on a
s atter
-
uropeans
;j
~ By Charles Morey
LEXINGTON, OHlO,jULY 6
Upset was the name of the game;
Marty Smith did the riding; and
Honda furnished the winning bike
at the Jofa sponsored 125cc
United States Grand Prix at MidOhio Moto Park.
Fro m the time that the gate
dropped for the first International
mota un til the checkered flag signaled
the end of round two, the race belonged
to t he yo ung Californian. New ly
crowned I25cc Wor ld Champion Gas to n
Rah ier , alo ng with t he top five
European and j ap an ese riders listed in
th e points standings, co uld do no more
th an catch an occasio na l wh iff o f
Smith's dus t. It was n't even close.
Yosh ifumo Sugio, riding for Team
Ya maha, put in an excellent second best
performance. Sugio scored three-two in
the two 40-minute-plus-two-lap mo to s
ahead of third p lacer Gilbert De Roover ,
The Belgian, a factory rider fo r
Zu ndapp, finished with a fo ur-two to tal.
Can -Am 's jimmy Ellis and Dan
Tu rner, who p ilo te d a privateer Honda,
filled o u t the top five in t he da y's
ove rall p lacings.
In t h e 500cc S u p port race,
Husq varna's Mark Blackwell pulled a
runaway act much similar to Smith's ,
The 500cc Support class heads out with eventual winner Mark (23) Blackwell
already at point and third place man (305) Jim Slife hang ing the outside.
The Americans. Between them. Jimmy Ellis and Marty Smith
gave the Yurpeens something to ponder.
6
