Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Sugar Bear takes the win as Brad crashes ~ Ravenna 500cc ] National Motocross a II) ... 0.. II) rJ) By Jim Gianatsis RAVENNA, OH ., AU GU ST 2 4 Never b efore In the history of Am er ic a n mo t ocross has a N a t i o na l Ch ampionship Se ries worked it s way to a more exciting clim ax. Th is year 's 25 0c c Series fin ale at Lak e Whit ney , T exas, b etw e e n Kent Howerto n and Tony DiSte fan o for the 250cc 6 app earance o n Bultaco sin ce breaking his co llar bone , fared much b etter. J ohn Sa vits k i's m ech an ic , Bevo Fort i hoped to run away with the mechanic ' s Min i Natio nal, usually held afte r the Pro s finis h p layin g aro u nd , but th e even t w as rained o ut and Bevo w ill h ave t o wai t u n t il nex t week t o t ry o ut hi s 250cc Pu rsang p o wered mini b ike ! r ) 1 ( I c Ul Moto One t itl e saw a b attle th at see m ed impossible t o top . b u t next week' s 5 00c c National Ch ampionsh ip fin al in New Orleans will certainl y go d own as th e race t o re member. The reason being. at Ne w Or leans six rid ers h ave the ch an ce t o win th e 5 0 0cc National Championshi p Se r ies . The t op co n te nde rs are Billy Gro ssi , Jimmy Wei n ert, St e ve Stackable and Pie rr e Kar sm a kers , w ith o utsid e ch ances goi ng to Ken t Howerton an d Br ad Lackey . Wh at brough t it all ab o u t ' was th is wee k's CZ sponsored eve nt at Ohio In t ern ational Ra ceway where Suzu ki' s Bil ly Grossi su rp rised everyone b y taking th e ove ra ll win. Not eve n Pierre Karsm ake rs who p ic ked up second wit h th e factory RC Honda, o r Mai co ' s Steve St ack abl e wh o p laced t hird co uld m at ch h is p ace. The o n ly ride r w ho was fas ter th an "Sugar Bear" t his w ee k was last week's w in ner Brad Lack e y, but a flat fro n t tire on Brad's Husky caused h im t o crash twice durin g th e seco nd 45 m inut e m oto while t ry in g to p ass the Be ar fo r th e ove rall win . Ra venna was race n umber fo u r in the five even t Ser ies , and so fa r every race has been more exciting t han th e last with a d iff er en t w inner ea ch time. In t he Sup port cla ss fo r 25 0cc b ikes , Bo b Ru tt er fro m Benton Ha rb o r , Mich igan , e asil y won b o th 3 0 m in u te moto s w ith h is Bul ta co to p ick up the overaIl win . Last w ee k' s wi nne r in Virgin ia, Paul " Sam " Day t on p laced sec ond with h is Bultaco ahead of Shane Hr us ka, Ya mah a . T he co u rse at Oh i o In te rn at io nal Racew ay h ad been al most co rnp etely rew o rk ed for t his week's race. Th e b iggest change incl uded a natu ra l te rr ai n wo oded sec t ion which was ad ded to the co urse t o m ake it al mo st two m iles long with res ulti ng lap times be ing well over three minutes. The new back sectio n was perhap s th e . m ost ch allengin g for the rid ers, but spectato rs ch os e t o han g out ar oun d th e old fro n t section wh er e an uphill sk i jump had rid ers fly in g 20 feet h igh and 100 feet down t rack towards a swe ep ing tum . A j u m p o ver a cree k , which ca use d many riders t o endo in it 's mudd y bottom, also proved to be qui te an attrac t io n in the fron t sec tio n until A.l\lA referee Chuck McCall removed it for the second se t o f m oto s. Jimmy Ellis m ad e his first ap pe arance in an Open class race this ye ar wi th the 355cc Can Am. This is the ill-fated bi g b or e en gin e tried during las t year's Tr an s·AM A Series rather than a b or ed o u t version of th e m ore co m petit ive 25 0cc bik e. Jim see med su pe r q uic k d u ring practice with the b ik e , b ut a n e nd o in th e cree k during hi s qu al ifier , th en a ON F and a 13th in the fe ature mo to s left h im o ut of th e sta ndings . M a rt y Tr ipes , m a k in g h i s fir s t ~ Z J O ther than Ellis and Tripes, none of ~ the top Pr o s had to go t hru q u al ify in g ~ th is week. Gross i le t everyone kno w t;; rig h t fro m the be ginn in g w ho was boss Z as he bl asted h is Suzuk i t o th e lead o f ~ the first m o t o d own Raven na 's h igh ~ sp eed sweep in g st art st raight ahead of . III K a r s m a k e r s , L a c k e y , DiSt efa n o, ~ St ackable , Savitski and Ellis . La ckey 0 d idn't w as te any time as he swept h is ~ Hu sky aro un d Pierre o n th e . second lap Final mota start. with Bad Brad (25) already hustli ng out front. No one knew then settled down t o a sedate p ace , w ith he ran most of th e mota with a flat f ron t tir e. lost it two laps fr om the end. DiSt e fano soon foll owing hi s ex am p le . Po sitions remained like this for about 15 minutes then Tony bail ed o ff h is Suzuki, losing two pl ace s as Pierre and Steve Stackable got b ack b y. Sa vits ki e nd ed his ride for t he d ay ab o ut this ti m e with a seized engine in hi s Bul taco . Jimmy Wein ert had gotten o ff t o a b ad start with his Yamah a and after having wo rked hi s way up thru the pack w as j us t about in the process of picking o ff Tony fo r 5th when the YZ 's eng ine b egan running sour. J immy w an ted t o p ull ove r t o see if it co uld be fi xed , b ut me ch an ic Bill Buchk a sign aled him to kee p running. It soon st opped o n h im o u t o n t he co u rse and th e re was so me co n tro ve rsy as