Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

leaving the pack be h ind in both 20 minu te ro unds. Carl Zortman h eld a co m manding second p lace in both m o to s fo r secon d overall w hile J im Slife wo rke d h is Maico into thi rd. Psy che-o u t tactics, one o f them accide n tal. were in p lay o n Sunday m o rn in g w hen Rahier qu alified at a reported time o f I : 58; a fu ll eight sec o n d s fa st er t ha n t he tr ack re co rd, an d much quic ker th an a ny o th e r t ime for th e weekend ! The st o r y spread t hro ug h th e pi t s, ' an d h ad every rid er sha king h is h ead a n d wo nder ing w h a t sup e r secret Su zuki h ad p la nted in the cham p's b ik e th a t m ad e it so quick. La te r in t he d ay , h owever . t he ti me w as a n no unced to be inc o rrec t, althoug h the t ru e time a t 2 :0 1.8 st ill be a t everyo ne else's. Rah ier's b ike wei ghed in a t 17 1.0 p ounds, th e lightest m ach in e t he re ; an d h is cli nc hing of the W or ld C ha m pio nsh ip t it l e in C z e c h o sl o v a k ia o n th e p revious w ee k en d o n ly a d de d t o t h e psychological we igh t that must have be en b ui ldi ng o n S mi t h's pre-ra ce a tti t ude. The Belgia n, a ltho ug h sm all in st a ture, carried a m igh ty large an d formid a ble re p uta tio n. Wh en the Intern ational class eru p ted o n to th e lo n g. sligh tly uphill sta r ti ng chut e, reputation s were c hec ked at th e gate an d o nly the rid er s' im m ediate a bilit y cou n ted . M a rt y Smi t h 's red -fra m e Ho nda wo r ks bike pulled them al l out o f the h ol e, led them through turn o ne, an d kissed them go od-by. Sm ith wa s n ever headed or serio usly challe nged througho ut the event. By t h e en d of la p one , Mart y h ad pu t a six seco n d ga p between hi mself an d Nils Ar n e Nils son, who was engag ed in a fight fo r second p lace wi th Dan T u rn er. Rahier cr u ised q uickly in fo urt h , ah ead of Mark T y er , Gil bert De Ro over an d Yo sh ifu m o Sugio . Su gio on a fact o ry Yamaha , h ad p osted secon d fas tes t time in the quali fy in g la ps a n d h ad a pro m isin g d ay ahead . Am erican Yamah a teamster Tim Har t, o n the o t he r han d, h ad q ualified thi rd fas test , b u t go t sh u t o u t at th e sta rt a n d was stuck back in 26th pl ace . Ti m was to reco ver, pu ttin g in an imp ress ive ride to take seventh by the m o to 's end. Rah ier . and De Ro o ver picked up positio ns in the opening laps as Nilsson an d Tyer dropped back . Lap two saw Rah ier slip into th ir d wi th De Roover no t far behind in fo urth place. On th e third lap, Rah ier d ro p p ed way back to I I th place after try in g to get by an out of shape Dan Turn er . When T urner go t sideways, Rahie r la ter sai d, he 'd a ttemp te d to cu t in sid e. but t h e Honda h ad also veered in the same direc tion. Turne r recove red; Rahi er did n ot. The fall bent th e Su zu ki 's ha ndlebars an d , as Rah ie r d es crib ed it , ca used him to fa ll a second t ime when he tried to rid e fast e no ugh to m a ke up fo r los t time. J immy Elli s h ad st ar te d p o orly, but was ab so lu tely fly in g on h is way u p through th e field. On the Mid- O hio do wnh ill d o u ble ju m p, onl y Ellis and Sm ith we re clea rin g both m o u nds , a distan ce of 9 0 -100 feet ! Eve n last year's Inter -AliI A con testa nts h ad n ot cove re d tha t sec t io n o f tr ack a t su ch spe ed. Ellis, 15th at th e co m p le t io n o f the o pening lap , m ad e it u p to fi fth by th e en d o f the 45 m inutes. T eam CZ, represen ted b y An to nin Baborovsky an d Jin Churavy, showed up w ith a pair of th e extra trick looking Czech o m ac h in es. Ch uravy put in the be tter sh owin g by racking up a nin th Gilbert DeRoover (Zun I, highest placing among the European " big guns." As 125cc motocross cornes of age in the U.S., no more easy walkovers. Shades of Humpty Dumpty - it will take some doing to put thi s Husky together again. p lacing in round one and backing it uF w ith a fift h in the second leg for sixth overal l. Baborovsky r o d e with de term ination. b ut a broken expansion chambe r ro b b ed him of anything be tter than an 11t h first m oto score. lie dropped o ut of ro und two fo llowing a dead last sta rt and thus lo st any chance at an ove rall p lacing. Sm it h wra pped up round o ne. still sa fe ly in th e lead , t o th e cheers of an a mazed crow d . That an Am er ican rid er cou ld p u t it to th e Euro p eans with such ease seemed no th in g sho rt of incred ib le. Gil be rt De Ro ove r fin ished a so lid second ahead o f Su gio, Su zu ki rid e r Aki ra Watan ab e an d Ji m my Ellis . Marty Smi th produced an exac t carbon co p y of h is fir st m o t o start wh en the ga te fe ll for the secon d bo u t. T ea mmate T o m my Croft h el d second, bei ng p ush ed h ard by Yoshif u mo Su gio, as Dan T urner h el d o ff J immy Elli s for fo u rt h. I . De Roe ve r, o n th e Zundapp, w as nin th an d cl imbing . T im lI a rt followed in 10 t h. Smith b anzaie d t he first lap , a t o n e p oint com p le tely com ing off the b ike as it c res te d a h ill, then clambering back Japan's own "Marty Smith" - Yosh ifumo Sugio, until last year's Trans·AMA an unknown in thi s country , runner-up with a three-tw o score . o n while n egotia t in g an off camber dow nhill left hand turn ! Rahier crashed again and returned to the p its ea rly in the secon d round . It wa s u n dou b te d ly the worst race d ay of his ca re er an d , reportedly, the firs t t im e that h e and the 12 5cc SUZQok had register ed a DN F. Su gio to o k ove r secon d p lace as T o m my Cro ft fcl t the p ressu re of GP com pe ti t io n; and Jimmy Ellis also overtook Croft for third shortl y af t er. The t op three p laces rem ain ed u n changed , b ut a pa ir o f exciting poor st a r t recovery battles were being waged bac k i n th e ranks. Am ong them w as De Ro ov er 's smoo t h fas t trip u p from ninth to fourth. J iri Churavy, 18 th a t th e e nd o f lap o ne , was ma ki ng th e facto ry CZ do eve r y t ric k in its repe to ire in a run u p t o fi fth . Sm ith com p le te d th e ride, wh ich b y th is t im e h ad become a n ew st andard in 1 2 5 c c racing; a m o ng th o se w ho witnessed it , an easy winner. The wi n m ar ked Hond a 's secon d overa ll MX GP vic tory; the fir st being Karsma kers' Canadian 50 0cc ro und only th e week befo re. And while it w asn 't the first t im e an Am er ica n h ad won a poi n t s -pay ing Gr a nd P r ix , the o u trageo us d ouble moto runaway defin itel y indic ates th at the time h as co me for an Ameri can Wo rld Champion motocross rid e r. Perhaps , if Ho nda w ill b aek h im n ext year , Marty Smith will be that rid er. • Results 12 5 cc I N T E R N A T I O N A L: 1. Mar ty Sm i th (Hon) 1·1. 2 . v c sn u o rnc 5U 9 10 ( Y am ) 3 -2 . 3. G il bert De Ro over ( Zun) 2 ·4. 4 . Jim E llis (C-A) 5-3. 5. Can T urn er (Hon ) 6 -6. 6. Jl r l Ch u rav y (C Z) 9· 5.7. T im Hart ( Y am ) 7·7 .8. T o mm y Cr o ft (Hon) 8-8 . 9 . A k lra Watan abe (SU Z) 4 -12. 1 0 . Mick ey Boone (Hon ) 1 0 - 1 0 . 5 0 0 cc SU PPO R T : 1. Mark Bl ac kwe ll ( H us) 1·1. 2. Car l Zort man (Yam ) 2 ·2 . 3 . James S life (Mal) 3 ·3. 4 . Perry Tay lor ( M a l) 4 -8 . 5 . Hayworth Jon es (Yam) lQ.4. 6 . Don al d Rub le (CZ) 9 · 5 . 7 . Ch r i stl an E th ie r (CZ) 8·7 . 8. A l bert Lang ( eZ ) 6-9. 9. Steve F o ugh t ( Vam) 13-6 . 10 . Jame s O ilya rd t cz: 12 ·1 0 . 7

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