Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

At the start of a 500cc National mota. it·s Marty Smith 111. Ricky Burgett 1141. Rickey Blackwell 18381 and Gary Semics 1111. • appearance. " Bu t other than the heat and getting out of shape a few times , ] had no problem at all. " The problem, is seemed, haunted everyone who tried to catch the lightning quick Yamahas of Glover and Burgett. Crashes took their toll on the narrow, twisting 1.2 mile course that featured enough bumps, ruts , turns and spine jarring jumps to cost almost every rider at least one get-off during the day. Suzuki's Mark Barnett" Glover's challenge for the title, took a header in the first 125cc moto that sent him to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder. Barnett, 46 points down at the beginning of the day, is now looking at a 96 point deficit. In the 500cc class it was series leader (going into this round) Croft who lost the most when he tangled with a rider in the first moro and came away with a bruised and. battered body. Croft's Honda teammate, Marty Smith was also the victim of an opening mota. accident. 125cc National The opening laps of the first moto provided the fans with the only racing for the lead during the day . Glover and Barnett went at it wheel to wheel for two laps before Glover opened a three second gap. Barnett then picked up a string of course marker streamers that wound around and bound his rear wheel, effectively slowing his charge. Two laps later Barnett crashed hard, landing on his left shoulder and called it a day two laps later. By this time Glover was long gone and it was Suzuki's Brian Myerscough , LOP/Marconi Racing's David Taylor, Kawasaki's Gaylon Mosier and LOP's Mark Gregson who were debating second place. Warren Reid, after a slow start , was slicing his factory Honda through the pack at a hectic pace to move into fifth place by lap eight. Mosier went down near the start/ finish line allowing Taylor and Reid to gain on and then pass him . The trio then fought over third. The battle then moved up to engulf Myerscough as Gregson dropped off the pace. Reid swep t. through the quartet to take the second over Myerscough, Taylor and Mosier with Mosier quickly moving through 'to hound Reid. With two laps to go, Reid held second with Mosier behind. With one lap to go, Reid slid out in a tight turn, stalling the engine and letting Mosier slip past for second. Reid charged, but Mosier held on by one bike length at the flag . Myerscough took fourth with Taylor fifth. Glover took command of the second moto soon after the start with Mosier in second. But this was to be an instant replay as Glover had six seconds on the field by the end of lap two. Traffic was shuffling spots around with Team Honda's Steve Wise charging to fourth on lap three. . . Warren Reid found himself tangled in streamers with his rear wheel looking more like a pinwheel. It quickly put an end to his ride after two crashes. Mosier was beginning to feel the pressure in second with Wise closing in and Moto-X Fox's Dan Turner making a determined effort to oust Wise. In the closing laps the battle reached heated proportions with Mosier bobbling and Wise . taking advantage as d id Turner. The battle went to the flag, but the positions were set . . Mosier's fourth still guaranteed him second overall while Wise took third and Turner fourth . 500cc National Privateer Rickey Blackwell exploded from the starting gate in the opening moto, leaving more than a few people questioning who rider 838 was. But Blackwell's moment of glory was short -lived as Rick Burgett rocketed past. Suzuki's Mickey 'Boone, a victim of getting stuck in the starting gate, and Honda's Marty Smith, a first tum crash survivor, found themselves playing catch up. By the end of the moto Boone was ninth with Smith just one spot behind. Blackwell remained in contention in the early laps as the fighting swirled around him . Can-Am's Gary Semics, a back-on -form Tony DiStefano, Tony Summey, Terry Clark, Rex Staten (who was aboard the injured Mike Bell 's fa ctory Yamaha mount ) , Tommy Croft and Kawasaki's Steve Stackable all moved in to do battle. By lap six Burgett had an almost 30second lead and was cruisin' while the action heated up behind. Croft moved in to challenge Clark for fourth with the two tangling as they came off the first of two man-rnade mountainous hills. The crash cost Croft a lap and another few minutes to get his throttle unstuck. " D a m n ," said a disgusted Croft between motos, "Half these guys aren't racing, they're just looking for the easy line. That crash just cost me the points lead. I'm mad." Meanwhile, DiStefano had moved into Second and was not about to give it up. "It's about time thing started to come together, " said DiStefano lat er. Almost lost in the shuffle was Danny LaPorte who was circulating in a slow and steady manner, the victim of a blown shock- on the first lap which soon led to the other shock overheating and becoming useless. Once past the halfway mark the battle centered on third place with Staten trying every trick he knew to get past Semics. In one lap Semics saw first Staten and then Stackable move around him with Summey a distance behind, but looking for a mistake on Sernic's pan. The final laps saw Staten challenged by Stackable as Sernics and Summey closed. The position changing went right down to the flag with Staten over Stackable and Semics over Summey. The second moto saw another holeshot by Blackwell and another explosion by Burgett · as the "Lumberjack" quickly grabbed the lead and pulled a",ay with such ease that it was hard to believe he was in the same class as the rest. Rex Staten didn't want to let him get away. But Staten, not yet used to the potential of his new ride, could only watch as ' Burgett disappeared in the distance. Darrell Shultz planted himself firmly in third until mechanical problems forced him out on lap eight. By that time Tommy Croft had worked his way to third past DiStefano with Boone moving in to challenge Tony D. LaPorte, also making up for a poor first moto finish, was in t he hunt . Staten, feeling the heat, was being pressured by Croft on lap 12. Boone then crashed to shuffle the pack some 20 seconds behind Burgett. Boone restarted in seventh behind Semics as Croft set out to drop Staten to third . One lap later and Croft was second with Staten now feeling the pressure of LaPorte as he closed and then passed also . LaPorte then set ou t after Croft and caught and passed him with three laps left . Croft challenged but couldn't get his second place back. Meanwhile Marty Smith had been charging hard in the closing laps and moved on Boone for fifth. Boone let Smith have a run at him in the hard left before the start/finish whoops with the intent of setting up Smith to the outside in the soft dirt, hoping Smith would lose' time. But Boone's clutch lever had broken off and when he went . to brake, change gears and squirt away, he stalled. . Croft tried to make LaPorte bobble right at the flag, but his efforts were in vain. Burgett, with three overall wins, wants four and the title as well . He's hot. Teammate Glover, barring any bad luck, has a comfortable enough lead that he can now relax and ride his own type of race. • Results 12Scc NATIONAL: 1. Iltoc GIoYer 1·1 lYam); 2. GayIon Mosier 24 (l(awl; 3. 5....... 6-2 (Hon); 4. w.... . Don Tumor 7-3 (Suz); 5. Brian Myersa>ugh 4-lllSuzl; 6. DlIvid Taylor 507 IHont 7. Ted Perkins 9-5 lYom); a Wsnen Reid 3-" IHon); 9. Jimmy Mlwtin 12-15 (Suzl; 10. St..... Martin 17·11 lYam) ; 11. Robert Collie 16-12 lYam ); 12. Randy Kitschboum 17-8 lYam); 13. John Reinholt 15014lYam); 14. Marl< Gregson 8-" lSuzl; 15. Glendon Johnson "oS lSuz) ; 16. Rick Coon '-10 (Suzl; 17. Marty MeatalG-" lSuzl; 18. Donny Chandler 11-" . ISuzl; 19. Roben Hawley " -13 ISuzl; 20. David Jones 14-20 ISuz). 5OOce: 1. Rick Burgan 1-1 lYom); 2. R811 Sl8lan 3-4 lYam); 3. Tony DiStalano 2-8 ISuz); 4. Danny LaPorte 13-2ISuzI; 5. Gary Semics 507IC-Al; 6. St eve Sl8d

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