Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126033
... - -~ " . By Jim Gianatsis ST. PETERSB URG, FL A .. FEBR UARY 22 " I co u I d n ' t be Ii eve it! " said Jimmy Weinert. "There I was busting my tail to work up to the front of the pack and get th e lead , when I saw th ese four guys (Ellis. Staten, DiStef ano and Semi cs) running side b y side and bouncing •off each o ther fo r first place . ' Damn; ' I th ought t o m ys e lf', 'this isn 't going to be eas y : .. And it wasn't. When We in er t ca ugh t up with th e leaders a five -way b att le ove r f ir st pla c e b e g a n , l a s ti n g 15-minutes till th e end o f the mo ta, with th e five of th em h ardlv ever m ore than 40 fee t apart. Wh en ' th e b attl e e nde d , S uz uki 's T ony DiS tefan o h ad wo n h is th ird race in the 250cc class of t he Flo rida W i n t er-A ~I:\ Series an d taken the Series p o in ts lead aw ay from Ca n-A m's J immy Ell is. In th e Open class , Yam ah a ' s Bob "Hurrican e " H annah o ve rcam e c ra sh es which al lo we d S tev e Stuckab le to take hi s Suzuk i to an easy first rnoto wi n . and came ba ck to en gage Steve in anothe r m ot e -lo n g battle o f the d av . It ended wh e n Steve cra she d o n th '- last lap and Bob h a d a cl ea r run to th e ing him his fourth chec ke red nag. giv stra igh t w in in the Open class. Be fore practice go t underway , T on y DiS te f'an o p re se n te d J am m in' J imm y with a sct sh ar k jaws t o go a lon g 's wit h h is He " .' ni ckname o f uJ a\v ." For a mo me nt - al mos t a co m p le te se cond '\· c in t.~ r t wa s speechless . or 250cc Professional l n wh a t h a s be co m e a weekly occurc nce , D on K udal sk i pulled the h ol e shot u n th e firs t m or o . o n ly to ge t h al f way arou nd th e track. Th is ti m e, rather than h avin g h is hike break. Don lau nch ed h im self int o a h orrend ou s cndo th at put h im out o f con tentio n for the remainder of th e da v , What lo ok pl ace over the ne x t 3 0 minutes had to he see n, as w ords co u ld in n o ' . .·a y rela te wh a t happened . Firs t place be came a five -wa y battle fu r th e lead as Ga ry Se mics tr ied t o h old o ff th e ad va nces of J immy Elli s, Re x Staten, Tony D. a n d Jimm y Wein e rt. Po siti on ch anges h appen ed so m an y times it wa s im possib le to keep track. Staten lost h is lead when a lap p ed rider collide d with h is Harl e y and pu t Re x b ac k in fifth . Ellis h ad the le ad an d fe ll. T o nv D . h ad the lead un til boggled in " tu rn b y a a slo we r ride r, O n the straights whe re the re wa s room, th e y w o uld be top ped o u t an d fo u r ab reast. It seemed impos sibl e th at five riders cou ld be so even ly m atch ed in skill , p owe r an d h andling tha t a fte r 30 m in u tes th ev w uld st ill be ra cin g tog ether. . •but th e y were, T h e five -way ba tt le for th e lead we n t rig h t d own to the checkered nag as Se m ics ga ,'e th e ne w w orks Kaw a sa ki the win in its firs t ra ce . Garv cro ssed th e fini sh line a sca n t 10 fee t ahead of D iStefan o an d Wei nc rt as spec ta tors went wild wi th e x citeme n t . Tonv D . wa s awa rde d second pl ace b y hardly m ore th an a fo ot o ve r J immy . A little f u rt h e r back followed S taten, Elli s, En glu n d , J o yn e r an d Ke ssler. I t see med im p o ssib le that th c sec o n d moto cou ld ups tage the fir st moto. hut wh en J am m in ' J imm y gr ab be d th e lea d of the final rac e with Elli s, Staten, DiStefan o an d La!' orte hangin g lik e ropes o f f h is rear fen de r. wel l. eve rvonc c ro wd e d righ t ba ck up aga ins t th e fe n ce and start ed sc re ami ng agai n . For o ve r 15 m inutes th e y ran wh eel to wh eel agai n. sometimes no fu r th e r apa rt than ten feel. Evcntuallv, eac h c o n tende r for th e le ad be gan ' t o d r o p b a ck fr om e x ha ustio n , with th e exce p tio n o f o ne .. .T ony DiStefan o . Tony m aintai ned the p ac e with which he had started lh,' rn o t o t o t ak e h is K eith ~kC art y prep ar ed RH 250 S uzu ki to vic to ry . It m arked T on y 's third ra ce win in the Series and a llowe d h im to take th e ' S eries p oints lead away from J imm y Ellis . Ope n Professiona l Th