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/126287
~ I-< V ..0 S v > o Z Smitty roosts Puyallup Marty takes 2nd Trans-AMA win of the Series and Warren Reid makes it an all 11 Honda show ':>. By Jim Gianatsis G .11 PUYA LLU P , WA , NOV , 20 )[ "I almost lost it on the last lap ," laughed MarCy Smith with more than a slight sigh of .relief. He had just held off Roger DeCoster for the second mota win . "I missed a shift going over (Top ) Brad Lackey breaks trail on the outside while the Washington state crowd roots for their favorites. IAbove) Marty Smith levitates on his way t o the overall w in . IBelow) Chuck Sun, this week 's profile person, lays a northwestern roost on ou r photographer in pu rsu it of M ike Bell. 14 that big jump and landed way over on the front end . I kno w I hit on the handlebar cross brace. If that had happened to me earlier in the race I know I would have ba iled off - but it was th e last lap and I knew I had to try and save it. " Save it he did , as Marty on his Dave Arnold prepared RC 400 Honda led both motos from start to fin ish at sandy Puyallup Raceway for h is second overall win of the 1977 TransAMA Series. Finishing second overall for the day was defending Champion Roger DeCoster on the R N 400 Suzuki. Roger nearly caught Marty near the end of th e final moto. Third overall for the day went to Sm itty's Honda teammate Brad Lackey. Ho pes for Am erica's first T ransAMA Series Champion faded when Bob Hannah could do no better than fou rth overall , allow ing th e Belgian rocke tsh ip DeCoster to increase his p oints .. lead with o ne race sti ll remaining in th is year's Seri es. Warren Reid made it a n all H onda show for the aft ernoon as he pull ed off the 250cc Nation al class victory a head of Yamaha's Broc Glo ver and Mike Bell . Moto one It was hardly an understatement that the rest of the facto ry teams were seeing nothing but red as Marty Smith led th e opening moto charge through turn one ahead of teammates J im Pomeroy, Tomm y Croft , and then Brad Lackey, who pow ered his works Honda around Yamaha 's Pierre Karsmakers for fourth spot just a few laps la ter. Buried back in th e flying sand of m id -pack were the two riders who had dominated th e Series thus far ... DeCoster and Hannah . It took them a while to see where they' were , but on ce they began picking off slower riders it was no time before th ey began trading positions betw ee n t hemselves in thei r charge towa rd th e front. Marty was ridi ng a coo l, relaxed pa ce a s he m aint a in ed his fr on t running position for th e first half of th e m oto , "Tomah a wk" Cro ft th en began a strong push tha t sent him b lasti ng past Pom e ro y and up on Smitty's rear fender . Tommy figured