Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

•.•. lly t'llarles'M'orey' 50 .... ." "'. . . . . . •. •. . . . . FOGELSVILLE,PA., MAY 23 If AMA 250cc Nati onal MX Ser ies points were given fo r effo rt, Kawaski 's flamb oyan t flyer J ammin ' Jimmy Weinert migh t have taken over the series lead at th e Allen town Suzuki sponsored Pennsylvania Mot oc ross Park event. Reality, however, along with this year 's method of tabulating series points sent that pipe dream off in a puff of smoke. When it ended, the Jammer had taken the overall win with 2-1 finishes in the two 45 minute motes, and Tony D. maintained his 15 point lead in the series by scoring an almost identical 1-2. "What's gonna happen at Southwick (t he final series race) two wee ks fro m today?" was the question posed both riders at the day 's end. "I - oh, I don't wa n t to say - " Tony DiStefano acted non-comrnital but then added "I think things will go my way. " Weinert had no doubts. "A miracle !" he sai d, th en laughe d. "No, n ot really but t hat's w hat it wo uld ta ke . The D. he 's gonna win. He doesn't have th e ove ra ll win reco rd that I do - we've got th ree wins, two seconds and a DNF (compared to Tony's one win, two secon ds, two thirds and a fifth). What's wron g? The po ints syste m ?" Tony would have to run into serious problems to lose the Championship now. From there the conversation went into Jammer's main complaint this year: the "per mota" European method of scoring MX Championship poin ts rather than using the last year's system based on each race's overall performance. Obviously, if last year's method had been used this ye ar, Weinert would be leading. If. Weinert is working to change back to the old system, but it seems he 's alone. Jimmy Ellis is having his share of problem s in the series, too. As he's done so often be fore, Captain Cobalt led everyone through the first tum in the opening mota and held a substantial advantage through the first few laps. Then, like a recurring nightmare, h is Can-Am's electrical sy stem proved to be the weak part in his act. Ellis ' bike had quit in p ractice. The ele ctrics fro m a spare machine had been t ransplanted in t he race bike before the event began , but they lasted on ly four lap s. J im my was ou t for the day . Ellis ha d led "Gassin" Gay lon Mosier, Gary Semics, To ny DiS tefano, Rich Eiersted t, Steve Stackable , Kent How ert o n and J im my Weinert as the race got underway, bu t the seq u en ce change d rapidly on the opening lap . DiStefano performed as expected by the homestate crowd, overtaking Sernics and putting a rush on Mosier in the first two minutes. Bu t at the co mple tion of the first lap , both Weinert and Stack had dropped from the frontrunners. At the bottom of one of Pen nsy lvania Motocross Park's steep inclines, Jammin' had tried to get past St ack and the two tangled. Steve's foot was drawn in between Weinert's rear wheel and shock, and they had to stop to remove it. The force bent the shock rod . "It m ust have damaged his sho cks or so mething," Kawasaki mechanic Steve Johnson said at the time. The crash had taken place out of sight of the mechanic's area, and Johnson could only guess. " T hey're not moving at aU!" he added as The Jammer bounced past wi th a near rigid rear suspension . Stack recovered with a sore ankle and a tenth place for the moto. Weinert put in an u nbelieveable ride fo r seco nd. By the time Ellis' Can-Am called it quits, Tony D. had ta ken over seco nd place from Mosie r. Ellis' retirement gave Th e D. the lead. Kent Howerto n in t he m ean wh ile had fo llo we d Gary Sern ics past Mosier on aro u nd th e seventh or eighth lap , an d on the next time aro und had closed the ga p on t he Team Kawasaki rider. Ken t and mechanic Eric Crippa had finally sorted out the Husky's handling ("We 've got it wired!" Crip pa had proclaimed at brea kfast that morning), and it appeared that the Rhinestone Cowboy was going to do business. Only a few lap s later, however , Ken t released the pressure he _ ---- - - - -. - - ._ - ~ . -- --- - -- -- - -- - on DiStefano - w ho - 111" "t u rn 1r:ltl· ei~ht seconds o n Sernics. Stack was riding only f our seconds behind Gary. Semics ' pit man put out a "Catch D." signal, but it was Gary who got caught as Stackable closed and got by on the 12th lap . At the bottom of a steep elevator shaft hill, Steve " kin da slipped in like Weinert tried to do to me ex cept that h e didn't quite do it right. " Fro m there on, the top five remained unchanged: Weinert, DiStefano, Stackable, Semics and Howerton. Burgett backed up his first moto fourth with a sixth, and Terry Clark repeated his first round's seventh. Weinert, DiStefano split motos; 250. to the \Wire (Above) The bllau t iful Pennsy lvania countryside pr o vide d an inte resting layout. (Op pos ite page ) J immy Weinert. Tony D.