Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

250 National..·· ... " --"'". · .... 011·. " Texas two-fifty to Tony By Jody Weisel HOUSTON. TEX. , APRIL 25 In the rich coffee brown dirt of Texas Team Suzuki's Tony Di Stefano quickly dispatched the Honda holeshot kings and motored away to his first National win of the seaso n an d into the 250 National Champions hip p oin ts lead. In a day th at can only be described as perfect from the track con di ti o ns to the weather the third round of the 250 National Championship se ries was co nd uc ted at Houston's Rio Bravo Moto cross Park. Winner o f th e last race and points leader J ammin' J immy Wein ert suffered the worst d ay of th e yo u ng season bl owing a cran k seal in the fir st m oto, sei zing in the sec ond and dropping the transmission in his rent-a-car o n the way to the airp o rt . In 500 Support class actio n Texas vet era n Wyman Priddy romped over the spring chic kens, of which he is n ot. to take the win with a 2-1 score. Houston lo cal Keith Duffy ea sily won the first mot o , but d ropped off the board in the second with problems. Floridian Dan Farley worked his Husky up fro m a bad start in the first moto to finish th ird and then ca m e back with a seco nd behind Priddy 's Bul to t ake second overall. Iowa's Bill Mo yer was third with Di cky Nowell fourth. Warming the hearts of the old fo lks wa s Bru ce Kahlhammer's big four-stroke CCM in fifth overall. Under the sun Ma rty Smith, ba ck fro m Europe for a few days, dropped in to sa y hi to h is old friends by gra b bing the lead as the gate fell. Semics, DtStefano ,' Bo b Hannah and Jim Ellis we re roosting each other in pursuit o f the red m achine . Tony D. o u t ju mpe d Gar y Semics ' Kawasaki by 3 0 feet o ver the bridge jump to take second and swiftly closed the gap on Marty . At abou t 10 min utes into the moto T on y D. had closed the gap to the point th at he wa s co nsta n tl y in th e spray of Smith's re ar wheel. Coming down into a h airp in tu m, th at carved through a b owl of d ee p soft dirt, T o n y D. sw ung wid e an d Mart y dove insi c e , The a rcs of both bikes were o n a co llisio n co u rse a t th e apex o f the berm . Both rider s co rrec ted with DiStefano going over the berm and Smith f allin g over in the dirt. DiStefano took the lead as Ellis, Hannah and Semics go t past the prone Honda rider. The last half of the race was a Tony D.-Jimmy Ellis duel, but Ellis has been ill for several weeks and the Texas heat was affecting him. Ellis pressured DrStefano, but he wasn't 100% and couldn't muster all the energy needed for a last m in u te charge . The m o t o ended with DiStefano ' first by five seconds Over an as hen faced Jim my Ellis . Marty Smith worked his way back to third with Bob Hannah , Gary Sernics, Kent Ho wert on, Steve Wise and Rick Burg ett in eve n ly spaced order behind. J immy Wein ert had c harged his Kawasaki fro m about "10 th t o th ird at t he t ime of Smi th 's cras h. T he n la rge amoun ts of billowing white smoke an d rasp y sounds began ema nating from h is expansion c ha mber . A blown cra n ksh aft seal was allowing oil to pour in to h is cran k ending his ride. Steve Stackable seized his Suzuki earlv in the first moto and j o ined Weinert on the sidelines to wa tch DiStefano win. Both rooted for diffe rent outcomes. Under the gun Each moto is worth 25 points to the win ner and DiStefano had th e National points lead by 14 points o ver Weinert following the fi rst moto . Tony D. got fir st selection at a startin g spot a n d Weinert go t last. but when the gat e was fin ally full the y sat side-by-side. Un fort u na tely that was as close as the y would get. When the ga te