Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Left) Gary Semics wins two in a row with Howerton (3) and DiStefano (6) second and third. (Above) Semics takes the holeshot. By Charles Morey ST . PETERSBURG , FLA., AUG . 22 Displaying the tactics, stamina and mental awareness of an Olympic long distance runner, Team Kawasaki's Gary _ Semics rode to a co mmanding 1-1' victory at Sunshine Mo tocross Speed way's AMA 500cc Nati onal ' MX. Heat, .the cho ppy Florida track and heavy co mpe tit io n from th e be st motocro ss riders in the U.S. presented a fo rm ida ble barrier for the second p lace rider in the 50 0cc st an din gs, but when it was over , Gary had charged his Rick J one s tuned fact ory Kaw to wi th in six points o f series leader Team H usqv arna 's Kent Howerton. "I've even been dreaming about it ," Ho werton had confided earlier in response to the question of how Semics' late season attack has put the pressure bn, A n early leader with important wins in the opening events, Kent had first established a substantial points lead, then watched it be whittled away as Gary "dialed in " while Kent was pl agued by such poin ts robbers as a thrown ch ain and a b roken throttle cable ad juster. The wh ole season all comes down to n ext Sunday's final event near New Orleans. Twenty-five points are award ed for a moto win , so the six point spread o ffe rs n either rider an y m argin for error or bad lu ck. As Kaw asaki Team Manager Tim Smith said to Gary with that mischievous smile of his that doesn 't let you know whether or not he '. really serious, "All yo u have to do is win two more motos, " They're the ' biggest two' of the year, perhaps th e biggest two of either Semics' or Howerton's careers. It all comes down to a sultry a ft ernoon in Louisiana wh ere if Gary wins both and Kent scores a 2·2, the points will be tied bu t Gary c an take the number one plate by virtue of more moto wins. If Gary finishes 2·2 and Kent 3-3 ,'or an y other combination where Sernics tops Howerton by only a single position, Kent will kee p his lead. And if either makes a single mistake or if a single part of either machine calls it quits, it's all o ver. Moto one The duel for Number One sta rte d at the gate as the 4 5 500cc class riders chose their places. Gary and Kent both opted for middle of the line slo ts , positionin g themselves on opposite sides of the gate release lever. The lever twitched, bot h dumped the clu tche s, an d they hi t turn one side by side . ' The , lim e gr een Kawasaki h ad th e edge by less than a split second as the - series leaders showed the 43 others ho w a holeshot works. Ti ght o n Howerton 's tail was Hus ky 's Charlie Sun and Bad Brad La ckey , Honda 's Rich Eierstedt and To mmy Croft , and Yamaha's Rick Burgett as the p ack completed th e firs t lap in the 45 minute race. Lackey wasted no time in attach ing ' himself to Sun 's rear wh eel , pushing hard trying to get by . Eie rstedt drop p ed back just out of the top ten, apparen tly 'du e to a not-too-serious get-o ff. Near the ten minute mark, Semics held a short but relatively low pressure lead on Howerton. Lackey had worked h is way past Sun, and Ricky Burgett was pushing up toward the frontrunners from his seventh place start leading a ti ghtly-knit foursome that included Tommy Croft, Steve Stackable and Jimmy Weinert. A few seconds back, Rich E ierstedt was recovering with Pierre Karsmakers right behind him. Burgett had just overtaken Charlie Sun for fourth place when, as he was braking and leaning the Yamaha over for a tight right hand turn, h is foot (st ill on the brake pedal) go t trapped under the bike. Unable to use the foot for an outrigger wh en the 'tires slipped out, he fell then restarted several positions back. Brad Lackey reeled in H usky teammate Kent Howerton and passed to take control of second place near the 12 minute point, then closed the margin on Semics and began trying to we ar Gary down still only 15 minutes into the moto. As Lackey pressured, ba cked off, then pressured harder during th e ne xt ten minutes, Howerton followed .still w ithin striking distance. Behind Kent, T om my Croft p aced himself in th ird. Stev e S tackable was trying to quell Pierre Karsmakers' rush for th e front, and did so briefly , bu t Pierre was wired and wanting to win. He got p ast an d continued to climb steadily upward. Jimmy Weinert dropped out near the 25 minute mark when the facto ry Kaw asaki shed its pipe. As the cl oc k approached the half hour point, Sernics held a four second le ad o ver Lackey. Howerton w as nine se conds behind Brad, and Pierre had hustled up into fourth plac e app ro ximately 15 seconds b ack. Two laps later, as Gary Sern ics slowed to avoid th e crowd that had gathered around Wayne Boyers' frightening crash, Lacke y picked up ground an d then got past into th e lead. Bo yer, knocked out in the fall and taken in for Xsrays, was not seriously injured according to late afternoon reports from Eq uipo Bultaco. T on y DiStefano was making a long h ard drive' upward from last place crash/start, riding in the top