Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

with the RC400 Honda in h is first Open class race . T he other qu ali fy ing mo to we nt t o Jo hn ny J ames o n a Bultaco fro m Ge o rgia. A bi g pil e up in tum o ne too k d o wn a n um ber of riders, includi ng Gay lon Mosier, Mike Har twig and Gary Se rnic s as th e first forty-mi n ute-p lus -two-la p Natio na l m o t o go t ro lling. T he red, white and blue co lo rs of T eam Hond a powered to the lead wit h Smith and Ka r s m a k e r s out fr ont a nd Kent Howert on,J im Weinert, Billy Grossi and St eve St a c k a b le in " cl ose pursuit. Everyone involved in the crash m an aged t o get b ack in the running b y the seco nd lap. wh ich saw Karsrnakers tak e over the lead fro m Smi th and Weinert slam hi s way b y Howerton for th ird . Tony Di'Stefa no had gotten off to poo r start with h is factory S uzuki and in a n effort to charge up to t he fro nt of t he pack, "I j ust looped o ut goi ng down the fro n t stra igh t . Gary Ch ap lin was right behind m e an d ra n ov e r th e b ik e, bending a rear shock. I go t back up and racing agai n, but the bike was h andling so b ad I got in t o a tan k slapp er and we nt d own agai n ." The 250cc Na tional Ch amp finishe d out the rem ainder o f t he m o t o at a much reduced p ace fo r fif teen th. By the m id poin t in the ra ce Smith found th e bi g Honda very tiring and dropped b ac k t h e s i x th beh ind Stack able, Kent Howerton started hi s f amou s " Howerto n Drive" which usu all y occ urs abou t th is tim e and repassed Wein ert . Kent t rie d t o cl ose th e ga p on P i e rr e and the lead, but me ch anic Roy Turner kep t Pie rre well in fo rm ed wi th sign als of wh at w as happening. The Canadian GP w inner j ust d ialed on a li t tle more throttle slid e and kept a safe six -second c ushi o n on Ken t . It was obvio us th at Pierre had learned to survive, if no t cop e w ith, the RC' s handlin g idi o sy ncrasies. Bill y Grossi gave Weinert a good rac e over th ird place for a while , but the bumpy track pitched Bill y off h is Suzuk i b efore a nything' could become of th e b attle. Pierre easil y held o n to win the moto over Howerton , w ith Weinert , Sm ith, S tackable, John Savitsk i, Peter Lamppu and Bob Harris following th em past the checkered flag. Top ru n ners who didn't survive the mo to incl ud ed Mike Hartw ig who, while trying to m ak e up d istance afte r his cras h at th e start, b ail ed o ff in a trick y d it ch crossi ng. His t h rot tle pulled ope n an d h is 360 Husky engine rev ed till it blew . Gayl on Mosier co m ple t ed hi s bum luc k for th e da y when his Maico foul ed its plug while comin g o ff th e line fo r the se c o n d m oto . Marty Smith pulled ano the r b eautiful hol esh ot with the fact ory Honda as Howert on , Wein ert , S t ackable , Harris, DiS tefan o , Gr o ssi , Semics and Kar smakersgave ch ase. By th e fift een-minute mark Sm ith had dropped b ack again and Howerton found himself in the lead with Weinert and DiS tefano putting c re ase s in hi s rear fender. Kar srn ak er s had wo rked h is way up to fourth b y this time , b u t d ecided to sit back and watch what was going t o hap pen up fro n t. If the track had bee n wi de enough in most sections, the three o f them w oul d ha ve been side by side. As it w as the lines wer e tigh t enough t hat o ne rid e r co uld only fit his fro n t wheel alo ng t he other's rear wheel. Fo r two lap s they bl ast ed around the hills of Mexico lik e three rid e rs o n a fo ur wh eel snake , shifting up t hru t he gears an d th en br ak i n g . fo r th e turn s with th eir H us S uMa ha m ach ine. Tony o n th e Su zuk i was san dwich ed be tw een Ken t ' s Hu sky and th e J ammer's Yamaha. The freig ht t rai n finally ende d when t hey came d own a tigh t hill section and T ony nosedived t he Suzuki in the same di tch th at Hartw ig tried t o fill in durin g the first moto . With T ony o u t o f th e way , Kent tried to pull away from J immy and build up som e dist an ce , but yo u co uld see the expr ession o f co mple te exhaust ion o n Kent ' s f a ce . Jimmy se ns ed that s o m et hi ng was wr on g . . ." Whe n Ho w ert on started pullin g away fr om