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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126254
the mud . But if Pom eroy had bad
luck , so d id Hannah and everyo ne
else.
The longest mote ever
Alm ost a ll the lOp riders m ade it
through the qua lifie rs a nd int o t he 20
la p Feat ure . Stadi um trac ks are
supposed to be sho rt and fast with I~p
times arou nd 60 seconds. bu t the ra m
cha nged all tha t, La p times had
continued 10 increase during the
evening's q ualifiers 10 when' it was
ta king almost three minutes 10 get
around the muddy co urse by the time
the Feature began . Ha nnah's winning
time for th e 20- lap race was 60
minu tes. probably the longest rno ro
eve r .
Many of t he riders m ig ht no t ha ve
fin ished th e race because they'd run
out of gas after two false sta rts.
J am med with m ud. sec tions of th e
. start ing gate co n tinued to ha ng up,
ca using some near ser ious cr ashes into
the met al barrier , among th em Jimmy
Ellis who had his Can-Am flip over
backwards on h im when it hit th e ga te.
and th en knock down three ot he r
ride rs. Steve Srac kable's m ech a nic.
Be rn ie T ho m ps o n, had h is foot
inju red when th e ga te fe ll on it a fte r he
was trying to help Ste ve pick his Maic o
up after it crashed over th e ga te in one
of th e qu a lifier s.
Fina ll y, A M A sta rter Ca r ro l l
Chander ordered th e ga te down and
used a green fla g to sta rt th e Fea tu re .
The " Rh in est on e Cowboy" Ke nt
Howerton pu lled th e holeshot wit h his
Hu sky ahead of Hanna h . Savi tski ,
St a c ka b le , To ny 0 , Po m e ro y,
La Porre , Summ e y , Mo sie r and
We in ert : Immed ia tel y Howert on . the
500cc Nationa l C ha mp , began pulling
away o n h is Eric Crippa -t uned
m ach ine . Kent continued to lead for
four la ps as the Texas crowd cheered
him on a nd he built up his lead. Then ,
goi ng up t he second mound of a
double jum p on th e back sec t ion (no
one was ma king anyof the ju mps. with
the mu d forci ng t he m to ride slow ly
over each one). Kent fell. Wh ile he
strugg led 10 fig ht th e suction of t he
mu d and pic k his Hu sky back up .
Hanna h roosterr ail cd by to ta ke over
the lead . Howert on got go ing agai n in
secon d position , but fell in th e sa me
place agai n o n th e very next la p. T his
time it took him al mos t a m in ut e to
pic k up t he bike . And when he fell for
a third tim e j ust two turns la te r, Kent
left his bike on th e side of t he track
an d headed ba ck to the pits.
Hanna h now ha d th e lead ahead of
Jo hn Savi tski on the FMF Suzu ki and
J im Pom ero y, riding a new Type liB
wo r ks
H ond a
with
in c reased
suspension t ravel - 12 inches u p fron t
an d II inc hes at t he back. Desp ite the
fact they were so ca ked wit h mud no
one co uld hardly tell who was who a nd
everybody ke pt falling, posi tions
e mained th e sa me . S t ack a b le
mo tored around a steady fourt h p lace
wit h his Maico.
On th e 15th la p , a tangled and
mu d -jammed fro nt brake cable on
Hannah's Yamaha whi ch ha d been
loc king up his front wheel and ca using
him to fall every few laps, fina lly
ja m me d him into th e mud hard . It
took Bob al most 40 seco nds to ge t back
up and runni ng agai n . W hi le Bob
strugg led , Pom ero y p a ssed J ohn
Savirsk i, Savitski held off Ha n na h up
to lap 18 th en sta lled his Suzuki in a
tum . Srackable and Mart y Smith a lso
R.a~sed, as J ohn fell over 'in the m ud
trying to get his bike cra nked.
.
Pomeroy had a good 30 seco nds lead
on Ha n na h as the last race neared its
last la p. a nd it see me d Jim fin all y had
overcome his run of bad luc k. T here
didn' t -seern a ny way tha t Bob cou ld
ca tc h him .
" I did n't ha ve a rear bra ke , m y Front
br ake kep t stic king and lock ing up, I'd
cras h whe n I got stowed u p beh ind
.-S-
c,
~
(Above/ Marty Smith (9/ leads
Glendon Johnson (41 I, Barry
Duncan (46/, Rich Eierstedt (11/,
Wayne Boyer (25 / and Steve
Stackable 16/, who was the w inner
of this qualifier.. (Rig htl Riding
around w ith six tons of mud is we think - Jim Pomeroy, (Botto m
right/ The mud packed so heavily
around Hannah's engine he was
stuck in f irst gear,
guys beca use I cou ldn 't SlOp. A nd m y
shi fte r W;lS so jam med up w ith mu d I
was stuc k in low gear t he last hal f o f
th e race ... Ha nna h sai d.
T he o d ds fin all y see med in
Pom eroy's favor. But 't hen , going up
rhe big tunnel j ump hill on the last
la p Jim got his front and rear wheels in
two d iffe rent ruts a nd cras hed,
" I j ust screwe d up again." Jim said .
mor e th an a little d isa ppointed .
As he st ruggled to pic k u p th e heavy.
mu d -l ad en b i ke, H a n n a h c a me
"slithering by almos t out of sha pe to
narrowly clip J im a nd fa ll himse lf. He
saved it though , in tru e H a nn a h
fashion , to win his t hi rd Supercross of
t he yea r .
Pomeroy pic ked up his Hond a in
ti me to finish second a head of
St ac kab le, Sm ith . Savitski. Mosier ,
Stacy. Cro ft , La Po rt e and W ise .
O regon m udder Rick Bu rgett . after
runn ing away wit h h is q ua lifie r . did a
n umber of get -offs in the Fea tu re ,
fina lly brea king o ne of t he foot pegs off
his Yamaha . T ony DiStefano suffered
a burned cl u tc h in his works Suzuki , a
problem th at had p u t teamm at e
•
J ennings out of his qua lifier.
Results
FINAL FEAT URE: 1. Bob Hannah (Yaml. 2. Jim
Pomeroy (Han). 3. Steve Stackabte IM