Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Above) Broc Glover demolished the National field in the first .moto with a 20 S!!cond lead. (Insets) Winner La Porte. Glover and Marty Smith. By Jody Weisel HOUSTON, TX., A UG . 2 2 F rom all the smiling faces jostling and shaking hands in the wilting T exas heat it was hard to tell wh o won if you hadn 't been paying close atten tio n. In the Suzuki pits th e me chanics were beaming for Team Suzuki rider Dan n y LaPorte wh o had won the first 125 National of his and Suzuki's career. Over at the DG pit area all the attention was focused on Broc Glover who had su d denly, in the span o f t hree sh ort weeks', becom e a National p ower on his California bu ilt DG racer. The broade st gri ns we re rese rved for Yamaha's Bob Hurri cane Han nah, who fo r t he next year a t least will b e known as 125 Na ti onal Champ ion Bob Hannah . Hannah had co me to Hou ston 's Rio Bravo Motocross Park with a large lead ove r two- ti me Champion Ma rty Smith and Hannah's -Us~ ~~ i o ~tre!~h th at lead into an uncatchable ~ argin. H~Ow~ : ;"5 t~~ti.? jus t that and vowed to " sh o w - the people wh at I can really do next we ek in New Orl eans. " For Hannah it was a tactic race, but for Marty Smith it was the whole ball game. Honda had brought out the Type 2 Honda and said, " Dam n the claims, full speed ahead!" Marty gave it his best, but two miserable back of the ·p ack starts ended his mathematical chances early in the day. In 250 Support class action th e scoring became such a mess that protests are still flying through the air. First mota - Brae who? San Angelo, Texas ' Mel Newman grabbed the holeshot into the slightly off camber first tum with Texas local Louis Presley, Radical ROJ} Turner, ~~c I Glover and Danny LaPorte in pursuit. year in New Orleans. " I' m going to ri de Bob Hannah rolled off the line in 16th, a safe, steady race and try not to get while Marty Smith lay back in 25th knocked off," said Bob before the start. place. Newman's home state advantage Marty had no choice but to go for the lasted two laps and was demolished by win, but this was definitely not his day. hard charging Broc Glover. The Texas Off the line Hannah was 13th and Smith moto-fans had never heard of Glover was 19th. By the halfway point Hannah before, bu t as the moto progressed Broc was lackadasically in fifth with Marty Glover's name could have taken on on his tail. On th e ba ck straight-away Lone Star state folk herodom, except Hannah m oved o ver and waved Marty fo r an accident of birth; Glover is a o n by . Cal ifornian. As easily as Glo ver passed "I didn 't want t o ta ke a chance o n Ne wman he pulled aw ay to a 23 second gett ing invo lved in a race wh ere o ne of lead an maintained , it to the end . us mi gh t get knocked down," said Bob, It was now a race to see who could "So I waved him pas t. " To Hannah's ea t the DG riders d ust. Suzuki teamster surprise Smith slowed down and angily Danny LaP o rte dispatched Ne wm an , gestu red for Hannah to race. wh o threw a chain, an d Presl ey. With "He p ulle d over to let m e by," sai d Kaw asak i factory rider Mickey Kessler Marry later, " I was going to p ass him on his tail, the race for ru nner-up began. an yway, but it was n't goi ng to be that Kessler and the green machine pressu red way. \ V came to race." e fo r the first half of the mot o, but when Smith we nt by a lap later ' to m ove Han nah and Steve Wise suddenly into fo urth place; while Yamaha appeared on his rear kn ob by Kessler mechanic Bill Buchka p ac ed Han nah into began to tire. Ha nnah p assed Kessler ' in a safe , secure fifth place an d the a sweeping hairpin bo wl an d Wise us ed Natio nal Championship. For Hannah it his FM F h orse power advantage to was too impor tant to risk go ing all o ut. mot or the Kawasak i to de ath d own the lie ap ol ogiz ed later for goi ng so slow straig hts. and promised th at in New Orlean s h e ;:r- -Th-= - ~e Quickly spread ou t with wo uld show eve ry o n e wha t h e could do. Glover 23 sec~~ds 'ie!