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/126071
Moto Two: Because of more impassable mud holes discovered by the Support class, the track was rerouted and shortened even more for the final 500cc mota, and th e race itsel f was shortened to 30 minutes plus tw o laps because of co min g darkness. T houg h he hadn 't been showin g m uch flash during previous weeks, Sylvain Geboers con tinued to prove that Belgia ns like m ud as he powered his 4 00 Maico into front position for t he final mo ta ahead of fellow country man DeCo st er , then Semics , Ho werton and ' Wo lsink. "Lumberjack" Rick Burgett was running strongly in sixth an d trying to hold off Wat anabe , Po meroy and Karsmakers, From his fourth pl ace position Howerton began steaming tip the mud t o pass Sernics.DcCoster a nd Geboers on the fourth lap . The " Rhine st o ne Cowboy " wa s ou tr idi ng DeCoster! Sliding his Husk y sideways through the mud with th e throttle wired, Kent st ea dily began to build up a slight lead th at would be held throughout the C'I ;... II) .0 a II) > o Z m oto. "I wanted t o sh o w Roge r that the Americans are better ride rs, but we just don ' t seem t o be able to get two mo tos t o gether. That's why Roger is st ill the best." Ken t wou ld be happy over winning the second mota , but he would have been even happier if he hadn't go tt en stuck in the first one. Geboers seemingly got tired and bega n droppin g back in the pack . Both Sernics and Watanabe got by Sylvain an d that would cost him t he overall win. As the mot a near ed its end Weinert passed Wolsi nk fo r sixth place and Hannah w as ridin g the Dutchman's fender for eighth. All four riders, Geboers, Weinert , \Volsink an d Hannah scrambled for the chec kered flag just 20 feet apar t. We in ert was just seconds short o f passing Geboers which would h ave given the "Jam mer" th e overall win, for when the finishing points from bo th m ot os were added up, DeCost er, Wat anabe, Geboers an d Weinert had equal p oints. but how they finished in the final ' mota determin ed the overall scores. 250 Support Class These gu ys had th e hardest job all day ; get t ing to chec k o ut the track for the Internati on al class. Becau se of this , it w asn 't mu ch of a race, more o f a survival of th e fittest. The fittest proved t o be Bo bby Harris who really knew how to ch oo se lines through the mud with his new factory Can-Am to ru n aw ay with the first 30 m inute mo t a ahead of Steve Wise, Denny Swartz and Frank Stacy . Almost everyone else , including t h e t op three riders in the series standings for the Support class (Ric h Eierstedt, John Savitski and Danny LaPorte ) got stuc k so m ewh er e o u t o n the c o urse and couldn' t co mplete th e first mot a. Seventeen su rvivors ou t of forty made it to th e st art o f the secon d 2 50 cc mota. On e r eall y bad sec t ion o f the tr ack wh ich had ca u sed t ro u ble during the first 250 cc m ot a h ad been removed, bu t an even w orse rnudhol e had been made b y the first 500cc mota wh ich had just en ded . Rich Eierst ed t pulled the ho leshot with his RC 250 Honda as every on e filed in behind and gave chase. Rich and three othe r riders co m plet ed the fir st lap , while everyone e lse including Bob lI arris go t completely mired in at th is m ud h ole . Since the tra ck was co mp let ely. blocked except for this o ne hot line by the spe ct ator fen ce which Rich was ' using, A1\IA referee Ron Denny decided t o bl ack fla g th e race and on ly cou nt the fir st mota fin ish es. • Results 50 0cc INTERNAT IONA L : 1. Roger D eC ost er 5-2 (SUZ). 2. Akira Watanabe 3~ (Su z). 3 . Sylva in ceecers 2-5 ( M a l) . 4. Ji m We inert 1-6 (Kaw) . 5 . Kent Howerton 10· 1 (Hus). 6 . Ga ry Se mi cs 8-3 (Kaw). 7. Bob Hann a h 4- 8 (Yam ). 8 : Rick Bu rge tt 7·9 ( Ya m ). 9 . G err lt Wo lsl nk 12·7 (Suz ) . 10 . Billy G rassl 9 ·1 0 (S uz) . 11 . Marty Sm ith II -I I (Ho n). 1 2. Pat Richte r 6 ·1 6 ( K T M) . 13. Terry Clark 13-1 3 (Kaw) . 14. Jim Po me ro y 15 · 14 ; ( Bul ). 1 5. B rad Lac key 18 · 15 (H us). 16. John A yers 16- 19 (Ma l). 17 . Cha rles Cooper 14 ·23 (Pen ). 18 _ Jim Turner 1 7-2 5 (S uz) . 19 . Pierre Karsmaker 36·12 (Ho n). 20. T o m m y Croft 36 -17 (Hon . 250cc S U PPO RT : 1. Bob Harr is (C-Al' 2. S teve Wise (Suz). 3. Denny Swartz (Ma l . 4 . F rank staev (Pen) . 5. Will Har per (Ma i) . 6. James Jerl es (Suz) . 7 . John B ro m be rge r (Mai) . 8. James Bo t h (H us). 9. Mike Runyard (C-A). 10 . Mel Newman (Suz) . 7