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/126303
E • ~ '1: ex> t' 0') I""""l ~ ~ ..c::: u I-< ~ * . f, ~ Marty Tripes told the ABC-TV audience how it felt t o w in. oundthree in' strong Marty Moat es' LOP·sponsored Suzuki led qualifier number two through most of the first la p before losing cont ro l , in a mudhole a nd t a lmost bailing off. Moates regained con trol and slipped back into the b ehind new lea der Warren Reid and second p lace Kent Howerton. H ow erton went on to win over Moates as Can-Am teamster Rich :> Eierstedt passed a slig ht ly detuned { Reid (who had restarted from his crash :., in third , losing only one spotl ) for third i-a t the checke red flag. The final four o tra nsfer spots from the second l! qua lifier went to Monte McCoy , T ony Summey, Rex St aten and Terry Clark . A starting gate ma lfunction brought tthe mechanics and the entire speedway , audience to th e d efens e of th e riders caugh t in th e gat e whi le th e ,offi cials "pond ered th eir decision . The third ra ce was eventuall y restarted aft er Florida's Joe y Gr atton had complet ed lap one in th e lead . . On th e resta rt , it was Marty Sm ith leading Bob Hann ah th rough th e tight right -hand first 'tu rn and on th rough the opening lap . Then Smith's Honda dropped into one of the deep m udholes and stopped dead , putting Marty up on the hand lebars and killi ng the motor. Hannah took over the lead as Smith got going again in second. Third was Can-Am -mounted Ken ny Zahrt, and he was being pressured by Team Suzuki's ' Da n ny LaPorte. LaPorte caught Zahrt on lap three the halfway point - and settled into his third for the remainder. Smith closed on Hannah in the final lap but had to settle for second. La Porte held third over Za h rt . J ohn Savitski , Greg Theiss.. Mickey Boone and Mickey Kessler rounded out th e top eight who transferred directly to the final moto. Team Suzuki's Winter-AMA sta r Mark Barnett led Jimmy Ellis, Don Kudalski, T ommy Croft and Ga ry Jones through la p one of the fourth qualifier. Croft changed the. order on lap three , getting around Kudalski for third. Then two laps later , Ellis overt oo k Barnett for the lead . When the checkered flag ca me ou t , it was Ell is, Ba rn ett , Croft , Kudalski , Ga ylon Mosier , Gary Semics, Mike Jon es a nd Pat ' Moron ey making th e transfer. Semis Eight more rid ers , four from eac h . semi fina l moto , made th e p rog ram in two hard -Fought races. Leadin g the first semi from gate to fla g was Tea m Yamaha's Rick " L u m be rjac k" Bu rg ett . Ch asing th e Lumberj a ck . across th e lin e and into th e final we re Husqvarna's C huck Sun, Barry Higgins and Scott Jordan . 'Sem i n umber two saw Joey Gratton holding his C R250R Honda' W FO to keep Pierre Ka rsmakers behind him . Bu t Karsmakers' teammate on the Yamaha squad , AMA l25cc National Champ Broc Glover , closed , and the pair put increased pressure on Gratton . Joey fell on the next lap, and both passed. Moments later, Karsmakers bobbled. ; letting Glover take the lead . At the flag , it was Glover, Karsmakers , John Joyner and Gary Pustelak moving into the final. Consolation One spot remained on the final event starting line fo r the winner of the consolation moto, Joey Gratton saw it as his last cha nce to make up for hard luck in the .two previous motos he'd run and made it work with a first -turn to -flag win . Final AMA 500cc National Champ Marty Sm ith jammed his Da ve Arnold -tuned H onda into the tight ISO·degree first turn ahead of Marty Tripes, Mark Barnett and Jimmy Ellis and rocketed off for th e start of the l 2 ·la p fina l m ot o. At th e end of the opening - lap , Smith sti ll held Tripes, Barnett and Ellis at bay while Bob Hannah , Don Kudalski, Jimmy Weinert , Mickey Boone , Mark Robillard and J ohn Sa vitski rounded ou t the top 10. Midw ay th rou gh th e seco nd la p . it was a ll Honda up front as Ell is slip ped past Barnett . th en went on to take over Tripes' cla im to second. Hannah held steady in fifth as W einert took sixth; • Kudalski stopped to rebend a tweaked _ brake pedal. Savitski, Boone and La Porte completed the top 10. . ' Barnett dropped back to sixth on the next time around when he fell. '" got in a co uple hayba les and went down . I went over one . . . I went over two . . . then I was in troublel" he la ughed about it later. O ne -th ird of the way through the race the front spots - Smith , . Ellis, Tripes , Hannah and 'W einert - ran smoothly. But near the halfway mark . lapping riders became a real problem. Hitting a bermed turn close behind two lapped riders, Mary Smith got out of shape, went over the berm and tipped over: The accident cost him the lead ; Smith restarted in third . -jimmy Ellis led , but he too was due a run-in with slower traffic . It 'c am e one- lap later when an out-of-shape rider blocked his wa y. Tripes found a clear line and moved into the lead. Smith, running third, made a last di tch effort to overtake Ellis . On the final lap , he succeeded , finding a clear shot and squeezing past only seconds from the checkered flag to take second . Bob H annah roll ed in for fourth followed by Weinert, Barnett, Croft, Boone , Savti ski and Chuck Su n . Results AMA/TOYOTA SUPERCROSS RACE: 1. Marty Trip es (Han l. 2. Marty Smith (Han), 3. J im Ellis (Hon). 4. Bob Hannah (Yaml . 5. Jim Wei nert (Kawl . 6. Mark Barnett (Suz). 7. Tommy Croft (Hon). 8. M ickey Boone (S Ul) . 9. Jo hn Savitski (Yam), 10. Chuck Sun IHusl. 11. Gaylon M osier (Kaw). 12. Tony DiStefano {Sud. 13. Rex Sta ten (Yam ). 14. Kent How ert on (Suz). 15. M ichael Kessler (Yaml. 16. M ark Robillard (Suzl. 17. Gary Semics Ie-A>' 18. Monte McCoy (Yaml. 19. Rick Burgen (Yam ) 20 Warren ReId (Honl 17