Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

h old on, guts and keep going. Lackey was on his way to an easy moto win, but he was ou t of the points race. Lackey, Weinert, Stackable, Karsmakcrs, Semics, Howerton and Grossi were the first seven. Staekable inched closer to Weinert. Stackable would pull up beside Weinert as though waiting for Jimmy to pullover. When the two-lap sign came out La ck ey came around and wheelied down the front straight followed by Weinert, but Stackable came around a few seconds back with half of the spokes broken out of his rear wheel as it wobbled against his swingarm and shocks! Karsmakers quickly took Stack (for third) as did Semics, On the last lap Stackable's paraplegic Maico fell from what looked like a sure second to a disappointing seventh. In the pits Weincrt fell into a lawn chair totally wasted. Last moto First mota of the 125 Championship and Marty (1) Smith has the fast line already. Nilsson all year, and has always passed them back. After Smith devastated the 125s, the crowd gathered close to the fence to awai t the start of the Open National Championship. And waited. And waited. And the waiting went on until four o 'clock when five desperate men and 35 other riders fmall y lined up behind the gate and got ready to settle the issue. Suddenly the best big bore racers in America poured around the first comer with Brad Lackey way in front, Stackable about middle of the pack and Howerton, Weinert, and Grossi missing. Quickly the red flags came ou t as it was discovered that the gate didn't drop an d 40 riders simply rode over it at once . On the restart Gary Semics holeshot his factory Kawasaki into the lead with Pierre Karsmakers in pursuit, and bunched behind were Lackey, Howerton, Weinert, and Staekable. Grossi suffered a cruel blow when a ri der crashing in the second tum jammed his bike into the rear wheel of the Bear's Suzook. Grossi kept his cool and the gas WFO to break free in about 25th position. Up front Lackey quickly asserted himself by moving around Pierre to take second as Marty Tripes began moving up to dice with the Karsmaker, Howerton, Weinert, Stackable train. No one expected Tripes to do much since he has raced only one since breaking his collarbone. Its styling will get it confused with the other Yamaha White Terron, and its sound may get it confused with an XL Honda. Many will do a double-take to get its identity firmly established. It has state-of-the-art forks up front with an estimated seven inches-plus of travel, and laydown shocks that look suspiciously like gas Kayabas . Its heft (established by rolling it around th e warehouse where these sneak photos were taken) is similar to that of a DT 400. 14 Lackey took the lead on the third lap and started to play games. Brad had been told to win if Howerton couldn't, and run second if Kent got the lead. Grossi was up to ninth from 25th and on the move. It would be all but impossible for him to make it to the top three. At the mid-way point it was Lackey , Weinert, Se m ics , Stackable and Karsmakers, Stackable was throwing roosts almost 30 feet out of each comer as he smoothly gassed his +Speed Maico past Semics to close on second place Jimmy Weinert. Weinert got that little cocked angle to his head that shows fatigue and he said, "I got my second wind." With 10 minutes to go the pit boards started sayin!! such things as It was very late when the 500s rolled up for the second moto, but no one had gone home, because this was the big one. Down the short chute it was Kent Howerton in the lead , around the first turn Karsmakers jammed a whcel underneath and as they exited over the left -hand jump it was Karsmakers, Howerton, Stackable, Lackey, Sem ics, and DiStefano. At the end of the first lap gremlins struck Billy Grossi again as he hit a downed rider at the finish line, crashing through a fence. Grossi watched his chance for the National Championship tick away as he struggled with his 370 Suzuki. Bad Brad Lackey came from fourth on the second lap to close onto Karsmakers' bright red rear fender. In one of the most outstanding dices of the day Lackey and Karsmakers set out to settle the grudge that exists between them from last week's race when Brad alleged that Pierre tried to centerpunch him. Suddenly down the front straigh t they came, side by side with the Husky pulling a wheel ahead and moving over into the best line, forcing Pierre to ' contort his body to avoid hitting a fence post. Karsmakers was incensed. He earn" What it has that tndy sets it,llp~ ~ &a, e v yet to hear erupt into full ~ The SOH£: 500a: four-Itreke single, aD done up in black-anodized aluminum, looks neat and clean, though a bit bulky in the lower cases. Lubrication is apparendy dry-.um with the oil reservoir in the main top tube note filler cap between steering head an(f tankV . The 500 is already bein distributed in Australia and seems quite :fa-received down under. The totally off-road model shown here will be supplemented in the U.S. ' by a street-legal dual-pwpose machine, as wen. We suspect that the "T'I'" designation is no accident. If anything will bring back old -fashioned IT scrambling, so sorely lamented by our -uh- older readers, this machine should do it. 1

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