Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cheese flashes the word to Tony D. - a 6 second lead on Ellis in second place . interBy Jim Gianatsis JACKSONVILLE , FLA., FEBRUARY I The op enIng round of the 6th Annual Florida Winter-AMA Professional Motocross Series at North Florida Raceway saw the seaso n get und erway with most of th e nati on's fastest riders battling o n o ne of the toughest sand track s . h . h . . d In t e CO U~1t q,:- I~lg gu sung WIn S 6 250cc Professional Bu ck Murph y pulled o u t the h ol e sho t o f the firs t fea ture m o to with La Po rte a nd Kud a lsk i in fe ve red pursui t . Prac t ic e an d qualify ing h ad tu rned the rain a!,d c~ l d ~a!n .d id lit tle to dampe~ the d rench ed sand trac k into a ba ttlefield o f rider s sp m ts , a nd both Pr ofessional cra ters tre nc hes in the tu rn s an d - , c I a s se s ga v e t h e Iarge nurn b er a f ' ot sand b arrier s o n th e st raigh ts. three-fo Kudal ski p itch ed his Ho nd a ac ross th e s p ec ta to rs wh o dared to. brave th,e e l e m e n ts m~re than th eir ,? o n ey s tops o f th e obstacles lik e it wa s a worth of ex citem ent. By th ~ . time th e S her ma n t ank on w ar m an euvers, d ~ y had e n de d , Su zuki s To n y shoo ting down Laf'o rt e o n th e secon d lap , the n passi ng Murphy on th e th ird to D'Stefan ? had aced the 2 50cc cl ass, a nd Ya maha s new ~o~al h o ~sh oe., Bob tak e o ve r th e lead and pu ll awa y . T ony lI annah fro,,? Whllller, Cahforl1l:' , had D. h ad go tte n a po or sta r t in mid-pa ck walked o ff with th e 500cc class w in . with dirty goggles h olding h im b ack , but Yamaha's dominatio n o f the 5 0 0cc as the fie ld so rted itself o u t h e m ov ed cl ass wa s remarkable in that Bob up and took posit ion in forth . Hannah, a long with tea mma te Rick Kudalski c o n tin u ed to pu ll away with Burgett w ho pl aced second o verall , are hi s lead for three more lap s b ef o re a co m b ina tio n of m ech an ical prob lem s only rookies to th e AMA Pro MX circuit and were signed by Y am ah a for the ir ca used h is bike t o start p it ching o ff its p o ssibl e fu ture p o tential. Th e fact that ch a in every fe w minu tes.dropp ing Don lI annah a nd Burgett d id so well their t o th e b ac k o f th c pa c k an d o ut o f co n te n t io n for the re m a ind e r o f th e first t im e o u t o n th ei r Bill Bu chka an d Ed Sc h eid le r prep ared 0\1'2 6 4 00cc da y . Bu c k Murph y ' sCa n -A m qu it ab o u t thi s tim e as w ell , tu rn ing th e lea d ove r Yam ah a s shows their p oten ti al m a y he t o T o ny DiS tefan o wh o h ad just p assed real ized eve n so on e r then expected . • • teammat e Lal'ortc . T on y pulled o n awa y to win the mo to as Jimm y Ellis worked up fr om nearl y las: p lace to second b eh ind T on y a t th e fin ish , ah ead of Lal'o rt e a nd G a ry J ones wh o w as m ak in g a fanta st ic co mebac k afte r a d isappoin ting T rans - A~ J A Seri es, Ken t Howert on had a m iserab le m or o wh ich ret ire d h im for t he day . .\ crash at the sta rt bent a re ar sh oc k o n h is lIusk y. the n h e seized th e e ngine th ree t im e~ before it finally qu it fo r good. Tony D. d UK o ut wi th the s t ar t of the second m ot o an d qu ickly b egan to d i s app ear. Atten ti o n shifted to t he b a ttlc over second pl ace b etwe en ~1ike Ru nya rd a n d Dan n y LaP orte. Danny passed ~ like after t wo la p s an d b ega n p utti ng so me distan ce o n h im . b ut it was sho rt lived a s the thrott le hung op e n on Dann y 's S uz u ki a nd h e crashe d hard e no ug h to retire fro m the rn o to , J imm y E l lis m o v e d up behind Run y ar d, b UI Mik e di dn 't see h im and in a mov e to a voi d a lap p ed rid e r h e swung over and h it h is teammate 's bi ke . Mik e went d own, but J imm y qu ickl y correc te d to s tay up a nd se t ou t afte r T on y an d th e lead . By mid-mote J immy was o n T on y's fender an d wanting to get b y . For four lap s th ey ran a lmos t side h y side , p assin g a nd repassing t o tak e co n tro l o f th e lead a number o f times ea ch lap . It wa s so m ew h a t of a frie nd ly ra ce, be c ause neith er wou ld cu t th e o th er off fr om a ch o se n linc o r try an d fo rce th e o the r o u t in a turn . It cnded wh en Jimm y th rew th e c h a in o n hi s Can -Am . lo sin g h al f a I;,p before h e go t it bac k o n a nd wa s ru n n ing a gai n , Tony took hi s Su zuk i on an eas }' run to th e fini sh a nd th e ove ra ll w in as Murph y took second over Rex Staten , Elli s. Jim T urne r an d .Joh n Savi ts k i. o 1I0 t o-ff h is T ra ns -As fA victory trail , T ony D. project ed hi mself quite nicely to thi s repo rt er as he su m m e d up hi s win in the fir st race of th e new seas on, •• Fl orida h a s a lwa ys w orn m e out b efore, but I'v e b een w orkin g o u t e ve ry oth er d ay sin ce th e Tran s-AMA. It 's ob vio u sly p a y in g o ff. Besid es , I have t o p rotect tha t Xumber One pl at e fo r a long time. " Open Professio nal Muscling an Ope n cla ss b ike aro u nd North Florid a Ra ceway's sa n d co u rse was n o easy ma tt er. Th e go od ri de rs ave raged five get-off's p er mot u. usually in th e d eep sa nd y turns. Th e tri ck to go ing fast was no t to stall yo ur engine when you did fall over. a nd to jump back up quickly a n d keep going. Stev e "Short St a ck" Stackab le exp loded o u t with the first 3 0- min u te m o to sta rt o n hi s new Suzuki . but hardl y go t fur ther than the en d of th e first lap when h e realized it wa s his bac k fe n de r th at wa s in front of him! Steve backed o ff a while to th ink things o ver, letting t he Yamah a du o o f Burgett and lIannah swe ep b y to ta ck le th e lea d . Ga ry Chaplin m oved his R~ I Suzuki up to thi rd for a fe w lap s th en dropped back aga in . Ne xt it wa s T erry C lark's turn to move his Hu sky up p a st lI annah and in to seco nd. th e n c ra sh . Ncx t , St a ck able m oved up to se co nd th e n bailed o ff fo r th e upteenth time. Peop le were fa ll ing d own so much th at th e ra ce resembled a ga me o f musica l ch a irs. . .but \v ·ith bike s. At a nyone point in th e r a c c th erc 'd b e ten rid er s p icking them selves up off th e sand o r push ing a b roken b ike. Sk lIllully, Ri ck Burgett p iloted his w orks Yamah a 10 th e m o to win ah e a d

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