end after a half h our of figh ting traffic. Just short o f th e two lap signal Gary Semics st epped up his p ace and rep assed Lackey .o n a wide swe ep er to again assume co mman d of the lead. In the laps that followed , Brad seemed to slow, apparen tl y t ired, until Kent caught up with his Husk y te ammate. Then Brad wa ved him by in t o second. All the while Pierre was cl osin g, but as he app roac he d , Lackey found more energy and was able to hold third place at the finish lin e. Semics soared across still firmly in front as a tightening trio of Howerton, Lackey and Karsmakers followed, in second through fourth. "One more lap ," Pierre said afterwards "and I'd have had second place. The y (Kent and Brad) were both tired." ill wa s gettin' tired," Kent admitted, " t h is track is my worst one - I just can't hit those sand whoops right - and the heat!" In the final laps, riding with a shock accu m ulato r missing, Tony D. dialed in Steve Stackable and Tommy Croft to wr ap up his recovery ride with a fifth place. Following the D. were Croft, Stack and ~erst edt. Moto two The top two - Howerton and Semics - lined up side by side again, bu t this time Kent didn't ge t off as quickly letting Gary pull his second holeshot of the day with Cali fornian Gary Ogden, Tony D., KTM 's Pat Richter and Tommy Croft in pursuit. Kent started sixth, right behind Croft. At the end of the lust lap , the top three (Sem ics, Ogden and DiStefano) were -tightly bunched. Richter followed with Croft and Howerton a couple bike lengths back. Lackey was right on Kent's tail and moving fast. By the time lap two was completed, DiStefano had gotten around Ogden and, wa s breathing down Semics' neck. Lackey had blasted up in to fourth with Croft , Howerton and Karsmakers close behind. Bad Brad was flying, and on the next time around he zapped Ogden for third. _ On th e sixth lap, approximately 12 minutes into th e moto, Tony D. overtook Gary Semics to lead the race. It looked like it might stick - the D. was moving fast and was obviously looking fo r a moto win. Gary settled back to pace himself, five seconds behind the leader and cruised steadily. Meanwhile, Jimmy Weinert wasn't doing any cruising. The Jammer, riding in sixth as DiStefano took the lead, gassed it up on the next lap passing Howerton, then Croft to move into fourth . Still pushing hard, Weinert ca ught up with Lackey near the 20 minute mark an d both he and Kent Howerton wo rked past Brad a half lap later. Lackey appeared to be very tired and hurting from the relentless Florida sun and humidity . 1 could, near " I set as fast a p ace the beginning, paced m yself, then charged near t he end. " Gary Semics said when it was over. That " charge ne ar th e end" part saw ~ary step up his pace three laps from th e ch eckered flag, pass Tony D., and pull away as the D. ti re d and fighting with a non-fun ctioning rear shock, sett le d for a second place. Kent Howerton scored third in the second round for a 2-3 second for the afternoon. DiStefano's 5-2 was good enough for third, while Croft's 6-4 edged Karsmakers' 4-6 for fourth. as 250cc Support- ' Florida" riders dominated t he small (16 rider) 250cc Support action. It appeared after ' the first round that Harold Buckingham, riding a Barney's Yamaha, would take an easy overall win, but a thrown chain in round t wo quickly ended the impressive charge. In the end, it . w3.1' Karl Taylor who got the champagne and kiss from Miss Pizza Hut Suzie Ellis . Taylor had made a come-from -behind first moto charge following a first turn crash to score third, then backed it up with a round two win. Second overall on another Yamaha was Naples resi dent Joey Gratton as Melbourne 's Kevin Smith scored third overall with a 4-3, just behind Joey 's 5-2. • Results 500cc NATIONAL: 1. Gary Semlcs 1-1 (Kaw). 2 . Kent Howerton 2-3 (Hus) . 3. T on y D iStefan 0 5- 2 (SUZ). 4 . Tom my Croft 6-4 ( H on ) . 5 . Pierre K arsma kers 4-6 IHon). 6. Steve Stackable 7-5 (S uz ) . 7. Pat R chter 9-7 (KTM). 8. Charles Sun 12 -9 (Hus). 9. Rick B u rg ett 10012 (Yam). 10. Gary Ogden 13-11 (Suz). 11 . Jo hn Ayers 17-1 0 (M al ) . 12. Rich Elerstedt 8- 1 9 ( H a n ). 13. Chu ek Lampe 16-13 (Mal). 14. Tony Summey 14-16 (Mal). 15. M on t e McCoy 11-23 (Suz). 16. car) Z ort m .iln 23-14 ( Y am). 17 . Joe Gretchen 22-2 8 (Suz). 18. Dickey Ncwett 21-22 (Pen). 19. Gaylon Mosler 15-28 (Mal) . 2 0. Joe Ferrini 24-20 ( Y am ) . 250cc S UPPORT : 1. Karl Taylor 3-1 (Yam) . 2. Joey Gratt on 5·2 (Yam) . 3. Kev in Smith 4·3 (Hus) . 4 . Dan Farley 2-7 IH US). 5 . Thomas Crumby 7-5 (Suz). 6 . Philip John 10·4 (oss) . 7. Bruce Dengler a-s (S uz). a. Willie Phee 9-8 (Hus) . 9. Barry Higgins E).11 (Ma l). 10. Harold BUCk ingham 1-1 6 (V.ilm ). UNOFFICIAL A M A 500ce N AT IONAL MX POINT STANDINGS: 1. Kent Howerton ( 243) , 2 . Gary Semlcs (2 3 7) . 3. Ste"" Stackable (196). 4 . Pierre Karmskaers (1 81).. 5. Tony DIStefano (143) . 6 . Rick Elerstecll (1351,6. Rick Burgett (135) . 8. T ommy Cro ft (133 • 9. Ayers (l01) . 10, Bob Hannah (94). 11

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