Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

·&(Superbowl ~ E 00 t"- O') Hurricane a nd the T yphoon . Marty returned for th e second moto determined to blow Hannah int o the weeds and that's just what he d id . Pulling a beautiful holeshot with his RC Honda , Marty outdragged Bob to the first turn and began to disappear. There were really no other riders on th e track of th e same calib er as the foul wea ther pair. Marty increased his lead on Bob throughout the second moto, but as the race go t to the mid -way point , Ma rty 's Honda began to slow down , finally stopping altogether. It had seized! Marty trudged his way back to the pits in d isappointment as Bob wheeled by to another victory. The follow ing weekend at Southwick , Massachusetts , was to see the confrontation . continued as Marty and Bob emerged from ea rly lap battles with Chuck Sun,Jimmy Weinert , J immy Ellis , and J im Pomeroy to steal the show again . Marty wou ld pull away from the pack firs t a nd build up close to 15-second leads on Bob be fore he broke clear in second place and found his path ope n to give chase. There was enough doubt in on e moto, if not both, that even Bob claimed he might not hav e caught Marty before the race ended . But fa te was still against Marty. In both motos , his Honda's airbox suc ked in so much sand which had seeped through the airfilter and int o the engine, gr id ing down th e piston a nd causing th e bik e to sto p de ad in its tracks with loss of com pression . Bob picked up two more uncontested wins. Marty was tho roughly de -pum ped and d iscouraged to the point that he felt he wouldn't even be able to stop Bob from steamrolling over his three point lead in the Supercross Seri es when it resumed the weekend after Southwick a t T h ree River s Stadium in Pittsburgh . Marty tried th ough , nailin g theholeshot at the start of the. Feature. and building .• 38 .. up a good lead as Hannah worked up from an eighth-place start to secondplace within three laps. Within four more laps Bob had made up a 15-second deficit on Marty to pass him for the lead and the win . Marty didn't have the incentive to try and stop Bob, even wh en he crashed off th e track at one point and dropped back to fou rt h place, a nd then again when Bob stalled his Yamaha after retaking the lead again . The ne xt weekend at th e. New Orleans Superdome Supercross it was th e same story. Marty pulled the holeshot and an ea rly lead.rb ut Bob charged up from his mid -pack start to pass Marty and take the win before th e halfw ay point in the race. Marty was still faster than any of th e other riders , but somehow he had just lost the ince nt ive to hold back Bob Hannah . The Supercross Series took anoth er break as the riders wen t back to the outdoor Nationals. By now Bob had built up a n unprecedented 22 straight moto winning streak and was beginning to wonder whe n it would end . bob d idn't have to wait long. The next outdoor 250cc National was Lak e Whitney and it was there in the openin g rnoto that Marty Trip es finall y beat Bob Hannah sou nd ly, pull ing away with a hu ge lead as Bob was held back by Hu sky's Chuck Sun in a fight over second place . Marty wanted th e overa ll win as well as he took off with th e secon d moto lead as well, but fat e or lu ck was still against Marty - his bike su ffered a brok en rear br ake th at sid elined him back in th e p its a nd gave Bob his sixth-stra ig ht National win of th e yea r. In th e 250cc Nati on al a t Sears Point in n orthern Californ ia Marty was once aga in out to beat th e Hurricane. The T yphoon was well on his way to winning th e da y's opening rnoto whe n his Honda pitched a cha in , a llowing Bob , who was having a difficult time with J immy Weinert a nd Chuck Sun over second pl ac e , to score th e first rnoto win . T he second rnoto was Marty's as he led from start to fini sh . Bob could only manage a th ird place for his worst finish of the 1978 National season , but it was still more than good enough to give Bob his seventh straight National victory because of Marty's first motoDNF. . With the National Championships taking another break. to resume the AMA /Toyota Supercross Series at the Coca-Cola Superbowl of Motocross VII , you can be sure of only one th ing: The race will be between just two riders, Marty Tripes and Bob Hannah. The points lead is now sligh tly in ' Hannah's fa vor, 223 to Tripes' 220 , but that three points is only the difference between winning and second place. So even if Marty wins th is yea r's Superbowl for the third tim e , if Bob places second th e Supercross Series will be locked in a dead heat again , as at New Orleans. And ju dgi ng on past races anyone of three things can happen. One: Marty will hol eshot and run away with the ope n ing laps as Bob cha rges up from his usually mediocre sta rts to place second. Two: Marty will run awa y with the opening laps of the race, bur his bik e will break to give Bob th e win. Or three: Bob will show th e spa rk that's made him America's top motocrosser for three years now as he crashes in th e first turn, gets up in last place of the 25 bike field , and cha rges up within just 10 laps to pas s Marty for another win . That much is su re, though the re's no wa y of telling wh ich will happen . No m atter wh at th ough , you 'll want to be a t t he Los Angeles Colesiurn on Sa turday night , June 24 to see it happen . Fift y-th ou sand dollars will be up for grabs in th e Marty T ripes versus Bob Hannah ti tle bout for th e AMA/ T oyota Super cr oss Series Champion sh ip . It will be th e race that will go do wn in motocross history. •

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