t o if h e had received hel p o u tsi de of the me chanic's area to get it ru n nin g a g ai n, bu t th e p o s sib le d is q ua li fica tio n penalty was la t er dropped . He finished the moto o ut in 23rd p lace, a nd with t hat p o o r fi ni sh J immy lost his poin ts lead in th e champ io nshi p. Near the end o f the m oto Pie rr e began to cl ose up o n Brad for 2 nd pl ace, de sp ite t he fact that .t he forks o n h is RC weren't working properl y. " My d ampin g wen t out in my forks, and I crashed tw ice because o f it. The fro nt fo rks would just slide o ut o n me a nd I wo uld go d own." Mechanic Dean Goldsmith relav ~d the information via c hal kb o ard to Brad th at Pierre was clo sing in. "I go t th e signal th at Pierre was moving up o n m e from behind, so I st arted gettin g o n th e gas mo re . Soon I found mys elf ca tc h ing Bill y ," Two laps from th e e nd o f th e m oto, Bad Brad smoothly swep t his 360 Hu sk y aro u nd Sugar Bear to tak e over th e lead and win th e mot o . Th e Bear got t o keep second pace, but not b y m ore th a n j ust a few b ike len gth s over Pierre . Be h i n d t h e m c a m e Sta c ka b le , DiSte fan o , T erry Cl ar k and Ho werto n. Kent " Beng t " was t ak ing the ra ce easy, nursin g an inj ured wrist fro m a ge roff t he we ekend b efo re in Virgini a cause b y . l 1 • I t il } t a sn agged fr ont b rake cab le. Husk y tea mmate Mik e Hartwig neve r eve n st arted th e m o t o after h is o ld b ack in j ur y be g an t o p ai n him during practice. Wyman Priddy and Ga ylo n Mosier had b oth been run ni ng well in th e moto before they t angl ed o n a hi gh sp ee d d ownhill jump and th e y b oth walked slowl y aw ay fro m th e res ult ing cra sh with p os sibl e broken arms, Gary Sem ics DNFed wi th a broke n Kaw engine. Moto Two When Brad Lac key grabbed t he lead of the final m oto over G ro ssi a nd Stackab le , it see ms t hat Bra d was well o n his way to 'w inn ing th e 500 cc Na ti onal Ch ampionship d espi t e havin g m issed the first tw o races in t he five race Ser ies . Brad was p lay in g things sm ooth and cool, looki ng so much in co n trol that o n th e fourth lap no o ne noticed that h is fro nt ti re had go ne fl at. E ve ryone's atte ntio n w a s o n DiStefan o who was m o vin g up, passin g Karsmakers, Stack abl e a nd Grossi t o ta ke over seco nd pl ace. T on y was eve n beginn ing to make up so me gro und On Brad , then he got t he Suzu k i out of co n tro l a nd cras hed hard . When Tony go t runn in g aga in, he was w ay b ack in the pack . Despite t he flat front tire Brad was trying to keep the th rottle on his Husky pegged , but so on Sugar Bear and Pierre b egan m oving in fo r the kill . Billy pulled hi s 37 0 Su zuki up be side Brad in the fa st sweeper after th e ski jump. Brad tr ied t o di al on so me m ore speed to h old Billy off, but when he did the flat front tire washed out and Brad went d own . He quickly got back up an d running again in th ird p lace behind Billy and Pierre , and ah ead f Howert on , Weinert and Semics wh o were h avin g a b attle of thei r ow n wh ich was j us t as e xci ting . The spectators began go ing crazy as S ~ ~ • I I Brad got co oki ng again and caugh t up with Pierre , For two laps he hung on Pierre 's rear fend er, later claiming, "Eve ry t ime I'd pull up beside Pierre he wo uld ce n te r ·p u nch me! " After two lap s, Brad finally fo un d room t o m ak e a cle an p ass around the Honda road bl o ck and se t af t e r Billy , The flat fro n t tire on hi s Husky had the bike slid ing and usin g up every foot o f the t ra c k as Brad n arrowly missed n ailing tree s b y in ch es. He had to catch and pass BiJly in o rde r to t ake the overall win. With tw o laps remaining in the m o t o , Bra d pulled up behind Billy as they flew 2 0 feet high off t he uphill sk i j ump and over the head s of th e ch ee rin g crow d - ·' GO BR AD, GO BRAD , GO BRAD !!!" As t hey e n te red the same sweep in g t u m w he re Br ad had fallen last time , Brad pulled up beside Billy and just as had happened before , the front end o f th e Husky washed out. This tim e tho ugh , Brad went thru the fenc e and lost almost a lap before he got running again t o finish tw elfth . It w as an ex ci ted BiJly Grossi who cro ssed the fini sh line in first place to give the o ve rall win to Suzuki. For the Bear, and for his happy mechanic Brian Lunnis, it was their first major victory th is year sin ce the Florida Series. It also put them in the points lead going in t o th e final round o f the 50 0 cc National Championship at New Orleans. Pierre Karsmakers finished out the se co nd moto in second t o take home sec o nd o ve rall for the day ahead o f Ste ve St a ckable, Kent Howerton impro ved his last m oto finish to fo urth t o get fourth o vera ll ahead o f Terry Clark who w as th e fast est independent r ider o f t he d a y , J immy Weinert co m po u nde d his first m oto p roblem s by j um pi ng th e gate at th e beginning o f th e seco nd moto a nd being p en ali zed o ne lap at the finish . Tony Dee was forced to fin ish o ut t he m o t o at a reduced pace because of a b roke n.fram e. • •• • l'I • • , ••••••••

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