Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

ITrouble'comes to town /{j Coca-Cola Motocross Finals to the local boy who did good By Jim Gia natsis J J ANAHEIM , CA , NOV . 12 Tying a ribbon to his 197 7 Supercross Series Champion crown that he clinched back in July at the Los Angeles Superbowl of Motocross, Team Yam aha's Bob "Hurricane" blew the doors off th e last race of the Seri es . He fla t ran a way with th e . , evening s ~O- l a p f~a~ure ra ce . Just to add Insult to inJu ry , H an - 6 na h devasta te d h is opposition with produc tion equipment - rid ing one of Yamah a 's new YZ 250 Es prepared by Keith "Cheese" McCarty. For Yamaha th e eveni ng was a doub le victory as semi-p riva tee r Arlo Eng lu nd flew his product ion YZ 250 D, spo nso red by Vicke ry Yamaha in Denv er . Colorado , to victory in th e 15lap Consolation ra ce . The th ird yea r of th e An ah eim Super cross proved th e most successfu l yet, with a near-capacit y crowd of 4 3 ,094 jammed into th e o pe n amphith eatre to prove that sta d ium motocross is the sport of th e futu re . AMA a lm ost withd rew its sa nc tion of the Co ca -Col a sponsored event in a dis p ute with promoter Mike Goodwin over th e t el evi sion ri g ht s . An ag reeme n t wa s re ac h ed b et ween Goodw in a nd th e AMA at 12:30 p .m. on Sa turday. Qualify ing heat race s T he course at the baseball st.adium was hardly spect a cular as indoor tracks go . b ut it cert ainly proved safe for the rid ers . and all owed for passing withou t having to knock do wn you r oppositio n to do it. The only serious injury a ll evening go t to Mickey Boon e d uri ng practi ce . He lost co ntrol of h is bik e as he braked over a set of whoo ps lead ing into a turn . T he b ike fell on Mickey's foot , breaking some of th e bon es in it. The accident put one of th e fast est privateers in Am eri ca ou t of racing for the rest of th e yea r. The first of four 10-lap qu alifiers got underway with Monte McCoy riveting the holeshot , but a jumped sta rt ing gate by half th e field ca lled for a restart. When th e gat e went down aga in it was Bob Hannah out fro nt, spo rt ing a new pair of pan ts with "TR O UBL E" spe lled across th e seat. McCoy was pressurin g ha rd from seco nd spo t and wheelied his Yam aha past H annah's before th e firs t lap en de d . The two of th em were tailed by Husky's Chuck Sun, Yamah a's Mike Bell , last yea r's Super cross Champ Jim Weinert (Ka w) and th en Yamaha's Pierre Karsmak ers . H annah bou nced off McC oy's rear fen der for two laps looking for room to get a rou nd , found it, a nd disappeared into th e d istance for the win . McCoy eventua lly faded back to fifth spot , the final transfe r position . Su n placed second beh in d Ha nnah , t hen Bell and Suzuki 's Da nny La Porte , who had b lasted u p from a 10t h pl a ce start to edge o ut Ka rsmakers and Weinert . A flash of orange in th e second qual ifier signaled Rich Eiersted r's d ash on th e factory Harley into th e lead. He was pursued by Jim Pomeroy (H on) , FMFs John Sa vitski, Hond a's Cro ft and Texan Steve W ise on th e Mot o-X Fox Su zuki. " To m a h a wk" Croft im me d ia tely began coo king to clo se on teammate Pomeroy. Then , in a move that drove th e stad ium wild , Croft wheelied his RC 250 past Pomeroy and Eierstedt in on e smooth move to take over the lead. On lap four Eierstedt was for ced to reti re when his bik e's engine smoked th e lower end . The race fin ished ou t with Croft , Pomer oy . Savitski , Wi se a n d Mai co' s St eve Stackable m aking th e tr ansfer to th e feature . Ra ce n um be r three saw ano the r resta rt when everyone tried to climb over the gate. Then sem i-H us ky sponsor ed Marty Moates va ulte d into th e lead ahead of Arizona pri vateer Carl os Serr ano (H us ky) , Honda's Mart y Sm ith . J imm y Elli s and Kawasaki's Terry Cla rk. Aft er Can. Am had withdrawn Ellis from the T ra ns-AMA Series, " Ca ptai n Cob al t" was rid in g a p roduction ' Can-Am loa ned to him by Kol be Cycle Sales in Los Angeles . J im m y said di scussions were still u nd erw ay as to if he would remain wit h Can-Am for th e following season . On th e opening lap Moates had his lead taken awa y by Serrano , but one lap later Carlos bailed off on his head and Marty Sm ith was gassin' it around Moat es for the lead. Ellis moved into second a lap later and tried to close the gap on Smith, but Marty was easily abl e to hold a 50-foot gap on Jimmy to the flag. T erry Clark, " Rocket" Rex Staten and Serrano picked up the final transferring positions when Moates went out with bike problems. Kawasaki's Gary Sem ics was out for the evening as welt after tangling with Honda's Warren Reid , falling, and injuring his hand . " The final qualifier was pretty much follow the leader after the first turn sorted out th e top chargers. Caylon Mosier put his Maico into the lead ahead of Suzuki's Tony D. , Danny " M a g oo" Chandler , on KTM ,

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