Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Toyota Supercross Series po int'leader Marty Tr ipes 1271leads Steve Wise. Tommy Croft (71 and Mickey Boone take a Pontiac jump in close formation. . .- • vphoon In Pontiac Silverdome start looking all over the track to see who was leading. Way ahead of me 1 could see Kent. He had such a big lead 1 didn't think that 1 cou ld catch him ." At that point Howerton had a seemingly impossible-to-catch 18 · second lead. But that meant it was impossible for anyone bu t Hannah who had proceeded to destroy Tripes" earlier lap record as he charged after Howerton . . "I rode as fast as 1 could, as safely as f 1 could, " said Howerton later. "On the c last few laps 1 knew Bob would catch £ me. 1 was d isappointed 1 couldn't I hold him off - b ut happy to do as well as 1 did." Kent . had suffered knee and back problems in the two weeks since Houston, preventing him from riding • or tr.1'ining. Matching Hannah's pace , but overshadowed by the action up front was Tripes. He was in severe pain from his injured knee but was riding for all he was worth. As Hannah moved on Howerton , gaining sometimes 5 to 4 ( seconds per lap , Tripes was doing nearly the same back in the pack. When Hannah passed Howerton and waved his leather gauntlet in victory at the checkered flag , Tripes was passing Mike Bell for third place, still a good distance back . Bell had been experiencing clutch problems. Hannah dodged his way to centerfield for the trophy presentation amid an infield overflowing with enthusiastic fans . Marty Tripes was lifted from his bike in pain back in the pits: Tears were streaking his paintortured face . ..,.. T'he Hurricane was slow ly destroying the Typhoon's Su percross Series points lea d but tonight's battle was just one of many,left to be waged . • And the next round was just a night's sleep awa y. Sunday afternoon Th e pit area during Sunda y afternoon's race resembled a hospital waiting room. Mosier and DiStefano both wou ld be sidelined with th eir injuries from the previous evening's event. There was talk by Tony.D that if his injured knee wasn't better by next weekend's Hangtown 125 /250cc National Championship opener, he might make the switch to the 500cc class which would give his knee time to. heal. Bu t the move would cost him any chance of setting a new record for four consecutive 250cc National titles, and he wants that record . . Tripes tried his swollen kn ee .in practice and d ecid ed to race. The knee was hurting a lot, but he couldn't afford to let Hannah pick up any easy series points. Working fro m the middle of his heat , Marty moved up to pass the likes of Staten and Burge tt to chase teammates Wise and Pomeroy cross the finish line in third . As expected, Hannah quickly took over the lead in heat two, watched by 57 ,OOO -plus MX fans , motoring awa y at an unusually smooth , easy pace. to win by a large margin over Terry Clark, Chuck Sun, Eierstedt and Steve ·Sta cka ble . It appeared that Hannah would have little competition in the feature . The two remaining heats were won by Mike Bell over Kent Howerton , Stacy, Shultz and R u tt er , with Tommy Croft winning the other ahead of Semics, Boone. Kessler and Swartz. Jimmy Weinert failed to make the cu t to the feature , missing by)ust one position in his qualifier, semi and the consolation race . Semi action saw Danny La Porte and Greg Theiss advance out of the first semi and Mark Ba rn ett and Marty Moates advance fro m the second . Mark Rob illa rd won the consolation race . over Weinert after The Jammer had gotten caught in the backwardfalling gate. Weinert still managed to charge his wa y up to second behind Robillard . Steve Wise was sick with the flu but still managed to lead the start of the feature race . " I knew if 1 got the holeshot, I'd be .. able to hang on for a top' five finish . 1 just wish 1 felt better and could show whatI can really do ." Steve said later. Be h i n d Wise were Pomeroy , H owert on, Moates , Hannah , Eierstedt, Boon e . Staten. Bell and Tripes. Within six laps of the start just as expected - Ha n n ah wheeled his works Yama ha past Wise and into the lead. " I got off the lin e a bou t seventh or eig hth this ti me," com men ted Hannaha, " a nd almost crashed a couple of times while tryi ng to get u p in front . 