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/126069
\Veil get bv-ro fo llo w the-Suzuki p ar ade o f De Cos ter, \Vol s ink and Aki ra Wat anabe t o the checkered flag. "B a d Br a d " L a ck e y ga l t h e co m e -f'r o m -b e h i nd a ward for th e afte rnoo n, an honor t hat almost m at ch es t hat of first American. Team Hu sqvarna's 500cc GP rider recovered fro m a fi rst mota /first lap encou nter with Tony DiStefan o, that left Brad on t he grou nd with a stalled engine. He restarted, co mpleting the opening lap in 2 1st p lace, then showed t he folks back ho me what he'd lea rned in Europe. The und ulating Unadilla track, wide and rough , demanded European t echnique, an d it had co mpletely baffled several U.S . competitors. Brad d ialed WFO, carefu lly choosing his lines, and wo rked up to fo urth by the mota 's end. Round two saw Lackey again down and ou t as he was forced into a fence at th e start, again killing t he motor, and he go t back into the race dea d last. This time he pi cked off 3 1 of th e 36 starters for a fift h p lacing Wol sink's one lap penalty upped Brad to a 44 t o tal. Holeshot artist o f the d ay was Kawasaki's T err y Clark. Terry sh owed everyone the way to tum one twi ce, then bowed out to ea rly -lead-stealer of the day Adolf Weil who d isplaced Terry in the first six turns in both motos. The ubiquitous Maico master, Weil then surrendered his ear ly leads to younger riders as he seemed to drop only slightly o ff th e pace near th e end of each rac e. Still, only DeCoster, Semics an d La ckey edged him out in t he final overa ll results as he ' piloted the red Maico to a ste ady 5-5 fourth place . . Pierre Karsmakers, riding o n his favorite U. S. track, m ad e sure a native Euro p ea n rounded o u t the top five. Pierre re gistered a 10-6 aft ernoon on his factory Ho nda. 250cc SUpport Early b et s had Mickey Kessler 's Mo ntesa takin g the Support dass by storm as the New J ersey r ider daim ed the lead on lap two of the opening round wh en lead er Rich Eierstedt crashe d . Had lap m on ey been o ffer ed, Kessler would have t aken it all from th at point o n; he was never headed for the remainder of the mota. Eierstedt re covered from the fall and rode in to finish fourth as other contenders also suffered problems. John Sa vitski sta rt ed strong but got out of shape on the opening lap dropping from third t o sixth, t hen later fell on Unadilla 's in credible uphill when a lapped rider blocked his path. Danny LaPorte ran into re ar shock problems one of them bent and stuck in the ex t ended position in the fir st ten minutes of the ra ee - but he still finish ed second in the mota. Penton rider Frank Stacy, a proven Support dass power, followed in third. Kessler's charge end ed at turn o ne of th e secon d m o ta wh en, in the lead, he crashed and w as run over. Obviously in pain, Mickey hobbled to the sidelines, ' grad u ally re co ver ed from th e shoc k, then restarted th e mota a full two minutes b ehi n d the last man in the 41 rider pack . His ride up to 13 th was worth a sixth overall. Husky 's Charlie Sun caught Stac y on the opening lap and held the lead despite some hard pressure from John Savitski's Su zuki until the fifth lap. John got around the Husky but h e stalled the bike, losing t h e lead and allowing Eierste d t to d ose .on him. In the I as t ha lf, Rich put o n a n unstoppable push , taking Savitski Uohn crashed) and then ca tching Sun in the final minutes and scoring the overall win over Stacy's 3-3 , Sun 's 5-2, LaPorte's 2-5 and Savitski's 64. • Results 500cc DeCoster 1'0 Roger Gary Sem lcs 6-2 INTERNATIONAL : I -I (Suz) . 2. (Kaw). 3. Brad LaCkey 4·4 (Hus). 4 . Adolf . Well 5-5 (Mal) . 5. Pierre Karsmakers 10-6 (Han). 6 . Rick Burgett 8-8 (Vam). 7. Gerrll Wotslnk 2·14 (SuzI' 8. Tony DiStefano 1~3 (Suz). 9 . Ak lra Wa anabe 3-15 (Suz). 10. Bob Hannah IJ.12 (Vam). 11. Terry Clark 15·13 IKaw) . 12. Gavl on Mosler 19-10 (Mal). 13. (;ary Chaplin 17 -16 . (Suz).. 14. Don Kudalskl 23-11 (Pen). 15. Billy Grassl 12-24 (5uz). 16. Pat Richter 2·17 (KTM). 17 . Mickey Boone 18·19 (Suz) . 18. John Ayers 21-20 (Ma l) . 19. Sylvain Geboers 36 -7 (Mai) . 20. Wayne Boyer 22·21 (Bul) . _ 250cc SUPPORT: 1. Rich Ele rstedt 4-1 (Han). 2 . Frank Stacy 3--3 (Pen). 3 . Charles Sun 5·2 (Hus) . 4. Danny LaPorte 2·5 (Hus). 5. John Sav itskl 6-4 (Suz) . 6. MiCkey Kessler 1-13 (Man). 7 . M ike Runyard 11 -17 (C-A) . 8. Denny Swartz 9--9 (Ma l) . 9. Pat Moroney 10-10 (Hus) . 10. Can Farley 8-14 (Hus). r r