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/126249
Rick Burgett won the Open class again in a region not generally known for lumberjacks. Danny laPorte won both 125 rnotos, break ing Broc Glover 's Florida w in streak. Fl~rida Winter-AMA MX Series, Round Three , . LaPorte psyches 125s, Hannah hauls away 250s, and Burgett blasts Opens. , By Gary Van Voorhis GAI NESVILLE . FL , FEB . 20 "Hey, I'm, not saying that winning mysecond consecutive Winter-AMA class title isn't nice , but I'm after more than that. I won't be satis fied until I sweep both motos at Orlando next 6 week. I've g~t someth ing to prov e. , . that a stock bike , like an y privateer can buy straight fro,? a shop, can win', My Yamaha IS a production model with onl y personal riding changes made like handlebars and foot pegs . and if I can show th e privateer that it ca n be done, then so much the better. You kn ow , I haven't even run the bike full bore yet. I wonder what it would do if I had someone 10 really 'p ush me. I've got . enough fai th in this b ike t ha t I may keep on using it for awhile even t ho ugh I've got two other (last year's refurbished works moun t and a new works bike) bikes 10 choose fro m when the stad ium events roll around ." Bob Hannah had Just put his Keith McCarty· tun ed Y'!.maha YZ250 through the pa ces at Super Sports Promotion's Carorback Park event 10 sweep his third consecut ive 250cc class victory . He was bolstered by th e fa ct that everyt h ing seems 10 be goi ng his way : better, more . con~i~te '1t starts, smoother, more fl,:ud riding and an even more aggressIve style .t ha n last yea r. 250ec: Another Hurricane haul-a-day Jimmy Ellis led o'ff the first of. the 250cc class rriotos with a holeshot that put him at the front of the pack on the rough , whoop -de -doo covered Gatorback track . Ellis he ld his lead for five la ps before Hannah , who had been ca ug ht in traffic , blasted past an d set abou t opening u p, a lead . Suzuki's Tony DiStefa no was th e next one 10 pass the fa ltering Can -Am of Ellis, do ing batt le for a couple of la ps and then closi ng the gap and pa ssing on a slower back section of th e track. Steve Stackab le, another victim of t ra ffic, was also on th e mo ve fro m a rear posit ion 10 fourth be for e th e mota Jimmy Ellis (19) holeshot the first 250 moto. finished . In fifth , and running a very aggressive race was John Savitski, who wa s sporting a " T e a m Bear" im prom p tu sticker on his front fender signifying that he was usin g Billy "Suga r Bea r" Gross i's spa re engine in .place of his own , wh ich was lai d up with mechanica l ills and no parts 10 fix it. Team Ossa teammates Greg Robertson and Marty Moates ran a short-lived one-two in the opening lap of th e second moto until Hannah gobbled th em up one -two before the end of lap three . The action settled down by th e halfway point with Hannah increasing his lead while DiStefano rod e gamely to decrease it. Further back, Steve Stackable and his Maico worked on th e same close -thegap t'!.ctics whil e a group containi ng Robertson , Roger Brown , Mark Robillard, Savitski , Tony Summey and Mickey Kessler fought wheel 10 whee l. Jimmy Ellis , playing no favorites , sliced his wa y through the pack to take fourth with Savitski fifth a nd Marty Moates regaining his momentum 10 capture sixth. Hannah', Di Srefano , St ack ab le , Ellis and Savitski - took the top five placings overall . 125cc: laPorte P.opsthe cork while Glover fumes T he best race of the day pitted the o ne -two -five sta rs of th e Su zuk i (Danny La Porte) a nd Yama ha (Broc Glover) factories in a head to hea d , • ' wheel to wheel a nd ha ndle bar to ha ndlebar due l that riveted. t he Garorback 'crowd 's attention to th e track in that class' second mota . ' T he dogfight , started off with Glover opening a quick gap on th e rest of the field while La Porte came hustling through the field like a rocket, ran for t he last 12 laps of the Ifi -Iap even t as t he pair engaged in bailie over every inch of the t rack. Glover held off repeated charges by La Porte u nti l ha lfway when La Porte gOl past for good. La Porte frus trated Glover's every move by shutting the door on his cha rges and using traffic and the tactic of braking early going into a corner and getting on t he gas quic kly coming out to superb advantage. The after race conversation (sep a ra te) was like night and day . La Porte: " O n ce I got out in front , I knew all I had 10 do was hold position 'a nd that's what I did. I was even cooling it a little because the engine tightened up twice ." . Glover: "H e (La Port e) messed up m y head in the last mota by hitting t he brakes everytirrie, we got close in the tu rns . I thought I was go ing to crash into him a number of times. He used to -d o that when we raced in California. I guess I shou ld have been ready . Being penalized a lap in the first rnoto didn't help my m ind eit he r. Heck a rider behind on the sta rt ing line ran into me and sho ved m e forward enough to push my front wheel out of the ditch so I grabbed t he brake ha rd just as they started the moto which put me last. To top th ings ' off, I t he n got pena lized a lap for su pposed ly jum ping the sta rt. 'It h asn't been m yday." It m ay no t have been Broc's day, b ut his two race pe rformance in coming from last in the first rnoto to second and' his tooth and n ail fight in the second rnoto were damn good by any standards. As Yamaha racing manager Ken Clark told Glover: "This is just practice, we're JUSt warming up .