Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Left) Gary Semics had to settle for two Consolation moto wins, (Above) Jim Pomeroy gives Bob Hannah the evil eye and Hannah's ha ir stands on end. (Below) Jimmy Ellis darts off into the lead during a qualifier. He had to pas s Pomeroy on the last lap to win the Saturday f inal. in th e stadi um clai m ing " We shoo t squirrels in No rth Carolina . . . Han nah Banana. " Kenny Zahrt hammered OUI th e start in th e seco nd qu al ifier. Kent Howerton mo ved up fro m a third place posirion to lake over th e lead as Kenny dropped back and J im Pomeroy closed up quickly to lake over second. Cary Sern ics gOI a bad st a rt for the second night in a row a nd fa iled to slip int o th e top five. Qua lifier number three saw "J am m in' " Jimm y quick ly ta king the sta rt awa y from leader Mickey Boone. Then Da n ny La Porte gOI by as well for second p lace and reeled in W einert . J immy was playing his blo cking tri cks in th e turns and almost PUI Danny on his head when he got th e Suzu ki too close to the "[ a rn rne r" in a n effort to pass . Ca ylon Mosier too k adva ntage of La Porte's stu m ble to lake ove r seco nd place as Rick Burgett a nd T on y D tried to ge l around Boon e to tr a nsfer . Rick made it , bUI Frid a y nigh t's winner d idn't a nd would have to wa it unti l th e semi for a seco nd cha nce, The fina l qualifier was a runaway for J immy Ellis as Fr ank Stac y held on 10 seco nd , followed by Mike J ones, Rich Eiersted t a nd Tony Summ ey, Both Marty Moates a nd Marty Sm ith cou ld n't recover a fte r poo r st a rts and make th e qual ifying cu to ffs first tim e aro und, Only two riders OUI of the sem iqualifiers would transfer to the 24 rider feature event , so a ll the to p ta lent which had so far fa iled to qualify were look ing for good starts. Jolin Savitski pulled the best holeshot in the first sem i with his FMF Suzuki as Steve Wise cndoed two turns down the track to destroy his bike and pile up hal f the field behi nd him , Ca ry Sem ics slipped 10 the outside of t he wreckage and into second place, SIeve St ac kable gOI stuck be hind t he jammed up bikes and left way behind , bUI once he got his Maico free he began making up the lost ya rd age quite rapidly. On th e last lap Srackable caught Sernics, passing him a t th e finish line to make the transfer cuto ff by half a foot . The big news in th e second sem i was that Tony D was disqualified and put ou t of a cti on for th e remainder of th e night. Aft er Marty Moates almost d est ro yed him self on a malfuncti on in g sta rti ng g ate and th e rac <; had to be restart ed . Wayne Boyer took th e lead a head of Marty Smith , C reg Rob ertson , Marty Moates . T ony D and Pierre Karsmakers . Wayne held his lead up to thehalfway point only to fa ll, turning it ove r to Sm ith. With so mu ch tal ent on hand and only two tickets avail able to th e feature T on y tried to ba nzai his wa y up to th e front of the pack . Flying off t he big tunnel /ski j u m p . T ony lan ded off th e track. Befor e he cou ld slow himself down he was on ' a nothe r section of th e cou rse. R ather th an trying 10 ba ck track aga inst traffic to try a nd ree nter th e co urse where he went off. he rejoined th e course further down th e track . He lost a 101 of tim e but T on y go t back on th e gas to ca tc h Rob ertson on th e las t la p. He m ad e th e transfer cu to ff bu t was im m ed ia te ly d isqualified for m issing t he co u rse. Pat Mor on ey put h is Husky into th e lea d of th e 15 la p Cons olation ra ce with C a ry Sernics a nd Ma rt y Moat es q uic kly closi ng up 10 seco nd a nd t hird spots . Lap six saw th e factory Kaw asak i rider la king th e Iead away fro m Moro ney a nd Moates m oving 10 try and take seco nd . Aft er pushin g Moron ey for four laps in an effort to gel a round , Marty dropped his Ossa 10 give Moron ey a secu re hold on second as Marty still recovered in time to maintain third, Cary Semics would have liked to race th e feature , bUI his win of the co nsolation for the seco nd night in a row didn't make him feel 100 ba d . " My bike just didn't work good enough in this tacky di rt 10 ge t m e into th e' feature, Also, I've gOI a blood c101 in my left leg and can't use it in