me th at ea rly in th e m oto, I at fir st th ought t o m yself . here co m es th e fam ous Howert on Driv e but th en I reali zed he was starting it to o early in the m oto. I pick ed up my ow n p ace and kep t right wi t h him ." > Formidable fellow on a big Honda two-stroker, Pierre Karsmakers at winning speed. Still points leader, Jammin' Jim. safe and hung b ack in second p o sin on to co llect the overall wi n . It also gave Ho nda it s first win at a 50 0cc Natio nal Mo t ocro ss even t. Mik e Har tw ig too k fo urth in th e m ot o beh ind H usky teammate Ho we rt on, th en ca me Sm ith , Gr o ssi , Se rnic s an d DiStefan o. Bill y Grossi h ad crashed agai n in t his m o t o, but sti ll m an aged t o finish well. Bob Harris had trouble with h is exhaust p ipe wh ich broke and he had to st op and fix. Terry Clar k m igh t have done w ell aft er a sixth in t he firs t mo to, but hi s engine quit whe n it su cked in to much dirt. ~5Occ The T ex as geto ff had obvious ly left Kent out o f co ndition . With his st amina go ne aft er only a few more minu t es, th e J amm er easily t ook t he lead away fro m Kent b y die m id point in t he m oto . A few lap s later Pie rre slip pe d p as t to take o ver second pl ace. Ken t co uld only wat ch h is po te n tial fir st o verall dw indle d own t o a thi rd . Jimmy Weinert eas ily kept his le ad to wi n th e m o t o , but it was Pierre Karsm ak ers w ho played it Support The Support class provided super ra cing th at didn 't all ow itself to be overshadowed b y t he National class, Mik e Ke ssle r an d Pat Moroney st arted t he actio n o ff in th e first of two 30- min u te m otos as they bounced o ff each other fo r t he lead . Mike went down at o ne po int, then began working hi s way back up behind Moroney's Can -Am when Mike had the rod go out in h i s Husky . John Gurga passed Moroney near the end of the moto to take the wi n with h is Ossa , as John Jo yner pl aced his Husky third. Florida 's Don Kudalski, nicknamed "Killer" by Weinert , got away from a first turn cras h almost a lap down on th e field, bu t s till m an aged to work hi s semi-factory sponsored stock Honda up t o fourth b y the end of the moto. Mo ro ney a nd Kudalski grabbed the lead of th e se cond moto, but both so o n re t ired from -t he rac e w it h mechanical pro blems. This left J ohn J oy ner on his Cy cle City H usky to carry the mo to fo r t he large number o f riders who made t he t reck up fro m Florida. Jo hn Gurga fro m n earb y Johnst own pl aced behind J o yner in t he m o t o ; good enough to give h is Yankee sp onsored Ossa th e ov erall wi n. • Results SOO cc Na tional : 1. Pierre Karsmakers U.21 H on : 2. Jimmy Weiner t qzl ) Vam ; 3 . Ken Howerton (2.J) Hu s: 4 . Marly Sm ith (4,5) Han ; 5 . Steye Stackab le (S.9) Ma l : 6 . Cary Sem lcs (9 ,7) Kaw: 7. B illy Grossi (11,6) Su z ; 8. Pe t er Lamppu (7,10 ) C Z : 9 . Tony · DIS tefano (IS,!) Su z; 10. Jim west (l 2..! 3) Ma l; 1 1 . Gaylon Mosler (13 ,20) Ma l; 12 . tsob Harris (8,26) CZ; t3. Joe Gretchen (20,16) Ma l i 14 . JOhnny Borders (2 2 15 ) Bul ; 15 . D i cky Howell (2 ,1 1) Pon ; 16. Wyman Priddy (26 ,14) Kaw ; t 7. John Ayers (14 ,21) Ma l ; IS. JohnnY' James (2 3,19 ) Bul : 19 . Oan Weir (25 ,1S ):2 0. M ike Ha rtw ig (04,4) Hus. Ser ies stand ings (unoff ic ial) : L Jimmy We ine rt 2 7 0 : 2. Ke nt Howerton 200 ; 3. Gary Sem lcs 170 ;4 . Pierre Kar smakers 150 i s . Billy Grossi 120: 6 . Steve Stackable 110 ; 7 . Marty Sm ith 80 ; 8 . Gay ton Mosler 70 i 9 . Rex Staten 40 ; 10 . Joh n Ayers 3 S . 2 5 0 cc Support : 1. John Gurga (1 ,2) OSSi 2. John Joyner (3J) HUSi 3 . Jeff Bonasera (5,3 )Vam i 4. Mike Prlehs . (7 .6) Hus ; 5. 'Joh n Struk (9,5) Bul; 6 . M ike Clifford (8,!) Yam ; 7 . Anthony Zambon (10,10) ia . Karl Will iams (12,9) Yam; 9. Wil liam Lampman (15,1) Hus; 10. Duke Mcintosh (11,11) Hon; II. Curt Arnsprlger (13,15) Hus; 12 . Mark Hammond (16,13) Yam ; 13 . R ickey Weir (20,14); 14 . Harry Bailey (1718) Vam ; 15 . Paul Gaston IS ,19 ) Hus: 16 . Fred Ventugcl (23 ,16) C·A: [ 7. Jack Mayer (22.1 7) C-A : 18. George Denko (19 ,21) Hus: t 9. Pat M o ro ney (2,38) C·A; 2 0. M ke Geenan (21,20) CZ. 9

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