Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

through a turn , and lost it all when his cha in derailled again. Smith tangled with th e nonpowered Yamaha , ge tti ng pulled to t he outsid e , but recovered and retained his lead , A lap or two later , Pom eroy cut under Smith and slipped in to the lea d , Tony D had gotten around Tom my Corft and now made it a close threesome in the chase for a moto win, Jim Pomeroy faltered a few minutes later, dropping 10 fourth , Smith kept a Hon d a in co nte ntion unt il on ly a matter of minutes from t he fin ish when he got off near th e mechanics' area and T on y D took over. DiStefano sailed to th e first round win as Smith led a 2-3-4 p arade of T ea m Hondas with Pom eroy in third , Croft fourth , Suzuk i's Da nn y La Porte rounded out the top five ahead of Ga ry Semics, Ric k Burgett (who 'd m ade a remarkable recovery from that first lap cras h) and Husq varria 's Chuck Sun, It was T ea m Hond a 's red , white and blue forming a solid th ree-ma n front in turn one of the seco nd 250cc Nat ional rnot o . Po meroy had go tten off first wit h Smith and Croft running head 10 tail a hea d of T erry C lark , Rick Bu rgett , Gary Semics, Chuck Su n and Tony DiStefa no . Steve St ackab le a nd J ohn Savitski tangled and went down in turn one and restarted last. Tommy Croft made the first move , getting around Marty Smith and into second place , Smith seemed content to rid e Croft 's rear fe n d e r a nd wa it before attempting a comeback. T ea m Yam aha . how ever , wa s making a joint effort to spoil th e whole Hond a program as R icky Bu rgett passed Terry Clark and closed on Smith, Bob Hannah , who 'd sta rt ed way ba ck in 17th , one e again launched a WFO cha rge through the fro nt ru nners , "{ was a little out of cont rol ." he 'd ad mi t to Sm ith , Croft a nd ot hers on the p la ne go ing home that even ing . " W ho ? You ?1 Ou t of co ntro l?" th e y'd res po n d in an upro ar of lau ghter to th e rid er who d oes more swa p pi n g in o ne mor o than th e ave rage swa p sho p operator does in a lifetime . But wild o r not . Hannah wa s making time , Ten minutes into the m oro , he 'd pa ssed 13 of h is contemporaries including most of the fastest riders in th e U ,S. At th e 10· minute mark , he was wedged int o a tight four -wa y scra p over second pla ce a mong Croft, Burgett , him self a nd Mart y Smit h . T o ny D wa s cl ose behind , wai ting for a m istak e , . The cha in -th row in g problem soon spe lled th e end of th e Hurricane's fu n. Only a co u ple laps lat er , it ca me off for th e final tim e a nd H annah was do ne for the dav . Burgett wa s fa r fro m t h rou g h . however , as he skip ped h is Yam a ha up past Tom my Croft into second , t hen closed on Pomeroy. By th e crossed flags , sign alli ng t he ha lfway point in th e moto , Rick y Bu rgett had tak en th e lead , But he'd overe xte nded him self in th e effort . , Worn out from pacin g himself too fast too soo n, Rick y began fad in g a lmost as fast as he'd cli m bed to th e front. He dropped back as fa r as fifth before fini shing an event u al fourth in the moto , fifth overall . When Burgett. dropped back , J im Pomeroy, Tomm y Croft a nd Marty Smi t h pu t on an all -Honda show , ri di ng in close fo rma tion as they weaved through la pped rid ers. DiStefa n o fe ll bac k fro m t he frontrunners a fter having problems with th e lapped riders to wind up in sixth for the moto, second overal l. "I blew it ," admitt ed