Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

By Jim Gianatsis ST . PETERS , MO. , NOV. 2 World Champion Roger DeCoster led a Team Suzuki sweep Gerrit Wolsink DiStefano at this ro und near St. Louis, Missouri. With his third win in the series, Roger now has a nearly unbeatable lead towards the 19 75 TransAMA ti tle. In the Suppor t class another lightning rai d took place as J immy Ellis lea di ng his Can -Am te am mates, Mike Runyard an d Buc k Murp hy, ran off with the top three pl aces, totally o u tclassing t he o pp ositio n. It was in t he 500cc International class, though , wh ere American riders on ce agai n suffer ed b itter disappointment. For Jim Pomeroy who tried so hard once again, nothing could relate the sadness in his voice as he . described how the day went for him. . " I hit some guy in the rust turn after the start of the first moto and the crash broke my exh au st pipe. I was de ad last and just started berserking it, working up from last to eighth place with 20 m inutes still left in the moto, Weinert and Howerton were in sight ahead of me , but I was having to go wide open in the co rn ers to make up for m y power loss with the broken pipe. I spun my Bultaco comin g out of a turn and the spill tore the throttle off." Bimbo was lead ing the second moto , almost from the s tart, when bad luck struck again with onl y a few laps remaining. "I came up behind a slower ri der and follo wed him into a turn. I knew beforehand on the straight before the turn I should set myself up to pass him, but instead I made the mistake of following him into the turn on the same berm, When I tried to cut inside of him and got off the berm, I crashed. It was the kind of mistake in judgem en t that can only be learned from experience. That's why Roger DeCoster is so good." While Jim Pomeroy dominated most of the second moto before falling off and letting DeCoster by, it was last week 's Omaha Trans-AMA winner Marty Smith who held down a good lead soon after the start of the first 40-minute plus two lap mota. Charles Sun put his Husky into the holeshot after the start, but dropped his bike a few turns later. Marty took over the lead, but Defloster, Howerton and - Wolsin k weren't far behind. It took Roger a couple laps to work his way around Marty, but after he did, the Champ was in total command for the remainder of the race. Marty kept his RC 400 on the gas to finish a strong second ahead of Wolsink, Howerton, DiStefano, Stackable, T ripes, Weinert, Lackey, and Japanese 250cc National Champion Koji Masuda. The fighting which took p lace in the top 10 places th roughout the mote was out of sight, wi th much p assing and shuffling for position. Gary Chaplin crashed hard during the ru st moto and had to be taken to the hospital with wh at appeared to be a seriously injured foo t. Marty Tripes was racing the mota with a broken rear brake arm on the backing plate. Pierre Karsmakers fell, injuring his bad shoulder, and had a rear shock sack out on his Honda. Gary J ones rejoined the series after leaving it at Unadilla to have Moto-Islo make some improvements on his bike, but it still suffered mechanical problems in the first moto, Marty Smith again took control of the lead for the second 500 mota but his shocks and forks began to fade out a little and he began dropping back as Jim Pomeroy took over first. Tony DiStefano wa s riding shotgun on second ahead of Wolsink, Howerton and DeCoster. Both Ro ger and Kent go t co o king with Ro ger even tually moving up into second behind Pomeroy , and Howerton passing Wols ink to move in to fourth behind DiStefano. It wa s wi th abo ut 10 minutes remaining in the race . J that Jim Pomeroy crashed and dropped to seco n d place with Rog er blasting on by to take the lead and the win. Tony DiStefano was ri gh t behind Bimbo after he fell. "I though t I migh t be ab le to catch Jimmy, but my goggles began to fog up and 1 j ust could n't see we ll enough to go fas ter. I still feel good about taking