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/126077
lI-< Q.J ..c S Q.J U Q.J o • Califo rruans ro ut Belgians (Above) Hannah pegs it. (below) Noyce scratches. By Jody Weisel PHOEN IX , AR IZ.. NOV. 28 he 1976 Trans-AMA series is over and t he you ng Americans fina lly put in a sterling d ay aga inst the European m asters to ta ke the top three places. As the series started ten weeks ago with 500 National C ha m pion Kent Howerton T winning the opening round for America the closing event was swept away by 125 National Champion 'Hurricane' Bob Hannah . The Yamaha factory rider, Bob Hannah , has been the hottest American for the last three weeks and clearly dominated the Phoenix International Raceway course. 6 The course itself was th e source of much grumbling from th e riders who obviously forgot what it was like since they last rode here in the summer. Imagine 'a piece of desert real estate with Gene Autry racing over a small mesa playing his guitar and firing his gun . Now imagine the same mesa with Jimmy Weinert racing over it playing his guitar and firing off wisecracks. That was the track. The desert sand was covered with trucked in riverbottom dirt and watered lib erally. but rocks kept creeping to the surface. When Roger DeCoster was asked how the track could be improved the R. D. diplomatica lly suggested .th a t they could " Move it to a new location ." Bob Hannah said , "This is the worst track I've ever ridden on!" After winning his first Trans-AMA Bob Hannah said , "T his is still the worst track I've ever ridden on!" 250 Support title goes to Eierstedt T he 250cc Support class riders have continued to ride in a frenzy th at has produced the best racing of the series . Week after wee k R ich Eie rste dt, Danny LaPorte, Chuck Sun, Jo hn Savitski , Steve Wise and Warren Reid have swapped the lead back and forth as many as 20 times a race. T he Phoenix finale was a showdown between Team Honda's Rich Eierstedt and Team Suzuki's Danny La Porte. Mathematically only they could win the series title . The first moto holeshot went to ' Eierstedt , as usual, with Bassett sponsored John Savitski hard on his case. Chuck Sun was third , Jimmy Ellis fourth and Danny LaPorte was fifth. Two laps into the race Can -Am's Jimmy Ellis did a spectacular cartwheeling crash that sent him to the hospital to get 14 stitches to close a jagged rock wound. Three laps later Frank Stacy pulled in with blood running down his face from another rock . Again stitches were required. Eierstedt kept a slim lead over Savitski's Suzuki all the way to the finish while La Porte moved up to take third with Husky mounted Chuck Sun fourth. The best battle of the rnoto was for fifth place wit h a surprising Kenny Zahrt being hounded by two f uturestars, Warren Reid and Ma rty Moates. Following their dice the promoters are going to have to file an environmenta l impact report with the BLM as nary a bush or cactus withi n 50 feet of the track was left standing. In the second rnoto it was Eierstedt and LaPorte with all the stops pulled out. Eierstedt only need to finish 15th to clinch the title, but he was going for