~ ·o f H4.-:. h an ~ ~ -fl ;th.__the r ace for the Natio nal Wise who were 20 seco n ds cili--eaa \if ·~ " r _·-W ChampiOii;h~· oeirig t::~yed o~t in a low ti ghtly bunched pack of riders that key manner away from- tflc 'rrc5 ! ~~~ _, included Marty Sm ith, Warren Reid, Ron Turner and Mickey Kessler.· With • ' of the atten ti on focused on three other riders; Steve Wise, Danny LaPorte and two laps to go there were few changes Broc Glover. expected until Ron Turner's front wheel spun crazily off his seventh place Suzuki Wise took . the lead from the start spinning Turner from th e 'top ten in the followed by LaPorte and Glover. In the race to the top ten in the luck span of four laps Glover passed LaPorte, department. He was uninjured. LaPorte. re-passed Gl over and slipped past Wise in a tight right hander. The Mota two - One race with Su zuki factory rider and two two winners! mini-factory riders cleared away fro m the pack and sprinted for 45 minutes. Hannah knew th at all he needed in Glover was worried ab out burning up the final moto was a seventh place; or his energy and began to pace himself for b etter. If he could finish in the top the finish, LaPorte and Wise are in a seven Smith would have no chan ce of catching him in the final National of the _ nec~ _ d neck battle for third place in ap the N ati onal standings and they decided not to p ace themselves at all. Wise's FMF Honda wa s faster down t he straigh ts and LaPorte had a handling advan ta ge in th e rough stuff on his works Suzuki, For the full moto they each gave away their particular disadvantage and tried t o capitalize on the other guys. With two laps to go the margin narrowed to a bike length, but Wise suddenly slo wed. LaPorte p icked up the b reaknec k p ace up on t he last lap to win his firs t . Na t ion al Champ ionship event with a 2- 1 score; Wise finished second o n a flat r ear ti re, bu t ha d to settl e for third ov erall behind Brae Glover's e xcellent 1-3_p erforrnan ce. The Hannah-Smith duo came acr oss fo urth and fifth. ' UpS and downs, smiles and frowns! There we re n o claims made on any of the factory eq uip ment. J e ff Jennings suffered tom ligaments in his foo t that m ay ke ep hi m ou t of New, Or leans, Hannah qu ickly asserted t h at h e will ride the 12 5 class in Ne w' Orleans, becau se he d oes not want t o interfere with the battle for t he 500 Nation al Championship. In doing so he is givin g up an y chance of wi nning t he triple crow n (125, 250, and 500 Na tio nals .] Billy Grossi has decided not to race again until Trans-AMA. Two out of the Let:- thr~e ,Iide rs (Glover and Wise ) were pnvate crs- UU ~ ~-cillnei:~"":¥~!1e can_buy. Results 125 2·1. 2. (Hon) Marty NATIONAL : 1. Danny La Porte (Suz) Broc G lover COG) 1-3. 3. Steve W ise 4·2. 4. Bob Hannah (Vam) 3-5. 5. Smith (Hon) 5-4. 6.. M ickey Kessler (Kaw) 7 ·6. 7 : Warren Re id (Han) 6 ·7. 8 . A rl o Englund (H Us) 100a. 9. Glen Urquhart ( Y am ) 11·10. . 10. Barry , Duncan (Hon) 13-9. 11 . Dave Glenn (Ho" n) 16-13. 12 . banny We ir (Hon) 17·14. 13. Gene McCay (Vam). 18·16. 14. Mike Jon es (Han) 8·16. IS. Dave Boles (Han) 10·15. 16. Me l Newman (Suz) 14-21. 17 . Dav id Dan iel (Hon) 2 1· 17 . 18. arn Joyce (Hon) 12 ·27. 19. Jimmy Martin (Hon) 15·25. 20. Bo Koch (Hon ) 19·23. UNOFFICIAL 2 5 0 SUPPORT , 1. Kurt Jani sh (S uz ) 2-5. 2 . Greg T h eiss (Suz) 1-7 . 3. Ke ith Du ffy (Pen) 9--1. 4. Roger Brown (C-A) 5·6-5. James TJdweli (Hus) . 3-10. 7

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