Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

AMA 250cc National,MX Series-Round four Marty's miqhty in Massac husetts By Charles Morey SOUTH WICK , MASS .. MA Y 1 In his own quiet -spoken way , Marty Smith was exuberant. Surrounded by young fans requesting autographs , the 20 -year-old Team Honda rider kept turning from the task at hand to say thanks one more time to mechanic Dave Arnold . 6 "T h a n ks for workin ' on my hi ke , Dav e , " M a rt y wo u ld sa y, ' Arnold w';uld look up fro m h is job o f pa ck ing the tru ck , nod , and sa y, "T h a t's OK , M artv ." Smith would s~ri b ble a few m o r e aut ographs in a scrawl th at look ed more like MmmmmSmmmmm th an M a rry Smith, and then he'd turn aga in to hi s mechanic and o ffe r so met h ing like , " Da ve , I reall y m ean it. Thanks a lo t!" To which Arnold would look up again , smil e , and tell Marty he wa s welcome, T he t hi rd o r fourth ti me Smith tu rned away from sig n in g M m m m mSmmm m m o n hats , t ick et st u bs a nd progra ms a nd said , "T h a n ks fo r workin ' o n rn v b ik e , D a ve!" , Da ve A rnold could n't help laugh ing , Sm it h h a dn 't n ot iced it , bu t h is m e ch an ic hadn ' t b ee n a b le to get mu ch d one , Slopping repea tedl y 10 say "yo u're welco me ," a nd he'd a p pa re nt ly a lso begu n 10 wonde r if Smit h had even heard hi s re pl ies , " T h a t 's O K ," A rnold reponded . this t ime laugh in g , " T h a n k you fo r r id ing my bike , Yo u did all right. " _T h e group at Motocross 33 8 in So ut hwick ha d p repa red a soft two, minu te trac k that sta rted as a serir-s of smoot h sweeping tu rns a nd rises b UI g ra d ua lly tra nsfo rm ed into a n elbo wpopping , kn ee -j oint -sei zing obstacle c o u rse as t 25 0cc a nd 125cc Su p port cl asses c hewed a t th e sa nd y su rface, B ~ t it wasn 't rh e tra ck t h a t kept Smith on hi s 1O,'S as mu ch a s it wa s hi s o wn Honda teamma te s . Jim Po m e ro y a nd Tomm y Croft. ' a n d Su zuki' s 250cr National c h a m p io n Ton y DiStefan o , Pomeroy a n d Di.S te fa no both rook a turn a t leading during rhe aft ernoon - Ton y won th e first mow but whcn it wa s said a nd done , Marty Smith c a rne out on 101' with a 2 , J rall y. h e N a t i o n a l 250cc National W it h m ore tha n 50 riders signed up for a c ha nce 10 compete in t he 40 rid e r fie ld , q ua lifyi ng rnotos we re a mu st in th e 250cc N at io n al c lass , Mon resas M ickey-'""K essl e r roo k the c heckers in th e first q ua lifyi ng mow wh e n R ich Eierst edt hai led off h is Bu lra co in a deep sandy turn whi le lea d ing near th e end , The second round of qualifying fell to Ka wa sa ki's Gary Scmics in a decis ive " ea sy" ride , The la st c ha nce to make t he p ro!(ram , the co nso la tio n rn oto . was a T e-am li a rd Lu ck ( ali a s T ea m H a rl e yDavidson ) swoop , R e x St aten a nd M art y Tr ipes had not m ade th e program in thei r qualifiers . Stat en crashed inj uri ng h is knee an d Tri pes h ad been penali zed a lap fnr jumping th e starting g"ate , Both m ade the show wi th a 1-2 co nsolat ion rn o ro finish . P ro vi ng the power of t hei r pre , product io n prowl ypes , Ka wa sa k i t e a m st r-rs T'er rv C lar k an d G a rv Se rnics burned 'a hOI lin e t h roug h Mo ro cross :.\3 8' s fi r- I t u r n an d disa p peared off int o t he h'ill v ba rk sectio n . Turn two , h OW('\T f , sig na lled the begin ning o f t he e nd for seve ral lOp ru nners, A chai n re a ct io n Slacke d up horns-town [av oru e Jim m y Ellis , M ickev Kessler , Kent H owert o n . R ick Burg"! l a nd J oh n Savi rski , so a t the e n d of t he o pe ni ng la p five pot ent ial 101' pl a cers ro de near the rear of till' pa rk , OU I in front , rh e g ree n , whit e a nd blu e dun o f Cl ark and Sernics were doing a greal j o b of hold ing off Man y Smith , Frank St a cy , Tummy Croft. Ton y D jStefa no and J im Po m e ro y, Close be h ind werv Billy Grossi , Sreve Sr a ckable , Bo b H a n n a h and Cavlon Mosier. . Stacy fad ed in the next t wo la p s , ill ness sa ppi ng th e st rengt h n ecessary 10 rid e com peti t ive ly , a nd o n t he seco nd lap t h e le a de r s a nd n e a r le a d e rs closed ra n ks for an ea rly baili e fo r position , S udden ly, o n the t hird lap , bot h Ka wa sa kis dropped from the Front . Reponed ly , Gar y Sern ics had overt aken T ern' C la r k on a downhill , t hen los t ront~o l. Cl ark , un a hi e to avoid Sern irs . h ad a lso cr a shed . Both rest a rt ed qu ick ly, co rn ing around in seventh (Sern ics) a n d l Ot h (C la rk') , , I POSit ions . Mea n w hil e , Bo h H a n nah had been or~a nili ng- o ne of his n n w-fa mous c ha rges from somewhere in t he to p 10 toward th e fr ont of t lu - g"roup , " O h sure , h e 'll win , " Yamaha'; Nat io n a l Ra ring :\Ianai( t'f Ken Cl a rk bad sa id t hat mo rni ng , There was n o d oubt in C lar k's m in d th at t h e " H u rr ica n c " wou ld b low t hern a ll a wa v, Bu t that W 3!'o heforr- t he c hain pro il lem t h at re ared it s he ad in pra ct ice a n d e ven tu a lly kept Bob fr om !'o('o r in ~ a sing'le m ot o poi nt became appa rr n!. For a n unexplain ed reason , H a n n a h 's Yamah a st a rt e d pit ching its c ha in , Jhe fi rst l im e il happene d . in pract ice . he 'd been exiti ng a heavi ly berrned rurn , and Ke nt Howerton , wh o wa s " i n third an ' fannin' the clut ch ," nai led Hannah 's Slopped machine hard , Kent pitched over the bars and received some ugl y shoulder bruises : H a nna h was unhurt b ut hi s b ike req uired so me major torch and pipe wrench work on th e rear frame sec tion . When t he Ka wa sa kis dropped b a c k , M a n y Smit h in heri ted t he lead , B u t H annah was now i n seco n d a n d pushing h ard , a n d Pom e ro y wasn 't re ad y 10 bo w o u t yc t , either , a nd c a m e b a r k to re p ass H ann ah in a n a ll -ou t d u el for possessio n of second p la ce . , By now , t h e 101' five were c lus tered in a close formation m ass of wo rkin elbows with Smit h leading Po m e ro y, H a n n a h , Croft a nd D iStcfa n o . H a n n a h got by Po m e ro y a g a in , put a move o n Smith , t aking the o u tside lin'

• Cover