Tony. After winning the first moto , he 'd settled for sixth aft er fallin g twice in ' th e second round , losin g out on a cha nce win Southwick overall, ' Danny La Porte pu t in a strong charge in the second half of the moto , closing to fourth before his seat came loose and nearly put him through the snowfence. " It tipped up on one side ," Danny said afterwards , " and Lcouldn't reach th e brake coming into a turn ." He recovered after overshooting the turn . but could only manage a 10th moto placing riding with the flopping seat. Near lap 16 of the 22 -1ap mot o , Marty Smith stepped up his pace . Pom e ro y had ea rl ie r establ ished a fai rly good lead ahead of Cro ft and Sm ith , but he'd apparently slowed and th e pair closed , Marty sa w his ch ance and went for it. W ith three la ps to go , he tuc ked in on Pomeroy's rear fender , th en sq ue ezed pa st and into the lead for th e ch eckered flag , Pomeroy held seco n d a hea d of Croft , Burgett , Howerton a nd DiStefano . T erry Mulligan , Honda 's Team Manager , was j ustifiably proud. "T hey a ll had t he figh t in them ." he be am ed . " Eve ryth ing ca me together today. " 10 125cc Support Mike Gue rra , not a su rprise winner acco rd ing to local motocross follower s, pu t toget her a very im p ressive 1·1 victory in So u thwick's 125cc Support race . Gue rra , rid ing a Cycle Dynam ics Hu sq varna , took a n eig hth pla ce start in ro und one a nd worked it into a leading posi tio n - and event ual moto victo ry - by th e ha lfway m a rk , Rou nd two sa w Guerr a ,get started nea r the back of th e 40 ·rider fiel d a nd figh t his way u p p ast some pretty st iff opposi tion to once aga in ro ll through first at the flag , J am es Meen an , on a Tewksb u ry Speed Suzuk i, sco red second for the a ft ernoon with a 4-2 tota l following vay close r aci ng wi t h Ma rk Man chest e r a n d R obert Ma ih os. Man ch est e r , rid in g a Buckland Yam aha , put in a 2·4 day for thi rd , Ma ih os, Suzuki m ounted , ra cked up a fourth overa ll with a 3-5 total. • IO pp. page} Marty Smith (9), before his get-o ff in the first mota, leads Tony DiStefano (1) through one of Southwic k 's sandy berms, ljtop) The start of t he second mota was a Honda parade. Cr oft Il 6}, Pomeroy 1 102} and Marty Smith have hold on the fast inside line. (M id dle) ,Th ird overall Tony DiStefano leads Danny laPorte (7) wh o w as slowed in the f inal mota by a loose seat.lBelow} Honda's Tommy Cro ft put on a f las hy berm-shot on way t o a fou rt h overa ll f inish, Results 250cc NATIONAL: 1. Marty Smith 2·' IHonl . 2. J im Pomeroy 3-2 (Han). 3. Tony DiStefano 1-6 ISu:) . 4. Tommy Croft 4-3 (Hon): 5. Rick Burgen 7-4 (Yam). 6. Chuck Sun 8·7 IHusl. 7. Danny laPorte 5-10 ISuzl. 8. M ickey Boone l O-S ISUlI . 9. Gaylon Mosier g..g (Mai l. 10. Kent Howerton 14-5 IHusl. " . Steve 5taekable 11· 11 (Mai l. 12. Gary Sem ics &1 7 tKawl . 13. Pat Moron ey 16-14 IHusl. 14. Rick Eierstedl 40-12 IBul1. 15. M ickey Kessler 1240 IMonl. 16. Jimmy Ellis 28·13 IC·AI. 17. Terry Clark 13-23 IKawl. 18. Marty Tripes 4Q-15IH-DI. 19. Koji Ma suda 15-40 ISuz). 20. Mark Robillard 21·16 IHusl. 125cc SUPPORT : t . Mike Guerra , -, IHus ). 2. James Meenan 4·2 (Suzl. 3. Mark Manchester 2-4 (Yaml . 4. Robert Ma,hos 3-5 1 021.5. Arlo Englund 6-3 IHusl. 6. 5 Stev e Abt 5-0. 7. Thomas Browne 8-9 (Yaml. 8. Tonv Masciarelli 14..7 (Suzl. 9. Mik e Robinso n 12·11. 10. Scon W allenber g 16-8 {Sull . 7

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