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/126257
..... ..... M 0.. -( AMA 250 National MX Captain Cobalt p ts a little music in his life By Gary Van Voorhis LEBANON , T N, APR . 17 C 6 an-Am's J im my " Ca ptain Col bait" Ellis savored the sweet taste of victory for th e first time this yea r by cas hing in at th e Mu sic Cit y 250 National MX Cham pionshi p event at Lebanon, T ennessee's Hillside MX Park, but th er e wer e 20 drama -packed minutes in the final 250cc moto when he felt that Lady Lu ck had sna tched th e priz e away . Ellis was followed in th e overa ll tally by Suzuk i te a ms ter T on y DiStefa no who narrowly squeaked ou t seco nd plac e (by one point ) over th e Team Yamaha mount of Bob Hannah. Team Honda 'sJim Pomeroy and Marty Smith ro unded out th e top five. DiSt efano's second placing moved him to the top of th e point standings (84) , followed by Pom er oy (8 1), Smith (73), Ellis (63) and Kent How erton (52) Terry Clark put his Kawasaki int o th e winner's circle in th e 500cc Su pport class, but the big news was seco nd pla ce finisher Arl o Englund. Englund and his Husqvarna -sponsor ed 360 Automatic (up ped to 390cc) were com pe titive to the point of almost winning the first m ot o and running a stro ng and steady second pl ace in the final bash . Pen ton-spo nsored j a mes Smith filled out the winning tri o . Long gone Jimmy Hillside MX Park's 1.7 mi le na tura l terrain track , which many rid ers referred to as a "m in ia ture Unadilla ," suited Jimmy Ellis' bruising, rou gh rid ing style. Ellis. with hol eshot on his mind. led the pack to the first tum and was never seen aga in altho ugh in the early laps Pomeroy had a cha nce. Captain Cobalt opened a three seco nd a dva ntage on lap one then turned th e wick up with a two minute, 20-second tour that left every' on e wonde ri ng if th ere was a ro cke t in Ellis' Can -Am . Furman Gr ay and J im Pom eroy had tailed onto Ellis at th e start with Chuck Sun. Tony DiSt efano and JeffJ en nings ho lding position s close behind. Hannah a nd Marty Smi th wer e m ir ed in traffic as were Stev e Srackable , Rick Burgett and a lot of other go -Iasrers. A bad start, they soon found out , was hard to overcome on t he tight and twisting track. Ellis continued to widen his gap over the fight for second place whi le Bob Hannah began to slice his way through traffic culminating his . cha rge with a double pass (of Sun and DiStefano) over th e triple jump with a banzai leap that rocket ed him to fourth. Pomeroy was charging to close the ever wid ening gap bet ween he and Ellis wh ile a lso concentrating to ho ld back a determined Gray, Gary Semics had gone down early and was up racing a personal race from his near last p lace pos ition to create havoc amo ng th e lea ders as the fro nt ru nners began to run through traffic. Ga ylon Mosier had his charge stopped by a broken chain , By midway the action had settled down into a cha rge·a head- a nd .ho pe-somebody-makes-amistake race with Ellis all alone ahead of Pomeroy who held a comfortable m a rgin over Hannah . Beh ind that trio , DiStefano. Gray and Sun were disputing fou rt h wh ile Marty Smith, Steve Srackable, Burgert and Mickey Boone (trailing track marking streamers from his rea r wheel) wer e arguing about fifth , Hannah . who sa id he wasn't used to his new ' works (not stock) bike. began to close on Pom eroy while Ellis got steadily closer to the checkered flag , Pomeroy slowed slightly, but kept breathing space until the race was over . Tony D took fourth whi le fifth went rig ht to the flag as Sm it h edged Sun whil e Stackable did a hero ic last tu m charge that turned into a tank slapper and ended up with Stack gelling a worm's eye view of the finish lin e dirt. Captain Cobalt's charge goes.flat Geo rge Ellis , was giving some fa therly advice