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/126248
Buckingham took third Ope n. Broc Glover continued his win streak in the 125 class after dicing with Danny laPorte. Florida WinterAMA MX Series,Round two Broc blitzes, Hurricane howls, but Sugar Bear blocks a second I-2-3 kick by the YZ gang By Charles Morey ST . PET ERSBUR G, FL A . , FEB . 13 Aiming for a second clean sweep In all three classes, Team Yamaha launched an all-out attack on the Sunshine Speedway round of the Florida Winter-AMA MX Series on their "basically stock" production YZS. ' T ht"ir domination of the ope-ning series event t he week before , however. proved to be an impossib le act to follow. and rh e , young team of west c;oast riders had to sett le for a still rem arka ble two -out -ofth ree afternoon , Spoi ler in the festivities was Team Suzuki's Billy "Sugar Bea r" Grossi . Rid ing a Brian Lunn is-tu ned RM (not a works Suzu ki as inco rrec t ly rep orted in last week's article). Billy turne d in a perfect I -I set of Open class finis hes for th e 'g ray an d windy afte rnoon. Grossi's mach in e is a mo difi ed RM 370 tha t sports wor ks fork s a nd shocks a nd a T horwaldso n swinga rm. The motor a nd fram e began life as a production RM ; Mister Bri an and Sugar Bear m ade it a winner. Privateer proving grounds 12 The 1977 Florida series a lso serves as a n introd uc tory stagt" for eastern pri vat eer s who don 't enjoy the good fortun e of be ing a ble to perform for factory sco uts as do th e up a nd co mi ng southern Cali forn ians. Severa l were noteworthy in th e Sunshine Speedway program ; among them , 125cc classers Ma rk Ba rnett , Joh n Reinbolt and J im m y Walk er. Ba rn ett , fro m Illinois, finished third toda y behind factory flyers Broc Glover and Da nny La Porte with a 3-7 ta lly. Last week Mark had begun equally well wit h a third placing in the openi ng mo to only to fall victim to me chani cal pro blem s in th e second leg . Joh n R e inholt. a Fl o r id ia n , fo llowed Barnett in fourt h for the a ftern oon wit h a n 8-4 to tal. W a lker . last week's top 125cc pri vateer in th ird behind th e Glover/LaPo n e stea m ro lle r , placed t hi rd in tod ay's second moto . A chain fa ilure in th e openin g round kept him to tenth overall, All three rod e Suzuki RM 125s. Everyone 's . fa vori t e privat eer (since T ony D went factory) . Mickey Boon e di dn 't feel th ... necd to claim an yon e's bike this afte rn oo n as he edg ed "T he D" out of second overall in th e 250 cc action behin d a long-gone Bob " H u r rica ne" H ann ah . While Hannah ran away to a on e -rninute lead over th e second plac e rid er in bo th mot os, Team Suzuki's 250 cc National Cha m pio n and th e m an who's been ca lled a second string rider d uked it out for seco nd . Mickey took over on the last la p of th e second moto , slippi ng past Tony to win out by a 3ยท2 over 2-3 m argin . The Sp anish "E urope-a n pla n" spo nso red riders, Mickey Kessler on Montesa and Marty Moat es on Ossa , ro unded o ut the top five. Two ' es t a b lis hed Florid a pro s, Ha rold Buckingham a nd Joey Gratton trailed th e rapid rivalry betw een Billy Grossi a nd Yamaha 's Rick y Burgett . T he top two spo ts went quickly to th e Suzuki/Yam aha sponso red west coa st rid ers but Buckingham a nd Gratton had a duel for th ird goi ng that was settled in th e fin a l rnor o when Harold outdid the veteran fellow Yamaha rider 4 -3 to 3-4 . Fifth was Suzuki's Jeff J ennings. 125cc: Broc dashes. Danny crashes Danny La Porte's Suzu ki led . th e b uzzi n g h ord e of 125 cc MX e rs through Sunsh ine's sa ndy first turn , but Ma rk Barnett sq ueezed past for a ch a nce to spea r head t he m ission t hroug h t he open ing la p. Broc Glover trailed t hem in third afte r pickin g up two spots on the first la p , and in G love r's t r a c ks we re Mo ro -T e x' s Mich ael Jon es a nd J imm y Martin . By the time lap two was co m p lete , La Po rte had rec lai med the lead fro m Ba rn ett . C lover was sta rt ing to close t he ga p, and on the th ird time arou nd he pul led in o n Barnett 's ta il. Mom ents later , Ma rk slip ped und er pr essu re. overshot a berm , and Broc scoo ted past , hot after La Porte , By th is rim e Robert W est erm an had moved up from sevent h into fourth wh ere he'd stay for th e du rat ion . La Porte looked like a winn er. qui ck ly cruising the course in a style that looks a good deal like DeCoster's. Unfortunatel y, th e R .D .' s winning ways require more than style, and Danny lost his chance for a moto win in a fall near th e halfway point. Once Glover pass ed for the lead , the top pla ces remained un ch anged : Glover, La Porte , Barnett , Westerman and Jones. Round two saw Broc Clov er zing h is Ed Scheidler-tuned YZI25 to the front of the pack right out of the gate and through turn one. La Porte was right on his rear knobby and looking for space to pass , but Danny lost it coming off a jum p halfway through the first lap . The crash dropped him to last pl ac e. Glo ve r showed Robert:" W est erman , Jimmy Walker , John Reinholt and Michael jones through t he opening lap . While Broc esta blishe d a 20 second lead over W esterman , Danny LaPorte was chargi ng rapidl y back u p from his last place restart . On th e th ird lap, La Porte skitt ere d int o eight h place, th en in th e laps that fo llowed, recovered seco nd beh ind a n out of sig ht Bro c Glover. O verall , it was ;> Glover , La Porte , Barnett , Reinholt and Ed ward Col e . 250cc: Ano ther "Hurricane" blast When asked JUSt how close to stock" those T eam Yamaha YZS really were. Hannah's mechanic Keith McCarty sidestepped th e question by answering, " I think it's th e gu y who rides it that makes th e difference. " Yamaha Motocross Supervisor Ed Sch eidler was a bit more direct in answer ing th e same question regarding Glover's bike. " I' ve had a chance to work on this motor during th e week ," he replied with a trace of an l -know-someching-you -don't smilej on his fac e. "We've cleaned up the. inside a little. As soon as we get it all worked out, we plan to make ' the information available to d ealers." Like th e aluminum swingarm on Glover's machine that may become available; from Yamaha if it proves out , motor mods to th e production bikes may event ua lly become a vaila ble to any Yam ah a mount ed MX er . If so , privateers will finall y be getting the attention t hey feel th ey deserve , and need , from the manufact urer. What e ver th e secret behind Yamaha's Winter-AMA success, it certai nly works for Bob Hannah. Once aga in , th e 20 -year-old Cal ifornian sto le the holeshot and proceeded to steadily c r u ise awa y from all competit ion . At the end of the opening lap , Hannah led a fast haulin g Mickey Boone. Kawasaki's Terry Clark, Can'Am's Jimmy Ellis and Billy Grossi. Monte McCoy had attached himself to Hannah's rear fender at the start but crashed hard on a tall Sunshine Speedway jump and effectively de-tuned himself in the first quarter lap . After moving into second. Jimmy Ellis had to stop for a lap to work out some problem with father George on the prototype Can-Am. He restarted to get ba ck up to fourth by the rnoto's end. Tony DiStefano jammed up from seventh place on the first lap to overtake Boone for second , a favor