Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

"Hannah was just so much faster ' t h a n everyo ne else," sai d Ton y <'D iStefa no who watched th e second 250cc rnoto, "He was goi ng five feet fu rt her off th e jum ps than anyone else, ' a nd whe n he la nded he 'd m iss all th e bumps." W ithin th ree laps, Bob had moved up from his fourth place start , passing Sun, J im m y Ellis and Eierstedt to ta ke , the lea d for the second tim e of the d ay. T ripes pull ed a bum sta rt th is tim e , hit ia downed ride r a co u ple turns later to g et tossed on his head and left with a ' b ent shift lever . Ma rt y still managed to "recover fro m his last pla ce slot to sixth , Suzu ki's Kent Howerton crashed at the start of both mo tos, a nd worked his way up to sevent h and fift h . Wein ert and Savitski kep t the fa ns entert a ine d wit h a race-long battle in the first moto over six th pl ace . T he J a m mer D NF th e second m ot o wh ile "john Boy" took 10th with his DC Yamaha equipped with a new Fox AirShox monoshock unit. When asked how he felt about winni ng his second Nati onal Cha m pionsh ip to go with his previous 1976 AMA 125cc title , Hannah cou ld only answer . " It's a lready behi nd me . Rig ht now I'm only thinking about the Su pe rbowl and building up a good points lead on Tripes. Marty meanwhile. was probably wish ing Bob som e of the bad lu ck that hounded him at nearly ever race. The Su p e r b owl mi ght finall y be the showdown. SOOcc National " W ell it looks like I don't have to make excuses today ." beamed Mike Bell, " Every th ing finally went right. I've been practicin g m y sta rts, and it rea lly helped out: I owe it all to Dave Osterm a n a nd th e OW 37, It's the first of more wins to come." Bell dominated both sta rts with first in the ope ni ng m oto and a third off th e line in the seco nd race whi ch quickl y tu rned into anot her first p lace . T he su rprise of the day was Suzuki's T ony DiStefa n o who ignored h is swollen kn ee to cha rge past the tank clas hing among Mi ckey Kessle r , La Port e , Staten, Clark a nd Cro ft to move int o second place . It looked like T on y even had a shot a t the lea d , but th en a crash dropped hi m ba ck to sixt h . The p roblem was eve nt u a lly traced to wheel problems. with Suzuki tea m m a te Danny La Po rt e suffering a b rok en fron t wheel on his R N as well. Honda 's "Tom a h awk" Croft ro de a steady moto to move up to second . Marty Smith got a m iserable start and had a difficult time improving on it. "T he slower riders were impossi ble to pa ss because they never followed th e same lin es. Once I got p ast th em . it was easier to im p rove m y position ," ex p lain ed AMA 5 00 c c N a ti onal Champ Smith . In the second moto , th e defending 500cc Champion ta iled Mike Bell fr om start to finish. T he bike Marty was rid in g was a redesigned Dave Arnoldd esign RC Frame bui lt by C&J. Danny LaPort e worked 'up to third pla ce before he was slowed by a faulty COl unit. O ne of the best performa nces of the day wa s posted b y Orange vale , California 's Da rre ll Shul t z as he battled the top factory rid ers both motos with h is Wheelsmith Maico, putting 4 ·3 moto finishes together for third overall behind Bell and Croft. Results ITop left) Mike Bell (39) takes the in itiative in round one of the Cycle World USA 500cc class. leading 500cc National Champ Marty Smith 111, Tony Summey (61), Rex Staten (161 and Steve Stackable. Can-Am's Gary Semics (11) goes for a wider li ne. (Bottom left) Bob Hannah wrapped up the 1978 AMAIMr. PiBB 250cc National Championship MX Series tit le at St. Peters. (Above) Rich Eierstedt 1201, sixth overall in the 250cc class, leads third DIacer Jimmy EDis 118) and second placer Chuck Sun 181. IBelow) Tommy Croft leads the 500cc class series point race - 122 to 108 - over this weekend's winner Mike Bell. m 250cc NATIONAL: 1. Bob Hannah (Vam) 1·1; 2. Chucl

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