Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Jennings , Jim Pom e r o y , K e nt Howerton , Greg Theiss a nd J ohn Savitski. Rou nd two sta rted off with Chuck Sun once again wicking the Eric Crippa-tuned Husqvarna into the lead , this time with Pierre Karsmakers , Bob Hannah and Jimmy Weinert breathing down his neck . On the opening lap , Sun established a short . lead , but The Jammer was in second , and pressuring him was a ready-to -race Hurricane Hannah. By the end of the second lap , Weinert had the lead with Sun and Hannah in hot pursuit. I chose a tire for the hard tra ck ," Sun said afterwards, " bu t then they watered itt" He drifted out in a turn , and Weinert took advantage and slipped in under. . Following the three-way fight for first was another elbow- b anger between Pierre Karsmakers and Ke nt Howerton. Karsmakers ended up tagging a fence, then getting ca ught in it. He u ltima tely lost a full minute getting unsnarled and with . it , a chance at a placing bett er than sevent h in the moto. Seventh, after such bad luck , was the result of a n exceptional recovery ride. Fifteen minutes into the race, it was Weinert leading Hannah and Su n , the three of them still held together in close formation by the thought of winning. A second three -way fray had 'd eveloped several seconds behind the leaders where Kent H owert on held off Marty Tripes and Jimmy Ellis for fourth place. In three consecutive laps, it was Weinert, Hannah and Sun, then Sun, Hannah and Weinert , then Hannah, Sun and Weinert as the three swapped and diced for th e lead. Then, near the 25-minute mark , Marty Tripes put on a show that outclassed even that three-way swap meet. " I just didn't care , Marty shrugged , " I was kind of mad . I was begi nn ing to wonder, you know?" Tripes seemed to feel he had nothing to lose, and he rode accordingly . " W ithin a single lap , he broke loose of H owe rton and Ellis , closed on Wei nert , p assed him for third, then r ee led in Sun, passed him for second, t h en g ot Han nah . Alm ost immed ia tely, Tripes p ut a six-second spread between himself a nd the others wh o h ad been going all out to lead the moto . It was the last any of th em saw of Tripes , fired up an d sti ll comparatively fresh since he'd ridden only a few laps of the first moto, By the time the two -lap sign came out, Marty had built up a 30'second lead to win the moto easily. Weinert was next to go for it. Fourth at the 25·minute point , he passed Sun for third by the 30·minute mark, then overtook Hannah in the closing la ps and scored a second for the moto. Hannah rolled in third. Jimmy Ellis got around Chuck Su n for fourth place. Kent Howerton , Pierre Karsmakers, Gary Jones and John Savitski followed . SOOcc National Team Yamaha 's Rick " Lum berj ack" Bu rgett led the charge ' of the heavy brigade through lap one with " Rocket R ex" Staten, Steve Stackable, Tommy Croft and Marty Smith in tow. O ne and one-ha lf laps into the race, however, St a ten had ta ken over. Burgett went down and out. " I s lid out righ t before the mudhole ," Ricky said, " I went to restart , but the kickstarter wasn't there!" The circlip had come off, and the Yamaha's starter followed . Burgett tried bumpstarting it , but it didn't fir e and only left him in the mudhol e at the bottom of th e hill . Meanwhile , Early in the first 250ee National inoto, no fewer than five riders were gain' for the lead. Chuck Sun (8) leads Bob Hannah (2), Jimmy Weinert (171, J eff Jennings (36) and Jimmy Blis. Staten was long gone. Croft and Smith held a closely-knit 2·3 ahead of Stackable while Mike Bell held off Darrell Shultz for fifth . Ten minutes into the race, Bell fell , stalled his motor and lost four places. At the 15-minute mark, Staten held a seven second lead over Croft who in tum was five seconds ahead of Smith. Their position sheld firm as they passed the halfway m a rk , yelling at lapped riders to move out of their wa y. Apparently , Croft's yelling held more authority because at the 30· minute point, he ha d closed on Staten. When Rex was blocked by a slower rider, Croft took over the ·Iea d . Staten held onto second p lace, right on Croft's fender as Smith followed at a d ista nce . Mike Bell in the meanwh ile had started a charge, and at 35 minutes had moved up with Sm ith. He passed the AMA 500cc National Champ for third , sti ll well behind the Croft/Staten duo . Darrell Shultz held onto fifth until his Maico threw 'a chain in the final laps. At the flag, it was Croft , Staten, Bell , Smith, Danny LaPorte and Stackable . -M ickey Kessler, Ken Adams, Bri an Jodry and Frank Stacy rounded out the top 10. Once again , Rick Bu rgett put the Bill West · tuned Yamaha's power to the ground, grabbing the holeshot at the start of the second 500cc National class rnoto, Again , Rex Staten was right there with Marty Smith, Tommy Croft and Darrell Shultz close behind. Shultz put the pressure on Croft and passed on the second lap. By the time four qualifying motos , two consolation moros, two 250cc National motos a nd one 500cc National race had been completed, the track 's mudho le h a d gotten ridiculously deep in sections. Several riders got stopped co mpletely and ended their a fternoon axle-deep in the wet soup . ' As t he halfway flags came out , Burgett held a 12·second advantage over Staten who was still being hounded b,. Sm ith. Croft followed eigh t seconds ba ck , and behind him was a hard -charging Mike Bell. Nothing changed ' am ong th e frontrunners until near the end when The mudhole trapped a few, but Rex StBtBn (16) and Marty Smith (1) got through to place fourth and second. respectively. everyone put in their last ' chance attempt at picking up an exira place or two . Burgett maintained his lead for the entire rnoto, but Staten wasn't as -fort u na te with his second spot. Smith wicked up his Hond a and took over second , and then Croft closed to challenge "Roc ket Re x" for third. " I blew that]" said a disgusted Rex Staten. "I went inside Croft on the last lap and fell downl" Staten's crash dumped him from a third or fourth in the moto to a distant fifth behind Mik.. Bell. Completing the top 10 were J im T urner , Mickey Boone, Bria n jodry, Goat Breker and R obert Myers. Results • 250cc NATIONAL: 1. Bob Hannah 1·3 !Yam): 2. Jim W einert 3-2 (Kaw): 3. Jimmy Ellis 2-4 (Honl: 4. Chuck Sun 4-5 tHusl: 5. Pierre Karsmakers !)"7 (Yaml; 6. Ken t How erton 9-6 (Suzl: 7. JeH Jennings 6-11 IMai); 8. Merty Tripes · ·lIHonl : 9. Joh n Savitski 1ll-9 (Yoml: 10. Gary Jones 12-8 lAmxl; 11. ~ Theiss 9-15 (Honl: 12. . M;chaeI Loeffler 14-12 IHusl: 13. Mon te Andenon 15131Honl: 14. Jim_oy 7-· (Honl: 15. Ed Jones 1714 (Honl: 16. Parry Kieseen · ·11 (Men: 17. Billy Gtoesi 11·· (Carl: lB. Roger Jones 19-16 !Yam!: 19. Dennis Brand 13-· (Mall ; 20. Rancleillosh 16-· (Mall. 5OOcc: NATIONAL: 1. Tommy Croft 1-3 (Honl; 2. Merty Smith 4-2 (Honl: 3. Mike Boll 3-4 !Yam): 4. Rex Staten 2-5 !Yaml: 5. Riel< Burgett · ·1 !Yam):Jl. Brian Jodry 9-B (Maij: 7. Canny laPorte 5-12 (Suzl; 8. Frank Stacy Ill-II (KTM); 9. Miel

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