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/126049
Jennings, Hannah & Boone shock 125 troops By Jim Gianatsis (Above) Marty Smith punues Bob Hannah to no avail. (Below) Don Kudalski leads the second moto with Bruce McDougal (17) & Jeff Jennings (364 keep ing pace . BUCHANAN, MICH., MAY 23 The shriek of Hangtown wailed its ยท way East, and with it Yamaha's Bob "Hurricane" Hannah made come from behind charges both motos against reigning National Champion Marty Smith to win both motos of the 125cc AMA National Motocross at Red Bud III III f- c( Z c( e ::;; , > III III o fo J: Q. Track & Trail in Buchanan, Michigan. Fierce racing developed in each moto as Smith experienced mechanical problems with his usually reliable works Honda and Hannah increased his lead in the Championship point standings with four wins for four starts. Suzuki's Billy "Sugar Bear" Grossi came out of the battle with second overall for the day ahead of Steve Wise on a Team Honda supported FMF Elsinore. Action in the pits after the race proved to be just as exciting as on the trac k as independen t Mickey Boone claimed Hannah's winning prototype multi-thousand dollar watercooled works Yamaha for the $2,000 claiming price as stipu la ted in . the AMA rulebook, It was the first time in the history of .AMA motocross that someone had tried to claim one of the exotic factory bikes as u sed by the J apan ese teams . In t he 500cc Support Class local rider Bob Rutter once again had the Red Bud hill course dia led in to take his Bultaco to a repeat victory of his Trans-AMA Support Class win last fall. Strong rides were pu t in by Bruce Kah lham er on a CCl\! and Rick Walsworth on a Penton during the day , but in the final standings it was John Kelly who took his Yamaha to second overall , and David Ellis on another Yamaha capturing third. First Mota The ear piercing scream of high reving two-strokes shattered the air as the gate dropped and the field exploded forward into turn one, then funneled down for the tight o ne-line mudhole at turn two. Someone fell, and a number of riders went down with him, including Hannah, Grossi, Kessler, Kudalski and Hart. Hannah was one of the last to get running again from back in 38th place. Tim ' Hart was forced to retire his Can Am for the day with bent forks. Up front , Suzuki's new factory rider for the l25cc class, Jeff Jennings was running away with the race on a stock RM machine. Unable to qualify at Hangtown because of AMA error, Jennings was now in full co m mand as he built up a to-second lead on Bruce McDougal, Broc Glover, John Savitski, Warren Reid, Marty Smith and Ron Turner after just five laps. With Jennings almost out of sight on the challenging Red Bud co urse that had riders stomping their gearboxes like crazy for the h ills, th e race became a 6-way battle for second p lace, Though he had lost his clutch o n the third lap , Marty Smith was slowly wo rki ng his way up towards McDougal in second . Moving faster though , was Han nah. The race was hardly half over as he pulled up behind Marty and the two of them worked their way around McDougal's T & l\! bi ke, People began placing bets if they could ca tc h up with J enn ings who was now 30 seconds ahead, but before they even had a