fell Rich Eierst ed t gassed it into thefirst co rne r and down th e hill wi th . Tony D. on his rear fender. Weinert was a bo u t ei ghth o ff th e lin e. T on y D. said. " I w an ted to tak e the lead an d try and pull awa y , bu t Eierste d t was go ing t o o fas t. So I thought I'd wait ." DiStefano di d n ' t wait long as he had the lead wh en the y ca m e b y the fin ish lin e on the first lap . Weinert never ca m e b y the finish line on th e fir st lap. His sp are m o tor had sei zed on the back straight. Bob Hannah m oved p ast Eierstedt 's Honda an d the Yellow Su zuki and Yamah a led the parade. Ri ch Eierstedt st arted to drop off the p ace with an assortment of p roblems and finished eigh th . At th e halfway point it was DiS tefan o clo se ly shadowed by t he Yamaha duo of Hannah a n d Rick Burgett with St eve Stackable in fourth . Marty Smith had go t t en a rotten st art in 20th place , but was pressuring " Shor t Stack': for fourth . As the time wound down it was evident "the 0" was p acing himse lf for the win, b ut be hind h im all th e stops we re out as m igh ty Marty had taken over th ird. as Burgett falte red , and was closing o n Hannah in sec o nd. With three laps t o go Hannah went over a berm and Smith pounced on by. Hannah wa s wildl y tr ying t o m ak e up th e gr ound he h ad lo st because second o verall would go to the m an wh o cro ssed the fin ish line fir st. Down the b ac k straigh t they' ca m e. Smith leading an d Hannah closing th e di st an ce rapidl y. Marty di dn 't kn ow the Yamaha was there an d sh ut o ff co m ing ov e r th e big jump. wh ile you ng Hann ah held it on . Un der th e flag ca m e a coasting Mar t y Sm it h a m ere six inches ahead of Hannah . It was a grea t day of m ot ocross on a perfect tra ck. Tony D. had a 39 point lead over seco nd pl ace man Jim Weinert. The via bili ty of th e new points system is just be ginning to co m e t o light as th e leaders start t o change around. For DiStefan o the day h ad start ed with a practice cra sh that cut hi s rib cage when he "tried to win practice." It ended with the ribs fo rgotten and a smile on his face . For J im m y Weinert the smile was gone, ·b u t the series isn't half over yet. • (Opposite page) Jammin' stood and wat~hed as the points lead flew by . (Insets) Tony D., Bob Hannah, Gaylon Mosier and Bill Gross i awa it t he second moto. (Above) Rick Burgett (26 1) gets turned into a tree sandwich by Chuck Sun (661) . (Below ) Keit h Duffy almo st won the 500 Support class. Results 250 N A TION AL: 1. Tony DiSt efano 1·1 (Suz). 2. M a rt y Sm ith 3-2 (Han) . 3. B ob Ha n nah 4·3 (Yam). 4. Ken t Hoewerton 6 a6 (Hus ) . 5. R i c k B urget t 8-10 ( Y am) . 6 . Wayne B o y e r 12'9 (CZ). 7. Rex Staten 10-11 ( H · D ). 8 . Gary Sem ic s 5· 17 (Kaw). 9. R ich El ersted t 16·8 (Han) . 10. B i ll y G r assl 21 -4 (SUZl' 11. J im Ell i s 2 -25 (CA). 1 2. A r lo En g l und 5·13 (Kaw ) . 1 3 . Mi ckey K e ssl er 14-14 (Yam). 14. Joh n Ayers 2 -16 (Ma i l . 15. K enny Za h rt 24· 15 (a ss) . 16. Gaylo n Mosier 19· 20 ( M a l ). 17. Barry Du nean 1 8- 2 1 (CA). 18. Joh n Sa vltski 13-2 6 (CA ). 1 9. Chuck La mpe 17·23 (Kaw ). 20. D an n y Turner 11·29 (Yam). 500 SUPPORT : 1. W yman Pr iddy 2·1 (Bu l). 2 . Dan Farley 3·2 (H u s) . 3. Bi ll Moyer 5-6 (Ma l). 4. Diekey - Nowell 8·4 (Pe n). S. Bruce Kah lhammer 10 -3 ( e eM) . 6. Ra l p h Bab in 9·7 (M al ) . 7. John Petty 11·8 (Mal) . 8. A Ub r ey Wes tm oreland 6 ·13 (Suz) . 9. Gary Glasenapp 7-14 (Bul) . 10. Robert Collie 12·11 (Y am ). .J "' "' ~ III > a a .., > III III a .... a 5: " _ " lIi IIli iiiliiiiiiii__iiiiii_"'IiiiiIiiiJIIIiIi__Illil!i~~~__~ ~~ 7

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