Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Rhinestone ropes 'em again I I > iJJ II: o ::; III iJJ oJ II: « J: u > III III o ... o J: 0. 'o ve ) Gaylon Mosier on the gas. (Facing page) Kent Howerton rrounde d by Hannah's sprocket, Tony O:s crash and Billy The Bear. Howerton guided his Eric rlppa tuned factory Husqvama o his second overall victory in as any events in the AMA 500cc ational MX Series, styling all the ay. The re wo rked Lake Su gar ree circ uit len t itself to Howern's "oid style motocross" antics oviding th e Rhinestone Cowboy wit h en ty of jumps an d berms to use as nch pads for his berserko-lookingt-controlled cross-ups and wheelies. e day marked a refreshing return to werton 's playful riding style which 'd been neg lecting in favor of a .ous down to earth attempt to ride tit the top runners. "Yeah, I thin k we've got the b ike tty well " R&Ded '." Eri c Crippa eti ously qu ipped, pokin g fu n at the earch and dev elopment term used Iier in Cycle News . " We're gonna op it off th at cliff (beh ind the mo tel ) check th e suspension." The cliff test uldo't have an y tougher way to try e Fox Shox and Husky forks than day 's two 45 minute motos, wever, as Ken t scared the bi ke arou nd track alway s und er pressure from ers anxious to be tter th eir Natio nal in t standings positions. rst mota An uninitia ted spe ctator might have essed that he was watching a e-minute sprint instead o f a full gth moto ju dging by the fu rious ing th at filled the opening laps of the st 500cc Nat ional round. The ding, heavily berrned course sented a p assing problem according rider co m me nts, and everyone med determined to a ttain an ear ly Pierre Karsmakers co mpleted the first tailed closel y by Bob Hannah, Tony Stefano, Rick Burgett and Gary mics, Howerton had gotten off a split ond behind but wa s charg ing along in olid eighth pl ace. On th e secon d lap , Rick Burgett, king as pumped as he's ever be en, rtook b oth T ony D. and Hurricane nah p ositioning himself for a shot at rr e' s Hon da. Tony D. also got around a's .ex -BMX star (Han nali) and fell in be hind the stoc ky Burge tt. In th e nex t two minutes, Rick closed on the leader, th en pas sed to take the lead on the fourth lap ! But Burgett 's turn at the helm ended less than a minute later when he stalled the factory Yamaha allowing both Karsmak ers and DiStefano to rep ass. At the en d of lap five , still only ten minutes into the long moto, DiStefano took the wide 'lin e as he and Pierre approached the finish line. The turn, one of the best chances to pass on the en tire track was to see a lot of acti on before the d ay would end. As The D. cut back in , th eir wheels hi t and Pierre wen t down. And Burgett, only seconds behind DiStefano, passed as the Dutchman got up before Pierre got going, both Hannah and his sh adow Ken t Howerton also got past. Although he wasn 't able t o ride a t peak capability, Karsmakers reclaimed th ird place .before an other lap had been completed. At that point, lap six, the top five ran within an eight second bracket. And Burge tt was closi n g to push DiStefano for th e lead . As th e pair crested a hill, · T on y took the wide line as his approach to the left-hander at th e top. Rick chose the inside lin e, and as he rocketed off the h illtop, Tony cro ssed his mid-air path. " I lan ded right on h im !" Rick stated, "He came in right in front of me ." " It spi t me right over th e bars! " T ony recalled , "I thought with The Jammer gone , it would be all righ t. I was really _ relaxed, then I got smashed." Th e impact pretzeled the Suzuki's left shock, bent the Yamah a's