Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Kent Howerton, leading Bob Hannah here, put in a 2-3 weekend. AMAlToyota Supercross Series Mike Bell 1 chases Eierst edt 1 391 201, Moates 1 1751 and Pomeroy 1101. Rounds six & seven Hurricane takes the wind out 0 By Jim Gianatsis PONTIAC. MI, APR . 1-2 Bob "Hurricane" Hannah did it again. An opening night crash injured Honda's Marty "Typhoon" Tripes and nearly put him out of contention along with already incapacitated teammates Marty Smith and Jimmy Ellis But Tripes in an tt t to hold back H~nnah's a . emp. mid-series storm, bravely endured 8 the pain and rode in search of vita l points in the AMA /Toyota Supercross Series event in Pontiac's Silverdome. The weekend was all Hannah's. The Team Yamaha rider won both Saturday night 'S and Sunda y afternoon's feature events to build a winning streak and close to within just three points, 170 to 167, of present leader Tripes . As he'd done at Houston , Hannah swept the Pace Management. Delta Motorsports and Detroit Free Press -sponsored Motor City Supercross doubleheader. Just three weeks earlier. Tripes seemed to be holding down an uncatchable points lead following his Daytona win . But once again, the -Bob Hannah/mechanic Keith McCarty/ Yamaha OW25 works bike combo were turning Supercross into a natural disaster _ a Hurricane that couldn't be stopped. .. S a t u r d a y m ght Among the factory stars, there were a number of no -shows for the we ekend 's opening event. Honda teamsters Smith and Ellis were still out of action with injuries sustained at Houston. Both a re reported to be healing rapidly and are expected to be ready by th e first National. Also absent were Honda's Warren Reid and Yamaha's Broc Glover and Pierre Karsmakers who were all back in California preparing for the Ha?g- town National opener this commg weekend. The eve~ing's four. qualifying r~ces proved ' fairly predictable. Tnpes wheeled his red production Honda to the win in the first heat , passing Suzuki's Mark Barnett and Danny LaPorte in the process. along with teammate Tommy Croft. KTM 's Frank Stacy dialed in a fantastic ride in recovering from a first turn crash to charge from last to a third place finish . Heat two saw Marty Moates secure a temporary lead with his LOP Suzuki ahead of Gaylon Mosier, Gary Sernics , Mickey Kessler and Rick Burgett as Hannah began his first come-frombehind charge of the evening . Hurricane put the stadi;tm in an uproar as he flashed hIS Yam~ha tow~rd;; the front. to pull uP. behind MOSier s race-leading Kawasaki on lap five of the lO-lap ~ent. Hannah was wild as usual . and the dyna~ic announcing duo of Dave Despain and Larry Huffm!,-n had the 27 .000·plus crow~ on their feet and pumped for a bail -off by Hannah at any moment as he gained on Mosier. At , one point, the bumps on the front straight pitched Hannah off his bike. tossing him into the air with just one hand left in contact with the machine at the throttle. He dialed the OW's throttle to the m ax .. . the bike kicked forward and dragged him onehanded down the track as he hung off the side of itl He did a quick three-step, and then - just like Roy Rogers in an . old western movie - he vaulted over the rear fender and onto the saddle of his mount . The crowd tore down the stadium with their uproar. But there was more to come. Hannah tried to get around Mosier over nearly every inch of the remaining four laps . This drove the fans even crazier as he was blocked in the turns by the green Kawasaki and balked on the straights ' by lapped riders. Finally, on the last lap, Hannah pulled alongside and then ahead of Gaylon as they threaded their machines across the series of nine three-foot high bumps that separated the skilled from the wild. Gaylon lost his concentration and endoed as Bob blew by to win . Mosier remounted to take third behind Rich Eierstedt and then made a quick trip to the hospital for x-rays, which turned up negative, returning in time to race the feature. Heat three went to Suzuki's Kent Howerton as the Rhinestone Cowboy took an early lead away from Honda's Jim Pomeroy, with Mike Bell skidding his Yamaha around Pomeroy on the last lap. Honda's Steve Wise and Rex Staten battled for the lead of heat four for two laps before Rocket Rex crashed his Bassett Racing Products Yamaha and took Wise down with him. AMA 250cc National Champion Tony DiStefano then found his third spot turned into a lead which he and his factory Suzuki held to the finish amid closing pressure from archnemesis Jimmy Weinert, aboard a factory Kawaski. Semifinal 1-2 finishing (advancement to the feature) positions went to Mickey Kessler , Yamaha , and Greg Theiss, Honda , in semi number one. Rex Staten, Yamaha, and Bob Rutter, Suzuki, took the second and final semi. The even ing's last advancement spot, the win in the consolation race, went to Maicomounted Terry Clark. The evening's feature race had a lot of people predicting that Marty Tripes would win. Tripes had set the fastest heat time, nearly' half a second faster than Hannah's. _ Turn one of the opening lap of the 20-lap race destroyed all those predictions, though, as Marty went down , getting run over arid suffering torn leathers and injuring his knee which was gouged by another rider's footpeg. Hannah hardly had it better as he was knocked down by a rider in turn two . Both Tripes and Hannah remounted at the back of the pack in an attempt to play catch-up on a course that many of the riders labeled as being impossible to pass on . Tripes didn't get back. up to full speed immediately as he attempted to adjust bent parts on ' the CR Honda and seemed stunned from his knee injury. Kent Howerton, meanwhile, put his Steve Bradshaw-tuned Suzuki in to the lead ahead of Pomeroy, Boone , DiStefano , Staten , Clark, Mosier , • LaPorte , Theiss and Kessler . Tony D passed new teammate Mickey Boone and was attempting to close on Pomeroy when disaster struck. "I got a little sideways on a whoop and twisted my knee when I landed. It hurt so bad I had to stop," said DiStefano after the race. Meanwhile, Hannah was picking off riders at an unbelievable rate and by the fifth lap was already up to third place behind Pomeroy. -t The crowd didn't need the encouragement from announcer Larry Huffman and a flashing "Hannah Gol" on the stadium scoreboard to turn them on. They had gotten on their feet for the start and after that Hannah'sand Tripes' charge from the rear kept the blood flowing as the stadium remained in an uproar. One more lap and Hannah moved past Pomeroy. " I thought I had the lead, " said Hannah. "I got by Pomeroy, then Keith gave me the sign I was in second place. I couldn't believe it and had to

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