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/126317
wrenched OW37 to give the Lakewood.California, rider his first Na tional victory. Mike mo ved into second place in the point standings behind Honda's Tommy Croft. Cycle World U.S.A . proved to be an excellent course for declaring a new National Champion wit h its rough hilly terrain, moist tacky dirt and high speed jumps; just what Hannah ordered to prove his ability as the top rider in America. In the process he joins an elite club of three, including three-time winners Gary Jones and Tony DiStefano, as holders of the AMA 250cc National Championship MX crown. 250cc National AMA/Mr. PiBB 250/500cc National Championship MX Series- ' Rounds 8/3 Hannah clinches 250cc tide, Bell blasts 500s By J im Gianatsis ST. PETERS. MO. JUNE 18 Team Yamaha's Bob "H urricane" Hannah continued to rewrite the record books this weekend by scoring back-to-back moto wins at Cycle W orld USA and wrapping up the 1978 AMA/ 10 Mr. PiBB 250cc National Championshir- MX Series title. It was - -- - -- I Hannah's eighth straight win in <1;.5 ~ ~? ~ . ~ace~ if! the yet -to-be completed IO-race series. Much of the credit for Hannah's success m ust go to Team Yam ah a mechanic Ke i t h McCarty and the well-p repared OW36B works Yamaha which has yet to register a DNF this year. Backing up the Hurricane's 250cc National Championship victory was Yamaha teammate Mike "Daddy Longlegs" Bell . who spun his web on both motos in the day's 500cc National class with his . Dave Osterman "W hen I got up th is morning, decided to go for it, " said Hannah . There was none of the holding back that fans saw the weekend before at Sears Point where Hannah battled all day for his win , nearly losing it to a stronger-looking Marty Tripes. This week Bob didn't . even have to look back. Even Marty Tripes couldn' t stop him as Bob charged up from his eighth place start in the opening moto to latch onto the lead by lap six, blasting past front runners Chuck Sun and Rich Eierstedt in the process. Marty had been holding down fourth spot behind Pierre Karsmarkers and ahead of Hannah, but on the fourth lap he lost it in a crash that let Hannah dod ge by easily. "Me and the bike just seeme d to be having a lot of prob lem s," Marty shook his head in disgust. At one point Bob even rode around the track one- handed while adjusting a loose front brake cable, maintaining his lead over Husky's Su n and Ca n Am's Eierstedt . , For Eierstedt, it was his first race since the Pittsburgh Superc ross cra sh which pu t him out of action , but he was back in better form than ever. Marty Tripes tried to make up for lost ground and moved up to third behind Sun and Hannah, . but then bike problems once again took their toll to put him' out of the race. Hannah had an easy romp the 'rema ining distance to the finish.