bars and stunned both riders, but both remounted. Amazingly , only three riders, Karsmakers, Hannah and Howerton , had passed. But Gary Semics an d Gay lo n Mosier h ad closed and a tight fourso me formed. Burgett was ab le to hold th e p ace; it was still only 15 minutes in to th e moto , but DiStefano was riding wi th a rigid rear suspension and starte d to fade immediately. By th e end o f the eigh th lap Burgett, Mosier and Semics ran in fourth, fifth an d six th as The ~. struggled ~ ho ld a distant seven th o The cri pp led Su zuki even tu ally dragged DiStefano down t o a 12th place in th e moto. Near the 20 -25 minute point , after a lon g strong push , Kent Howert on overtook a tiring Bob Hannah fo r second. A problem with th e mon o sh ock fading, as it had the previous weekend a t Southwic k, had been improved but n ot co mpletely cu red , and Hurricane Han n ah was ru nning out o f wind. Hannah was for ced ou t shortly thereafter. As he leaned the DW26 into a berm , the re ar sprocket hit a firmly im be d ded ro ck breaking th e ch ain and de stroy ing the allo y sprocket. The freak incident co st the Team Yamaha rider all hope of an overall top placing. Howerton steadily closed the gap on Karsmakers during the next five minutes, put the pressure on, and f"mally pass ed at ap proximat ely the 30 minute mark. Ga ylon Mosier, riding for Team Maico with a little help from his friends at Wheel smith, had settled the three-way argument with Burgett and Sernics and moved in to third place. Semics main tained a secure fourth p lace over Burgett. The long and tiring moto ended with Howerton takin g the win over Karsmakers, Mosier, Semics and Burge tt. Howerton 's react ion ? No celebration, ye t. " I've gotta get a better start next time ," Ken t vo wed. Second mota A p ile up on the hairy Lake Sugar Tree firs t turn took out four riders as Rich Eierstedt started the chain rea ction domino effect that also put Tony DiSte fano , Gary Chaplin and DeWitt Knox on the ground. Tony D., seemin gly the only rider hurt in the ' tumble, was stunned but eventually regrouped and got rolling again, almost a lap down. " I really wanted to do good in the 500cc series," Tony lamented, but being taken out in both motos was more than he could overcome. Bob Hannah had avoided the first turn wipe out and held down th e top sp ot on the opening lap . Ken t Howerton, true 'to his word, had gotten off qui cker th is time and was giving Hannah something to th ink about in second place . Follo win g Howerton were J oe Gretchen, Steve Stackable and Wayn e Boyer. Mosier was ninth ; Kars makers was lIth . Sern ics was bac k in 14th. This time, the action looked morelike motocross as riders seemed content to p ace their strategy for the long moto, Mosier, perhaps , was the one exception. Gay lon p icked up two places on the first lap , two more on the second, and on lap three moved into fourth place . " I like the 400cc bikes better than th e 25 0, " Mosier com men ted later, "The pe op le at WheeIsmi th have helped a lot with the Maic o," Ten minutes into the race, Howerton still follo wed Hannah , both riders ap parently pacing themselves for a sp ring later on. Still, their steady tempo had ' put a seven second space be twe en them and St eve Stackable wh o in tu rn held a te n second advan tage over Mosier. In fifth , Billy Grossi was p utting in a good ride ahead of Bultaco 's Wayne Boyer. On ce, near the ' 15-20 min ute ma rk, How erton closed on Hannah and passed to hold the lead u ntil near th e 30 minute p o int. Th en Hannah re pass ed an d Ken t, knowing th at he didn 't need to beat Han nah for the