Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Kent Howerton (6) picked up a second place behind Hannah at Lake Whitney. Marty Tripes (behind Howerton) won the first moto, dropped out of the second with rear brake problems . Mike Bell scrunched his Yamaha 's gas tank in a starting line flip, then charged up to third, finishing empty with only the gas in the carb f1oatbowl! nylon snow fenci ng tangled itself in his bike a nd J im had to p it so Arne Beamon , his mechanic, co uld rem ove the strand . The tim e it too k to do so way d own in the left Pomeroy running order. Leading unt il the 30· mi nu te mark , Tripes su ddenly began to slow, rid ing a ro u nd th e track a t reduced speed for two laps before pulling into th e pits. Problems with a sticking or ja m m ing rear brake had dropped Many from th e ra ce. Chuck Sun found himself in th e lead , but with Hannah rubbing on th e rea r fender on his Husky again . An exci ting battle was also going on for third between Ellis and Howerton . Lap after lap th e two kept th e crowd chasi ng from one side of th e track to the other. T he battle fina lly resolved itself near the chec ke rs as H anna h pulled aw ay fro m Su n for t he win a nd How er ton put a secu re lat ch on th ird over Ellis. 500cc National 10 W ith a new series befor e them, nearly everyone entered in th e " O pen" class was p la n ni ng to make th e 500cc Nationals "thei r" championshi p . Tea m Hon d a had t he horsepower with their new RC ·450 IIC's and it sho wed! T ommy Croft na iled the holeshot a he ad of de fen di ng cha mpion Ma n y Sm ith, now fully recover ed fro m his Hou ston Super cross injury. J amming th eir way in beh ind th e Honda -mounted pair were T ony Summey, Rex Stat en , Rick Bu rgett, Rog er Brown a nd Micke y Kessler. Two factory sta rs, Can -Am's Ga ry Semics a nd Yamaha 's Mike Bell , were involved in tangles off th e sta n and found th em selves a t th e ba ck of th e pack . Be ll d ia led in a fa ntastic ride after ni p ping his bike off th e line and having th e fuel tan k of his works O W 39 Yamaha crushed flat by anot her rider. Bell cha rge d from last place up to thi rd befor e th e moto co ncl uded , with th e b ike runnin g on the on ly gas remain in g - what was left in th e carb 's float bo wl - as he crossed th e fin ish lin e. Pulling a bad sta n was Suzuki's Danny LaPone . No one noticed LaPone as he me th odicall y work ed his way to th e front from his middle-ofth e -pa ck sta n . While LaPone was mak ing his mov e all eyes wer e on the front running Croft -Smith duel a nd on " Rocke t" Rex Staten , wh o had p assed Summey a nd by the fifth lap had closed his Bassett Racing YZ400 Yamaha to within striking dist ance of th e leading pair. Two mor e laps a nd Staten was p ick in g off th e Honda sta rs like flies as he manhandled his Yamaha across th e rough sa nd whoops. Rex too k th e lead and began pulling away. He was look in g go od a nd t he race appeared to be his. Suddenl y. the bike began bouncing wildl y and Stat en was forced to slow. The mon osh ock had fad ed out fro m the heat and pounding it was forced to ta ke, leav in g Staten with "n o d amping wh at soever. The H on d as had been experie ncing handling problem s as well . but Sm ith a nd Croft tri ed to m ake t he best of it. They closed back u p on Staten a nd Many slid by to take th e lead . The racing was hardly over as Burgett , La Porte and Mike Bell closed up on t he three lea ders a t th e 40minu te m ark to begi n a six-way tag battle over first pla ce. The g ro up turned in faci ng like hadn't been see n on th e N ationa l circ ui t within mem ory as eac h rider pushed himself and his bik e harder for th e valuable op en in g point s lead in th e series . Suspen sions faded like butter in th e ho t Texas sun. Look ing good , th ough , was Danny La Pone as he pic ked off Burgett , t hen C ro ft . Sta ten a nd Smith, too. LaPone and th e ne w lon g -legged Suzuki RN · (Continue d to pag e 17)

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