Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Above left) Billy Grossi starts his second moto trip over the bars. (A bove right! Roger DeCoster wasn't ready for a desert race. the win. LaPorte ra ttl ed at ' t he door. kn ocked on the door a nd finall y forced it open on the seventh la p. R ich !':ierstedt came sto rm ing back 10 reta ke the lead and t he win his seco nd Tra ns-A MA Support class crown. th e first was in 1973 . La Port e was second , John Sav its ki was on ly 30 feet ba ck in th ird followed by C hu ck Su n . Wa rren R eid . Mick ey Kessle r a nd Kenn y Za hrt. roommate Ga ylon Mosier a nd Gra ham • No yce in p ursu it. Semics' countershaft .sprocket sna pped and Mosier a nd Maico teammat e Noyce were a solid second a nd th ird. An d wha t of Roger DeCoster ? The R.D, was 15th off the line a nd in a lon g series of jou sts with G rossi, DiSte fan o , W ein ert , a nd Wo lsink he foun d hi mself behind Ma rt y Smi th with four la ps to go . DeCoster was smoot h a nd flowin g wh ile M an y was fr an ti c a n d be rzerking . Everyb od y kn ew th at Hunicane blows Phoenix down DeCo ster was going to pass Sm it h . ? At th e riders' meet ing t he Intern a Wi th th ree la ps to go he a lmost d id in tion a l class was hein g give n d ir ecti on s a swee ping righ t hander. With on e la p like , "T he mech a nics area runs fr om to go he was even a t th e end of th e t hat cactus over th ere 10 th e one at the stra ight aga in a nd a t th e chec kered top of th e hill" as th ey pr epa red fo r t he flag he was st ill beh ind Marty, roc ks, To ny DiStefano pulled two jerseys on a long with his sho u lde r pads T he first mot o en d ed with Bob a nd still too k heavy roc k bru ises on his H ann ah , Gaylo n Mosie r , Gra ham sto mach a nd arms. Noyce , Ma rt y Smith, Roger DeCoste r Ha n nah too k th e lead away from and J immy Wein ert in th e top six . holeshot artist Gary Sem ics a t th e to p Gerrit W olsink led a hard fou ght p ack of th e start hill and disappeared for of Bill Gro ssi. T ommy Cro ft a nd T on y t he rest of the moto . Han n ah rea lly . DiSt efano in for, seventh t hrough kicked it in to over-drive la te in t he te nt h. moto to insure his victory, Gary Semics Three men had a ·good sho t a t gave chase for hal f the ra ce with win ning the overa ll as th ey lin ed up for the second mot o , Hannah , Mosier a nd Grea t Br ita in 's Graham Noyce. Hond a 's hottest property , T ommy Croft , sna pped th e th ro tt le with th e crack of the ga te and started to cook. A thrown chain in the first mot o had dropped Cro ft ou t of th e top five , but he was ou t 10 add a nother Trans-AlvtA rn o t o to his record . Gary Sern ics led a nd th en spun out, J immy Wein ert too k over the lead and then spu n out, Gay lon Mosier too k over th e lead a nd th en spun out , Ga ylon Mosier took over the lead a nd . held it. Croft closed quickly on Gassin ' Gaylon a nd passed him on the inside to pu ll a q uick lead . · Mosier a nd Noyce looked like the best bets to tak e th e ove ra ll, bu t Hu rrica ne Hannah was com ing strong from tent h place . Noyce's rear wheel started to come a pa rt as H annah passed Ak ira W atan abe , Gerr it W ol sink , Tony DiStefano , Ga ry Sem ics and J immy Wei ne rt, When Noyce's rear wheel di sint egrat ed th e 12 5 Na t io na l Cha m p io n b oun c ed past and immed iat ely zap pe d Mosier. Hannah had t he win if he coo led it ahead of Mosier , but he set out wildl y after Croft. As the checkered flag was being prep a red Hannah a nd Croft wer e pla ying a dangerous cha rge and block ga me with both ride rs heading for the fin ish . It was fair and clean to the finish wit h Croft holding him off for the rn oto win . Bob Ha nnah adds one m ore victory 10 his Cinderell a year wit h Gaylon Mosier making his best fin ish ever at secon d overa ll. Tommy Croft's ha rd ridi ng ea rned him third overall with t he first Europea n award goi ng to Ge rrit Wolsi nk in fou rt h. DeCoster who won seven ou t of ten TransAMA 's th is yea r was fifth.' • Results SOOceTOP 10 OVERALL: 1. Bob Hannah 1·2 (Yaml. 2, Gaylon Mosi '" 2-3 (Mail. 3. Tommy Clo ft 9-1 (Hanl. 4. Gerrit Wolsink 7-4 (S uzl. 5. Rag ", DeCost", ~ (S ull . 6. Jim Weinert 6-7 (Kawl. 7. Tony DiStef ano l Q.ll IS uzl. 8 . Bill Grossi 8-11 ISuzl . 9. Kent Howerton 11·9 IHusl . 10. Pa. Rieh.", 14-13 1KTMI. 250ce TOP 10 OVERALL: 1. RK:hE'oerstodt 1-1 (Hanl. 2. Danny laPorte 3-2 !Sull . 3. John Sevitski 2-3 ISull. 4 . Chuck Sun 4-4 (Hus ). 5. Wanen Reid 6-5 IHan). 6. Ken 2ahrt 5-7 (Bull. 7. Mike Bell 8-9 IHusl . 8. Mike KessI", 14-6 (Monl. 9 . Jeff Jenn ings 12-8 ISuzl . 10. St eve Wise 11-14 tSull. 1976 TRAN5-AMA SERIES OVERALL POINTS: I , R DeCost", (410.51. 2. B. Lakcey 1279.61. 3. J . Weinert 1274.91. 4. G. Sernics1262.2l. 5. G. Wolsink 1255.91. 6. B. Hannah 1254.3). 7. M. Smith 1229.31. A. W8tlnI be 1219-31. 9. T. Croft 1217.11 10. R. G

• Cover