• and Gary Semics went 1-2-3. while me chanics Ste ve Johnson. Keith McCarty and Rick Jo ne s mother. fathe r and Godfathe r the boys home. had been putting on Gary and started to fade . He was holding h is left foot up o ff the p eg, apparently in pain. "The bike was ex cellent !" 'Kent recalled later in the day as he signed posters for an en dless line of autograph see kers. "I stuck my foot out when th e front end go t a little sideways at th e foot of one of those hill s. It wa s straight, and when it hit, it drove m y leg back. " Ken t 's knee was useable, but the pain he said was too much to bear when pressure was put on it . He was able to contest the second moto and place fifth for a 9-5 seventh over all. It was lap 13 in the 19 lap even t when Gaylon Mosier overtook the slowing Kent Howerton, and on the same go-around both Jimmy Weinert and Rick Burgett caught and passed Mosier. Weinert, 19 at the end of the first lap, had cut some of the quickest lap times of the day on his way up through the ranks on his one-inch rear wheel travel Kawasaki ! On t he fin al lap , with To ny D. main taining the lead riding slower at Keith McCarty's instructions, J amm in ' closed ground on his team ma te Gary Sern ics and passed to take second place . Following Gary's third were Yamaha rider Rick Burgett, Maico 's Gaylon Mosier, Ossa ace Kenny Zahrt and Husky rider Terry Clark rounding out the top seven. " You know these guys who talk about their bike's rear suspension not workin ?" Weinert spounted after the mota, " I don 't want to hear abou t it . We had one in ch of travel. " Then he added with a grin , "W ait ' til you se e the second moto, We're gon na use shocks this tim e !" And it wasn't an idle threat. Rich Eiersted t p ut his Honda out in front at the start , but Weinert was hot on his tail and p assed in th e first half lap . Harley-Davidson 's Rex S taten held th ird ahead of Serni cs, Howerton, Stack , T on y D. and Rick Burgett. DiStefano's expected charge toward the fron t was delayed twice on th e opening lap - once when Eierstedt braked h ard (" Them Honda's got good brakes! ") in front of him and a t the half-lap point when he went over a berm and stalled the motor. At the end of lap one, The D. was back in eighth. Gary Semics made the move past Staten on the second lap, then was overtaken hi mself a couple laps later as DiStefano recovered. Thej amrner in the meantime had been building up a cush ion. T he tr ack m us t have see med like a paved boulevard to him in comp arision . to the first mo to, He wasn't home free, though , as Tony D. passed Eierste dt fo r second on the next time around. A few minutes later, Eierstedt pulled off to let mechanic Roy Turner take a look .at his Honda. As has happened before , the fac tory RC had broken its pipe, robbing Ric h of power and the ch an ce at a good place in the moto. Weinert had nearly a 20 second lead 500cc Support Maico ri der David Newswanger proved to be the most consistent 500cc Support classer, pu tt in g togeth er a first moto win and a second round number two spot fo r the overall win. J im Both, steady in both rounds also, scored second overall with a 2-3 total. In round one, Chris Berg staged a s tr on g run, taking over the lead mid-mo to only to reinjure a dislocated shoulder in a fall. Unable to stand the shock of high speed riding, Berg fell back and out of the top ten Second moto winner Ken Adams overcame a rough luck opening round [fin ishin g 14th) to relegate Newswanger to second in that second leg. Terry T ucker, third in the fITSt moto, also put in a competitive second rou nd showing until he was forced out with a mechanical problem. • Results 25 0 NATIONAL' 1. Jimmy We in ert 2·1 (Kaw) . 2. Tony D ISte fano 1-2 (S uz ) . 3 . G ary Sernl cs 3- 4 (K aw) . 4 . Ri ck Bu rgett 4- 6 ( Y am ). 5. St e ve Stackable 10-3 (S uz) . 6 . Ga y lo n Mosle r 5·8 (Ma l) . 7. Ken t Howerton 9-5 (Hu s). 8. Terry Clark 7· 7 (Hus ). 9. Ke nny Zahrt 6- 9 (ass) . 10. Gary Ch aPlin 8· 11 (Suzl. 1 1. Way ne Boyer 12-12 (B ul) . 12. A rlo Engl und 11·1 3 (Kaw). 13. R ex Staten 19- 14 H . D ) . 14. G ary Jones 13-21 ( A M X ). 15 . Sam evton 16-20 (S uz ). 16 . Ed win Moore 22-1 6 (M a l ) . 1 7. Joe Collin s 21-1 8 (B u l). 18. M i k e T w llord 20-1 9 (Bu l) . 19. Tommy Cro ft 17·23 (Ho nl. 20. Joh n Ayer s 31-1 0 (Mall. g 5 0 0cc S U PPORT: 1. Dav id Newswanger 1-2 ( Ma l ) . 2. Jim B o t h 2-3 ( Hus). 3. Jelt Prevost 6-4 (Kaw). 4. R on Heben 4-~. 5. John B ro mbeup! r 5· 8 (Mal ). 6 . K en net h Ad am s 14-1 (C Z) . 7. Mi ch ael Halp in 11 -1 0 (Su z) . 8. Jo h n ~o lly 7-15 . 9. De nn is Ed meston 10-13. 1 0. Dan ny W eir 13-11 I Bul ). 9

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