Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Abovel Steve Wise ho lds off J immy We inert. Kent Howerton and Bob Hannah. (Belowl Jill Howerton offers some TLC to her ill yet determined husband. an inspired Marty Tripes who was tryi ng to keep the Honda win streak rolli ng. He was spared nothin g by Team Su zuki 's AM A 25 0cc N a tion a l C ha m p T ony DiStefano a nd T eam Kawasaki's "[arnrnin' J immy" W einert, bo th anxiou s to put Tripes behind them . Weinert overtook DiStefano on th e third la p , but almost im med ia tely overshot a turn a nd pil ed t hrough the haybales onto a nother section of tra ck . He rejoi ned th e act ion , but he'd lost two sp ots to T on y D and "Cassin ' Cay lo n " Mosier in t he q ua lifier finishing order. As Wein ert h it the bales , Tripes found a way around Sta ten , and on ce out in front , there was no ca tching him . Tripes made it three -fo r-three on the Team Hon da sco repad as Staten , DiStefa no , Mosie r a nd Weine rt also made the transfer to the final. C a r y R a c c a , on a - priva t ee r Yama h a , led J im m y Ellis th rough turn one in the fourth and final qualifying moto , but "J. T. E." (as it says on Ellis' leathers) grabbed the. lea d mi dw ay th rou gh the first la p a nd wave d good by. For Ellis, th e win appeared eas y. For second pl acer Kent Howerton , it was a day whe re nothing came easily. In a dd ition to bein g so sick he co u ld hardl y m ove , Howerton crashed in . turn one. He picked up t he Su zu ki a nd sta rted a come-from -behind cha rge tha t would event ua lly ca r ry him home seco nd . T hi rd went to Ma ico -rnou n ted T erry Cl ark . R ick " L u m b e rj ac k" Burgett picked u p fourth on his Team Yama ha and Hond a 's W arren Reid scored the fina l transfer pos ition from the heats . ' Ji mmy Ellis' win made it fou r-forfour. Semis W ith on ly th e top two posmons making th e transfer to th e fin al even t, th e "last cha nce" sem i-fin a ls actio n was ha rd -foug h t. The first ra ce saw Ka waski's Steve St ackable tak e th e lea d , but three la ps int o th e event, T ommy Croft fou nd a wa y to wed ge in und er the tall Texan and take over . Croft continued on, u nder p ressu re fro m Yamaha 's Mike Bell nea r th e end , to win. He a nd Bell m ad e the transfer as Stack crashed with a slower rider , pu nctured h is fuel tank a nd DN F. The second semi saw Da rrell Shultz and Pat Jacobson battle for much of th e race before Jacobson bogged h is motor and had - to let Shultz go on u n c h a ll e n g e d . S hu lt z and R o n Pome roy made the transfer to th e final. Co nsolation Hon d a -mounted C len J oh nson and C a ry J ones, riding his Arnmex , diced in t he openi ng la p of the Consola tion race wh e re on ly the wi n ne r would transfer to the evening's fina l event. J oh nson fell on the second lap, lea vin g J on~ to hold off J ohn Sa vitski for the "S rem ainder. Final Steve Wi se , J immy Ellis and C a ry Semics spearheaded the 25·man field t hrough th e Kingd orn e's soft a nd rutted first tu rn , bu t when 'the p ack rea che d th e hal f-lap point on th e first tim e a ro und, the fro nt lin e was all red . W ise , Ellis a nd T ripes had th eir Hond as runn ing W FO u nder hard pressure from Bob Han na h's Yamaha, Kent Howerton's Su zuk i and J im m y W ei n ert 's lim e -g re en K a wa sa k i . Semics had dropped to sixth beh ind Wei nert where he held off J a mes Lesniewski , Jim Pomeroy, Rex Staten , (AboveI Daddy George Ellis provides a clean Honda shirt for son J immy to w ear in the winner's circle. (Belowl Hannah and Mosier rearrange the Kingdome turf. C aylon Mosie r , Tom my C roft , Pierre Karsm akers, Ri ck Burgett , Danny La Port e and Rich Eierstedt , A la p later , the