Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

IAbovel Smith 1 grabs the lead in the 'main ahead of Hannah 121. Mosier 11 31 91 Steve Wise 1121 and pack. ILeftl Jimmy Ellis captured third at New Orleans. AMA cross Series - Round six Smith untouchable at Popeye's Superdome Supercross BY,Charles Morey NEW ORLEANS, LA , JUNE 4 Team Honda's Marty Smith, perliaps to console himself for the near miss in the 250cc National Series title chase, left all challengers behind in the Popeye's Fried Chicken sponsored Louisiana Superdome AMA Supercross fi n a l mota . From t he moment the brig~t red factory Honda burned off the line and led th e field int o tUTll; one to the cheers.of a 40 ,000 · plus a ud ience, M~r~y had It won . The competition was there . Yamaha's phenomenon Bob Hannah trailed in Sm ith's tracks , and Can Am's indoor specia list Jimmy Ellis kept, the pressure full-on throughout the 20 · lap ra ce . Bu t Hannah was ridi ng with an i',1ju re,?: ankle ~nd"had instruc~ions to ~ust Just finish,. and th e ~Igbt , longish (over one-minute lap .umes ) Superdome track made passing a chancy I?~ocess among riders of .nea r equal ability. Once the top three riders took their places in the fi!"t qua~~r of the final mota , their positions remained unchanged in a parade' like finish . Qualifying 16 The best racing of the evening took place in the four qualifying motos and two semifinals as riders struggled to get into the money-paying events. In a preview of things to come, Marty Smith rocketed out of the hole in the first qualifier with Team Kawasaki's Terry Clark and Suzuki's three-time 250cc National Champ Tony DiStefano close behind. Marty might have carried the " p review" concept in completion , but he dropped the Honda on the fourth time around, and Terry Clark took over with a determined Tony D on his trail. Smith remounted quickly - behind Clark and DiStefano - and swiftly began ' building momentum for a recovery ride as announcer Larry Huffman prepped the crowd for wh at was su re to come. By this time , m or e pressure . had built up fr om behin d Sm ith as Equi p~ Bu lra co 's Ri ch Eierstedt and "H urricane" Hannah had moved into fourth and fift h places. Smith, charging at a speed excelled only by that of Huffman 's tongue , closed the gap on Tony D beginning a duel that would soon ca rry th em both p ast -Cla rk. The mota end ed with DiStefano working hard just to keep Smith from literally buzzin g th e knobs off the Suzuki'srear tire, Clark held th ird ; Eiersted t and Hannah rounded ou t the to p five who quali fied. Confusion at th e gate put three riders over th e metal barri er before it dropped for th e second qualifying round. Suzuki's Jeff Jennings hopped com p letel y over it and worked h is advantage int o a beautiful holshot . Unfortunately for Jeff, th e advantage wou ld be lost in the form of a one-la p penalty when the race was done. Roger Jones and Jon Kolbenavik also lost a lap as a 'result of their eagerness to get a quick start. , Kent ' H owerton , second behind . Jennings with a legal start, got past in the first minute of the race as did Suzuki's 1975 Japanese National Champion Koji Masuda. Jim Pomeroy, fifth at the start, had .slipped up into fourth . Pomeroy made short work of ,both Masuda and Jennings, moving up to second by lap four . Jim would close on Kent, press for a while, then finally ease off and take; a secure second. easily qualifying for the main event whil e Howerton took th e moto victory . The next three qual ifying places were anything but settled however , as no fewer than six riders formed a b umping , shoving traffic j am in contention for th e re maining three slots on the fin al event Starting. !ine . up. Jennings , though he must have known he'd be penalized, was going for it. But Kawasaki's Gary Semics had fastened onto Jeffs tail and he was being pushed hard by Masuda , Mickey Boone, Chuck Sun and John Ayers. On the last lap, Boone jammed under Masuda on a tighr -bermed right hander, and Koji went over the h igh side, out of the running. With Jennings bumped, th e final three slots went to Semics, Sun and Ayers. Jimmy Ell is left no doubt concerning the third qualifier outcome. Captain Cobalt led Bultaco's Kenny Zahrt , Maico's Steve Stackale and Bul rider David Taylor out of the chute on his good-running