Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

;SOON III • ~ " Pierre perseveres at St. Pet rs t By Charles Morey ST. PETERS, MO.,JULY 18 In the final three laps of the first:" 500cc National moto, Pierre Karsmakers closed the gap between his RC400 works Honda and Bob Hannah's leading OW26 factory Yamaha on the Cycle World USA course to start his aftern oon off right with a moto win. "I had to," was Pierre's short but suffcient explanation. "It gives me three more points," he added with a shrug, referring to the series standings which, after two rounds, placed h im in sixth. Pierre's fast-paced performance on the St. Peters' course was excelled only by .hi s speedy exit from the event to catch his flight back to California. The 1-4 set of motos added a respectable 43 points to his former 49 point series score and boosted Team Honda's senior member up t wo sp ots into fourth for the year. With three races down and four to go , Pierre co u ld still co nc eivably salvage a series victory, but only if leader Kent Howerton's lu ck sours. As it stands now, Kent has a 27 point advantage on the second place holder. Kawasaki's Gary Semics who has accumulated a . 103 point total. But third place is very closely contested with three riders, Bob Hannah (94), Pierre Karsmakers (92) and Steve Stackable (91) sharing a three-point span. It may all come down to a repeat of last year's final round series decider in Louisiana. "Pepe" picks up some po ints 8. Pierre started scrapping even before the two minute sign went up, choosing a starting spot on the far inside next to series leader Kent Howerton , a location that put him in an apparent advantage but unfortunately outside the end of the gate. He was asked to m ove. "He wanted m e to m ove over," Kent said afterwards, "but I was there firs t so he started nex t to me on the other side." It was a move that Kent regretted; whe n the gate dropped, Karsmake rs and the re st of the field squeezed to the inside forcing Kent to accelerate down the starting straight on top of the row of car tires that lined the track! It was a temporary hold up that hdd Kent to sixth place at the end of lap one, but Pierre had done far worse, completing the opening lap in a distant 13 th position. Yamaha's outstanding rookie Bob Hannah held the lead and had every appearance of being on the way to comp leting his "grand slam" of becoming the only rider ever to win a National motocross in all three displacemen t classes. Following Hannah with strong intentions of passing was Gary Sernics who in turn held off Brad Lackey, Gary Ogden, Gaylon Mosier and Kent Howerton. Steve Stackable was eighth ahead of Rich Eierstedt ; Pierre was 13th; Tony DiStefano and Billy Grossi were back even farther in 15th and 16th. . By the end of the second lap, as the top six remained un changed, Eiersted t had picked up two places, moving into seventh, and Tony D. had charged up to eighth right behind him. Lap three saw Howerton gas it up past Gay Ion Mosier and Gary Ogden into fourth as DiStefano overtook Eierstedt, DiStefano became the first DN F casualty when the 370 Suzuki seized on the next lap. New equipment - his other bike had not gotten back from the British GP Still less than ten minutes into the race, Team Husqvarna suffered two major setbacks as Bad Brad Lackey dropped out and Kent Howerton dropped back to seventh place. Lackey's bike had, as he described it, "minor flywheel key problems." The ignition flywheel had spun on the shaft bringing the big Husky to an abrupt halt. Howerton had ben t his brake pedal back under the fo otpeg on the opening lap Pierre al l the while had been blasting his way t hrough the mesh of r iders that separated him from the front spot. After La ckey an d Howerton had their problems, Pierre was fifth and fighting for fourth. He took it from Ogden on the next lap , then began app lying pressure to Mosier. Howerton pulled in behind Karsmakers and followed him through lapped riders toward the front. (Above left) Pierre Karsmakers moved to founh in the standings. (Abo ve) Rich Eierstedt p Both Pierre and Kent worked past Gaylon near the 20 ·25 minute mark taking possession of second and third places as Gary Semics fell back to mid-pack. Steve Stackable moved into his final finishing position near the 30-35 minute point, overtaking Mosier for fourth. Kent Howerton held his solid third place, but Hannah, after leading the entire mota; was having problems. Not only was Pierre thinking seriously about giving the Yamaha rider a run for the money, but the OW26 was experiencing ignition problems. "Pierre was really gassin Bob said after the mota, then added about his bike, "One hill that I had been taking in fourth gear, 1 could only . go up in second!" Pierre passed Bob on a long, jump punctuated straightaway for the win. Hannah, Howerton, Stackable and Mosier wrapped up the top five . t " The D. returns; Pierre hangs in H on d a' s Rich Eie rstedt put a red-streak holeshot on 'em at the start of round two, bu t once again, Bra d Lackey and Gary Semics filled the next two slots - this time in revers e order an d made it obvious that Rich would no t · enjoy any kind of runaway. Following- them, Tony DiSt ef an o was agai n organizing a strong rush for the fron t, and he was ho tl y pursued by Bob Hannah, Kent Hower t o n, Mike Gillman, Terry Clark and Steve Stackable, By the end of the lap one, Bad Brad was out front and smokin'. Eierstedt held onto second but The D was closing, having already assed Scmics. HI wanted a m o t o win!" DiStefano had said following his fir st round DNF, and he was quite obviously not planning . to wait until the final laps to make his move. Tony reeled in Rich Eierstedt, taking over second place on the second lap and moved in behind Lackey. . Pierre had started slowly again this time in 12th. He worked up two places by the end of the second lap while a close four-way race for second shaped up. Eierstedt still held on but Sernics was only a few feet from his tail. Gary was also under pressure from Hannah and Howerton, And keeping pace only a few bike lengths back was Suzuki's Steve Stackable who had intentions of backing up his first round fourth placing with either the same or it better showing. DiStefano pushed Lackey as Sernics then Hannah and Stackable moved ahead of Eierstedt, Howerton had fallen back. "I h it Hannah's rear wheel and highsided," Kent explained afterwards. "It really knocked the wind out of me. " The har d crash also broke the Husky's Magura th ro t tl e ca ble adjustment collar, and the flopping part caused the t hrottle- to han g open repeated ly t hroughout the mo t a . Ken t t rie d to make it work, but after it finally stuck over a j ump an d flipped ri der and b ike over backwards, he just p ut it in high gear and rode around for the rest o f the race, still finishing seventh for a 3·7 fourth overall. On the fourth lap, Tony D. su ddenly found himself in the lead as Lackey's bike die

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