overall win , seemed co n tent with secon d. narrowed th e gap on Mosier Stackable 's Suz uki, bu t when it en ded, th e order stayed the same : Han n ah, Howerton, St ack abl e an d Mosier. Billy Gr ossi to o k fifth an d Gary Sernics trailed in fo r a sixth. Fo llowing Howerton 's d ominan t 1-2 sco re, it was Mosier's steady 3-4 placings th at earned second. Lack of consistency dr opped Karsma kers' second placing in the first m o to to th ird overall with his second ro und seventh. Gary Sernics took fourth with a 4-6 and Billy Gro ssi rounded o u th e top five with a 6-5. An ticip ation of a works bike being claime d almost overshadowed the actual racing this week. Several factory teams seemed convinced that one of th eir machines would go up on the block; one team even went as far as to load up their bikes inst an tly afte r the final moto an d leave any wo uld-be claimee in a "you bought it, now let's see y ou get it" situation. For a half hour following th e race, the AMA · refe ree . Ron Denny entourage of team ho sted an ,represen ta tives, each holdin g an envelope wi th claiming papers and chec k, ready to post cou n terclaims if n ecessary. The opportunity never cam e. No claims were made, and at th e second the referee's watch called a close to the claiming period. the group dispersed. ~ II: III • III e Ei 10;1 ~ r-- 0"\ ..... ~ C'l C'l QJ I: ~ l---) 250cc Support Three factory supported riders crowned the Support class standings at Lake SugarTree, Mickey Kessler, one 'of Kawasaki's newest recruits, staged a perfectly executed I-I victory. Backing . Kessler's effort was Kawasaki tuner Steve Johnson, Jimmy Weinert's main man. With backing like that Mickey . didn't dare to lose . Giving Kessler something to worry about was Team Honda's Don Kudalski. " Killer" Kudalski, supporting start in the TV ' ver sion of the Daytona Supercross, bumped elbows with Kessler in the first moto before he fell and dropped to third behind Te am Yamaha's Danny Turner. The second moto went to Kessler after some high pressure second place ridin g from Kudalsk.i. Don to ok the lead at approximately th e halfway point when Mickey went over a berm, but Kessler repassed only two laps from the finish to take the 1·1 overall victory. The intensely co mp eti tive Support class, playing accompaniment t o the National, made the Lake Sugar Tree event one of the hottest on record. • Results 500ce NAT IONAL: 1. Kent Howerton 1.2 (Hus) . 2 . Gaylon Mosler 3-4 (Mal) . 3. Plerre Karsm.lkws 2~7 (Hon). 4 . Gary $emlcs 4-6 lKaw). 5. Billy Grossi 6·5 ISuz). 6. Ste.e Staekable 13-3 tsue). 7. Tommy Croft 9-9 IHon). 8. Rick BUl'll"tt 5-13 (VarnI. 9. Mickey 900n. 11-8 (Suz). 10 . Way ne Boyar 7·t2 IBul). 11. John Aye rs 10-10 (Ma l ). 12. Gary Chaplin 8-15 (S uz) . 13. BOb . Harris 15-16 ICZ I. ' 14. Frank Sta cy 16-1 9 (Pon). 15 . Francis Summey 25..11 (Suz). 16 . Jim Bo th 19-17 (Hus). 17. Mike Lonz 17·20. 18. Tony DIStefano 12· 2 6 IS uz ). 19. Bob Hannah 40-1 (V a m ). 20. T e rry Tucker 20-21 (Vam). 250cc S U PP OR T : 1. Mickey Kessler 1·1 ( Ka w ). 2. Don Ku dalskl 3..2 (Hon). 3. Da n Turner 2-4 (Yam) . 4. Sam Dayton 4-3 (Suz) . 5 . Donny Swartz 7-5 (Suz). 6. Arthur McCord 6-6ISUZ). 7. William Klein 8-9 (Vam). 8. Oran Wol e 1...8 (Yam). 9. Gary Duncan 14-10 (Kaw). 10 . Curtis Hammons 13 ·11 (Hus) . UNOFFICIAL 500co NAT'L POINT STANDINGS: 1. Kent Howerton 94; 2. Bob Hannah 7 2. 3 . Gaylon MoSier 64; 4. Gary Sem lcs 57; 5. S teve Stackab le 53 ; 6 . Pierre Karsmakers 49; 7 . Tony D iStefano 43 ; 8. Billy Grossi 42; 8 . John Ayers 42 ; 10 . Rick Burgett 38. 13

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