and ultra quiet Can -Am. For Ellis , it was simply a matter of keeping the bike up on two wheels as . Zahrt settled back after pushing early in th e race and Stackable followed sui t. Bu t then the second and third pl '!Se runners dropped back suddenly I and Team Honda 's Tomm y Croft inherited second place. Zahrt had stalled the Bultaco, and Stackable ("I . slippe d down on that little off-camber thing.") had fallen . Both recovered quickly to stay in the top five. Stack even , closed on Croft to keep him honest, but Tommy held his second place behind a long Kane Jimmy Ell is. Zahrt followed in fourth and Can-Am rid er Robert Owen completed th e top five . Last yea r's Supercross Series Champ Jimmy Weinert launched his fa ctory Kawasaki to head the fourth qualifier fr om gate to checkered flag . Steve Wise, riding an RM250 Suzuki , stayed behind Weinert all t he wa y to an unchallenged second place, But Gaylon Mosier, in one of the most im pressive rides of the evening, recovered from a first turn tangle to place fourth at the end. The crash raised a lump on the Team Maico rider's upper leg , a painful injury that would affect his final mota performance noticeably. Mosier got around Yamaha's Rick Burgett into third place with four laps remaining, but the " Lum berja ck" returned the favor on the final time around to regain his third. Behind Mosier in fifth was Suzuki's Danny LaPorte who also had put in an outstanding recovery ride from that first lap fracas . Four more riders made the program , two from each semifinal mota , An extra tight race formed ' in the first one as Jeff Jennings and Koji Masuda , the two Team Suzuki riders took a, hotly cont ested ba ttle right down to an unbelievable fin ish . As they approached a lapped rider in th e final tu rn on t he last lap. Ma suda took a n outside line as Jen ninKS cut insid e . As the slower rider drifted .wide , he and Masuda tangled bars and both ' shot off into the infield where Masuda demolished a photographer's tripod in a violent get -off, Koji got up quickly, restarted the Suzuki and crossed the line still in second place - the final qualifying position in the motol The second semi put the last two riders on the line for the final event. Penton . rider Charles Cooper took the win over Bultaco mounted David Taylor . Consolation Former Team Bultaco rider Wayne Boyer , now waging a strictly privateer effort on a Yamaha, topped the consolation race. Malcolm McBride led Bob Collie and Johnny Borders through the opening lap as Boyer, back in sixth p~ce . dialed it on and looked for passing opportunities . On laps two and three , both Collie and Broders got around McBride. Borders ' tum near the front was short-lived as he fell on the next lap and let Ralph Babin into second place. By this tim e , Boyer had worked up • into third . Roger Jones rode two spots back in fifth , but he soon found a lin e ' around McBride (fou rt h) to follow Boyer to the flag. Collie came in third. Final It was 11:I g whe n th e gate dropped for th e final mota in Popeye 's Superdome Supercross . But if people were tired , 24 bik es ex p lod ing off the li ne a cc o m p a n ie d b y Huffman ' s exc itement- building patter certainly brought them back to life . As Marty Smith wicked his Honda to the front , bikes were bouncing and flipping in all directions. Suzuki's Danny LaPorte and Husky's Chuck Sun went down in tum on e . Rick Burgett lost. control of , the factory-backed YZ250 Yamaha in a collision with Suzuki's Koji Masuda . And things were equally hot out in front . Bob Hannah wasn't sparing Marty Smith an inch of leeway in his pursuit of the leader. Steve Wise, riding a non-factory RM250 , managed to hold off the man from Can-Am for a lap and a half before Jimmy Ellis passed in mid-air on the largest jump on the course. "Ellis almost jumped on me . . . it freaked me outl" Wi se recalled after the race, " I look ed up, and his front wheel was right there! (indicating a level just above his head and on ly a • foot away)." The "freak ou t" must have been a delayed reacti on , how ever, as Steve quickly got th e gas on and repassed a lm ost 'instant ly. T wo la ps 'Ia ter ., J immy once more came past . a nd thi s time it stuck , Wise lost concentration (Cont inued to page 52)

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