Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

e esback By Charles Morey A},.'TON, VA ., ocr. 3 Af ter mo untin g tw o rear fenders on his wo rks Suzuki to ward off any poss ibi lit y o f re peating last wee k 's ' d isastero us m ota lo ss, five-t ime 500cc World Ch amp ion Roger DeCoster to pped th e Lake S ugar T ree/P ep si Col a TransAMA result s list taking ove r the .. se ries point lead in th e p ro ce ss. In th e o pen ing ro u nd o f th e ten-race seri es, DeC ost e r had been rob bed o f a likely I-I victo ry wh en , in t he clos in g lap s, th e rear fende r had broken o ff exposing t he R N400's a ir inta ke t o mud flung up by h is bac k t ire . T he Suzuki had quit within a lap from th e e n d o f the 40-minute·plu s-two·l ap 'r ace while Roger was cl os ing o n th e lead e r Su zuki teammat e A kira Wa tanab e. This time DeC o st er 's m ech ani c Min o T a kasu had b olted tw o rea r fenders toge the r to form a sin gle stronge r u nit and had streng th en ed the m ounting brack e ts to preclude eve n th e remotest p o ssibility o f a no ther ex p e ns ive fender fa ilu re. It worked . Wh ile T he Man was working his wa y to winning the Lake Su gar Tree/P epsi Cola eve n t w ith a 3- 1 sco re , Team Honda's Marty Smith ra cked up a sec ond place 2-3 total despite the fact that his motor seized in both motos! Team Manager Terry Mulligan cre d ited the problem to " either an air leak or some bad gas," exp lai n ing that the motor was new and untried since assembly at the Japanese fa ctory. The original piston and c y lin d er were ':"Placed and dis carded between motos and, although the problem persisted in spite of their setting up the new top end with plenty of clearance, Marty nursed it in to a remarkable third place. . Third overall went to Team Suzuki's Billy "Sugar Bear" Grossi who rode to a 'seven th placing in the first mota, followin g it up with a fifth in the second. ' In ' the co m pe tru ve T rans-AMA support class, Team Ho nda rider Rich Eierstedt staged a ru naway win on t he sticky Virginia cou rse. Six days of rainy weather had preceeded Sunday's race bu t the co m b inatio n clay /dust trac k held up we ll under the abuse and shaped up during practice. Pennsylvania's John Savitski edged Team Penton's Frank Stacy in a tight race for second place, John's Suzuki carryin g him to a 5-2 second placing over Frank 's 34 third for th e d ay. 500 Internatio nal Th e rush d own Lake Sugar Tree's st arting ch u te hill a nd through th e hairy o ff camber first turn saw Kaw asaki 's Jimmy Weiner t ta ke the initiative a nd lead Yamaha' s Ri ck Burgett, Honda's Mart y Smith and Maico 's Gaylon Mosier in th e opening lap. DeCoster had s ta rted co ns erva tively in 13th, a nd J im Pomeroy led a seven-ride r scramble, for 19th pl ace w ith series leader Wat anabe, Tony DiStefan o , Pierre Karsrnakers, Bob Hannah, last week's winner Ken t Howert on and "Bad Brad" La ckey in his wake . Both Bu rgett a nd Smith ' go t arou nd Wein ert when the Jammer apparently let his guard down on the back se ction o f th e track, bu t Jim quickly moved back into second place, behind Smith and in front of Burgett, on t he third lap. DeCoster in the m eantim e was workin g one of his s tr o ng m e th o d ical rides through the pack toward the front. The to p five were Smith, Weinert, Burgett, Mosier and KTM rider Pat Richter. Fifteen minutes into the moto, DeCo ster held seve n th - st ill riding his am az in gly effortless p ace . By th e halfway p o in t in th e m o ta, he foll owed T ommy Croft who had been under co n tr o l o f six t h place, p as t form er fifth ~ C'l ,.....; ~ ~ ..0 0 ..... , U o Rick ' Lumberjack' Burgett grab s a qui ck lead over a field of World and National Champions (oppo site page) The Man, DeCoste r. pl ace resid ent Pat Richter. Mo sier had dropped ou t by then. Near th e halfwa y m ark, Pomeroy moved in to seven tho Bill Grossi also joined th e ' midw ay move toward the front after starting ninth. He'd been wa iting with th e others, holding a steady speed, but when' DeCoster went by Billy gassed it, too. A t the midpoint, he cruised along in six th just ahead of Pomeroy . Weinert had been keeping within striking distance of ~iarty Smith. Just after the halfway flags were displayed, he closed th e gap , started pushing, and , got by. Smith upped his speed a nd regained the lead. J am m in ' Jimmy and Honda's Superkid e ngaged in a series of tig ht moves on the co u rse 's twisting back section, bumping, b lo ckpassin g and trading ro o sts wi th every turn in a battle that las ted fo r the nex t ten m in u tes. By the 35 minute p o in t, Weinert had at least te m porarily settled th e d isp u te and held th e lead But the pressure was far from gone as the top five - Weinert, Smith" Croft, De Coster and Burgett all raced within a six second bracket. "I blew it, " Tommy Croft said after th e race had ended, "there's just no o the r w ay to pu t it." The Team Honda ' rider had e n te re d a ti ght turn in too lo w a gear, spun out, an d stalled th e motor. DeCoster, o nly a few seconds behind, also sta lle d on his motor getting around the stop pe d Honda bu t go t go