Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Ro ler DeCoaster blasts A mid pileups a t Puyallup , flying sand and broken wheels, World Champ ion Roger DeCoster accomplished all t hat was needed to score another week's overall win and total up enough points to give him , m echanic Minaru Takasu and Suzuki their third consecutive Trans-AM A Series title. Honda's Tommy Croft and Kawasaki 's Gary Semics m ade the going tough for 'The R .D .' as th ey sco red rnoro vic tories in some of the hea viest handlebar tangling see n in this yea r's Seri es. Backin g u p his teammate in t he- overall win department was Gerrit W olsink who pl aced his wo rk's Su zuki in second after a d isa p pointing- T ra ns -AMA Series until th is week. with Bob 'H u rr ica ne' Hannah on th e OW 26 fa ctory Yamaha taking- third : Race injuries which had slowed H a n na h fo r th e past five weeks we re not hea led and he came within one position of ta king the overall win from De-Coster , Can-Am's Captain Co ba lt , Jimm y Ellis , played havoc with the 250cc Su p po rt class as he- bounced their production racer across the rough sa nd whoop-des of Pu yall u p Ra ceway to disappear wit h bo th rnoto wins . Second overall went to factory Ossa rider Marty Moates out of San Diego , edging out Arl o Englund on H usq varna as th e top series points leaders finished down in the results col umn. It was the first time m ost people co u ld rem em ber that the " Pile 'e m up" Trans-AMA race didn't come eq uipped with rain . The twisty ro ck strewn sand course proved challenging enough th o ugh , as it grew rou gher each m o t o , H om e tow n GP sta r Ji m Pom eroy m ade an a p pea ra nce, but no t on th e ra ce track as Bimbo told his fans he'd sit o ut the remainder of t he yea r and check out prospects for 19ii . Buck Murphy woul d give W ashington state fe nce h an ger s someth ing to scre am about each moto in th e 50 0cc International class as he'd d estroy the starting gate wit h an all new , 370cc Can-Am prototype with case reed induction .engi ne that left him mumbling .. . " It's faster than any Open bik e I've ever been on , but it' s hard to hold on to l" Mota One : The Tomahawk collects 39 scalps 6 Gassin' Ga ylon Mosier clicked into thi rd ge a r down the starting straight and pulled the first moto holeshot with his 400cc fa ct ory Wheelsm ith Maico as Murphy tucked th e new p roto Can -Am in behind . In pursui t around th e lefthand firs t turn sweeper were Croft , Weil , Angiolin i of It aly , DeCoster, Smith, Lackey, Semics, DiStefano and Wolsink . J immy W ein ert pulled a bad start and co m pou nded his position by sp innin g ou t and sta lling. T wo la ps int o th e ra ce Buck Murphy lost th e re ar brake a ctua ting rod on h is Can-Am and from that point in the rnoto he quickly began dropping ba ck from crashes th a t b roke hi s front wh eel and ex ha us t pipe . Mosier held his lead for two more laps th en fou nd the fuse ru nning short as Croft just got his lit , scream ing the b rig h t red RC H onda by Gaylon a nd into th e lead . Lackey m oved b y DeCo ster for th ird as DiStefa no pressured the W o rld Champion from fifth spot. Weil and Angiolini had drop ped back in the pack and Hannah moved up to pressure Sm ith for sixth. AsH a n n a h zeroed in his season-long competitor fro m the 125cc Nationals, Marty felt the Yamaha of Bo b's closing. A lapse of concentration and Marty found himsel f do wn in a tu rn . Bob was too close behind to avo id the downed H o nda and bounced across the rear of it , bending one of the shocks. W ith his rea r suspension jammed tight , Marty retired to th e pits. La p after lap DeC oster tried to ge t by La ck ey, but cou ldn't. T heir battle ca rried th em past Mosier a nd into second place. Lap after la p Roger studi ed Brad's lines to find an o pe ni ng a round him and fin a lly did. In a ba nked tu rn Brad took th e high pa th as Roge r do ve to the inside which was slower , but short eno ug h to cut Brad off. As Bra d ba nked h is 390 C R Husky down off the turn Roger swept by on the inside and barely clip pe d Brad's front wh ee l. T he unintentional m ishap sent Brad over th e bars and put Roger in second . With two laps remaining in th e race Roger tried to close the ga p on th e 15 seco nd lead of Croft. When th e checkered flag wen t ou t he had made up all but five seconds of th e differ en ce . Word had it that Roger had received wrong pit signals earlier in the moto and that he thought Brad La ckey had been the race leader , only to find out a fter passing Brad that Tommy was th e leader and th e moto was almost over. Perhaps so , but even Roger wouldn't have been able to make up five seconds a lap on T om m y the way the 'T om a hawk' had been cha rgi ng all moto and only eased up near the end to fin ish safely. When Lackey fell , Tony DiSt efano took over third place , with Hannah moving up like a ro cket t he las t few laps to pass W olsink for fourth pos it ion , followed by Mosi er , Lackey, W einert , Gross i and Karsmakers. Mota Two: Semics gets sideways. DeCoster plays it again Sam Numerous riders experienced broken or l oose front wh eels durin g the first m oto , including Tommy Croft who had spok es look in' for a p la ce to snap. Mechanic Jon Rosen sreil ga ve T omm y a new wh eel assembly for the fin a l moto , but th e track go t rou gh . . . C roft , W eil , Smith and Mosier di al ed in the sta rt for ' th e las t m ot o a nd cha rge d th e uphill jump a fter th e first co rner. Adolf W eiI lost co ntrol on the uphill sec tion. cut ac ross th e crest of the jum p and cras hed into t he d irt em bankment on the ot her side taking almost h alf the other riders wit h him. Ironica lly no o ne was hurt, thoug h KT M's Pat R ich ter des troyed his front brake , but Wei nert pu lled an o ld flat trac ki n' trick out of his Bell and got everyone to play possu m a nd block the track to co nvince the AMA's Mike DePrie to ca ll a resta rt. On the reshuffle Buck Mu r phy locked handlebars with Akira W a ta n a be around the track for the firs t lap before T ony DiStefano in his new di et a ry form (vitamins, raw n uts and go at's m ilk) came hookin' by to ta ke control of the lead . Behin d the m the best b at tle of th e Seri es beg an takin g place as Lack ey, H annah , DeCoster , Semics, W olsink . Noyce , C roft, W eil and Kud alsk i made it a I 2-way race fo r th e lead. Som e 10,000 screaming fa ns co ul d n't bel ieve it and neither co ul d the riders. For half t he moto , 20 mi n u tes, th ey st ayed bun ched up no further than 100 ya rds apart. At the midpoint Tony D. began expe rie ncing a lock in g front brake on h is Suzuki a nd was forc ed to turn over the lea d to Wolsink who had passed everyone, including DeC ost er. Gerrit stayed in front for six laps then fell victim to Gary Sernics. Hidden behind a full fa ce Motostar helmet , Gary had his 400 Kawasaki slicing the whoop-d es in two as he pulled away from Wolsink in an effort to make up for his mediocre perform ance in the fir st rnoto. Towards th e end of the moto Bob Hannah got srnokin' as well to tr y to clo se th e gap on Wolsink in second , but Gerrit held Bob at bay, costi ng H annah the overall win and giving it to DeCoster. Defloster wobbled across the line with a bent front wheel in fourth place , and Tommy Croft lost any chance of his winning when he was forced to slow with half the spo kes miss in g in h is front wheel.

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