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/126057
; • • ~ E Evans; They' sounded nne but didn't dress in a tux or do the hop. Luckily road ra cer Steve McLaughlin wore the tux and added mirrored sunglasses. To a night ra ce ? Stevie was kept hopping to insure that every th ing went smoothly ~ from ge tting ca mp tickets to hangers-on to m aking su re th at Am erica 's premier _ rnotocrossers too k their hats off during the National Anthem. Also missing from action was J apanese ace Yoshifurni " Sugio who crashe d his Yamaha hard in practice hit t ing his ches t o n the crossbar. Su gio developed an irre gu lar heartbeat and was rushed to th e hospital for observation. Yamaha co u ld have used a hurricane by the name o f Hannah to co me and blow the house down. But Yamaha is not t alking to promoter Mike Goodwin, nor is Goodwin talking to Yamaha. Their lawyers do their talking in court. Thus this year's superstar elected to do his riding in the upcoming 125 Nation als. The story on Joel Robert sounds like a fish tale. Joel couldn't get a release from his federation (the Belgian version of the AMA) be cause .t he federation prez went fishing, When they found h im in knee waders and flies it was too late, cuz Joel had go ne fishing. Head of the department In the missing but not gone departmen t we have the chain on Rich Eierstedt 's Honda. It stepped off going up the uphill and Rich rolled into the " st ands. Eiersted t came back to win the next two motas and clin ch th e super series support class standings, bu t not the Superbowl. In the missing and gone department was second gear on John Savitski's Suzuki. John had driv en a ll th e way from th e East to ride and lost se cond . gear on th e third lap. J ohn kept on riding b ecause he an d. mechan ic Bevo Forte needed the last pl ace 250 money to get bac k home. In t he miss in g but never reall y there an yway depart me nt were th e brakes on Kenny Zahrt 's Maico. Zah rt hung in th er e an yw ay to ta ke third o verall in the 500 Support class in on e o f his first rid es o n a big bike. Another first was Team Su zuki's Bob Elliott who took second in th e'500 Support cl ass in his first ever ni ght ra ce. Down at the infirmary Indoor races have a high injury rate and th e Superbowl was no exception as 500 National Championship poin ts lea de r Ken t Ho wer to n crashe d at the bo ttom o f th e u phill an d was run over by J immy Weinert. A foo tpeg ca ug ht his sho ulder an d a 4 .6 0 knobby ra ked his back. Texan How erton was only 14 points behind Weinert fo r th e series over all , but had to park his Husky for th e next two motos. Pierre Karsmakers ' fin ished second overall with a 2-4-3 in th e 250 clas s, but in th e last mo ta wh ile leading he new up the peristyle jump, and as the crowd waited he didn't come back down. " It was too dark," Pierre said, "1 co uld not see and cra shed into one of those barrels. They are filled with cement." The 55 gallon plastic barrels were filled with water, but it was hard water as Karsmakers right wrist was swollen and bruised from the co n tact. And something blue Old and new Superbowl stars were in abundance as Marty Tripes, former two-time winner, could never get going on his DG Yamaha. Perhaps the newest star was 500 Support class winner Pat Rich ter. "I've been racing . eigh t years, and I hope to make it this year, " said Pat. Richter took his snow while 400 KTM to three strong mota finishes that ran the gamut from holeshots to coming from behind. In pursuit of Richter for the Superbowl Support class title was a 16 year old shooting star named Jeff Jennings. Fo r those fans who live vicariously through the riders, Jennings rooters were in for a heart attack. The