ing again before T o m my d id and wicked it u p to try a nd ca tc h Ri ck ey Burgett who 'd passed them b oth. Three laps from th e chec ke red flag, Rog er o vertook Ricky's Yamah a. lie then narrowed the gap o n Marty in the fin al two rounds bringing th e crowd to atten tion with anticipation o f a fast final move o n the American s. I t ne ver happen ed The th ree crossed th e fin ish line only a fe w yar d s ap ar t, with Jimmy Wein ert taking the win over Smith a nd DeCoster. Fou rth wen t to Ri cky Bu rgett ; T ommy Croft, J im Pomero y and Billy G ro ssi followed. Br ad Lackey a nd Rick Burgett led th e downhill ch ar ge a t the start of moto tw o, but a st artin g ga te m alfunction (due to anx ious riders ramming it) necessitat ed a re start. Rick y repeat ed his hair tri gger clutch work to lead at th e restart with Jim Pomeroy, T ony DiStefano, Gary Semics, Bob Hannah and Pat Richter hot on his tr ail. Bad Brad wasn't as fortunate o n the res tar t but go t underway in seventh. R ich ter lo st it on the openin g lap, droppin g b ac k to 2 8th pl ace and letting Lac key into six th . J ammin' J im m y was rubbing kn obbies wit h Bad Brad , a nd stuck ' t he factory Kaw in under Lackey 's Husky at the finish line turn pu tting Brad over the berm. But The Jammer's d emise was only moments away. "I did an Evel Knievel off Mt. Everest!" Weinert proclaimed in the pits afterward as he winced in pain from his injured right knee. He'd approached the huge mound du bbed "Mt. Everest" by the Lake Sugar Tree promoter, locked up the Kaw's rear wheel when the rider ahead of him braked unexpectedly, and Kaw, Jammer and all had been p itched off the ten foot high ..mini-mountain sideways. Jim Pomero y held the lead. On lap two he'd gotten around Burgett, and by the en d of lap fo ur he'd established a fairly comfortable lead 'Beh ind him , Ricky still held d own third and he was followed by Tony D, Bo b Hannah who was ma king charge u p toward t he fro n t, and ' a tig h t1y packed fo ursome co ns isting of Karsm ak ers, Lackey, De Coster an d Sernics, Mart y Smith foll owed a few seconds back. In the nex t three laps, Hannah gain ed two positions passing both DiStefano and Bu rge tt, a nd moved into second behind Pomeroy. DeCoster was also moving up through the frontrunners a nd to ok over fourth pl ac e a t the sa m e time. At the halfway mark, Hannah had closed in o n Jim Pomeroy, and Roger D h ad moved into third. Tony DiStefano had fallen an d had to settle for tenth in th e second round. Then, only 15 minu tes from th e finish, Jim Pomeroy dropped way ba ck. He was ridin g slowly and bein g p assed by alm ost everyone. The a ng le of hi s rear wheel gave away th e -probfem: a broken swingarm. He was disquali fied for rec eiving help ou tside of the designated work are a. With Pomeroy out, Roger DeCOst er inherited the lead Hannah held close bu t th en sp u n ou t a nd lost ground and a ny hope of catc h ing DeCoster. Roger's second m ota win clinch ed the ove rall victory. Hannah 's seeond pl ace lifted his overall pl acing from hi s fir st round 14th to fifth . Marty Smith's third plac e in round two was go o d for second overall. KudaIski a nd Frank Stacy then moved into the ch ase , E ierstedt grabbed an instant lead when the gat e dropped for round two followed closely b y Mickey Kessler, now riding Montesa, and Don Kudalski. The likelihood of some tight up front · action ended in the rust two laps as Mickey's Montesa seized only yard s short of completing the rust lap, and Kudalski 's Penton followed su it only a half lap later! Free and clear, Ric h Eiersted t sailed his Honda to the second mota win of the afternoon. Savitski had started better this time and after a great ra ce with Danny LaPorte on a faetory Suzuki, edged Danny for second, • Results so occ INTERNATIONA L.: 1. Roger DeCost er 3-1 (S u z) . 2 . M arty Smit h 2-3 C Hon) . 3 . Billy G rossi .7 · 5 (Suz ). 4 . R Ick I:!iu rge tt 4-8 (Yam). 5. Bob Hanna h 14-2 (Yam) . 6. St eve St ac kable 1 1-6 (Su zJ. 7 . Jim my W ein ert 1..16 (Kaw) . 8 . Brad La Ckey 22-9 (Hus) . 9 . Tommy C roft 5·18 ( H o n ). 10. Tony Sun ney 1 2- 1 2 (Suz) . 11 . Terry Clark 1- 1 4 (K aw ). 12. K ent H owerto n 1 9--9 ( H u s). 13. G ary seml c s 8· 20 (Kaw) . 14. Re x Staton 18·11 (H-D ) . 15. T o n y D IS t e f ano 2 0-1 0 (Suzl. 16. Pat Rich ter 9- 3 8 \ KT M). 2 5 0 cc SUPPORT : 1. R en Elersteett ).1 (Ho n ) . 2. John sa vltskl 5..2 (Suz) . 3. Fra nk Stacy 3-4 ( H o n ).. 4 . Denny Swartz (S u z). 5. Mike R un y ar d 7·7 (C- A). 6 . Ken Z4hrt 9- 9 (Suz) . 7 . Mark Gregson 6-14 (Hus). 8. Thomas Cumby 11·10 (Suz) . 9. Fred Vert ucci 19-11 (Suz). 1 0. Arthur McCord 13-13 (Pen). a-e Unlucky Dutch de ntist. 250 cc Support Rich Eierstedt le ft little doubt co ncern in g the eventu al outcome of the 250cc Support cl ass when, on the seco nd lap in th e o pe n ing moto, h e go t by Kenn y Zahrt a nd began m otoring away . By the end of the next lap, he'd es tablished a 20 seco nd lead. Ch arli e Sun sta rted in third a nd worked his Hu sky arou nd Zah rt o n th e seco nd lap . Penton support classe rs Don 23

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