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/126312
Bob "Hurricane" Hannah chalked up his 20th straight moto victory in the muddy Three Rivers Stadium round of the Supercross Series. Hannah plans to make up for a hard-luck 77 season by taking a double championship in 78. Ba~ett Racing's Rex Staten (16). shown here following Husky's Chuck Sun (81, scored fourth. Rich Eierstedt (20) led his qualifier before cartwheeling when Hannah passed on a jump. Honda teammates Marty Tripes and Jim Pomeroy 110 .finished second and seventh, respectively. AMA/Toyota Supercross Series - Round eight Hannah heads for .double-title year with Three Rivers victory By Jim Gianatsis PITrSBURGH, PA , MAY 13 The long anticipated battle between Team Honda's Marty Tripes and Team Yamaha's Bob Hannah, brewing since the 250cc National at Omaha, finally went down to the wire at Three Rivers Stadium in Pitts- 8 burgh. The occasion was round eight of rhe 1978 AMA/Toyota Supercross Series , presented by . WPEZ and the Post Gazette and a production of Pace . Management, Delta Motorsports and Hi -Point Racing Products. When the evening ended, the Hurricane had taken his Keith McCarty-prepared OW-38-B worn Yamaha to victory over Tripes, tiei Marty for the series point lead and . rolling up an unprecedented 20 straight mota victories in AMA championship motocross. "I rode like an old lady. I knew t first two laps 'that I wasn 't going to win tonight. Every time I tried going fast I would get out of shape; even when B ran off the track I knew he was goillg to catch me ," Marty Tripes admitted. The Hurricane was so hot he couldn't be stopped with brick walls. Just the day before he had climaxed a week-long publicity binge with "J ohn Boy" Savitslti that dominated tHe media. Hannah literally ran off with the Cycle New·sponsored First Annual Three Mile Mota-than footrace. Bob knocked off 5:30 minute miles with ease in the event that hardly left him winded. Saturday afternoon before tHe Supercross, Bob spoke to a gathering of 1,000 Amateur riders who jam packed the Hi -Point Racing Products luncheon to capacity to hear him speak. Whether the subject was promoting his sponsors, the sport of motocross, himself or just winning races , Bob Hannah is doing more for the sport than any other rider in the history of American motocross. A weekend of rain shrunk eKe expected capacity crowd down to 26,780 eager fans inside the open top stadium. In an attempt to keep the track partially dry, it was covered with plastic sheeting and practice was delayed for two hours. It was then decided at a rider's meeting to limit practice on the slick track to just two laps per rider to help limit deterioration of the course. " Let's just skip the qualifiers ana run all 80 riders in the main, " quipped Hannah. "Cutt ing the course is a one lap penalty," stated referee Ron Denny. "It might ' be worth it ," Bob joked , "if this ends up anything like Dallas last year." There the mud was so bad most didn't finish . A $500 bounty was posted for anyone who could beat Hannali. Tripes offered it to his own mechanic , Merle Anderson , if Marty beat Boli. But then Bob countered it with a $1000 offer to Merle if Marty, now riding a works RC bike to protect his series points lead, would break down . Marty didn't break and Bob didn't gc;t beat. Merle lost both ways. Qualifying The first qualifying moto had everyone wondering if Team Honda had forgotten what was at stake - like vital points in the Supercross standings. Jim Pomeroy dialed the holeshot ahead of Tripes and Suzuki's Mark Barnett. Marty hung back behind Bimbo for two laps to see what he was up to , then tried to pass for the lead; only Jim wanted to keep it For three laps , the teammates battled. Finally, Marty was able to pull away into the lead without either of them crashing; although it looked scary at times . Barnett did fall and headed to the Semi . Mike Bell made the cut on his Yamaha stocker along with privateer Scott Jordan and Danny LaPorte. "The track isn't too bad out there, " claimed Bimbo. "A little slippery in spots , but really one line and hard to pass. There's one tacky groove and everything on either side of it is slop." Over the past few weeks, Rich Eierstedt has really improved his riding and has been heading up the pack with his factory Can-Am . In the second qualifier , Rich zeroed in on the lead ahead of Maico riders Denn y Swartz and Kenny Adams , Hannah, Savitski , Sun and Stackable.