have been any of th e explosive displays of power to the ground riding co mmon in the Open and 250cc classes, but the talent and fine sse required to keep one of these mini ro cketships pointed in the right direction while going WFO more th an made up for their milder form of excitement. Pra ctice time stop watch es were o n Smith, Ellis, Tim Hart, Bruce McD ou gal and som e o f th e talented local hot shoes. Lap tim es in the 2 : 10 range for th e be tt er riders were dul y not ed as were t he p sych e o ut games taking pl ace o n th e starting line between Hart , Sm it h and Tommy Croft. It was ho le sho t c ity. but . o~ly Smith w~s abl e to fully capitalize on the practice. The 10 minute elimination motos for those of the 77 riders who were entered, but not guaranteed a starting spot in th e National provided some good action. Kawasaki rider Steve Wise and Honda man Tommy Croft played out a duel in their race while Mike Kessler, Tony Wynn and Nils-Arne Nilsson played three way slug - fest in moto two . Th e consi turned in one of the better races of the day with John Savitski putting out a super effort to co me from last off to finish fourth and earn a spot in th e National. Dan Turner took the lead as 40 angry buzz bombs blasted from the ga te and funneled through tum one to begin what would be de scribed by one exhausted rider af terward as "The longest damn moto I ever rode." The heat co m bined with high humidity (Cham pio n Spark Plug Rep Bill Dilday's air density meter was the tri ckest item in the pits and caused a lot of pit cha tter ) had tongues draggin g and th e usu al ho se and bucket brigade in attendance to refresh the riders. Turner's lead looked goo d for abo u t four laps and th en th e Califo rni an retired leaving Sm ith, wh o h ad b een closing rapidly on Turner, the lead. Smith immediately turned up the fire and within four laps (ab o ut halfway) h ad am asse d a secure unoffi ci al 30 second lead. Meanwhile back at th e race s Jimmy Ellis was gobb ling up th e co mpe t it io n after a bad start had left him mired in mid- pack. Tim Hart slip ped into second with Kessler be hind an d Ellis closi ng. Charlie lot t , Ellis' new teammat e o n moto Fireman Smith mistook the clang of the gate dropping for a fire alarm and leaped off like it was he who was on fire. Again most of his close competition, with the exception of Kessler, was playing catch-up while Marty was playing his own game of stretch-out. Ellis passed rider after rider on his way to second with a throttle-to-the-stop banzai style that, ridden by anyone else, would have been c ailed uncontrolled madness. Wit h Jimmy it's cruising. Both Croft and Boone had good rides disappear in the late stages of the race while Bruce McDougal kept plugging and was rewarded with a well deserved fourth behind Mike Kessler. In fifth, and almost unnoticed in the throng of better known riders was Mark Tim Hart took a spill and was penalized a lap for course cutting.