ACLIMAX
-,
By Jody Weisel
IRVINE, CAL., NOV . 30
In warm Southern California Tony
DiStefano watermarked the decline of the European motocross
empire: Tony D set the pace in
both motos 'On the swift Saddleback International Course to de.. I
..
crsrve y sweep his third Trans- '
AMA In the last four rounds. Even
four-time World Champion Roger
DeCoster, on the sidelines with facial
injuries sustained one week ago,
couldn't have touched the 18·year-old
American. The 1975 Trans-AMA came
to end with American motocrossers
winning six of the ten races against the
European champions. Suzuki finished "
out the Trans-AMA series with the top
three trophies securely on the mantle
with DeCoster (1060), Wolsink (890)
and DiStefano (851). A crowd of less
than 10,000 sat on the terraced hillsides
and waited for the big bikes to make .
their appearance around the first tum
~d down the steep and gnarly Banzai
Hill. The loss of Roger DeCoster from
the final round didn't dampen the
crowd's enthusiasm, although before the
first moto Tony DiStefano said, "I want
the R.D. out there, but Marty Smith is
the person to beat."
The 250 Support class got their
knobs into an exceptionally moist
California surface only to find many of
them sprawling on that soil before it
was over. The Can-Am did a slow
motion high side while leading and
,J im my Ellis received a dislocated
shoulder and an ambulance ride for his
aerobatics. Stevie Wise and Danny
Turner took the point and rubbed Kaw
and Yam together once too often
Tony DiStefano's third Trans·AMA win in four weeks was his most decisive yet.
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