top Am erican for the day, tho ug h." J immy Weiner t ove rsh ot a high speed ban ked berm at the end of a long straight and went car t wh eeling off into the woods. "I was lucky, it could have, b een a more ser ious accident then it was," he said. The Jammer still fin ish ed 10th for the moto, Ron Pomeroy twi sted his ankle and retired. Steve Stackable never even started the second moto, as he and Bernie Thompson wer e unable to m ake repairs in time , between motos, to get his Maico to the line and running. For Roger DeCoster, Gerrit Wolsink, and Tony DiStefano, the overall win was theirs and well deserved. Roger fell off once while leading the lust mota, but was quickly back up and running again before an yone hardly noticed or Mar t y Sm ith, in second, got very close. For Roger's mechanic Minoru Ta kasu, Gerrit 's Motohiro Hasegawa, and Tony's Keith McCarty , along with team manager Yasakau Ishibashi, the victory celebra ti on with their riders on Sunday evening was perhaps their most memorable in t he series so far, but there's still four more races left to be tter it . 00 ,.....; l-< QJ ...D E > o QJ Z Jimmy Ellis coming home to roost - on the entire Support class. 250 Support class . The only opposition the Can-Am team had all day came from themselves as the three riders only had themselves to contend w ith. Buck Murphy took to th e lead of the first mota , only to have Jimmy Ellis pass him near the halfway point. Buck retook the lead from Jimmy a few laps later, but more reshuffling towards the final laps gave Jimmy Ellis the moto win over Murphy, Rick Burgett on a Yamaha, and Mike Runyard in fourth . The second mota saw the Can-Am team running, one, tw o , three with Ellis out front ahead of Murphy and Runyard again. Mike Kessler almost got his Husky around Runyard at one point, only to have a thrown chain drop him out as it had also done the rust mota . Murphy fell near the end of the race to allow Runyard into second place for the moto and the overall standi ngs behind Ellis. Top runners in the 250cc class who had problem s included John Savitski who retired with a sore elbow, from a bad crash the weekend b efore in Omaha. Tim Hart suffered be nt or broken sh ift levers on h is Yamaha both motes because of the track's deep berms. Jim Turner h ad a broken front brake cable catch in his front wheel and sen t him flying, his Yamaha bo un cing, and Te rry Clark 's Husky crashing over th e m ess. • St ill top Americans in the series, Bimbo and Tony go 'round together for awhile. Tending to details on Rog er's bike between motes. Teammate Wolsink can't bear to look. Results SOOCc INTERNATIONAL, 1. Roger DeCoster I, 1 (SUZ). 2. Gerrlt Wolslnk 3 . 4 (Suz). 3. Tony D iS te fano 5 , 3 (Suz). 4. Ken t Howerton 4, 5 (Hus). 5 . Marty Smith 2, 7 (Hon) . 6. Brad Lackey 9. 6 (Hus). 1 . Ma r ty 'tripes 1 . 8 (Buf).. 8. J immy We inert 8. 10 (Yam). 9. Pierre Karsmakers 11 . 9 (Hon). 10. KoJl Masuda 10, 12 (Suz) .. 11 . Gary Sem lcs 12, 11 (Kaw). 12. J im West 13. 13 (Ma l). 13. Gaylon Mosler 18 , 14 (Ma l). 14. Masaru Ikeda 17, IS (Suz). IS. Peter Lamppu 20 , 17 (CZ). 16. Tony Irwin 23. 16 (Bul) . 17. Sonny DeFeo 19. 21 (Hus) . 18. Jim Po m e ro y 40, 2 (Bul). 19. O lckey Nowell 24, 18 (Pen). 20. Alan Hahn 25. 19 (Suz). 250cc SUPPORT : 1. Jimmy Ell is I, 1 (C·AI . 2 . M ike Runyard 4 , 2 (C ·AI . 3 . Buck MurPhy 2 , 4 te -A) , 4 . Ri ch E ierstedt 10 , 3 (Han) . S. Rick Burgett 3. 10 (Yam). 6 . M ickey Boone 1,1 (Suz) . 7 . Bob Rutter 8 . 11 (Bul). B. T im Hart IS . 5 (Yam). g . Ricky O'Brien 9 , 1 5 (Hon ), 10 . Tony Wy nn 6 , 18 (Suz) . 1 1. Denny Swartz 14, 13 (Y am ) . 12. Ma r k Stapleton 19. 12 (S uI ) . 13. Ja y Cl ar k I I , 2 0 (Y am ). 14. John A yers 16, 16 (M al ). 1 5 . Don Kudalsk l 29 . 8 (H on). 16 . M i k e M c i n t o sh 1B, 19 (Suz). 17 . T err y Clark 13. 24 (Hus). l B. J o hn Kelly 17. 21 (Yam) . 1 9 _ Jo hn Cambell 2 1, 2 2 (Ma l ) . 20. Da v id B y rd 22.23 (CZ). 7

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