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/126054
'r . r J 1~ ... J, "~J)·li·)1 I J .J, .,; 125 National • se / By Jim Gianatsis KE YSER S RIDGE, MD.,JULY 4 The Bicentennial AMA 125cc National Championship .Mo t o cro ss at Appalachian Highlands Park saw Texan Steve Wise hold off Honda teammate Marty Smith on the last lap of the fmal mota' to snare the overall win with his Jimmy Strait tuned and Flying Machine Factory m od ifie d Elsinore. Team Suzuki's Billy "Sugar Bear" Grossi latched onto third for the day amid so me heavy racing that saw Series favorite Bob "Hurricane" Hannah DNF his first race of the season on his factory Yamaha, but still ' m ain t ain his Series poin ts lead. In the 250cc Support class, John Bunting from Dunbar, Pa., took his Maico to victory with a 2-1 m oto p lacing that edged out Penton 's Frank Stacy's 1-2 moto finishes for th e day. It was the 125cc National class that provided the exciting racing action. But perhaps half of the so me 3,000 fans who did turn out for the race, mistakenly scheduled for the Fo urth of July holiday weekend and not too well publicized, got to see all the racing action. After a well run 250cc National back in May, extreme dust and dangerous conditions at Appalachian Highlands Park this time prevented the first moto of the 125cc National class from getting off the line until 4 :30 in the afternoon. Around the pits, there was once again speculation by the various factory teams that privateer Mickey Boone was out to claim one of their bikes. He never did, but the obvious scare tactic saw most of the factory riders riding modified production bikes or using older works engines or p ro du ction engines in works bike frames . Only Honda's Marty Smith and Kawasaki's Mickey Kess ler were using prototype equipment of the latest design. The res ult was that man y of the other factory riders complained of being down on power to the h ighly modified production bikes entered by ri ders from companies like T&M , D&G, an d FMF . Mickey Boone . may never , claim a factory bike, bu t h e will have p roven some kind of poin t . Steve Wise too k the overall win wi th his FMF m od ified Elsinore, Ron T urner set fastes t lap time du rin g practice wi th his Ro cky William s tuned T&M Elsinore, and Broc Glover was the highest placing no n-fact ory supported rider with his D&G Ho nda prepared by his father. Ru mor has it that a t the nex t 125cc Nat ional the factories just migh t h ave to claim a few modi fied p roduction bi kes to stay Moto one: Wise sets the precedent It was late afternoon when the first National moto knocked down the starting gate, and Steve Wise pulled out his first of two holeshots as Broc Glover, Don "Killer" Kudalski, Bob Hannah, Ro n Turner, Warren Reid, Marty Smith and Billy Grossi gave chase, Bad luck in the form of a rock struck Suzuki's J eff Jennings, forcing him to pull off the track for a number of laps and drop way down in the standings, after Jeff had easily run off and won his qualifying moto earlier. Kudalski said, "I didn 't feel confident on the track's hard rocky surface," and he began to slack off his pace after the first few opening lap s to let Hannah by in to third place. A few laps later Bob was trying to get a line around Steve. III iii le( Z e( CI ::; ... "' a > III l- o iiiiiiil ~