is wc e ks Open class race proved to be a rep ea t pe rfo rman c e o f las t week 's sh ow a t Gainesvil le, Y am ah a 's d yn am ic du o of Bob H an nah and R ic k Burgett shared ce n te r stage w it h S uzuki 's Steve Stackable in two moto-long b attles. Ex ce llent s u pp o r ting roles werc p layed by Gary t;hap lin . Fran Summeux an d Mo nte McC oy. a long wi th New Yo rk rid ers Bobbv H arris, G len R obbi n s a n d Pat M or one y . D urin g the first m o ta, both Han n ah a n d B-urge tt su ffe red cras h e s w hi le ra cing side by side with Stac kabl e tha t gave "Sh o rt Stack" a elea r run to th e c h ec ke re d n ag and hi s fir st m o to win o f the Series. "L um berj a c k " Burgett 's p ro bl em occured when Ric ky ra ced S ta ck ab le up one of the big 20-foot m an-m ad e j um ps at S unsh ine an d m issed th e d own ra m p on the o ther side, t umbling off th e e dge o f the jump . Burgett · "M y brak e peda l got ben l under du ring th e cra sh , an d for the re st of th e m ot o it wa s impo ssib le to ~o fast : ' Hannah -" I go t m y fron t fo rks ca ugh t !n so m e gu y's b ike an d h e d ragged m e m to the gr ound, I gal b ack up in 25 th p lace with m y goggles so full o f dirt th a t I c o u ld n ' t see out o f th em . I threw th em aw ay and wo rk ed m y way b ack up to Zn d be h ind Stackable a t th e en d of th e mot u. For th e second m o to, "Ll urric an e " Hann ah h ad th e 4 0 0cc Yam ah a di a le d to tak e the win, hut Stackabl e h ad o ther ideas as they engaged in fe nde r b an g in g. h andleba r lo c king b a tt le th at last ed the e n ti re m o tu . . .right up t o th e very las t lap . Stacka b le- "H annah ' s a good rider, but he ' s also b azerko and always try in g to sh ut m e off going into every tu rn . " lI annah -" S ure J get wild an d cu t Stack able o ff in the turns cverv chance I get . I d o n 't ~o ou t of rnv wavto let him by on the straigh ts, ci the r, b~t isn ' t th a t what racing is all about?" Bill Bu chka .'" want to give Bo b all th e cred it fo r T oda v's win . T he b ike wasn ' t 10 0 per ce n t, It h ad an elec trical m iss tha t h e h ad to c o m p e n sa te fo r in • h is riding. " Results 250cc PROFESSIONAL: 1. Tony DiStefano 2- 1 (Su z) . 2. J immy We inert 3-3 (Kaw) . 3. Jimmy Ellis 5 ·1 (C-A). 4. Gary Sem lcs 1-6 (Kaw). 5. Rex Staten 4-5 (H-O) . 6. Arlo Englund 6·9 (Kaw ) . 7. M ike Runyard 9- 8 . (C· A ) . 8. Jon Leak 10·11 (Yam). 9. Sam Dayton 12 -10 (Bul). 10. Kent H owerton 19-7 H US). 11. Karl Tay lor 13·13 (C-A). 12 . ennis Bri:md 15 -14 (Hus) . 13. J ohn Gurga 14·15 tOSS) . 14. John Joyner 7·23 (H us) . IS. Ji m Turner 23· 12 (SUl). 16 . Ti m Ha rt 1 7·18 ( K a w) . 17. Scott Jorda n 16 -2 0 ( Y am ) . 18 . Al b in J o h n son 2 0 · 16 (Yam) . 19. John Dee mer 21·17 (SUl ) . 2 0 . John Sav l tsk l 18-2 4 g (M a l) . 50 0 PROFESS IONAL., 1. Bo b Ha nn ah 2-1 (Yam ) . 2. Steve Stackable 1-3 (S Ul ). J . R ick Bu r gett 4·1 ( Yam) . 4 . Bob Harris 6·4 (CZ) . 5. Monte McCoy 5-5 (Suz) . 6. Gary ChaPlin 3-8 (Suz). 7 . Fra n Summeux 8·6 (Suz) . 8 . Barry H igg ins 9-7 (Ma l). 9 . Pat Moroney 10-9 (Hus). 10. Glenn Ro b b ins 11-3 (Ma i) . 11. M ike Mcintosh 15·12 (Suz) . 12. Gordon Bowden 13·14 (SU l ) . 13. Dwayne Lyons 1 8·1 0 (Yam ) . 14. Bob Neeley 14·15 (S uz). 15. Joe t='errlnl 12-20 (Yam) . 16 . Joey Gratton 7·27 (Mai) . 17. Ran d all Tarter.21-17 (B u l) . 18. Fre d Litt le 16· 2 3 ( H us) . 19. Bru ce Kahl ha mmer 26·1 8 ( CCM). 2 0 . William Amaradlo 19·25 (Hus) . April 25th, 1976 Las Vegas, Nevada Entry $250.00 plus insurance 60% payback in class 4 classes 3. 251 cc and over 2. 176-250 cc 1. 0-175cc 4. Riders age 38 and over any displacemen t motorcycle $1,000 - Bonus to 1st overall if 0-175 cc team. Professional, on course, gas pitting service available. Course and gas stops readily accessible from in terstate 15. A race course la id out for motorcycles only. 400 miles of open desert, mountains, mine roads, and sand washes. A challenge to test t he endurance and skill of expert riders. Parking for campers at start /finish. Write: Mint 400 Racing Headquarters P.O. Box 2160 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 DELWEBB'S MINT - O L&WINO, H TE LASVEGAS 9