top six spots hel d steady, but Pomeroy had m oved up to nip at Sta ten's heels with Semi cs and Mosier on his ta il. Another two passed , and Rex Sta ten lost co ntrol and bail ed off beside the T oyot a Tower jum p . Wise still led . In th e pi ts, th e question was re peated : H ow long can he ho ld the pa ce ? "I just waited u nt il he made a mistake ," J immy Ellis said later in the pos t -race in terview, "a nd th en I set my own pace." Steve Wise finally made his error a pproximately one-qua rter of the way' through the 20 ·lap final , stalling his . motor and letti ng Ellis get past. Tripes , still keepi ng tabs on Ellis , also go t past as W ise resta rted in th ird place. Hot on his trail now was J im m y Weinert. And the J a m mer was bei ng chased by H owert on , Hann ah and Mosier. Beh ind them, a tight skirmish was ta king p lace among J im Pomero y, Tommy Croft and Pierre Ka rsm akers . O n lap eight , Weinert attached himself to the b ack of W ise's Hon d a : it was only a matter of time before he jammed pas t in t o th ir d place . H o we rt o n , H a n n ah a nd Mo sier followed. Sem ics co nti nued to fa ll ba ck , rid ing on the re ma ins of a flat rear tire . to event u ally DNF. Lap 13 saw Ellis sti ll strong out in front with Trip es a n d W ise hol d in g stead ily behi nd h im . W einert ha d dropped to fou rt h , a nd Howerton , Hannah and Mosier had closed on th e J ammer. H anna h was goi ng for it , a nd h e moved to th ird with the next severa l la ps and Howerton a nd Mosier settl ed in to th eir even tua l finishing pos itions of fou rt h and fifth . J immy W e in ert , as he put it , "tip ped over in that tu rn just after th e big jump and lost m y concent ra tion ." Weinert got up a nd tri ed to m ak e u p lost grou nd but fell agai n in t he sa me tum. With three laps remaining, Jimmy Ellis was enjo ying a relatively secu re 10 seco n d lead over T ripes . H annah was 15 seconds back riding a solid third . T he positi ons stayed the sam e wit h H owerton , Mosier , -W ise a nd J im Pomeroy following the top three across the finis h line. T ommy Croft , Jimmy Wei ne rt and T erry Cla rk rounded out the to p 10 . T o sa y it was an encou r agi n g evening for Team Hond a would be a n ex trem e understa tem ent . They won a ll fou r qua lifiers , the first sem i and th e Toyota Tower J ump co ntest. T he jump contest went to Ma rt y Sm ith wh o otherwise had a less t ha n primo eveni ng . " It was the only thing I've d one right all n ight ," a disappointed Sm ith told H uffman in his in terview. "T h a nks, Toyota ," he added, ac ce pting th e check and the po in ts lea d tow ard winning a Toyota pick-u p , the jump co ntest ser ies prize. T he crowd left , th e ea rt hm ove rs fi re d u p , and before d awn the Kin gdome was ju st a nother sta d iu m again . • Results FINAL: 1. Jimmy Ellis (Honl . 2. Marty Tripes (Honl. 3. Bob Hannah (Yam). 4. Ken t Howerton (Suz). 5. Gaylon Mos ier (Kaw ), 6. Stev e Wi se (Han). 7. Jim Pomeroy (Hon), 8. Tommy Croft (Hon). 9. Ji mmy W einert tKaw), 10. Terry Clark IMail. l1. Rex Staten lYaml. 12. Danny laPorte ISu.d. 13. Rich Eierstedt IC·A I. 14. M ike Sell (Yam). 15. Rick Burgen (Yam). 16. Tony DiSt efano ISuzl. 17. M arty Smit h IHonl. 18. W arren Raid IHonl. 19. Pierre Karsmakers (Yam). 20. Tony W anket (Yam). 21. James Lesniewski (Mai) . 22. Gary Jones (AM XJ. 23. Dan ail Shultz IM.. . 24. Ron Pomerov IHanl. l CONSOLAnON: 1. Gary Jones IAMXI. 2. J ohn Savitski Iv aml. 3. BlaiM Elledge IHusJ. 4. Philli p Oveland leZl. 5. Mark Kaestner IMai l. 6. David Crawford (Ma il. 7. Glen J ohnso n (Ha n). 8. David Wood lVam). 9. Rick y Gage ISud. 10. Duane Mark er ISuz). 7

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