Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I but Ch a n d ler was carried to St. Joseph's Memorial Hospital. Kept ,overnigh t for observation, Ch an dl er reportedly suffered two broken ribs and a bruised hip . Ironically, the Red ;Bud event was his last scheduled race of the '77 season. Round one, delayed by the accident and , a malfunctioning starting gate, was eventually ' flag started successfully, and it was Tommy Croft who best read the flagman. Croft led Pierre Karsmakers, Herbert Schmitz; Gaylon Mosier and Jim Pomeroy through , the firs t set of muddy turns . Roger Defloster's, luck turned bad from the moment they hit turn two, a 'greasy, deep mud 180 degree corner 'where the charging pack coagulated in an elbow-bumping traffic . jam. DeCoster exited the. tum in next-to , last place, trying in vain to clear his goggles. In successive la ps, the five time World Cha m p ion struggled to ' overcome vision p rob lems . He' d eventually work up to a seventh place - . finish. Pierre Karsmakers and Herbert _ Schmitz found a way around Croft on the opening lap, leaving the Honda rider in third, and Brad Lackey closed to pressure him further . Fifth was Jim Pomeroy followed by Gaylon Mosier, For the third time that afternoon I Bob. Hannah, G:errit Wolsink and (he had also led the false start in the Marty Smith. second moto) , Tommy Croft showed Karsmakers ran into problems on the International class the fast line the next time around , and Schmitz through tu rn one. But this time Bob took over the lead . Schm itz enjoyed 'a Hannah was breathing down Croft's turn at the helm for the first ha lf of the , neck', and before a half lap had been moto, but all the while Jim Pomeroy completed, the Hurricane had taken was making a run for the front . control. He pulled out to a 20 -second Pomeroy overtook Lackey , then Croft , lea d within a co uple laps and never " to close on Sch mi tz ' nea r the' halfway looked back all die way tO'the finish point and take the lead. . line. But Hurricane Hannah, two slots Also overtaking Croft on that first behind Pomeroy at the end of lap one, half lap, apparently when -the Honda had tucked in behind and was rider made a slip on the muddy following the exp eri enced Grand Prix course, were' Jim Pomeroy, Marty rider through the front runners, Near Smith, Brad Lackey and Yamaha's the 30-35 minute mark, Hannah ha d . Rick Burget t. closed on Pomeroy - the leader. ' ' Bu rg e tt " a recognized mud Lackey followed in third with specialist, had poked a hole in ' the Schmi tz and Croft a fairly safe Yamaha's clutch casing in the first distance behind. Gary Semics, 13th on moto, Mechanic Larry Carpenter had the opening lap , was putting his mud plugged it ~th huge . quantities of' riding skills to good use and had silicone seal , and they both werethe factory Kawasaki cruising along in counting on it to keep the oil-bathed sixth place. Marty Smith followed in cl utch operating for the entire second seventh , well ahead of a Gerrit round. ' It did. Their problem then Wolsink/Roger DeCoster battle for , b ecame one of fuel consumption. eighth - a contest that went to R icky p ut in his best ride of recent DeCoster on the next lap . At the same events, charging up into second place' time, both Cro ft and Semics got at t he two -laps-to-go sign but then around Schmitz' and into fourth and dropped it in the final minute letting fif th place, respectively. four riders repass him. He then Schmitz was having problems with sputtered 'across the finish line in sixth the Maico. Still experimenting with where his cycle quit - completely out various cylinders on the prototype of gasl machines , he would suffer blown b ase Within -15 minU'tes the parade had 'gaskets iri both motos , a .situation that sorted- itself. out, tear-offs had been kept him from finishing either race . , pitched away and the serious drives O n ly minutes from the end , Jim upward began. Hannah had ,p ulled Pomeroy made the mistake that, well away, and Pomeroy seemed fairly Hannah had been waiting for; he safe ahead of Smith . Burgett cruised tipped over in a slippery slow speed along ,in fourth p lace followed at a _ _ distance by Marty Tripes. But back in . corner. ''1'" think he . killed the motor ," sixth, a three-way struggle was going • • on . Brad Lackey, who co uldn't quite Hannah said later, "and I just motored byl" , pull it all together in round two, was From that point on, it was Hannah's being pressured by Roger DeCoster rnoto . Lackey had closed on Pomeroy and Tommy Croft. Both found a way by the time Jim got the Honda running around, and then Croft overtook ' again, but Po meroy held off Brad's DeCoster on one of the Red Bud uphill drive for second place. Tommy Croft sections to take sixth place on his way finished fourth with Gary Semics 'to an eventual fourth in the moto . Penton/KTM's Andre Malherbe : putting in respectable fifth place ride, was next to get around Lackey. Smith scored a sixth ahead of Mal herbe ha d gone down in the turn DeCoster as Marty Tripes, Gerrit two confusion in the first mota , and Wolsink and Danny LaPorte ro unded out the top 10. he'd pulled off the track in disgust. "Crazy starting ' gatel" Malherbe expressed his feelings afterward using Moto two- Croft's secondl th ree of th e lim ited number of English t hird holeshot _ . words in his vocabulary . , Only one restart was necessary for But in the second mota , following a the second moto . Several riders step-off on the third lap that dropped anticipated the flagman by an the Belgian from fifth to 12th, he put unacceptable margin and were called together a respectable rally to p lace back for a second try with no • (Continued on page 36) penalties. sc CN .... 11) ..0 o ..... u o (Top) Roger DeCoster is knee-deep in M ichigan iT ck . Brad Lackey follow s lli him. (Above) Snow was one of the forms of precipitation. Marty Smith is the one under the jump suit.(Below) Jim Pomeroy slithered to a second. (Bottom) Tommy Croft (16) pulled three holeshots. Only two were allowed. r a 7

• Cover