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/126307
When the " Hurricane" cut loose, there was no stopping him. Bob Hannah devastated the 250cc National class making it a Yamaha afternoon. of the two-th ree spots. Glover cruised along out in front . Mark Barnett , 15t h at the end of lap one, had slid u p -into 10th beh in d a tight three-way elbow-bu mper among Masu d a , Mosier and Ca nt alou pi. La p five saw Warren Reid 's attempt come to an u nt imel y end when his Ho nda call ed it quits and left Reid with a long push back to th e pi ts. . . At the 15·minute mark, W ise still had the p ressu re on C handl er . Barnett had " m uscled th e new Su zuki wor ks bike up int o . fift h where he was' harassing Mosier, trying' for fourth . In th e n ext 15 m inu tes, W ise , then Bar nett found Chand ler's wea k .spots a nd moved tip into second and third . ll ~ a rn e t t c on tinued h is d ri ve, overt ak ing Wise before the checkered n ag fell. Glover won , after lead ing the entire mo to, followe d by Barnett , Wise, Chandler a nd Turner. Mosier , Mp ates, Masuda , Cantaloupi and T aylo r filled th e next five slots . .,·,Broc Glover and Ma rk Ba rnet t, coleaders in th e AMA / Mr. PiBB 125cc ~a\!o na l Ch ampionship MX Ser ies after th e opening round , pro m ise to m~ ke 1978 one of the most exciting yet in 125cc class racing. And then there's Wise, T u rn er , Mosie r , Moates , .Chand ler . .'. . " 250cc National b Bob "H urricane" H a n na h made good his p re ·sea son clai m to pa d his pay che ck with Ya maha bonus mo ney , starting t he '78 AM A/ Mr. PiB B 250cc National Ch amp ionship MX ' Series ~ith an u nch all en ged double-moto victory. l1" Not bad for a young kid fro m . Palmdale ," Yama ha T eam Manager Ken Clark mused whe n it was over , "T he guy 's go nn a end up owning Yamaha a t this r at e." Kent Howerton, riding one of the new super Suzukis with 13 \-2 " of rea r _wheel travel and II " up fro nt , rode a , str ong co ns isten t race for second overall wit h a pair of second placi ngs . , T hird in the overa ll results was T eam Honda 's j im Pomero y with a 4-5 score. Bob Hannah grab bed th e lead on the "first lap of th e first moto , . a nd m ad e it perfectly clear to a ll present tha t he p la ns to mak e it a yea rlong h abit. W hile Ha n nah streaked off winward bound , th e pack streamed ou t behind . T wo riders wen t down in th e first turn : Can -Am's Rich Eierstedt and Honda rider Gr eg T he iss. Eiersted t th re w T heiss' bike over from where it landed on his own just as T heiss reached to lift it him self. Miffed, T h eiss gr abbed h is H ond a , ' q u ickly fired it u p , and r oost ed Eiersted t a s h e tri ed t o kickst art th e Can -Am , "m uch to t he am use me nt of the spectators lin ing tu rn one : ~ . . As th e rider s returned from the openi ng lap , H a nnah was solidly in th e lead, and he .was follo wed by Tom Poage , Rick Ga ge, Ken ny Zahrt , G reg _ Robertson and J im Pomero y. Jimmy W einert ra n eight h; Howert on , nin th ; Chuck Sun wasn 't in the top 20 . Top -ranked non sta rt ers were Tony DiSt efa no , out a fter a kn ee operation ; Jimmy Ell is, still not recovered fro m his Supercross injuries; a nd Ma rt y Tripes. Tripes had p lanned to rid e bu t when a 125cc class rid er shot back a roos t of d irt in practi ce hitting Tripe's injured knee , the joi nt ble w up like a balloo n . Marty iced it down and sa t out the race. By t he time they ca me arou nd for lap two , m ost of the ,tri p le -digit Pros had dropped from t h e top 10 . Han nah , naturall y, still led . Kenny Za hrt h ad taken second , a nd "he was chased b y Ji m m y Wein e rt , Jim Pomeroy,' Gr eg Robert son and Ken t H owerton. Yamaha's AMA 125cc National Champ Broc .Glover tied with Mark Barnett, but was awarded the overall win for a better second moto placing. . . . ' Early in the Torco Four-stroke Invitational Exhibition race, winner Darrell Shultz leads Tommy Croft. When Croft's bike broke, Shultz won handily. Dick Mann (2) picked up a third place in the four-stroke event before the Dirt Diggers North M .C.'s 30,000 guests in the tiny town of Plymouth. 7