left hand turn s. ': The 20 -lap feature turned into the best race of the weekend as Jim Pomeroy pow ered his fire en gine red RC2 50 Honda through the first turn swee per with Mosier, Burgeu . Hannah , Howert on , Ellis , Jones, Sun, Sta ckab le, J ennings , Savitski a nd all , lu cked in behind, Hannah immedi a tely began his cha rge towards first place only 10 have it quickly br ought to a halt on the third lap beca use of a thrown chain. When Bob gOI it back on he was sitting in last posit ion . By the halfwa y point in th e race he was up 10 12th place , on ly to cras h and find himself last agai n . Once more , Bob rem ounted to pass rid er s like Cro ft a nd Sm ith for th e seco nd lime and worked up 10 tenth by the end o f th e race , Caylon Mosier was pu shing Pomero y for five laps tryin g 10 get his Maico a ro und " Bim bo," th en J im figured he'd ha d eno ug h and pulled out a 50-ya rd lead. W ith Caylon disposed of, Jimmy Ellis thought he'd give Pomeroy a Iry and passed Howerton , Burgett a n d Mosier 10 close in on th e Honda rider . Ellis slowly closed ground on Pom eroy, but th ere was some dou bt whether he could do it before th e race ended. With three laps 10 go , Pomeroy found his road blocked by fou r riders who were being lapped , "It was al most impossible to pass out there ," said Bim bo . "T hose four gu ys got in front of me for a lmost a lap , and it let Ellis close right u p on me. O nce he got a clear d rive ou t of a tu rn he had enough mo mentum 10 pass me on th e next to last la p." Jimmy Ellis crossed the finish line some 20 feel ahead of Pomero y, almost the same margin of bad lu ck wh ich had allowed Hannah 10 beat Pomero y two weeks earlier at Atlanta Stadium . Pick in g up th ird place was Caylon Mosier (''I'm really happy 10 finish a race for a changer ') ahead of Burgett and Howerton . Taking sixth plac e was Jimmy Weinert who stalled his Kawasaki in th e first tum after the sta rt and had 10 work all the wa y up from last place, Jennings look seventh aft er having to slow his pa ce due to a bent shift lever. Danny La Porte ran with a flat tire almost t he entire race and was event ua lly forced 10 pull off th e track. C reg Rob ertson DNFed after co lliding with Chu ck Sun on th e last lap . • Results Friday FINAL: 1. Tony DiSt efano (Suzl. 2. J im Pomeroy tHon), 3. Bob Hannah (Yaml . 4. Jeff J ennings tSuzl . 5. Steve Wcse ISUl I. 6. Gaylon M OS ler (M ai). 7. Kent Howerton IHusl. 8. Steve Staekable IMail. 9. Mickey Boone ISuz) . 10. John Sa vrtsk i (Sun. 11. Marty Moates lOss). 12. Tommv Croft IHonl. 13. Roger Brown (Pen), 14. Frank Stacey (Pen). 15. Pierre Karsmakers (Yaml. 16. Danny laPorte ISUl). 17. Marty Smith IHan). 18. Jim W e;nert (Kaw ). 19. M ike Jones (Mail. 20 . Ken Zahrt IBul). 21. Glendon J ohnson (Suz). 22 . Jim Ellis IC·Al. 23. Greg Robertson 1 0ss1. CONSOLAnON: 1. Gary Semics IKaw l. 2. Bobby Pickard (Pen). 3. Mi ke Gillman ISuzl. 4. Ricky Kidd (Penl . 5. J ohn Bord ers 1 0ss1 6. Mark Rakestraw IMail. . 7. Bob Ferris (Suz). 8. Jimmy M art in (Ma il. 9. James Tidwell (Yaml . 10. Ralph Babin. t t. Pat Moroney IHusl. 12. Chuck Cooper IPenl. 13. Chns Douttutt (Suz). 14. Tim Riddle (Husl . 15. Danny W eir (KawL Saturday FINAL: r. Jimmy Ellis IC·A I. 2. Jim Pom eroy IHon). 3. Gaylon Mosier (Mail. 4. Rick Burgett (Yam). 5. Kent Howerton (Hus). 6. Jim W einert IKaw l. 7. J eff Jennings (Suzl. 8. Steve St ackable (Ma il. 9. Terry Clark IKawl . 10. Bob Hannah (Yam). 11. John Savit ski fSuzl. 12. Rich Elersted t (Bull. 13. Tomm y Croft (Han), 14. Tony Summey (Yam). 15. Chuck Sun (Hust 16. Frank Stacey IPenl. 17. Mart y Smi th (Han). 18. M ickey Boone ISuzl. 19 . Rog er Brow n (Penl. 20 . Mike Jones IMai). 21. Bobby Pickard IPenl. 22. Ken Zehrt IBul1. 23. Danny l aPorte ISuzl. 24 . Greg Robertson la ss ). CONSOLATION : 1. Gary Semics IKaw l. 2. Pal Moroney IHusl. 3. Marty Moat es (Ossl. 4. Glen J ohnson (Suz). 5. David Boles IHusl. 6. Ricky Kidd (Pen!. 7. Gary Jones (Honl. 8. o. ckey Nowe ll IPenl. 9. J ohn Borders lSu zl. 10. Mik e Gillman (S Ul) . 1. Dennis Brand (Suzl. 12. Bart Batson (Pen). 13. Danny W ier IKaw ). 14 . Mark Rakestraw IMail. 15. Tim Riddle (Hust 16. Billy Phee IHusl. 17. Billy Moyer 1Mai). 7

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