1 ke pt hitting ruts on the .tra ck's d ou ble -u p back jump and almost ate it a bunch of times. 1 finally just left the throttle wide open to keep . it straight. but then I'd almost loop out. 1 did stall the engine once when 1 went through the whoops in second gear instead of first like 1 should have." When Hannah had b lasted past Howerton to go after Wise . Kent had latched his Suzuki onto the Yamaha's rear 'fender and managed to keep pace with Bob for most of the race. "T ra ffic was so bad 1 couldn't get any closer to Bob than that (20 to 50 feet ) - if he would let me," explained Howerton . "T ha t' s how Bell finally got by me. The only place 1 could pass was on the finish line jump. and I'd have to hold it wide open and risk crashing to do that . 1 got tired at the end , though." Steve Wise found himself pushed down to fourth spot as Yamaha's Mike Bell charged in the last half of the 20 · lapper to pass Steve . and then Howerton on the last lap for second p lace . a good distance be hind Hannah . . Team Yama ha 's 1-2 punch for the Sunday race stopped the Honda steamroller for the second Toyota Supercross in a row . Now only a slim th ree-point margin separates Hannah from series leader Marty Tripes. And Marty? Well . despite his injured knee he turned in a remarkable fiftn place finish . "My knee had been hurting like hell in the heat race, but it seemed to feel better. toward the end when it got worki ngand heated u p ,:: sai~ T ri pes . "We kep t a heating pad on It for 45 minu tes before the feature, and it felt a lot better. but 1 still couldn't get ai rborne over any of the ju mps. That's what held m e ba ck ." The points advantage which T ripes held over H an nah afte r th e first couple of ro u n ds of the .series when Bob su ffered crashes is now gone, an d th e two will be slugging it out one-on-on e for the remaining fou r races in what has turned into the closes t fought Supercross Series ever. • Results Saturday , Bob Hannah (Yaml. 2. Kent Howenon ISuz). J . Manf Tripes tHonl. 4. Mike Bell (Yam). 5. Tommy Croft (Hon). 6. Frank Stacy IKTMI.7. Mickey Boon e ISuzl. 8 . Rex Sta ten (Yeml. 9. Terry Clark lMail. 10. Jimmy Weinert lKawi. 11. Rick Burgen (Yam). 12. Rich Eiersted! IC-A). 13. GarySemics IC-A). 14 . Bob Runer tS uzl. 15. Jim Pomeroy IHon). 16. Steve Wise IHon l. 17. Darrell Shultz IMaij. 18. Mark Barnen lSuz ). 19. Greg Theiss (Hanl. 20 . Chuck Sun IHus). 21 . Marty Moates lSuz ). 22. Gayton Mosier (Kaw). 23. Michael Kessler IYaml . 25. Tony DiStefano IS u:zJ. DNF: Danny laPorte ISuz). Sunday 1. Bob Hamah (Yaml. 2. Mike Bell IYaml. 3. Kent Howerton IS uz). 4. Steve Wise lHan I. 5. Marty Tripes lHanI. 6. Tommy Croft (Han l. 7. Rich Coersted! IC·A). 8. Jim Pomeroy (Hon). 9. Mickey Boone ISuz). 10. Terry Clark IMai). 11. Mark Barnen ISuzl. 12. Frank Stacy (KTMI. 13. Gary SemicsiC-AI. 14. Danny laPorte ISuzl. 15 . Rick Burgen IYam). 16. Mickey Kessler (Yaml. 17. Marty Moat es ISuz). 18. Chuck S un IHus l. 19 . S teve Stackeble IKaw}. 20. Bob Butter ISuz l. 21 . Greg Theiss (Hoot 22. Darrell Shultz (Mail . 23. Rex Staten (Yam). 24. Denny Swartz IMaii. 25. Mer k Robillard 1Su:z1. AMAITOVDTA SU PERCROSS S ERIES POINT STANDINGS: T:Martv Tripes, 170 ; 2. Bob Hannah,1 67; 3. Kent Howerton, 121; 4. Tommy Croft. 95; 5. Steve Wise, 94; 6. Mike Bell, 87; 7. Rich Eierstedt, 83; 8. J immy Ellis, 66; 9. J im Pomeroy, 64: 9. Mickey Boone. 64; 11. Terry Clark, 61; 12. Gary Semics , 53; 12. Marty Smith. 53; 14. Rex Staten. 48; 15. Rick Burgett . 46; 16. Tony DiStefano , 45; 16. Mark Barnett, 45; 18 . Gaylon Mosier , 43 ; 19. Jimmy Weinert, 42; 19. Brae Glovef. 42. TOY OTA TOW ER JU MP S ERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jimmy Ellis IT21.2. Danny lJIPorte 171. 3. Marty Tripes 1 3. Rex Sta ten 1 5. Gayton Mosier 61. 61. (51.5. M;ke Bell (5). 7. Marty Moates (4). 7. Marty Sm ith (4).7. Warren Reid (41. 7. Ed Jones 1 7. Scon J orda n 4). (4). "

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