Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

"The 125 rider s -wave to you down the straight. " It was true a nd the lighthearted atmosphere o f the little bike riders was immediately replaced by an ominous seriousness. Semics and Howerton sat side by side on the gate. They looked straight ahead. And wi th the drop of th e gate Gassin' Gaylon Mosier, Sernics' roommate , took a quick lead and poured it on. Mosier took the holeshot advant age and turned it into a 20 second opening between him and . Rich Eierstedt, Steve St ack able, Semics and Terry Clark. With Mosier on the run all the attention ' turned to the predominant Howerton/Sernics showdown. Sernics was up to third and Kent was b ack in seventh. The slim six points between them was be ing whittled down at this point in the race. Usin g his pat ented clu tching tact ic in the corners, Howerton was soon in fifth, and then on Semics' tail. Three laps later Kent kept the Husky pegged comi n g into a tight corner and he was by Semics. The six point margin st arted to grow. How erton and Sem ics were as one, whatever Kent did Gary matched. Th rough the lapped riders they . fled. Eierstedt fell victim to their charges and soon Mosiers' monster lead was go ne:. Hannah watercooled and collected. Howerton went by Mosier after a minor tussle, Semics go t by much quicker. Mosi er was third, Brad La ckey had com e from way back with Pierre Karsmakers in t ow to ta ke fourth and fifth. Rick Burge tt had held a solid fourt h bu t his Yamaha bounced high into a corn er and " Little Ricky" stepped off. On the la st lap Howerton and Serni cs were less th an a bike length ap art. Howerton, who ha d been accused of be ing too conserva tive in t he later stages of the Nation al seri es, threw cau tio n to the wind and blasted through backmarkers lik e they weren 't there. Semics was sim ply unable to m atch Howerton's bravado and the moto ended with Howerton, Sem ics, Mosier , Lackey and PK rounding out the top five. The second m oto was the whole ball game and both the Husky camp and the now glum Kawasaki forces knew it. Kent held a nin e point advan tage and could afford to finish an average of three places behind Semics and still win. Semics had only one slim hope and that was for Kent to cras h out or DN F. A lot of races can be lost at the starting gate, but few can be won. Semics falls somewhere in be t we en these two sta tem en ts. Notoriously fast starter Gary Semics started so fast in the second moto that he hit a rigid metal gate and bounced ba ck . In the split second it took his Kaw asaki to recover, his opponent was gone. To m my Croft took his red Honda to the front and pressed on with Wein ert, Terry Clark. G aylon Mosier, Kent Howert on, Chu ck Sun and Rick Burgett in pursuit. Sem ics was 11 th o ff t he lin e. Weinert took th e lead as Cr oft co n tinued to improve. Cr oft never br oke off the close ho un ding o f Weinert until his · bike bro ke. .Tony D. came fro m nin th p lace . I Enduro Trophy ' im T e! Amazing new electronic digital instruments tell you exactly where you should be during every second of the enduro. EASY TO READ. EASY TO OPERATE. Danny laPorte grinning ear-to-ear. and a long way back to catch Weinert with on e lap to go and blow p ast him , but Weinert held one more t rick up his sleeve and used a line that carried him up on a bank to drop into a hairpin in fron t of T on y D. Weinert was able to hold t h e lead under the pressure o f DiStefano to win the moto with Tony second, but the real race was back in third. Kent Howerton was running ' a steady third wi t h Semics up from h is poor start right on his rear. The Husky pits were givin g Howerton cool it signs and the Kawasaki mechanics were in a panic. Then coming in to the same fateful turn wh ere LaPorte and Hannah had bumped, Semics laid Kent out. The green machine bounced Kent right out of the berm and off t he track. Semics opened up a big lead as Kent recovered and circled back onto the track losing only one place. Th e tension mounted as every one made some quick calculations on th e points. It was determined that even if Ken t lost another pl ace he would still win the Championship . Then with three laps to go a lapped rider killed his engine coming out of the same fini sh lin e corner an d st opped . righ t on the exi t to try and st art it . Howerton cam e blasting in to t he berm, head d own , foo t out and twi ste d th e throttle. Kent looked up an d the st alled bi ke lo omed before him , h e threw the Husky to the left and barely avoide d disaster . Husky T eam Manager Terry Knott ran out and d rug th e hapl ess bi ke and rid er from the track. Perspir ation poured fro m every one in the muggy .' Lo uisiana he at, bu t the Kawasaki and Hu sky people we re th e wetest. Weinert crossed first, DiStefano second, Semics third and AMA announcer DAve Despain asked, "Where is Howerton? " A rider came out of th e tunnel, but it wasn 't Kent, and then an other, still no Kent. Ano th er lapped ride r emerged and everybody looked around for some sign. Then Howerton 's Husky came th rough the tunnel around the troublesome t ur n , and with hands raised hi gh above his head the new National Champion rode in to a throng of well wishers from every factory, except one. Fo r Kent Howerton, who has often been the bridesmaid, it was a joyful moment to finally stand at th e altar in the number one p osition. • j Whether you're an absolute beginner Or seasoned enduro veteran , Oigrtronics' new state-ot-tne-art Chrono·Computer and Chrono-Tron can help place you among the trophy winners every time! Big bright numbers shine through dust and rain - on any typ8 of road . Controls are designed for " gloves on" operation - no dust covers or thumb wheels to worry about. Both instruments help yau ta cance.ntrale on riding! The Chrono-Computer instantly calculates time, speed. and distance factors to give you precise pacing odometer read -outs to compare with your cycle odometer (the photo example shows 12.58 miles). You can always clearly see when to speed upor slow down. You can also clearly see the exact average speed you 've dialed in (15 MPH in the photo example). Speed cl1anges can be dialed in quickly , and the " hold" switch freezes the read-out during planned stops . Standard calibration 6-36 MPH in 1 MPH increments: special calibrations available at no extra charge. The Chrono· Tron compu tes elapsed time in 1 second intervals from zero to 59 minutes, 59 se conds . . . wrthan automatic roll-over to zero and continuing count. Fast rate switch gives rapid (1 minute persecond) setting of key timestarts which are not on the hour: and " hold" switch freezes read-out at exact key time start. Quick zero re-set. 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Correct price infQrmation is as shown above. ~·CYcle News Want Ads If you've got the goods, we've got the connections .Results 125 NATIONAL: 1. D. LaPorte 2-1 (Suz) . 2. B. Hannah 1·2 (Yam). 3. S. WI .. 4-3 fHonl 4. J. Savitskl 6-4 (Suzl' 5. A . Englu nd9.~ ( H us ). 6. B. G lover 5· 1 COG) . 7. J . Kee se 11-7 (Han) . 8. M. Jon es 13· 6 (Ha n) . 9. B. Duncan 1().9 (Hon) . 10. G. Johnson 12·8 (Han) . i i, M. Newman 15-10 (Suz) . 12 . G . McCay 16·13 (Yam). 13. R. O 'Brien 21·12 (Han) . 14. D. Dreyer 17·18 (Han) . 15. D. Ashwort h 20-16 (Han) . 16. B . Koch 2 1· 17 (Yam) . 17. D. Boles 2 4-15 (Han) . 18. M . Sm i th 3· 4 0 (Hon ) . 19. J . Gree n b urg 25- 19 (Han) . 2 0 . J. Webb 2 6· 2 1 (H an) . 500 NATIONAL: 1. G . Sem ics 2· 3 (Kaw) . 2. K. Ho w erton 1-4 (Hus). 3. T . D iStefano 8-2 (Suz). 4 . G . M osi e r 3- 7 ( Ma l). 5 . R. Burgett 10·5 ( Y am) . 6. R. El e r ste d t ' · 8' ( Hon). 7. C. ( H u s) . 8. G. Ogden 9-1 0 (Suz) . 9. J. Sun i A y e r 14· 1 1 (M al ). 10. P. Karsma ke r s 5·2 1 (H an) . 11 . B . Ha rr is 18· 12 (CZ). 12. G. i -s T u ck e r 16 ·14 (Ya m ). 1 3. C. Co o p e r 2 0 ·1 3 ( Pe n) . 14. J . Borde rs 22· 15 (S UZ ) . 15. C . Z o rtman 1 9- 18 ( Y am) . 16 . J. Gretc he n 2 1· 19 ( Yam). 17. J. Weiner t 4 (). 1 ( K aw). 1 8 . R. T a rt a r 25--16 (S uz). 19. J. Calathes 2 4-20 (S uz ). • - I , I I " . ,! , people at JACWAL think so highly of LlNK·LOK we ere mak ing it the standard maste, link on au' famous DenseLube Supercha in . " JACWAL INC . "This is the first time ever that someone has come out with a new idea in master links end damn it all, It's a good one . " MODERN CYCLE I I I ~#A,.'~-'-i-4 ~ I f I -;"SKt~~INIH.<>'K+A-l'-.H YOUR DEALER OR WRITE TO: .l-l;ONGi RUN-;Prod uets ' 894D-C BENSON AVENUE MONTCLAIR,· CA 91763 1~

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